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kynaeus's review against another edition
informative
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Most of the negative reviews seem to surround what your expectations are for this book - the folks who DIDNT like this book all seemed to want more examples of the octopus culture. Really getting your head into the details and learning about this alien culture -,from-earth, and instead, those folks ended up with a great entry in the speculative subset of sci Fi.
This book feels exemplar of what sci fi was like at its ince tion - where we change something technologically and see how the human condition is reflected back at us through that lens of self examination.
Without that in mind, I can easily see why people disliked this book but I'm thankfully not in their camp, I enjoyed this a lot! The book excerpts between chapters made me feel like I was playing SM: Alpha Centauri, a dear game from childhood, where something interesting and deep would be said while waxing poetic on the human nature.
If you don't like the sound of that- you may not like this book either. But for those who can get through the sometimes dense paragraphs of biology, philosophy, and traumatic events, you're in for a treat
I found this book mainly covered these broader strokes,
-examines how we as a species look at the value of a mind of our own design (frequent critiques of AI and the uses we employ them for, the dangerous lengths those minds can go when left in charge like the fish boat, reporting the news, etc)
-examines how we would treat the first conscious mind we created (not well)
-goes into a lot of fascinating points about just how difficult it would be to establish first contact with a new species who has an entirely alien way of looking at the world but how knowing that world can help.us imagine how those same aliens see the world - and how to work toward communicating with them
If those two main themes don't really pique your interest then this may not be for the one for you.
The only negative I had in my experience of enjoying this was that it was too philosophical and speculative - too much theory, not enough on the applied end of things. Would have been great to end the novel on starting to learn more about their culture or octopus gardens
Instead the ending feels kind of tacked on in a hurry and resolves all the plotlines at once without much cathartic payoff: 1) Ruustem's harrowing moral choice was not concurrent with the events on çon daō; the heelturn; the seeming lack of relevance of the B plot fishing boat to the main point of studying the octopuses/octopi; dealing with a maternal creator figure; the corporate takeover, the shadowy disguised woman, etc etc.
All these threads didn't feel like they got any type of satisfying ending. But I DID think a lot about how our senses, bodies, and environments would have helped shape the advance of our sapience. And THAT- that I did enjoy. Thank you audio book for helping make the names easy to listen to so I could just get lost in the story
This book feels exemplar of what sci fi was like at its ince tion - where we change something technologically and see how the human condition is reflected back at us through that lens of self examination.
Without that in mind, I can easily see why people disliked this book but I'm thankfully not in their camp, I enjoyed this a lot! The book excerpts between chapters made me feel like I was playing SM: Alpha Centauri, a dear game from childhood, where something interesting and deep would be said while waxing poetic on the human nature.
If you don't like the sound of that- you may not like this book either. But for those who can get through the sometimes dense paragraphs of biology, philosophy, and traumatic events, you're in for a treat
I found this book mainly covered these broader strokes,
-examines how we as a species look at the value of a mind of our own design (frequent critiques of AI and the uses we employ them for, the dangerous lengths those minds can go when left in charge like the fish boat, reporting the news, etc)
-examines how we would treat the first conscious mind we created (not well)
-goes into a lot of fascinating points about just how difficult it would be to establish first contact with a new species who has an entirely alien way of looking at the world but how knowing that world can help.us imagine how those same aliens see the world - and how to work toward communicating with them
If those two main themes don't really pique your interest then this may not be for the one for you.
The only negative I had in my experience of enjoying this was that it was too philosophical and speculative - too much theory, not enough on the applied end of things. Would have been great to end the novel on starting to learn more about their culture or octopus gardens
Instead the ending feels kind of tacked on in a hurry and resolves all the plotlines at once without much cathartic payoff: 1) Ruustem's harrowing moral choice was not concurrent with the events on çon daō; the heelturn; the seeming lack of relevance of the B plot fishing boat to the main point of studying the octopuses/octopi; dealing with a maternal creator figure; the corporate takeover, the shadowy disguised woman, etc etc.
All these threads didn't feel like they got any type of satisfying ending. But I DID think a lot about how our senses, bodies, and environments would have helped shape the advance of our sapience. And THAT- that I did enjoy. Thank you audio book for helping make the names easy to listen to so I could just get lost in the story
Content Warnings
Graphic: Slavery
Moderate: Suicide and Suicide attempt
Minor: Sexual violence
lemonsaurus's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Slavery, Violence, and Trafficking
Moderate: Animal death, Confinement, Death, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Blood, Kidnapping, Suicide attempt, Murder, Colonisation, and Deportation
Minor: Self harm, Torture, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Injury/Injury detail
tkroeker's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
One of my favorite books in recent memory- I found it hard to put down. Enjoy philosophically reflecting on consciousness in both carbon and silicon lifeforms and the unanticipated consequences of near-future AI. Getting too heady? Take action-packed breaks to observe the (semi-ish) automated future of techno warfare and the unanticipated violence of Earth creatures so absurd they can only be described as aliens. I found it extremely refreshing and humbling to have a cast that is not entirely anthrpocentric- and where the dominance of human mind isn’t so much as called into question as it is a foregone byproduct of the reality of inevitable “progress”.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Slavery, Violence, and Kidnapping
Moderate: Suicide
reggiethebird's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
hopeful
informative
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
4.5
A great conversation starter book, full of interesting ideas that make me want more from this world. Some of the discoveries made by the scientists here felt a little like leaps rather than steps, but I'll forgive forgoing peer review for the sake of pacing.
