When I first read the synopsis for Ray Nayler’s debut novel, The Mountain In the Sea, I felt threatened. The description of the book felt pointedly aimed at me and my parasocial relationship with Adrian Tchaikovsky’s Children books. I didn’t exactly pass right over it, but I didn’t really engage with the possibility of reading it until, in a moment of hubris, I decided to stack it against my beloved science fiction canon. Unfortunately for my ego, Nayler’s debut was a mesmerizing tale that is very hard to lump into any single idea and is all the better for it.

Dr. Ha Nguyen wrote the book on how intelligence works in the vast ecosystem that is the ocean, but has been given the chance to dive deeper. Off the coasts of the Con Dao Archipelago, a population of octopodes lurks with an intelligence not yet encountered. Aided by the Evrim, the world’s first android, Dr. Nguyen aims to unlock the mysteries of consciousness, and break through the language barrier. However, DIANIMA, the company that owns the archipelago and the creators of Evrim have other plans in store. Not to mention the many other groups hoping to exploit the rare find, and undermine DIANIMA’s hold on artificial intelligence. Can Dr. Nguyen and Evrim establish contact and learn from the octopodes before everyone finds out the secret?

After the first several chapters, I was frustrated. I felt that the novel was gazing at its own navel, waxing poetically as it questioned the nature of consciousness. And I’m not one to balk at philosophical banter in the form of a novel—I relish it. But I persevered, and soon Nayler had pulled the rug out from underneath me. I can’t remember the last time I felt I had been hoodwinked by a book so handily, and shown I was thinking with bias. I don’t remember when I started to turn in favor, but I remember the exact moment when I knew Nayler had written something truly special. I won’t spoil it, but there is a specific interview scene that made me question the nature of the entire book itself. I could almost feel Nayler winking at me as he opened the gates to the rest of the novel, allowing me to run around and play within his carefully crafted narrative. I was hooked.

I only relay this experience because the novel is so incredibly fucking hard to describe. It’s a sweeping epic following several different characters as they revolve around an incredible discovery, a small population of octopodes who may be communicating with language. The geo-political state of the world is an active one with several areas having gone through sweeping changes and fractures. Automated fishing boats pick up slave labor across the world, while the very first android is exiled to a single island owned by the company that created him. There is a lot going on, but Nayler manages the pace well, allowing each story to reveal itself as part of a larger whole.

The characters that populate the pages are compelling. Dr. Nguyen seems to be the central point that the plot revolves around. Her drive to understand the oceans and how the octopus society has developed in response to pressure, pushes many of the conversations forward. Her disconnection from the rest of the world is palpable as she digs deeper into the mystery of the Con Dao monster. Evrim, the first android, is an excellent mirror for Dr. Nguyen to look into. They are a deep pool of information that is forced to confront their own nature while helping research the nature of consciousness. Nayler fleshes Evrim out in clever ways, giving them a very compassionately human feel that a lot of the other characters purposefully lack. The other side characters, too many to dive into specifically, are all fleshed out convincingly, allowing the deeper reveals of who they pack a punch at the pivotal moments. It’s truly astonishing to have such small characters be such an influence on the thematic arcs within the story.

The main draw, of course, will be the octopodes and the characters’ interactions with them. I expected there to be a lot more of it, but I applaud Nayler’s restraint here. In classic science fiction fashion, he uses their intelligence as a springboard into deeper conversations. The interactions are fascinating and mysterious. Dr. Nguyen’s probing into the octopus realm is more revealing of her and the world she inhabits. The language itself is opaque and impenetrable, throwing up walls for the team to try and break through without alarming the society below them. It doesn’t feel contrived for the team to run into wall after wall as they try to translate any sort of meaning discernible to humans. The book is ultimately about our abilities to reach out to other species, but focuses on the difficulty of it given the nature of consciousness.

