Reviews with content warning for Slavery - The Mountain in the Sea

Reviews tagging 'Slavery'

The Mountain in the Sea by Ray Nayler

55 reviews

pvp_niki's review against another edition

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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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klosterphobia's review against another edition

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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 .

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devermismysteris's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense 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

5.0

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lilaceous's review

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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.

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jacquatch's review against another edition

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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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mercapto's review against another edition

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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.

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