Scan barcode
kailanlovescats's review
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: Vomit, Violence, and Suicide
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: Confinement, Grief, Kidnapping, Suicidal thoughts, Animal death, Blood, Death, Colonisation, Murder, Classism, Slavery, Suicide, and Violence
snazzy10101's review
5.0
i have only praise for this book.
it is perfect.
no notes.
it is perfect.
no notes.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Kidnapping, Gun violence, Grief, Violence, Animal cruelty, Slavery, Murder, Animal death, Blood, War, Trafficking, Gore, Colonisation, Confinement, Death, and Deportation
Moderate: Kidnapping, Self harm, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, and Classism
sierrabowers's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-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
2.5
I only read this book the entire way through because it was assigned for my book club. I would have DNF’d about 30 pages in if I could have. I think this book did have some good qualities, such as the observations made about humans and our relationship to living creatures on Earth other than ourselves. I also think it asked interesting questions about consciousness, and whether or not in the future, we should consider androids as conscious. But overall, this book was way over my head and I understood almost none of it. The ending was hopeful but it didn’t give me any satisfaction. I would not recommend unless you love science and can understand VERY complex plots.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Forced institutionalization, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Sexual content, Slavery, Deportation, Violence, Vomit, Stalking, Classism, Confinement, Physical abuse, Self harm, Trafficking, Abandonment, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Cursing, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder
lottiegasp's review
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I enjoyed the strong environmental and animal justice message. The book explores some ethical complexities of environmentalism under capitalism, like people living in poverty illegally fishing as they struggle to survive, or a global corporation purchasing a Vietnamese island and driving out its local inhabitants under the guise of environmental protection but really with the goal of seeking profit. The novel also explores the concept of another animal species developing language and culture and what that could look like, and what advanced artificial intelligence could look like. Despite the cool concepts and the political message, I found the story itself to be a bit lacking in excitement and I found the climax to be underwhelming.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Slavery and Violence
emelye's review
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: Violence, Confinement, Slavery, and Suicidal thoughts
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Animal cruelty, Vomit, and Trafficking
klosterphobia's review
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
This book was falsely advertised as a thriller. It is very philosophical and slow. At times this novel felt pretentious. There are three stories in one but it takes forever for them to converge. The most exciting was the slavery plot line but as soon as you were invested it would be another fifty pages of the author reflecting on the meaning of life. I think if I had gone in with different expectations, I would have enjoyed this book more. That being said I did bookmark a few good quotes that might impact me the rest of my life .
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Physical abuse, Genocide, Violence, Self harm, Slavery, and Suicide
lilaceous's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
characters - ⭐️
plot - .5⭐️
engaging to read - ⭐️
would recommend - ⭐️
would read again - ⭐️
a fascinating interrogation of what it means to be conscious. there were so many thing about this book that i loved-the octopuses themselves, the writing style, the ai, and the philosophical but accesible nature of the story. is the climax/ending rushed and deeply unsatisfying? yes. would i recommend this book anyway? yes.
a fascinating interrogation of what it means to be conscious. there were so many thing about this book that i loved-the octopuses themselves, the writing style, the ai, and the philosophical but accesible nature of the story. is the climax/ending rushed and deeply unsatisfying? yes. would i recommend this book anyway? yes.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence, Violence, and Slavery
saragwen's review against another edition
challenging
dark
informative
reflective
sad
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? It's complicated
5.0
A complex and often-depressing story of isolation, community, and what it means to be a part of the world.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence
Moderate: Gun violence
mercapto's review
adventurous
informative
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
This book was always going to remind people of Arrival with the symbolic language and linguistic interpretation, but it definitely had its own flavour that worked to separate it from this comparison early on.
It’s an interesting book. I’m not sure if I liked the concept more than the actual execution; it skims the surface of going in a certain direction and then changes to another, like the philosophy of consciousness and humanity and then drone fight scenes and people getting graphically killed. I felt like the scenes where they interpreted the language were too immediate, and too off-screen. They would see the symbol, sleep on it, then suddenly know what it meant, and just seemed too convenient. It would work better as a movie, I can picture exactly how they would film it and maybe that was the problem - it was dying to be a screenplay.
That being said, it did delve into some interesting concepts of humanity, collective judgment, the worth of different species. I loved the AI fishing boat storyline, and the final reveal in the epilogue was such a nice addition (although I felt it was unnecessary to have Eiko essential be SA’d when he was already becoming a slave. It wasn’t really mentioned again as relevant to his trauma so didn’t add anything extra).
I like the three separate narratives, and they did eventually come together, but I think it was a lot of build up only for the conclusion to be quite abrupt, especially on Rustem’s part. It all felt a bit rushed in the last 100 pages. I liked Ha, but I would have loved it to be from Evrim’s point of view - I loved them as a character! Maybe the sequel (which it definitely set up as a possibility) will delve a bit more into them post-freedom.
However, we needed more octopuses! We needed more than shadows of them on a beach and myths! Again, this would work much better as a movie, as it risked repeating the same imagery that fails to have the ‘wow’ impact with each interaction. A flash of something, did you see it?, a moment of recognition when there was doubt if they were intelligent.
Mostly unrelated to above, but I’d love to be a robot monk saving turtles. I don’t think it was a coincidence that the artificial characters were the most likeable.
I know I’ve said a few negatives here, but ultimately I liked this book a lot despite the flaws. I actually finished reading it while walking down the street which I never do because I needed to know how it ended! I would enjoy a film adaptation if one was ever made.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Slavery, Kidnapping, and Violence
Moderate: Sexual assault