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kailanlovescats's review against another edition
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
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
wishbea's review against another edition
dark
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide attempt, Suicide, Slavery, Death, and Murder
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Self harm
emelye's review against another edition
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
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence, Slavery, Trafficking, Death, Kidnapping, Confinement, and Murder
Moderate: Blood, Animal death, and Animal cruelty
Minor: Suicide, Child death, and War
klosterphobia's review against another edition
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
miniingrid's review against another edition
challenging
dark
informative
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Gun violence, Suicide, Sexual content, Death, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, Slavery, Animal death, Violence, Confinement, and Trafficking
Minor: War
carbonnanoman's review
challenging
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide, Slavery, and Violence
paukinra's review against another edition
challenging
dark
inspiring
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Slavery, Trafficking, Suicide, Physical abuse, and Injury/Injury detail
accovino's review
3.5
I really really really wanted to love this. It has so many ideas in it I want to explore and a storyline I found engaging, but it desperately needed an editor. The "excerpts" between the chapters felt forced and disjointed, not like pieces of books. Each one struggled with wanting to be a bombshell pull quote and not every paragraph from a book can have the same weight! At page 400-something I realized I was getting disengaged not because the plot was lagging, but because I'd read so much that would been more effective had it not run on for pages and pages longer than it needed. And the dialogue, oof. I can understand an android being written so stiffly but EVERYONE monologues for far too long when dialogue would work much better. Despite all that I actually did enjoy much of it, I just kind of wish someone else had written it.
Content Warnings
Minor: Self harm and Suicide