The Mountain in the Sea

Books | Fiction / Science Fiction / General

4.2

(140)

Ray Nayler

*WINNER OF 2023 LOCUS AWARD FOR BEST FIRST NOVEL * FINALIST FOR THE NEBULA AWARD, and THE LOS ANGELES TIMES RAY BRADBURY PRIZE “The Mountain in the Sea is a wildly original, gorgeously written, unputdownable gem of a novel. Ray Nayler is one of the most exciting new voices I’ve read in years.”—Blake Crouch, author of Upgrade and Dark MatterHumankind discovers intelligent life in an octopus species with its own language and culture, and sets off a high-stakes global competition to dominate the future. The transnational tech corporation DIANIMA has sealed off the remote Con Dao Archipelago, where a species of octopus has been discovered that may have developed its own language and culture. The marine biologist Dr. Ha Nguyen, who has spent her life researching cephalopod intelligence, will do anything for the chance to study them. She travels to the islands to join DIANIMA’s team: a battle-scarred securityagent and the world’s first (and possibly last) android.The octopuses hold the key to unprecedented breakthroughs in extrahuman intelligence. As Dr. Nguyen struggles to communicate with the newly discovered species, forces larger than DIANIMA close in to seize the octopuses for themselves.But no one has yet asked the octopuses what they think. Or what they might do about it.A near-future thriller, a meditation on the nature of consciousness, and an eco-logical call to arms, Ray Nayler’s dazzling literary debut The Mountain in the Sea is a mind-blowing dive into the treasure and wreckage of humankind’s legacy.

Science Fiction

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More Details:

Author

Ray Nayler

Pages

464

Publisher

Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Published Date

2022-10-04

ISBN

0374605963 9780374605964

Community ReviewsSee all

"An octopus colony that can communicate amongst themselves and defend themselves against humans. An almost human AI robot and octopus loving scientist stranded and trying to communicate with the octopus 🐙. Big business wanting to study, dissect a n d destroy the 🐙. Will the octopus colony survive? Very interesting concepts in this book book .."

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Brian strong

"Interesting premise, but it got preachy in places, and towards the end seemed to get confused about what it was about. There were entire sections (aka the slave ships) that didn't need to be as robust as they were. Why was this fishing vessel important? And I still don't understand where the title came from. I did learn about octopi, and the formatting of alternating chapters between the story, and the two books written by two of the main characters, was neat. I would like to read more of "How the Ocean's Think" and "Making Minds". Reminded me alot of Arrival."

Jennifer

"I’m relatively new to sci-fi or speculative fiction, but this book was wonderful. Extremely thought provoking and deeply feeling, this book makes you wonder further about consciousness. What does it mean to live, or exist consciously? What makes a human? It at times felt too detailed and preachy with the philosophy but was overall very interesting. I want to know more about the octopus colony!! "

Ghostie Gal

"If you have any interest in sci-fi or cephalopods you need to make this your next book. "

Mike Parrone

"I’m honestly speechless after finishing this book. When I first started it I actually thought “am I smart enough to read this?” Luckily, the answer was yes, as Nayler is quite good at giving context clues for the new technology and ideas introduced. I love books where they just throw you into it with no backstory (one of the reasons I can’t get through the first 20 pages of Lord of the Rings). I love that we saw this futuristic world through the lens of multiple different characters, all with the same journey to becoming human again. I loved the portrayal of tech as a way it divides us and makes us uncaring and the portrayal of the strength each character showed to reclaim that empathy that’s been missing from humanity. I loved the octopuses’ limbs as a metaphor for everything from a giant company, slowly eating the world, to a way to show how controlling multiple drones at once works. I felt like this book actually challenged me as a reader, a treat I don’t often get to experience. I highly recommend this book to anyone who’s bored of reading “typical” books and who wants a bit of a challenge. I guess, at this point, all we can do is pray that the Buddhist Republic will be better than DIANIMA."

Lauren Fahrner

"Octopuses develop sentience and the world is thrown into chaos! Lyrical writing. Easily best book I read this year."

Storymapper

" This gorgeous book left me feeling so empty when I was done reading it. While it is a tale of discovering alien life here on earth, it is also a philosophical story. It delves into what consciousness actually is, and how it came to be in us humans. A strong message of empathy is found throughout the entire book. It really goes into how much we lack empathy overall as a species today, and how easy it is to get wrapped up in our own worries and problems. Absolutely impactful and beautiful. I definitely would like to go back through it and annotate as I read because it is so packed full of rich ideas and philosophical thoughts."

goomba 555

"I found this story really compelling. Intriguing characters I wanted to know better. Asks the question are we ever really free? Virtually every character is trapped in some way. It's the near future - I was at turns delighted then horrified by the technological possibilities. "

Jeremy

"I didn’t really connect very well to itself"

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Suzette Runyon

"I liked this book but didn’t love it. I felt like the characters could have used more development and their relationships needed more focus as well. I could have used less philosophical musings that were repetitive and more substance in the plot. It felt like there were too many stories all competing, and none of them got the depth and development they deserved. However, each story was interesting and I wanted to know more about each of them. "