Dear New York Times:
A fantasy novel about "a squid-worshipping cult" may be quite a good book. But it does not "defy stereotypes"--in fact, it steals from pays homage to one of the classic stereotypical tropes of the genre.
That the title of the book is Kraken might be a huge hint about this. Even
the orignal master of squid-cult novels was pretty up-front about it.
Oh, Times... so easily impressed by things a lot too late. You're ever like a grandmother finally getting cable TV.