DNF Review – The Mountain in the Sea by Ray Nayler (2/5 stars)

Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Science Fiction
Length: 420 pages
Publisher:‎ MCD
Release Date: October 4, 2022
ASIN: B09NTKMJ1K
Stand Alone or Series: Stand Alone
Source: Borrowed ebook from Library
Rating: 2/5 stars

“The transnational tech corporation DIANIMA has sealed off the remote Con Dao Archipelago, where a species of octopus has been discovered that may have developed its own language and culture. The marine biologist Dr. Ha Nguyen, who has spent her life researching cephalopod intelligence, will do anything for the chance to study them. She travels to the islands to join DIANIMA’s team: a battle-scarred securityagent and the world’s first (and possibly last) android.

The octopuses hold the key to unprecedented breakthroughs in extrahuman intelligence. 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. Or what they might do about it.

A near-future thriller, a meditation on the nature of consciousness, and an eco-logical call to arms, Ray Nayler’s dazzling literary debut The Mountain in the Sea is a mind-blowing dive into the treasure and wreckage of humankind’s legacy.”

Series Info/Source: This is a stand alone book. I borrowed this on ebook from the library.

Thoughts: When I read the first chapter of this book, I immediately thought this was going to be an interesting read. Sadly it went downhill from there and I ended up DNFing this at about 30% of the way in. I feel like I’ve been DNFing a lot of books lately but that may be because I am pulling a lot of odd stuff off my wish list to read.

I just did not enjoy the super serious tone to this and the jumping around. It was boring; there were so many opportunities to add some wit and humor in here given the subject matter, but it was written in such a dry and boring style.

It takes a bit to figure out the premise. The POV switches between many different people who are being interviewed by a mysterious woman and then to a marine biologist named Dr. Ha who has been requested to do some research on a corporate owned island. Dr. Ha has spent her life searching for cephalopod intelligence and DIANIMA has something curious they want her to study. The chapters alternate between Dr. Ha and random individuals who have had strange encounters.

There were some oddly intriguing things here. Dr. Ha is on the island with an AI, the only human-like AI ever made and the only one that will be made. The only other island dwellers are a woman who runs security and a bunch of robot Tibetan monks. This led me to think initially that I was going to like this story. It’s an oddly futuristic world but it’s never well explained. There are a lot of acronyms (like DIAMINA) that are never defined. Some of these acronyms are government, and some are corporations. As you get further in things are just way too simple and way too repetitive. We see the same things happen with random people over and over again. We see things happening with the hyper-intelligent octopus that are entirely predictable.

I didn’t enjoy the constant jumping around and felt like it made the story very disjointed. I also didn’t enjoy how dry this was; the dialogue feels stiff and the characters are underdeveloped. Given the subject matter there are so many opportunities for witty jokes or at least insightful and witty dialogue. This book tries to take itself too seriously. In the end, I was just bored and realized I was dreading reading anymore of this book, so I decided to move on to something else.

My Summary (2/5): Overall this started out promising but ended up not being for me. The story jumps around too much, is repetitive and boring, and just takes itself way too seriously. It is mildly interesting at the start but ends up being not at all entertaining. I think I put this on my wish list initially because it was listed on a list of books with Cthulhu vibes, I definitely didn’t get those sort of vibes from this book. Maybe you get more of those vibes as the story goes on. Naylor’s writing style just wasn’t for me; I like a bit more wit and entertainment in my stories to go with the crazy ideas.