The Mountain in the Sea - Ray Nayler - 2022







By: Ray Nayler

Narrated by: Eunice Wong

Length: 11 hrs and 5 mins

Unabridged Audiobook

Release date: 10-04-22

Categories: Science Fiction, Technothrillers

Language: English

Publisher: Macmillan Audio

Format: mp3 64/48 stereo







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



“I came to The Mountain in the Sea for the cephalopods (I love cephalopods) but I stayed for the fascinating meditation on consciousness and personhood. I loved this book.”—Ann Leckie, author of Ancillary Justice



“Ray Nayler has taken on the challenge of a near future that's less certain than ever, and made it gleam—not only with computer terminals and sentry drones (we love those, sure) but also polished coral and cephalopod eyes. From these pages, I got the sense of William Gibson, and Paolo Bacigalupi—and Donna Haraway, and Octavia Butler. This is a planetary science fiction, and a profound new kind of adventure, featuring—among so many other wonders—the best villain I’ve read in years. In the end, the enormity and possibility of this novel's vision shook tears loose. What a ride; what a feeling; what a future.”—Robin Sloan, author of Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore and Sourdough











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