Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

The Mountain in the Sea by Ray Nayler

26 reviews

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. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Suicide, Violence, Trafficking, and Murder

Moderate: Death, Kidnapping, and War

Minor: Animal cruelty and Animal death

ka_cam's review against another edition

challenging dark hopeful informative mysterious reflective sad 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

4.75

A perspective-hopping philosophical exploration of consciousness, perception, communication, science, AI, loneliness and connection. The ending was a bit dissatisfying but I really enjoyed the low key world building, varying but interconnected ponderings and mediations of the characters, and  generally gave me lots to chew on, imagine, and talk about!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Death, Self harm, Slavery, Violence, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

petitemass15's review against another edition

challenging reflective 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Slavery, and Blood

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Trafficking

leia_lynn's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional mysterious reflective sad 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

5.0

Brilliant, thought-provoking, prescient—I don’t reread things and I reread this. I wish I could make it required reading. Nayler weaves together some of the most pressing issues of our historical moment in this imaginative and grounded near-future science fiction that shifted how I think about the question of what it means to be a conscious, intelligent being. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Violence

Moderate: Animal death

sionnac's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Violence

Moderate: Animal cruelty and Animal death

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.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Confinement, Death, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Colonisation, and Classism

snazzy10101's review against another edition

5.0

i have only praise for this book. 

it is perfect. 
no notes. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Confinement, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Colonisation, War, and Deportation

Moderate: Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Kidnapping, 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. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual content, Slavery, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Trafficking, Grief, Stalking, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Deportation

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

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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

jacquatch's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious 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

5.0

This book has such high catharsis. I will be thinking about it for a long time. Might honestly read it again in three months. So well written and edited. WOW.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, and Colonisation