The Kraken Wakes

When the octopus awakened (title of the English original The Kraken wakes ) is a science fiction novel by British author John Wyndham.

The novel depicts in the form of a first-person narrative in retrospect, the invasion of Earth by an extraterrestrial civilization that begins in the sea and nearly leads to the destruction of mankind.

Publications

The original was published in July 1953 by Michael Joseph in the UK, in the same year in the U.S. as "Out of the Deeps " by Ballantine. More recent English editions appeared from the publisher Penguin.

A first German edition appeared under the title colony in the sea in the year 1962. 1988 followed by the publication in the Fantastic Library by Suhrkamp under the title " When the octopus awakened ".

Action

An alien invasion begins unnoticed by most of the people, by waterways spread over the earth many spaceships and dive into the depths. There, at the deepest parts of the oceans, the aliens set up initially. Only a few, like the journalists Mike and Phyllis Watson, notice the secret invasion. But nobody wants to give believe them. Soon, however, disappear more and more ships and underwater probes. The threat is clear, as a semi- organic machines attacked coastal cities and kidnap people.

But against these attacks, humanity can first successfully put up a fight until the aliens melt the polar ice caps and raise sea level so dramatically. This leads to social unrest and the collapse of the state structure in many countries. However, people can again unite against the common enemy, and with new weapons, it is now possible to drive the aliens.

Style

The novel tells factual manner the events in retrospect. Here, the reader is only the impact of aliens known, they never occur and remain the protagonist as the reader hidden.

The novel is a poem by Alfred Tennyson prefixed from which the title of The Kraken wakes derived.

Especially in the first part of the work influences many of UFO hysteria of the 40s and 50s are processed with the Wyndham is also employed.

Reception

Michael Drewniok referred to in his review of the work on buchwurm.info and phantastik - couch.de the work as a small classic of the genre. The tenor of the work is cool and businesslike, but this would the story even more intense. The England in the story is populated by quirky, but lovable man, there was the picture of good old England again.

Also Branislav L. Slantchev as a reviewer at Götterdämmerung.org counts the work to the best Wyndhams. The fact that the aliens remain constantly in hiding and the reader learns nothing of them, and by the factual style, the story is the opinion Slantchevs more frightening than it is the scenario alone.