There are a lot of reasons to pick up The Mountain In The Sea, but for me it comes down to the total presentation. Yes there are wonderful characters that live in an interesting world who go on to perform incredibly compelling acts. And while Nayler’s writing is good at making them stand out on their own, I am more impressed with his ability to tie it all together. Each chapter begins with an excerpt from books written by his characters that serve as foci for the individual chapters. Initially, I was annoyed by these interludes because they were information I knew from my own life, but eventually I realized they weren’t necessarily for me. And once I got beyond that, they began to play their role magnificently, serving as a road map for the reader to follow. They give the reader something to ponder and relate to while events happen on the page. In the end when you finally have it all in front of you, the landscape Nayler has painted is awe inspiring.

The Mountain In The Sea is something you have to experience for yourself. It’s meandering in all the right ways, giving you many paths to come to the same conclusion. Nayler hands you a dry bush and tosses you into a pit to unearth some great discovery. And after hours of toiling, sweeping grains of sand from tiny crevices, thinking about what lies beneath, you find a funhouse mirror. It snaps back every detail you mulled over, revealing so much more than you could have dreamed of. Nayler has written a real gem that has quickly become one of my favorite books of the year. Do yourself a favor, and dive into the ocean that is The Mountain In The Sea. 

Rating: The Mountain In The Sea 9.0/10
-Alex

This is one of the first sci fi books I've read in a while that actually has something to say. Something to say about the nature of consciousness, man's connection to the world and humanity's egocentric greed. A very thought-provoking novel about what being alive and thinking means. How our interconnectedness is ignored for the sake of individual profit.

A brilliantly written near-future science fiction about consciousness and first contact with a cephalopod community that has developed communication and culture.
This book both hit me in my feels and got my mind racing in all the right ways. While this book is science-fiction it felt like reading a literary fiction that just happened to have AI and an octopus colony that was able to communicate with humans through images in their ink. This is one of those books that I can’t talk about easily without spoilers because I get so caught up talking about what I loved about it, therefore I’m telling everyone to just read it – trust me, you won’t regret it.

#MountainInTheSea investigates the idea of first contact via the ocean and an octopus colony. Set on a privatized archipelago off the coast of Vietnam, the narration passes between scientists, AI, and men enslaved on a commercial fishing pirate ship. This #book is heady, intellectual stuff. Delving into corporate greed, definitions of humanity, and consciousness this is a fascinating #read that requires a reader's entire focus. Not a light pick up. This is a selection for when readers want to be fully immersed and mentally engaged in philosophy and morality.

I struggled to keep track of the threads of the story and connect with the characters. But, the problem was mine, not the book’s. I would have enjoyed it more if there was more space in my own brain. But, this is a book that has lingered too long on my #netgalley #arc collection. So, I forged ahead and would encourage other readers to do so when they are ready for a rigorous read.

The Mountain in the Sea is a thoughtful, contemplative science fiction novel that brings the theme of alien-human first contact to earth in the form of a science team and a new breed of octopus. I really enjoyed this story, particularly how the author used this encounter to ask philosophical questions about consciousness, what it means to be human, and how humanity has interacted with the earth and other species. A futuristic story that thoughtfully questions what humans would do if we met another conscious species that brings this question down to how humans respond to anything seen as “other.” This world where a breed of octopus that has language and culture interacts with artificial intelligence and humans was a wonderful melding of common sci-fi tropes told in a new way that made me think about what it means to connect, how disconnected we are from our world, and the hope of learning to be open to how we fit in a world that is larger than our singular self.

I really wanted to like this one. Coming off watching “My Octopus Teacher” on Netflix, I was intrigued to read about an intelligent species of octopus in a futuristic setting.

What I ended up reading was something incoherent with sub-plots that never really added value or connected to the main plot. Half the time I didn’t really know what was going on.

There were some interesting themes about what does it mean to be human as well interactions with the octopus. Unfortunately they were too far in between the sub plots. Maybe this just wasn’t for me and would be interesting to someone else.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC.

