I tend to enjoy science fiction books that have a strong emphasis on the nature of (non-human) conciousness and other, similarly 'scientific', first contact-stories. So The Mountain in the Sea, with its promise of a story about communicating with other, terrestrial, sentient species seemed like it would be just my cup of tea. While I still enjoyed the book, I found that it wasn't as satisfying as I had hoped.
This is all down to the nature of the story itself. Nayler is a good writer and the book began promisingly (if with a little too much of a gritty, military bent), with a scientist arriving at a deserted island to begin studying reports of sentient cephalopods in the seas off the coast. The excerpts from fictional books that proceed each chapter, and the early introduction of a sentient android who thinks quite differently to the human characters, showed that Nayler had put lots of thought into how non-human organisms would think and perceive the world and promised good things to come.
Unfortunately, the book seemed to change direction quite early on and, for most of its length, was primarily concerned with the experiences of various, loosely connected characters; whose lives had all been impacted by the same ongoing ecological disasters that might have triggered the evolution of the octopuses in the first place. What should have (in my opinion) been a backdrop to the story of first contact happening on the islands, ended up taking centre stage, with the fascinating aspects of biology and communication relegated to a small number of - quite brief - chapters.
The human impacts of unchecked climate change and the accompanying ecological collapse can, and have, made good stories, and Nayler's tale was a gripping one; the AI controlled and slave crewed fishing ships trawling the ocean for the last of the world's dwindling fish stocks are an altogether frightening prospect because of their very believability. Science fiction stories about oppressed people are not at all uncommon, however, whereas really good stories about first contact and alien conciousnesses are altogether far too rare. Just like my complaints regarding Semiosis by Sue Burke, I would have enjoyed the book far more if it had emphasised different aspects of the story.
The Mountain in the Sea is an okay science fiction novel, I just can't quite help feel that it narrowly missed being a truly exceptional science fiction novel.
