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

4.0

This is a toughie to review. On the one hand it was deeply fascinating. It covered a whole host of themes before we dive into the octopus of it all, in particular AI and what it means to be a conscious being. But throw in identity, autonomy, environmental impact and on and on. I was impressed at the depth and breadth, truly.

Buuuut was it a good story? That’s harder. The characters were fine, but pretty much barely. You never get a really good sense of them. You’re more TOLD who they are rather than discovering or experiencing it. Honestly Elvrim deserves its own whole novel. Same for Altantsetseg.

It was quieter than I expected, although that’s on me. And for a book about Octopuses it really wasn’t as focused on that as I figured it would. It’s certainly the central idea but there was plenty of other stuff to distract, for good or bad.

But I really enjoyed this strange and beguiling book. Such an intriguing concept. It lacked a definitive personality, with curiosity taking a front seat instead, but it was well written enough to get away with it. Definitely recommend.