‘The Mountain in the Sea’ by Ray Nayler was utterly fascinating, poignant, superb. There was so much it that it’s hard to describe, but I highly recommend diving in head first. Don’t hesitate. So good.

This was SUCH fun! I had everyone and their grandma send me this book because of my well-documented obsession with octopuses, and I was so glad to finally get my hands on it. I tore through it in just a few days, and loved the differing perspectives and the plot AND character-forward nature of the writing.

Thought provoking story about humans, artificial intelligence and octopuses.
How far will each go to protect themselves and what safeguards need to be put in place.
The need to understand each other is necessary for peaceful coexistence. Not a genre I generally read -highly recommend.
#The Mountain In The Sea #NetGalley

A beautiful, descriptive drama that truly challenges sci-fi fans to reconsider space being the final frontier. Nayler creates a dystopia full of moral quandries around AI and consciousness, and the oceans he describes feel as vast and infinite as space. This book is perfect for Cixin Liu fans and readers who love well-written scientific fact in their science fiction.

Published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux/MCD on October 4, 2022

Do you think you are smarter than an octopus? The octopus might disagree. You might be smart in the way that humans can be smart, but the octopus is smart in the way that octopi are smart. There is little basis for comparison because exploring and surviving in an underwater environment requires a different intelligence than exploring and surviving on land. All I can tell you is that, after reading The Mountain in the Sea, I might never eat octopus again. And I certainly don’t want to piss one off.

The Mountain in the Sea imagines that most of the oceans’ natural resources — in particular, their aquatic life — have been depleted. Automated fishing ships nevertheless continue to harvest as many fish as they can find. Some ships are staffed with slaves because robots that gut and freeze fish are difficult to maintain, while humans are expendable.

Con Dao, an archipelago in Vietnam, was acquired by DIANIMA, an international tech company. Con Dao has served as a tourism destination favored by divers, and as a prison destination for dissidents. DIANIMA evacuated the locals and tourists to preserve Con Dao in its natural state, although automated monks from Tibet were allowed to stand guard over their turtle sanctuary. DIANIMA supposedly intends to protect ocean life (with armed drones that attack automated fishing ships if they come too near) but its true purpose is likely more nefarious. The world’s only advanced android (named Evrim) was developed by DIANIMA and resides in Con Dao because its existence is illegal everywhere else. Evim’s smile is “like the shadow of your own death.”

Ha Nguyen is a scientist who studies octopi in Con Dao. She wonders about the extent of their evolutionary development. Do they communicate with a form of language? Do they have writing? Have they developed a cosmology? Do they regard humans as gods or demons? Much of the novel follows Ha as she tries to communicate with octopi and to understand their (and her own) place in the universe.

The other critical branch of the novel follows Eiko, who was kidnapped into slavery after taking the wrong taxi on his way to a new job with DIANIMA. That plot thread follows a small band of captives who plot a way to defeat the artificial intelligence that runs the slave ship. Or does Eiko misunderstand the true nature of a fellow captive’s plan for freedom?

Eiko’s story gives the novel most of its action, while Ha’s is more contemplative. Yet both stories create tension as the protagonists encounter and cope with different kinds of threats. (A third subplot involving a Russian hacker named Rustem is less successful.) The elements of a thriller hold The Mountain in the Sea together, but this is less an action novel than a cerebral thought experiment that brings together natural evolution, human intervention in species development, and environmental crisis.

In addition to the difficulty of communication with nonhumans, consciousness is a theme that pervades Ha’s thoughts and the novel as a whole. What does it mean? Is Evrim conscious? What about the automated monks? Or the slave ship that threatens to starve humans to death if they stop gutting and freezing fish? Or the octopi? They all seem self-aware, but does consciousness require more than that? The automonks and Evrim have been programmed to be self-aware, but isn’t that also true of humans, who are programmed by evolution and the DNA it produces? At the same time, are we hardwired to fear any consciousness that might compete with our own?

