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3.95 AVERAGE

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I really enjoyed this book.
The pace was slow, and this felt like more of a philosophical read, than a book with a big story to tell.

I enjoyed reading about all of the characters. They weren't massive, larger than life characters, their role was to help ask the question of consciousness and humanity.
mysterious reflective medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Reflective and I love the concept. This book engages in interesting philosophical questions related to language, artificial intelligence, and society all wrapped up in an ecological context. At times it felt a bit heavy-handed but overall an enjoyable read.
challenging dark emotional hopeful informative reflective tense slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
adventurous challenging mysterious slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: No

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
slow-paced

The main plot of this book, centering on the intelligence and communication skills of octopus, seemed to appeal directly to me. But sadly, it didn't live up to expectations. The combination of the slow pace and what I felt was an anticlimactic story arc had me slogging through the novel like it was a household chore.
adventurous dark hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

there is plenty to dislike about something and there is plenty to like about something. it spoke to me during a personal time of turbulence. it SANG. i will miss the characters, as i tend to do. i saw myself in them — my fears of vulnerability reflected back at me — despite the distance of their nonexistence.
adventurous dark reflective tense slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
mysterious reflective tense fast-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: Complicated

I read my first underwater science fiction book in high school when I read Robin Cook's book Sphere. This book had the same vibe and I thoroughly enjoyed the science behind the story. I thought that the characters were very well developed especially Evrim, the worlds most developed AI that has been deemed outlawed in most countries for fear of his absolute intelligence that surpasses most human beings. I think that the relationship he developed with Ha was fascinating.
Octopuses have always been amazing creatures and to have them be the focus of this near-future story was especially exciting. Imagine the possibilities of developing a way to communicate with a creature that has apparently been going through evolution at a much faster rate than anyone ever suspected?! A culture? Tool developing? Seriously mind blowing! I thoroughly enjoyed this story and though it appears this is a stand alone book, there are definitely ways another book to this story could be written. I for one would like to see where this evolution goes.