Weird Fiction in Liberal London - China Mieville's Kraken
We are definitely not into spoilers so it is
hard to go too far into the story of this dark fantasy on a
scientific theme. A preserved and valuable giant squid disappears from the Darwin Centre at the Natural History Musum and one
of its staff, Billy Harrow, discovers a world of cults and magic that
threaten apocalypse. So far, so very obviously dark fantasy, but
China Mieville adds, with Kraken, a major work to a genre that owes a great deal to
the psychogeographical cult of London as the world's most magical city. Its
fault is that of all modern creative fantasy - far too many ideas for a
basic story line that could be culled from any urban thriller. Although
resolved satisfactorily, there are moments when you feel that greatness
has eluded Mieville because of an inability to develop fewer ideas in more depth. In the end, despite hints of something
deeper, and some remarkable invention and (in places), yes, ideas, it ends up
being an entertainment rather than truly thought-provoking.
There
are certainly moments of sharp satire that anyone who has dipped their
foot into London's esoteric world will recognise - the description of
the Chaos Nazis alone is worth the book. The Londonmancers are
psychogeography in action. The Krakenists stand for all religions based
on an essential absurdity - which is really all religion not excluding our own dominant religions of
the book. There is even a police unit with a brilliantly drawn young
officer whose insubordination and style make her into magic's own female
version of Gene Hunt alongside a man called Vardy as their occult
'Cracker'. The references back into English (and American) popular
culture are many and various with such gems as a warning on Star Trek
teletransportation that takes the glamour out of it all.
Mieville
is very good at character and dialogue even if sometimes his play with
language can add a degree of obscurity in places that makes one wonder
if he has been infected with the Bloomsbury virus. There is even a
political sub-plot (radical politics being an interest of the author) -
a magical strike led by a very old shabti with a political consciousness. The demonic Goss and Subby and rival gangland bosses Tattoo and
Grisamentum are truly evil. There are scenes of which we cannot speak
that seem to have been drawn from many happily wasted hours watching
fantasy blockbusters at the cinema.
It is not so much London that
is the hero of this novel but the culture of Londoners who live below the veneer
of rational order that the Government claims to provide. Having watched a
case at a London magistrates court just before the Brexit Referendum, the authorities clearly
have little idea about what they are doing - justice is certainly not a
part of it. The police are pictured as being completely at sea, right
numpties, as events unfold around them. Perhaps the only truly serious
point to make about the book is that it captures a general mood,
prevalent then (2010) and far more so now, of things
falling apart and of the authorities posturing with increasing absurdity
as they do so.
The book captures what many people know is true
at the rougher end of London and which started to become obvious as a
more general problem across the country, even to the naive middle
classes - that the authorities are not only not in control but that those villains who are in control of their 'manors' are in
uneasy truce with the police to keep everything from getting entirely
out of control. Villains can generally act with
impunity so long as they don't rub the coppers' noses in it. In part,
this book is about what happens when the system finally breaks down and
we come close to a meltdown. Perhaps, given what has happened in the thirteen years since the book was published, the book is prescient although, of course, there is no magical element to our collapse.
The book is also about the subtle shifts of belief and loss of confidence that unnerve the general population without them actually knowing that anything is going on until the apocalypse is upon them. There have been moments when 'sensitives' have smelled riots in the streets without being able to put their finger on where and when they may take place. It is, in short, a political commentary masking as dark fantasy. Unlike the romantic and mildly pessimistic dark fantasies of most middle class genre writers, this one has an edge of thuggery, fear and brutality that gives us a far better idea of what things look like at street level. Not a great book but a good book and well worth reading if you like dark fantasy or are interested in London, that is, ironically, the real London rather than the 'realistic' London of those interminably dull literary recreations of who is bonking who and their consequent torments whether in Islington or in the bourgeois postal codes around BBC studios.