The Mountain in the Sea

Soh Kam Yung reviewed The Mountain in the Sea by Ray Nayler

On trying to communicate with other sentient beings.

3 stars

An interesting near-future thriller mainly set on the Con Dao archipelago in Vietnam, where a species of intelligent, communicative octopus have been discovered. To try to communicate with them, a specialist in octopus has been called in, and she will have to work alongside an android, which may be the first sentient AI created, and a security officer who is deadly serious in protecting the area from all intruders.

The attempts at communication with the octopus is the main basis for the story. But layered upon it are philosophical discussions over the nature of the octopus itself, how they may see the world and how you approach and communicate with sentient beings that don't share the same senses or even a brain network with us: octopus limbs can operate independently of the brain, and they send messages by changing the patterns on their skin.

Subplots in the story focus on …

An interesting near-future thriller mainly set on the Con Dao archipelago in Vietnam, where a species of intelligent, communicative octopus have been discovered. To try to communicate with them, a specialist in octopus has been called in, and she will have to work alongside an android, which may be the first sentient AI created, and a security officer who is deadly serious in protecting the area from all intruders.

The attempts at communication with the octopus is the main basis for the story. But layered upon it are philosophical discussions over the nature of the octopus itself, how they may see the world and how you approach and communicate with sentient beings that don't share the same senses or even a brain network with us: octopus limbs can operate independently of the brain, and they send messages by changing the patterns on their skin.

Subplots in the story focus on a hacker who has been asked to hack into an extremely sophisticated neural network, and on a slave crew on an AI controlled ship hunting for fish in a world where predatory fishing companies have overfished the oceans and are eager to exploit the remaining places with fish. They serve to flesh out this world where wars have been fought, and new regional nations have risen, eager to make their mark on the world. AI technology has also matured and taken over many jobs, while people feel more isolated in a world where AI mediated communications is the norm.

At the end, various parts come together to show that the octopuses have their own ideas on communicating and dealing with humans, leaving the future open for further interactions, but on the octopuses terms.

enne📚 reviewed The Mountain in the Sea by Vajra Chandrasekera

The Mountain in the Sea

5 stars

On the surface, this is a future sf book about discovering sentient octopuses and trying to communicate with them. But, this is no Children of Ruin or even a Feed Them Silence; it hinges less on plot and characters, and feels more about worldbuilding in service to philosophy.

I quite enjoyed this book, and the strongest part was just how tightly the book's themes and ideas intertwined through the book's different point of views and the worldbuilding. It's a not-so-far future book with sentient octopuses, overfished waters, AI boats that drive themselves in search of profit, drones driven by humans in tanks, and the first android (but one reviled by humanity). It's a book about language and communication, memory and forgetting, what it means to be human and exist in community, and about fear of others.

Dimitri Mollo reviewed The Mountain in the Sea by Ray Nayler

Nice ideas, not so nice execution

2 stars

There are some nice ideas in this sci-fi book. However, the narrative is quite clunky, characterisation of the protagonists tends to be uninteresting and/or cliché-filled, there is quite a lot of exposition of context that feels unnatural and clearly reader-directed rather than being organic to the plot.

cibertina reviewed The Mountain in the Sea by Ray Nayler

Mind-bending, thoughtful spec-fic thriller about non-human intelligence

5 stars

Absolutely adored this book. A lonely scientist is tasked with deciphering possible signals from an apparently advanced species of octopuses on an island in the near-ish future. That's the basic plot, but the author digs into linguistics, AI, non-human intelligence, and communication generally in a gentle and well-paced thriller. Super fun read.

proycon reviewed Mountain in the Sea by Ray Nayler

Interesting book, good ideas

3 stars

Good read, works out some interesting ideas about consciousness, communication, consumer society, and AI. The book didn't manage to really 'suck me in' me though.

el dang reviewed The Mountain in the Sea by Vajra Chandrasekera

Asks many interesting questions, has the sense not to try to give pat answers

5 stars

So much to love about this book, how it weaves together unanswerable questions about consciousness and computation, together with a much more didactic message about humans' consumptive relationships with, well, everything including each other, and enough of a mystery story to keep the plot moving along. Also some great evocations of places (ahhh, multiple key scenes on Istanbul ferries), and of the ways peoples' reputations misrepresent their selves.

It's not a strongly character driven book - every character that is fleshed out seems to be a variant of "loner who wishes for connection" and largely a vehicle for the author's ideas - but there's enough depth to the characters to keep me reading. My one real criticism is that the ending felt a bit rushed. Not in the sort of too convenient, story-undermining way, but not quite satisfying either. It doesn't feel like a set up for a sequel, but …

So much to love about this book, how it weaves together unanswerable questions about consciousness and computation, together with a much more didactic message about humans' consumptive relationships with, well, everything including each other, and enough of a mystery story to keep the plot moving along. Also some great evocations of places (ahhh, multiple key scenes on Istanbul ferries), and of the ways peoples' reputations misrepresent their selves.

