{"product_id":"the-mountain-in-the-sea-9781399600484","title":"The Mountain in the Sea","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e''I loved this novel''s  brain and heart''\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eDAVID MITCHELL, AUTHOR OF \u003ci\u003eCLOUD ATLAS\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e''A first-rate speculative thriller, by turns fascinating, brutal,  powerful, and redemptive''\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eJEFF VANDERMEER, AUTHOR OF \u003ci\u003eANNIHILATION\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThere are creatures in the water of Con Dao.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003ci\u003eTo the locals, they''re monsters.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003ci\u003eTo the corporate owners of the island, an opportunity.  \u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003ci\u003eTo the team of three sent to study them, a revelation.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003ci\u003eTheir minds are unlike ours.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003ci\u003eTheir bodies are malleable, transformable, shifting.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003ci\u003eThey can communicate.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eAnd they want us to leave.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e When pioneering marine biologist Dr. Ha Nguyen is offered the chance to travel to the remote Con Dao Archipelago to investigate a highly intelligent, dangerous octopus species, she doesn''t pause long enough to look at the fine print. DIANIMA - a transnational tech corporation best known for its grou\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eI loved this novel\u003c\/b\u003e's brain and heart, its hidden traps, sheer propulsion, ingenious world-building and the purity of its commitment to luminous ideas. * David Mitchell, author of CLOUD ATLAS *\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Mountain in the Sea\u003c\/i\u003e  is \u003cb\u003ea first-rate speculative thriller\u003c\/b\u003e, by turns \u003cb\u003efascinating, brutal,  powerful, and redemptive\u003c\/b\u003e. The book poses profound questions about  artificial and nonhuman intelligence, and its answers are tantalizing  and provocative. * Jeff VanderMeer, author of ANNIHILATION *\u003cbr\u003eFull disclosure: in all my years as a science journalist, I could never quite get my head around the so-called hard problem of consciousness. I could recite the theories, but\u003cb\u003e it wasn't until I read Ray Nayler's The Mountain in the Sea that I truly understood it in my bones\u003c\/b\u003e. This book has many layers. It has \u003cb\u003ethe clothes of a futuristic eco-punk or cyberpunk thriller, the guts of a philosophy seminar and the soul of a religious tract.\u003c\/b\u003e -- Sally Adee * NEW SCIENTIST *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eA novel of ideas\u003c\/b\u003e... [a] \u003cb\u003ecerebral \u003c\/b\u003ebut not self-satisfied book that also features welcome episodes of comic relief and \u003cb\u003etightly choreographed action\u003c\/b\u003e... It is \u003cb\u003esuccessful entertainment as well as a warning\u003c\/b\u003e.' -- Steven Poole * GUARDIAN, Book of the Day *\u003cbr\u003eRay  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. \u003cb\u003eWhat a ride; what a feeling; what a future\u003c\/b\u003e. * Robin Sloan, author of Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eA wildly original, gorgeously written, unputdownable gem of a novel\u003c\/b\u003e. Nayler is one of the most exciting new voices i've read in years. * Blake Crouch, author of DARK MATTER *\u003cbr\u003eWith a thriller heart and a sci-fi head, \u003ci\u003eThe Mountain in the Sea\u003c\/i\u003e  delivers a spooky smart read. Artificial intelligence, nascent animal  sentience, murderous flying drones: \u003cb\u003elike the best of Gibson or Atwood,  it brings all of the plot without forgetting the bigger questions of  consciousness, ecocide, and scientific progress\u003c\/b\u003e. Truly a one-of-a-kind  story. * Kawai Strong Washburn, author of SHARKS IN THE TIME OF SAVIORS *\u003cbr\u003eI came to \u003ci\u003eThe Mountain in the Sea\u003c\/i\u003e for the cephalopds (I love cephalopods) but I stayed for the fascinating meditation on consciousness and personhood. \u003cb\u003eI loved this book\u003c\/b\u003e. * Ann Leckie *\u003cbr\u003eNayler's debut is in equal parts \u003cb\u003epage-turning\u003c\/b\u003e near-future thriller and a \u003cb\u003eprofound \u003c\/b\u003eexploration of language, communication and otherness... \u003cb\u003eexhilarating and kaleidoscopic.\u003c\/b\u003e -- Jay Owens * NEW HUMANIST *\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Mountain in the Sea\u003c\/i\u003e is \u003cb\u003eintelligent, ambitious and thought-provoking\u003c\/b\u003e. . . For its \u003cb\u003ethoughtful depth\u003c\/b\u003e, its dealing with big ideas such as the manner and matter of intelligence and communication and its education about the oceans, it is\u003cb\u003e very, very good\u003c\/b\u003e. -- Mark Yon * SFF WORLD *\u003cbr\u003eAn \u003cb\u003eaction thriller\u003c\/b\u003e with profound consequences. \u003cb\u003eGroundbreaking stuff.\u003c\/b\u003e -- Doug Johnstone * THE BIG ISSUE *\u003cbr\u003eA high tide of ideas and emotion. A compelling vision of other minds sharing our world - a vision you will long to be true * Stephen Baxter *\u003cbr\u003e[A] brilliantly clever and compelling thriller. * PRESS ASSOCIATION syndicated to regional press *\u003cbr\u003eReaders of Peter Godfrey-Smith's Other Minds and Eduardo Kohn's How Forests Think will delight in an Anthropocene adventure that brings their ideas so vividly to life. -- Richard Lea * TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT *\u003cbr\u003eBoth a profound meditation on the way human actions are affecting the world we live in... but also a breathless thriller and a perfect example of world building, this is a breakthrough novel which I expect to have a major impact over years to come. -- Maxim Jakubowski * CRIME TIME *\u003cbr\u003eThis is a tour de force in showing how well fiction can explore society's challenges and problems. It also is a delight that, while asking difficult questions, the author offers some hope for humankind, and redemptive joy in the struggles involved in facing our environmental battles. -- Graeme Gourlay * DIVE MAGAZINE *\u003cbr\u003eA hugely accomplished debut. -- Natalie Xenos * CULTUREFLY *\u003cbr\u003eNayler'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 *\u003cbr\u003eLess a science fiction adventure than a meditation on conscioussness and self-awareness, the limitations of human language, and the reasons for those limitation, the novel teaches as it engages * Kirkus Reviews *\u003cbr\u003eThis compelling debut is impossible to put down, a delightful embroidery of the rush of scientific discovery and the pain of isolation, asking hard questions about what society is and what it means to truly understand another creature * Booklist, starred review *\u003cbr\u003eExceedingly ambitious . . . [This]  is a novel that is alert, intelligent, open * New York Times *\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Orion Publishing Co","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48738901721431,"sku":"9781399600484","price":9.49,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9781399600484.jpg?v=1720050534","url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/the-mountain-in-the-sea-9781399600484","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}