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?

This story is philosophically engaging in the way all of the best science fiction is, and I recommend it for its exploration of concepts such as consciousness, communication, choices, and freedom. Although the story includes revolting depictions of senseless cruelty and violence, one of the themes is the importance of awareness of and connection to each other and our world. I consider it hopepunk.

The plot is interesting and occasionally exciting, but slowed down by the multiple points of view. The connections between those points of view didn’t become apparent until the end. I liked the ending, but it’s not neat and tidy. Part of me wishes there had been an epilogue, but perhaps it’s better this way. It has certainly given me plenty to think about.

I enjoyed the excerpts from the characters’ books, which gave the author a chance to share more of the science and philosophy he grappled with during his research. I also appreciated him including some of his sources in the Acknowledgments.

Thanks to MCD Books/Farrar, Straus and Giroux for providing me with an ARC through NetGalley, which I volunteered to review.

There are some interesting concepts in this book that seem to explore the future connection we will more than likely have with AI tech and application of it to what amounts to an alien species. But I had a difficult time getting into this book. 17% of the way in I felt like I got an extremely detailed description of the world and the characters, but was nowhere into what was considered to be the plot.

Thanks to NetGalley and MCD for an ARC of this book.

Immediately got "Arrival" vibes from this near-future, possibly-dystopian sci fi novel. Fascinating style of prose, both lyrical and gritty/detailed. From the android to the face-morphing masks to the impacts of climate catastrophe that seem to be in the news almost daily, the combination of pure imagination and real/pseudo-science was beautifully blended.

Slow to start, but that's a common attribute of worldbuilding-heavy genre fic.

This was a really good and interesting book, you will learn a lot about octopus and their intelligence, the cover art of this book hints at octopus being a main character. This story is told from a few perspectives, one a scientist who has been sent (or banned depending on your interpretation) to study marine life on this island that had been bought by a large corporation and who paid the people that had lived there generously to move off. That gave the island the opportunity to recover from over population and over harvesting of animals on the island and marine in the ocean. Dr Ha specializes in octopus, their mating, eating and social habits, and some of the octopus have been exhibiting unusual behavior. Dr Ha and an almost human robot, Evrim, are to work together to observe and discover why the octopus are behaving the way they are. Meanwhile we learn about Eiko, a young man who was to start working for the corporation that had bought the island Dr Ha is on, but on a night out he is kidnapped and wakes up on board a fishing vessel, forced to work in order to get fed small rations. The story goes back and forth between Dr Ha, Eiko and Rustem a hacker, each chapter is prefaced with a quote from either Dr Ha or another expert which were interesting to read. I would highly recommend. Thanks to #Netgalley and #MCD for the ARC.

While the concept of this book interested me, the execution did not keep me engaged. I kept waiting to read about what happened to bring the world to its current state. The different storylines did not make sense for a while, but fortunately they came together in a good way before the end.

I received a free copy of this book to review through NetGalley.

I may not have been used to the author's way or writing or style, but I found my mind drifting a lot as I was reaching this. So much so that I would lose my place and then my mind would wander.

I loved this book. I have always had a fascination with octopuses and the secrets of the amazing minds so I was not surprised to see that someone finally wrote a novel about just that idea. When humans find intelligent life living under the sea in an octopus community one scientist risks everything to be able to study them. But their is a fortune to be made from this discovery and every shady group is stealing for a chance to swoop in and take these octopuses for themselves. A Mountain In the Sea was an excellent read and do believe it could contend for a Book of the Year finalist.

I found this book very intriguing and definitely enjoyed the mix of science fiction and environmental wildlife topics.

The Mountain in the Sea has three story lines: the island where the octopuses are studied; a fishing vessel run by artificial intelligence and manned by forced labor; and a brilliant programmer. The main story is the island where the marine life is protected from outsiders by an almost military force, thanks to one special character. A scientist and an being who was artificially created but seems to have become much more are the other two residents.

There is so much to this book, from scientific advances to extreme damage to the environment. This is not a pleasant world, but the three on the island are insulated from the outside world and focus on the octopuses, who seem to have advanced to a new level of intelligence and social structure. The story is painful, this is not a world I would want to live in, but it is fascinating in both the science and for social issues.

I received an advance review copy of The Mountain in the Sea from NetGalley and the publisher and this is my honest review.

I just finished The Mountain in the Sea last night. I liked it! I love when a.book combines learning with entertainment, and that's just what this one did. I was even inspired to do a little of my own research into octopuses! They're fascinating.
The Mountain in the Sea felt like it was building up to an incredible climax, and I thought there would be some action. But, I was letdown in that way. I was a bit confused by several things at the end of the book, and it didn't seem like it tied up many loose ends.
But it kept my attention throughout, and I enjoyed the story.

I feel as though I gained some intelligence while reading this book. This is a story that offers something complex, but told in a way where you’re not left scratching your head or re-reading the same page multiple times.

What I loved most is how it is told by three main POV’s from vastly different characters. While this is classified as a sci-fi read, it also touches upon categories like philosophy, consciousness, espionage, etc

I couldn’t help but think of Arrival while reading this book, and that is a compliment (as it is one of my favourite movies)!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I never should have anticipated any 2022 releases. They've literally all been massive disappointments

Octopi are such intriguing creatures. So is it a super big surprise that I loved this Sci-Fi involving humankind discovering intelligent life in an octopus species with its own language and culture?
Marine biologist Ha Nguyen gets an incredible job opportunity to investigate a potentially intelligent species of octopus alongside Evrim, the only conscious android to ever be created.
I honestly wasn't expecting how deep this book went! It delved into philosophical realms of personhood, sapience, consciousness, first contact, AI, capitalism so well. The glimpses into the near future world Nayler set up was really cool, and his real world knowledge really shone. I appreciated the only singular Turkish 3rd person pronoun "O" being mentioned here, it's gender neutral and it's a feature of Turkish I really like.
While fascinating, the book is on the slower side and I would have been ok with more things happening especially where the side stories were concerned. I also listened to parts of this on audio and I thought the narrator was great (but I can't help being picky about Turkish pronunciations).
Thank you Macmillan Audio for the ALC and MCDxFSG and NetGalley for the ARC.

I really wanted to get into this one but something didn’t sit right with me. I’m not sure if it was the writing or the characters or what. The blurb and subject sounded interesting in theory but the execution just couldn’t keep my attention long enough.

A solid 4.5 rounded up on merit to 5!

Personally, I think the most human genre being written today is the truly reflective Science Fiction story... think of Heinline, Chiang, Asimov and Liu.... even Roddenberry. They project, not just technology and otherworldly encounters, but cultural and philosophical interactions pointing the direction society is heading.

Nayler does a fantastic job of contributing to this important conversation in The Mountain In the Sea. Set in the not-to-distant future... disturbingly recognizable... humans find a species of Octopus that have developed intelligence, society and communication. The question is, what will win out? The decency of preserving an alien race (aka the prime directive), or a bid to use the discovery to discover a breakthru in hyper-intelligence?

And did anyone ask the octopus what they wanted?

I enjoyed the setting, plot and characters, though I would have enjoyed some more growth. Otherwise, this was a wild ride and a great window into the human mindset!

My thanks to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I love octopuses so I was excited for this one. It was a little too scientific for me and I kept losing interest in the beginning with all the science details. I think true science fiction fans will enjoy this one. For me it was too heavy on the science.

This is a nice hard science fiction story. Unfortunately, I had a hard time getting into it. It was a very slow pace for me. Once I got used to the author's style it did improve, but I found myself skimming some of the pages unfortunately. I will give this author another chance, but this one wasn't for me.