The evolutionary development of a species of octopus that uses symbolic communication, that overcomes the short life span that is common to octopi, that raises families, protects its elders, and is cautious but curious in interactions with humans, is explained with sufficient scientific detail to give the novel credibility without bogging down the story. Chapters are separated by passages from two books (one about oceans, one about artificial intelligence) that treat the reader to interesting facts and bold opinions.

Science fiction stories that explore consciousness in artificial beings have been around for decades, as have stories about the difficulty of communicating with aliens. Stories that explore communication with non-human life on Earth are less common. The Mountain in the Sea succeeds by inviting the reader to imagine the possibility of awakening of human consciousness as we connect to species that are different from humans yet similar in important ways.

RECOMMENDED

This book will make you rethink everything you ever thought about sentience and intelligence: in our species, in what we consider animals, and in machines. It also made me realize the beauty and complexity of what we consider the lower animals. In many ways, their communities may be better organized and the individuals more responsible in their roles than people.

The book is set in a terrifying dystopian future, where large corporations dominate. Automated ships criss-cross the oceans harvesting marine life for food with no care for overfishing. Although the ships are almost fully automated, there is still a need for a few people on ship. Kidnapping people is common, people who wake up to find that they are now slaves on ships out in the middle of the ocean, and of less value than the fish. Two of the main characters are slaves on one of these ships. One of them saves his memories in a memory palace.

The physical setting alternates between several locations, between the ship, various mainland cities, and islands. Much of it is on an archipelago - a group of islands - near Vietnam that have been acquired by a powerful corporation. There are three main characters on the island - a lethal security agent, a biologist, and an android.

Altantsetseg is the security agent. Her face is so camouflaged by ever changing virtual masks that I'm not sure her real face was ever described, but her body is heavily scarred. The android, the first of its kind, is there for its safety. Dr. Ha Nguyen is a biologist there to study the octopi found near the islands, octopi displaying unusual behaviors. Each chapter begins with quotes from alternating books, one written by Dr. Nguyen about the nature of consciousness and one written by Dr. Arnkatla Minervudottir about the brain and its functions.

I received an advance reading copy of this book from the publisher MCD via NetGalley. It was my pleasure to read and review this book.

A powerful meditation on sentience, communication, humanity. A thrilling, emotional, thought provoking journey through what it means to be alive, to be human, to know and understand others. Will make you think about what separates from animals, computers, and whether everything might be closer than we think. It just needs to be experienced. A beautiful book.

THE MOUNTAIN. IN THE SEA by Ray NAYLER
Published 10/04/2022 by MCD/ Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Pages: 464 pages
Audiobook: 11 hours, and 5 minutes
Narrated by: Eunice WONG

