The Mountain in the Sea

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

Thought this was for sure a winner for me, but I was quickly zoning out with all the wordy description..

This book is precisely what I yearn for in science fiction as a whole. Deeply hopeful and carefully crafted. The entire story felt like a puzzle that fit together in a precise way, all the way to the very end.