It's not a strongly character driven book - every character that is fleshed out seems to be a variant of "loner who wishes for connection" and largely a vehicle for the author's ideas - but there's enough depth to the characters to keep me reading. My one real criticism is that the ending felt a bit rushed. Not in the sort of too convenient, story-undermining way, but not quite satisfying either. It doesn't feel like a set up for a sequel, but I kind of want Nayler to write a few short stories filling out the characters a bit more and picking up some of the loose ends - perhaps something like Sofia Samatar did with The Winged Histories.

Jenny Fern reviewed Mountain in the Sea by Ray Nayler

Review of 'Mountain in the Sea' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

Weird reading experience for me since I was slipping in and out of fever dreams. Reminded me of Solaris quite a bit, which is a good thing. I want to reread immediately now that I understand things a bit better, but I'll probably return it to the library since it's got a long wait list. Also appreciated the homage to Rachel Carson. Anyway, it was basically everything I would want in a book, but I was a bit confused sometimes, likely due to my sick state.

joeyh reviewed Mountain in the Sea by Ray Nayler

many intelligences

4 stars

Impressed by how many types of intelligence and consciousness are woven together in this book. I count at least 9; some characters embody multiple kinds in ways that become clear.

One thread seemed less necessary, and another one was very grim, but worth the payoff. And this is the only cyberpunk cryptid first contact SF I can think of.

markm reviewed The Mountain in the Sea by Ray Nayler

Review of 'The Mountain in the Sea' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

This is top-notch science fiction. It is about super-intelligent cephalopods, artificial intelligence, and the fatal shortcoming of our species all at once. I would give it more stars, but the story doesn't have a destination, perhaps because it isn't fictional enough.

Julie R reviewed Mountain in the Sea by Ray Nayler

Thematically driven

3 stars

This is less about the characters or the plot, and more about the philosophies and science. My favorite parts were actually the fictional book excerpts between chapters, and I may need to read the books he acknowledges as helping him shape the ideas presented in the book. This strikes me as a political thriller (without the thrill part) focused on connection, communication, and choice. Which, I suppose is a way of saying the book is about consciousness. Despite how dry that might sound, I actually enjoyed the book. I finished it fairly quickly; it reads smoothly and compellingly despite (or maybe because of?) the too-even tone, in my opinion. Pacing occasionally felt bogged down by setting, and there were some spots where the dialogues were clearly an info dump vehicle, but I found the info interesting so I didn't mind too much. The plot resolution was sudden and felt abrupt, …

This is less about the characters or the plot, and more about the philosophies and science. My favorite parts were actually the fictional book excerpts between chapters, and I may need to read the books he acknowledges as helping him shape the ideas presented in the book. This strikes me as a political thriller (without the thrill part) focused on connection, communication, and choice. Which, I suppose is a way of saying the book is about consciousness. Despite how dry that might sound, I actually enjoyed the book. I finished it fairly quickly; it reads smoothly and compellingly despite (or maybe because of?) the too-even tone, in my opinion. Pacing occasionally felt bogged down by setting, and there were some spots where the dialogues were clearly an info dump vehicle, but I found the info interesting so I didn't mind too much. The plot resolution was sudden and felt abrupt, but since the book wasn't so much about the story, I guess I didn't mind? I was actually just grateful it resolved, as I was fearful about a cliffhanger as the page count dwindled.

Will reviewed Mountain in the Sea by Ray Nayler

Amazing

5 stars

This is one of my favorite books from 2022. It investigates how difficult communications will be when the two parties have almost no common reference. It takes a swipe (perhaps not intentionally) at the books and movies where alien communication moves rapidly from no commonality to complete sentences conveying complex abstract topics. Along with language, the book also explores consciousness and what makes a person a person.

The environmental message never feels heavy handed, and while it often paints a disturbing picture, it also offers a hopeful outlook.

As I neared the end I worried that it would take a sloppy shortcut to wrap up so much, but the ending was quite satisfying, although perhaps not in the ways I was expecting.

Arturo Serrano reviewed Mountain in the Sea by Ray Nayler

Review of 'Mountain in the Sea' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

I reviewed this novel for the Hugo-winning blog Nerds of a Feather:

http://www.nerds-feather.com/2023/02/review-mountain-in-sea-by-ray-nayler.html

patchworkbunny reviewed The Mountain in the Sea by Ray Nayler

Review of 'Mountain in the Sea' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

If you liked the ideas behind Arrival, this one's for you. I loved the science and philosophy, exploring what consciousness and language is. Very nearly a 5 star read but it did use monologues to explain the conclusions rather than letting the reader reach them by themselves.

Full review to follow.

Gossamerchild reviewed Mountain in the Sea by Ray Nayler

The Mountain in the Sea

3 stars

Another one I'm not sure what to say about, but this time for negative reasons. The premise is amazing, and I adore every scene with the octopuses themselves. But pretty much nothing else-plot, characters, dialogue, writing style-worked for me. However, it's a debut novel so perhaps the next one will be better.