Ray Nayler is known for his highly acclaimed short fiction across many genres …. this is his highly anticipated literary full length novel debut. He has chosen to weave his real life work as a scientist working with environmental conservation projects in the Con Dao Archipelago with a fascinating exploration of consciousness and communication with other species. In this case it’s equivalent to communicating with “alien” species … when a pod of octopuses is discovered in Con Dao that appear to possess intelligence and ability to communicate. Marine biologist Dr. Ha Nguyễn has spent her life studying the possibility of advanced cephalopod intelligence and has penned the definitive book on the subject ( it is frequently quoted as an intro to chapters ). She readily accepts an invitation and job to further study this new group of sentient beings for the transnational tech corporation DIANIMA, which has acquired and sealed off the archipelago. She is joined on a remote island by the mysterious and physically battle-scarred security agent, Altantsetseg and the nongendered ultimate AI, Evrim. Evrim was created by Dr. Arnkatla Minervudottir-Chan the brains behind DIANIMA. Evrim not only thinks like a human being (however, never forgets anything) but also believes it is conscious ( and has passed multiple Turing tests … truly suggesting sentience). The drama unfolds in a near-future setting populated by bee-size drones, AI auto monks with three fingered hands and an array of light receptors for eyes, and AI operated slave ships that mine and pillage the oceans for a dwindling supply of viable protein. And, in a similar fashion, some of the chapters are introduced with quotes from the celebrated book written by Dr. Arnkatla. Two suspenseful subplots are interwoven into the narrative of Dr. Ha Nguyễn. They eventually will converge and provide insight and a deeper meaning. Rustem, the premiere black-hat hacker is hired by a woman wearing a digital mask to cloak her identity, and that of the shadowy organization she represents . His task is to find a portal … a back door … into the intricate neural network of Evrim. Also thrust into the fray is Eiko, who was attempting to obtain a scientific position with DIANIMA, when he was shanghaied in a brothel, and enslaved on one of the slave ships poaching off the coast of the Con Dao archipelago. Will the crews’ plan for a mutiny stand a chance at success ?
Nayler masterfully explores consciousness, selfhood, and the multifaceted ramifications of communication and culture and the fear of humanity that AI’s will achieve sentience. Naturally also explored is possibility of other corporations or organizations, sabotaging or stealing the research for exploitation or monetary gain. The unlocking of these underwater secrets will culminate in a myriad of unintended but fascinating consequences. This story depends on difficulty with communication and relationships with interspecies and culminates in a surprising and satisfying denouement. Hopefully Ray Nayler will continue to add further novels to his already existent oeuvre of highly acclaimed short stories.
I personally switched back and forth between the audio and kindle version of this wonderful novel. I especially enjoyed Eunice Wong’s narration that brought to life and meaning to the many divergent characters in the theater of my mind. Thanks to NetGalley and MCD/Farrar, Straus and Giroux for providing an Uncorrected Proof and Audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

4.5 stars

Happy Publication Month (I'm a week and a half late)! I am new to this author, but what an introduction. To be clear, I'm not sure I completely understood all of his discussions about consciousness, but it certainly made me think! This near-future story, which takes place in an archipelago near Vietnam, describes a world where artificial intelligence is possible but frowned upon because of various reasons described in the book. There are several threads occurring at the same time, but much of the book is centered around Dr. Ha Nguyen, a marine biologist whose specialty in cephalopods makes her perfect for a new discovery. I'm not sure what I was expecting when I started this, but it reminded me a lot of classic sci-fi/speculative fiction in that there was a heavy dose of philosophy thrown in. Philosophy can be hit or miss for me, but in the context of science fiction, especially near-future science fiction when things seem possible, I like it when an author explores the impacts of human decisions and actions on the world around us, especially on the environment. But here, he also explores the impact on human society. In truth, I'm not sure that I completely understood all of the points the author was trying to make, but this is honestly a book I would reread and I would probably get even more out of it in subsequent reads.

I found the AI, Evrim, to be fascinating, and I loved the friendship that developed between Ha and them. Much of the discussion about consciousness occurred about Evrim and his humanity (or lack of depending on who you asked), as well as the consciousness of the Octopi. I absolutely loved the interactions between Ha and the Octopi, and really felt like the characters were well-fleshed out, both the main characters and some of the side characters.

I loved the southeast Asian locale, which made it more interesting to me, and actually looked up the author to see what experience he had with it. Based on how he presented it, he seems to have a deep love for the ocean in that part of the world.

As I mentioned above, I would absolutely read this again and am so glad that the cover caught my eye. It was not what I was expecting, and it required more brain power than I thought, but it turned out to be a great read. I suspect that when I read it again, I will likely round up my rating, but for now, I'll leave it at 4.5 stars rounded down. Still, I highly recommend this to anyone who loves sci-fi or speculative fiction, but I think the story alone is compelling enough that even if you don't normally read sci-fi, you may enjoy this.

I received an advance review copy from NetGalley for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

The Mountain in the Sea is a truly fascinating and insightful science fiction novel that is well worth the read! This is my first book by Ray Nayler and I am really impressed by this novel he has crafted. I found the pacing fairly slow and that this isn't really much of a fast-paced or page-turning read, but rather one that is very thoughtful and allowed me to explore some incredibly riveting ideas and sci-fi themes. I didn't find myself connecting overmuch to the characters and there were a lot of info-dumping sort of areas, but overall the subject matter was interesting enough to keep me fully engaged throughout. Overall, I've given The Mountain in the Sea four stars!

