The Mountain in the Sea

A Novel

By: Ray Nayler

Narrated by: Eunice Wong

Length: 11 hrs and 6 mins

Publisher's summary

2022 Slate Book Review Best Books of the Year, Long-listed
2023 Locus Awards - Winner
2023 Nebula Awards - Nominee, Short-listed
2022 Slate Best Books of the Year, Long-listed

“Eunice Wong’s measured pacing and mellow tones perfectly complement Nayler’s provocative exploration of memory, minds, and consciousness.” - Booklist

"The theme of the nature of consciousness is equal parts intriguing, thrilling, and eerie. Best of all, it's always compellingly narrated, making for a performance that's difficult to pause."- AudioFile Magazine

Humankind discovers intelligent life in an octopus species with its own language and culture, and sets off a high-stakes global competition to dominate the future.

Rumors begin to spread of a species of hyperintelligent, dangerous octopus that may have developed its own language and culture. Marine biologist Dr. Ha Nguyen, who has spent her life researching cephalopod intelligence, will do anything for the chance to study them.

The transnational tech corporation DIANIMA has sealed the remote Con Dao Archipelago, where the octopuses were discovered, off from the world. Dr. Nguyen joins DIANIMA’s team on the islands: a battle-scarred security agent and the world’s first android.

The octopuses hold the key to unprecedented breakthroughs in extrahuman intelligence. The stakes are high: there are vast fortunes to be made by whoever can take advantage of the octopuses’ advancements, and as Dr. Nguyen struggles to communicate with the newly discovered species, forces larger than DIANIMA close in to seize the octopuses for themselves.

But no one has yet asked the octopuses what they think. And what they might do about it.

A near-future thriller about the nature of consciousness, Ray Nayler’s The Mountain in the Sea is a dazzling literary debut and a mind-blowing dive into the treasure and wreckage of humankind’s legacy.

A Macmillan Audio production from Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

©2022 Ray Nayler (P)2022 Macmillan Audio

Critic reviews

"With a thriller heart and a sci-fi head, The Mountain in the Sea delivers a spooky smart read. Artificial intelligence, nascent animal sentience, murderous flying drones: like the best of Gibson or Atwood, it brings all of the plot without forgetting the bigger questions of consciousness, ecocide, and scientific progress. Truly a one-of-a-kind story"—Kawai Strong Washburn, author of Sharks in the Time of Saviors

"Nayler’s masterful debut combines fascinating science and well-wrought characters to deliver a deep dive into the nature of intelligent life. . . As entertaining as it is intellectually rigorous, this taut exploration of human—and inhuman—consciousness is a knockout." —Publishers Weekly, starred review

"Less a science-fiction adventure than a meditation on consciousness and self-awareness, the limitations of human language, and the reasons for those limitations, the novel teaches as it engages." —Kirkus Reviews

"With a thriller heart and a sci-fi head, The Mountain in the Sea delivers a spooky smart read. Artificial intelligence, nascent animal sentience, murderous flying drones: like the best of Gibson or Atwood, it brings all of the plot without forgetting the bigger questions of consciousness, ecocide, and scientific progress. Truly a one-of-a-kind story" —Kawai Strong Washburn, author of Sharks in the Time of Saviors

Incredible book

A beautiful story for anyone who loves the sea. Highly recommend regardless of any genre you may prefer

Fantastic slightly cyberpunk story of great depth

I enjoyed every minute of this book, it explores many themes of the evolution of AI, communication between disparate species, and more. Highly recommended!

"We will always do what we are capable of"

What a wonderful and fantastic read.

This book is first and foremost, a very interesting look into what our shared future may look like. It doesn't focus on defining the rights and wrongs about what humans are doing to the planet, and instead explores humanity's actions and the impact we have on our world through the lens of reality. The story is told through three related but separate story lines, the events of each causing ripples that affect the others, which in turn causes more ripples of affect to come back around.

