Humankind 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.
Rumors begin to spread of a species of hyperintelligent, dangerous octopus that may have developed its own language and culture. Marine biologist Dr. Ha Nguyen, who has spent her life researching cephalopod intelligence, will do anything for the chance to study them.
The transnational tech corporation DIANIMA has sealed the remote Con Dao Archipelago, where the octopuses were discovered, off from the world. …
Humankind 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.
Rumors begin to spread of a species of hyperintelligent, dangerous octopus that may have developed its own language and culture. Marine biologist Dr. Ha Nguyen, who has spent her life researching cephalopod intelligence, will do anything for the chance to study them.
The transnational tech corporation DIANIMA has sealed the remote Con Dao Archipelago, where the octopuses were discovered, off from the world. Dr. Nguyen joins DIANIMA’s team on the islands: a battle-scarred security agent and the world’s first android.
The octopuses hold the key to unprecedented breakthroughs in extrahuman intelligence. The stakes are high: there are vast fortunes to be made by whoever can take advantage of the octopuses’ advancements, and 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. And what they might do about it.
A near-future thriller about the nature of consciousness, Ray Nayler’s The Mountain in the Sea is a dazzling literary debut and a mind-blowing dive into the treasure and wreckage of humankind’s legacy.
Hardcover, 456 pages
English language
Published Oct. 4, 2022 by MCD.
Another one I'm not sure what to say about, but this time for negative reasons. The premise is amazing, and I adore every scene with the octopuses themselves. But pretty much nothing else-plot, characters, dialogue, writing style-worked for me. However, it's a debut novel so perhaps the next one will be better.
It does the thing all good sci-fi should do: use the sci-fi setting.to examine and interrogate questions of ethics and society.
The narrative is fairly engaging, even if the characters' dialogue leaves them with very little in the way of distinct voices — perhaps for reasons that are maybe explained in-world.
Overall, it's a fun summer read that raises a lot of interesting ideas about what it means to be a person and how our actions impact those around us.
For parents of sci-fi readers, there's enough casual (but not really described in detail, thankfully) sex in the book that it's probably not one to hand to teenagers — so be aware of that.
