I have heard the theory that the octopus is actually an alien species – something about their DNA, and their uniqueness in both the deep sea and really anywhere else on Earth. I have fallen asleep to the documentary My Octopus Teacher a few times (one of these days I’ll make it all the way through!). I generally believe that there’s likely to be another species out there, somewhere (whether galaxies away or hidden in the depths of our oceans) that has a similar intelligence to humans. That makes Ray Nayler’s debut novel at least plausible to me. Set in the the near-ish future and told from multiple viewpoints, The Mountain in the Sea is a novel about extrahuman intelligence and what that might mean (good or bad) for humanity.
The structure of the book consists of several story threads that ultimately intersect. One storyline follows Dr. Ha Nguyen, a marine biologist who accepts a dangerous job on a remote island, the Con Dao Archipelago, because of the very real possibility that they have discovered a group of octopuses with language, culture, and a willingness to defend their environment. The octopuses are of interest to science generally because – well, science. But also they are specifically of interest to the shady DIANIMA corporation, whose technological developments have been transforming society. In particular, DIANIMA is interested in the concept of consciousness – in the world of this novel, there are many nearly-sentient robots performing a variety of functions, from sailing ships to therapeutic relationships. The pinnacle of DIANIMA’s work is a being named Evrim, who is a conscious robot engineered by Dr. Arnkatia Minervudottir-Chan, the head of DIANIMA. Dr. Nguyen is concerned that DIANIMA’s motives for studying the octopuses might not be strictly above-board scientific interest – and, of course, she’s right.
Another storyline follows a sort of hacker / mercenary named Rustem who has been hired by an anonymous source to deploy his specialty – mapping the minds of systems or the semi-conscious robots who are everywhere in their society – to essentially find the flaw and shut them down. When he accepts the job, it is with a little trepidation and it’s clear that it’s absurdly difficult – but when people around him start getting killed, he begins to have suspicions about who hired him and their ultimate purpose.
The third storyline follows Eiko – he believed he was leaving Japan to work with DIANIMA, but he was essentially kidnapped into slavery on a robot-powered fishing boat. The fishing boat is the stuff of nightmares – the guards on the boat are human, but the being with real power is the ship itself, powered by software that has one clear directive – to generate fish and profits – and will stop at nothing, including starving the workers on board for unwanted behavior. People are routinely beaten, diseases are left untreated, and humans are only cared for when it seems as though they can make a profit. Not only do they treat people on board as mere pawn to make money, they have no respect for the environment itself – they are far more concerned with maximizing access to fish, and not at all concerned about the ecological impacts of over-fishing.
These story lines eventually come together – though we spend most of the time with Dr. Nguyen. Each of the three characters has a satisfying story arc. The book often has a sort of cinematic feel to it – I can easily see this as a Netflix series. It was literary, and slightly philosophical, but not preachy. It’s not a five star book for me (I actually like them a little more literary and even preachy) but I think it was very good and I could definitely see this really hitting it out of the park for those who enjoy Westworld-esque science fiction.