Big thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an eARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This is a difficult one for me to review. On one hand, I loved the plot and storyline but something didn't really mesh with me. I found some of the explanations clunky and hard to follow. That being said, the relationships are what saved it for me. I loved Ha and Evrim and Eiko and Son. I think I would definitely give another book by Ray Nayler a chance because I think with a few little changes, it could shine for me.

I found the jumping back and forth between characters confusing, I was left wanting more at the end.

I was initially attracted to this book by the book summary which describes a marine biologist driven to study a species of hyperintelligent octopus that may have developed its own language and culture. The book follows three separate storylines, which I found a bit confusing since their contexts appeared unrelated at first; however, they came together beautifully. Dr. Ha Nguyen joins the transnational tech corporation DIANIMA’s study on the remote Con Dao Archipelago to study the octopuses with a small team already in residence. Eiko was abducted and conscripted to work as a slave on an automated fishing ship and befriends a fellow slave from the Con Dao Archipelago who regales him with tales from the islands. Rustem has been hired by an enigmatic woman to work on a top-secret IT project that could mean life or death for anyone he encounters in the process. Each chapter is preceded by an excerpt from a book written by one of the characters.

I think a lot of people will enjoy this story more than I did. I was interested in the science and study of the marine life and how the stories were interconnected, but this is for a more cerebral reader that is interested in pondering the meaning of consciousness and the philosophical implications of communications between species. Other themes explored include corporate exploitation, the value of life at the expense of humanity, the pros and cons of technology both automation and artificial intelligence and whether AI can take on human characteristics and relationships.

The relationships in the story were the shining point for me. I especially enjoyed the intellectual discussions between Ha and Evrim and the friendship that developed between Eiko and Son during the physical trials they toiled through as slaves on the fishing ship. In the end, I was satisfied with the way the three storylines weaved together; however, I feel like I was intentionally left with more questions than answers. Recommended to contemplative readers.

Thank you to Netgalley and Farrar, Straus and Giroux for a copy provided for an honest review.

This is some heady, classic sci-fi right here! One of the main ideas is that of communicating with another species – but this book tackles it without having to leave Earth or deal with aliens.

There are a few different stories running through the book, but eventually three main ones emerge. The one we probably spend the most time with is that of Ha Nguyen and two others who are sent to the Con Dao archipelago – off the coast of Vietnam – to study the local octopus population. This story takes place at an undetermined time in our future, where AI is more developed than it is now. One of the other characters on the island with Ha is, in fact, a non-gendered, artificially created being called Evrim. The other is in charge of security. There is another character who is often mentioned by these three, but we don’t meet her in person until 60% into the book. She is the world’s leader in developing AI, and is Evrim’s creator.

There is also a story about a hacker, who is tasked with finding a hidden portal into a system that mimics a neurological network. It’s so complicated, he thinks it might actually be a real, living brain. Can one hack those?

The other main story is about an AI-controlled fishing vessel, that utilizes slave labor (kidnapped people) to bring in its catches. One slave on the boat does mention being from Con Dao, but that is initially the only connection we can see to the other stories.

These three stories finally converge, but with only 20% of the book left. One is not exactly in sync – time-wise – with the other two. I was kind of expecting this to happen, as timeline shenanigans are rampant in modern science fiction… but the one that is a little off was not the one I was predicting!

Obviously, communication is a key theme in this one. It kind of reminded me of the movie “Arrival,” in that it really took its time wrestling with the details of how to communicate with a species that you have almost nothing in common with.

The other major theme deals with consciousness, sentience, and what it means to be alive. Are those all the same things, or not? If one is conscious, does that make it sentient? Where does self-awareness come into play? Does a species need to cultivate a culture, or merely communicate, to be taken seriously?