Content Warnings
Minor: Suicide
ehwesson's review against another edition
slow-paced
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
I really wanted to like this book. It had a good plot premise. But all that was lost in the ramblings of the author. Long bouts of world building and descriptions that left me confused. "Did we notice this for a reason?" Is something I had to think every other line and the answer was usually no.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Slavery, Suicide, Violence, Trafficking, and Murder
Moderate: Death, Kidnapping, and War
Minor: Animal cruelty and Animal death
kailanlovescats's review against another edition
The weird description of Eiko sleeping with thai (trafficked?) prostitutes and masturbating to the memory of it, overlaid with him about to puke from fish toxins was just too much for me lol. I'm sure they were setting him up to be a morally Grey character you feel bad for since he also got himself enslaved, but it was just too out of left field.
The ick was immediate lol. Too bad, the plot and other characters sounded intriguing.
The ick was immediate lol. Too bad, the plot and other characters sounded intriguing.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Slavery, and Trafficking
Minor: Suicide, Violence, and Vomit
bites_of_books's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
The Mountain in the Sea is a really well constructed speculative novel. We follow a couple of different characters in the not so far future where AI and technology have evolved into day-to-day tools. Along with technology, capitalism and major corporations have continued to profit and take over a lot of the world at the expense of natural resources and indigenous communities.
Ray Nayler explores the topic of humans communicating with a different species, in this case the octopus, and in the process learning a lot about ourselves. Who are we in the octopus' eyes? Are we fellow living beings or are we invaders threatening their environment?
There are so many topics discussed in this book that it's hard for me to put it all into coherent thoughts. A big one was human to human interactions. Today a lot of us live our lives mostly online, communicating with people via text, video calls, etc., and have lower face to face interactions. In this book we see what might happen if we end up replacing humans with AI as part of therapy or just because it's convenient to have someone who is just there to listen to us without us having to reciprocate the energy.
Another big topic is that of individuals choosing a path of least resistance vs the path that leads to something good. It is about individuals being brave and making choices, choosing to live and stop being indifferent to fellow people and things going on in the world.
In one of the sub-plots we follow a man who ends up as a slave on a fishing vessel that is controlled by AI. The vessel's only goal is to get as much of the scarce protein left in the ocean and the interactions in this sub-plot really left me thinking. We accept that the things we consume have to come from somewhere but we rarely actually think and acknowledge the labor that each component requires and how ethical it all is or isn't.
All in all, I highly recommend this book for everyone. If you enjoy reading about science and where it might take us this is a must read. If you care about our world and our place in it definitely read this. This is not an easy read but it's definitely necessary, it should make you think and question what is happening around us all, and hopefully convince you to make the choices that will lead us all in a better direction.
PS. For me this was like a zombie film, not really about the zombies. This is not about the octopus, it's about the humans.
Ray Nayler explores the topic of humans communicating with a different species, in this case the octopus, and in the process learning a lot about ourselves. Who are we in the octopus' eyes? Are we fellow living beings or are we invaders threatening their environment?
There are so many topics discussed in this book that it's hard for me to put it all into coherent thoughts. A big one was human to human interactions. Today a lot of us live our lives mostly online, communicating with people via text, video calls, etc., and have lower face to face interactions. In this book we see what might happen if we end up replacing humans with AI as part of therapy or just because it's convenient to have someone who is just there to listen to us without us having to reciprocate the energy.
Another big topic is that of individuals choosing a path of least resistance vs the path that leads to something good. It is about individuals being brave and making choices, choosing to live and stop being indifferent to fellow people and things going on in the world.
In one of the sub-plots we follow a man who ends up as a slave on a fishing vessel that is controlled by AI. The vessel's only goal is to get as much of the scarce protein left in the ocean and the interactions in this sub-plot really left me thinking. We accept that the things we consume have to come from somewhere but we rarely actually think and acknowledge the labor that each component requires and how ethical it all is or isn't.
All in all, I highly recommend this book for everyone. If you enjoy reading about science and where it might take us this is a must read. If you care about our world and our place in it definitely read this. This is not an easy read but it's definitely necessary, it should make you think and question what is happening around us all, and hopefully convince you to make the choices that will lead us all in a better direction.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Confinement, Death, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Colonisation, and Classism
wishbea's review against another edition
dark
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Slavery, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Murder
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Self harm
emelye's review against another edition
adventurous
informative
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, and Violence
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Suicide, Vomit, Trafficking, Suicide attempt, and Injury/Injury detail
pvp_niki's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Gun violence, Slavery, Trafficking, Kidnapping, and Murder
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Blood
Minor: Child death, Suicide, and War