The Mountain in the Sea: Winner of the Locus Best First Novel Award

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One day, they can no longer deny the existance of another intelligent species on this planet, however: octopuses. What struck me about The Mountain in the Sea is how it speaks to the current zeitgeist moment where AI has exploded onto the scene. Hay un tema subyacente del poder de todos estos diferentes tipos de conciencia y si buscan establecer comunidad, conexión o el dominio y la dominación. This is all about the nature of consciousness, using both the octopus consciousness and the android Evrim as mirrors to our own humanity and what consciousness means there.

Some mysterious characters wear “identity shields”, obscuring their real faces with changing electronic ones, to avoid ubiquitous surveillance. It can be confusing to read at times, and that’s not to speak of the fact that a character is introduced at the very beginning of the work that we never hear from again. I kept stopping to muse about what was just said, and I am looking forward to recommending it to my science fiction book group so that I will have an excuse to read it again. As introduced to us, the scientist is a recluse, the android is socio-political exile, and the octopuses are a local myth. I cannot put my finger on exact thing that kept me in this story and made me finish in one sitting, but I think whole idea of sense and awareness played a big role.When a book affects my emotions and stimulates my mind on a number of levels, I have to wait a few days before reviewing it, as new insights and synchronicities surface upon further reflection. This was a story told in three points of view; firstly that of Ha Nyugen, scientist on a mission to study some unique marine life off the coast of an island steeped in lore and mystery. However, the more cerebral parts dealing with the limits of human language and the reasons behind it thrilled me. Thus, if you’re a fan of quality science fiction, you might come to appreciate the work that has gone into the world-building and makeup of The Mountain in the Sea. While this sort of ‘first contact’ is used to examine philosophical concepts such as consciousness, the same themes are simultaneously put to the test through the human interactions with varying levels of technology: drones, AI, and Evrim.

The blurb says this is supposed to take place in the near future and it reads like it too; I would’ve guessed 50-100 years in the future max. Una muy buena lectura en una época en el que la CF para mi no está brillando demasiado no por calidad, sino por cantidad. Publication dates are subject to change (although this is an extremely uncommon occurrence overall). It just so happens that the "alien" species is a newly discovered, hyper-evolved community of octopi living in an archipelago off of Vietnam who are displaying a newly developed use of language. Hotjar sets this cookie to know whether a user is included in the data sampling defined by the site's daily session limit.Despite these caveats, the characters were interesting and well-developed, particularly the villain, a militant environmental protection group, very much anti-humanity and that's why I kept reading. Payments made using National Book Tokens are processed by National Book Tokens Ltd, and you can read their Terms and Conditions here. Mientras Ha y sus compañeros investigadores trabajan para comprender a estos pulpos, se vuelven temerosos por la pequeña población cuando Dianima y el mundo descubren su existencia.