A review by bulwark
The Mountain in the Sea by Ray Nayler

dark mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

This book is incredibly frustrating. The prose is good, the ideas are interesting, I liked most of the characters, but at the end of the day the good parts are weighed down by the narrative(s) as a whole. I would have much rathered read a book just about Ha, Evrim and Alatsetseng doing their thing. The amount of time we spent with Rustem and Eiko (who, I did like) felt like time where we could be exploring the communication between the humans, the AI, and the octopuses. Another reviewer said it well, this feels like a collection of short stories. Also, the stylistic choice to write this as a thriller makes no sense to me, I feel like the meditative aspects were constantly at odds with the globe hopping, 'life and death are cheap' attitude, and general nihilism that the rest of the book had. 
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