The book explores what it means to be conscious, to be alive, and to be part of a greater whole of your species. Just like the octopuses that are the central driving force of the book, we see how each of us is our own person with our own wants and needs, while also being part of a greater whole. Not every individual human agrees with what 'humanity' does, but at the same time, every action that humanity takes is just individual humans taking their own actions. Individual humans are completely independent and able to make their own choices to affect the greater whole, but at the same time, the actions of others also come back to affect and dictate our actions. It's a very interesting concept, demonstrated by the octopuses as well, where each individual octopus has a mind and makes choices, but through it's distributed neural makeup, each of it's 8 limbs also 'think' separately and in some ways make their own decisions.

The story in this book is very well done, it isn't preachy or trying to convince you that there are good and bad ways to do things, it simply shows us the consequences of being part of a greater whole. I think this quote from the book sums it up quite well, "The great and terrible thing about humankind is simply this: we will always do what we are capable of". Humans as a whole will simultaneously be doing great and terrible things, and the only way we can truly understand and change the actions of humanity as a whole is to accept that and try to understand WHY people do things.

I really enjoyed the book. The different storylines were all interesting, and they were split up and told in sections in a way that always shows how they were affecting one another while never getting boring or feeling contrived for the story.

I definitely recommend this book if you are interested in octopuses, the future of our planet and climate, or even just exploring what it means to be an individual in this world, a member of a group and also a singular entity with your own ideas and thoughts.

Difficult, but worthwhile

this isn't an easy story. plenty to think on at ending. listen to sample first

A collection of consciousnesses

yes this book is about intelligent octopuses and AI, but it covers many more subjects. from corporate greed and corporate spies to environmental degradation, globalization, automation, and of course AI.

I liked how the author subtly introduced new and different types of intelligent beings, different ways of being in the world. for example, from a single robot drone, to a remote piloted drone, to an army of them piloted by one mind.

Good near term sci-fi book on AI

Very fun and interesting read with well developed characters and an engaging story exploring AI and consciousness. I recommend listening.

One of my favorite books ever

So good! Riveting, dark, yet hopeful. One of my very favorite books ever. Please read!!

Unexpected great read

Wasn't expecting to enjoy this as much as I did. Held my attention from the first.

Extraordinary by all measures

This is without a doubt one of the best books I have listened to in ages! It is novel and creative, with great characterizations and beautiful language. I even wrote down a couple of them to share on Facebook. It is philosophically packed and speaks the language of science. I kept stopping at various points so I could savor it.

The performance is amazing. It takes place all around the world and characters have names from different languages and the narrator just nailed it all. As I said, extraordinary by any measure.

what being human really means

I chose A Mountain in the Sea from Netgalley because the blurb mentioned octopuses/octopi. I have been fascinated by octopi for years. Their intelligence and problem-solving capabilities are concepts I have surprised have not been mined in fiction more. Marine biologist Dr. Ha Nguyen is researching the octopi which seem to have language and culture. Many chapters begin with quotes from a book she wrote called How Oceans Think. The quotes from the book are interesting. I would read it if it was published. The author Ray Nayler presents the information in a way that I can understand. This information enriches the book.

The story takes place in our future when there have been massive upheavals in the geopolitical sphere, and wars that caused environmental catastrophes in addition to killing large portions of the population. The main part of the book is about Dr. Ha and the two who are on the island with her. One is a woman who has been enhanced so she is as much a machine as a human. The other is an android whose perfection scared the population to the point where there were riots and social unrest. Now they are hidden on this island to help Dr. Ha with her research.

There are several other strands that weave through the story and eventually meet in Dr. Ha’s story. Eunice Wong does an incredible job narrating. Each main character has a distinct voice. The narration is always clear even when describing actions like battles. I do not possess the words to describe how incredible and wonderful this book is. I have listened to it three times already. I am discovering new gems each time I listen.

I have truly enjoyed this book. It took my imagination to new places and definitely new situations. It also made me think about what being human really means.
@raynayler @Netgalley @EuniceWongActor