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

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In the daylight the deserted town would be composed of scabrous, peeling pastel tones. Ficus trees, their trunks painted a fading white, lined streets scattered with vegetal debris—leaves, fallen branches, seedpods, and fruit. For once, a state of art research facility is not in Europe or in the US! Yay, we all remembered that rest of the world can do science in their native lands and thank you Ray Nayler for reminding that to people. I love that how Turkish language and culture played a part in the story. Evrim, the AI, got his/her/its name from Turkish and it means evolution as it was revealed in the book later.. Also like story says we have describe 3rd person with gender neutral "O", which would stopped me from saying "his/her/its" like I did above. Ray Nayler, you know how to describe a good kahvalti (breakfast) and Turkish coffee, and I couldn't appreciate you enough for that. On top of all of this, Istanbul being its own state?! :D This was like a very long introduction to a potentially further thriller. Not that was bad, but with that kind of sysnopsis, the reader has expectations which will not be fulfilled.

I’ve been fascinated by octopuses (yes, that is the correct plural form, feel free to @ me) ever since doing a report on them in a grad school level course I audited a number of years ago. The hexcopter swung into final descent. It twisted and settled with a lurch, indifferent to human comfort but efficient. The rotors cut off. The doors winged open.Anyway, the book has a highly appealing premise, but I would have liked a fewer POVs. For example, Eiko' story adds absolutely nothing to the main thread. There are (too) many musings, and info dump, and so much use of word "indiference" from all the characters. Yes, we get it, humans are a selfish species, and we should care a lot more about what and who surrounds us, but it is tiring to read about it every few paragraphs.

In broad terms, the story depicts humanity grappling with two, brand-new types of intelligence: technological intelligence, built by humans (a true AI in the form of the android), and evolved intelligence, in the form of the octopuses who, due to the destruction of their habitat and other stressors, have begun to form complex societies.La trama se desarrolla en un futuro indefinido pero relativamente cercano en el que la línea entre los estados nación y las corporaciones casi ha desaparecido y las aplicaciones de la inteligencia artificial son amplias y variadas. Le da mucha importancia en parte a lo que es la naturaleza de la conciencia, utilizando tanto la conciencia del pulpo o de los androides como espejos de nuestra propia humanidad y de lo que significa la conciencia. The plastic awning of the café streamed with rain. Under its shelter, wreathed in kitchen steam and human chatter, waiters wove between tables with steaming bowls of soup, glasses of iced coffee, and bottles of beer. I loved the ecological thread. The near-future-ed-ness of the story makes our current crisis seem both more dire, and more restorable.