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The Mountain in the Sea: A Novel Audiobook
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Publisher Description
“Eunice Wong’s measured pacing and mellow tones perfectly complement Nayler’s provocative exploration of memory, minds, and consciousness.” - Booklist "The theme of the nature of consciousness is equal parts intriguing, thrilling, and eerie. Best of all, it's always compellingly narrated, making for a performance that's difficult to pause."- AudioFile Magazine 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.
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"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 afuture."
— Robin Sloan, author of Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore and Sourdough
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“I could never quite get my head around the so-called hard problem of consciousness…It wasn’t until I read Ray Nayler’s The Mountain in the Sea that I truly understood it in my bones.”
— New Scientist -
“As entertaining as it is intellectually rigorous, this taut exploration of human―and inhuman―consciousness is a knockout.”
— Publishers Weekly (starred review) -
“Equal parts intriguing, thrilling, and eerie. Best of all, it’s always compellingly narrated, making for a performance that’s difficult to pause.”
— AudioFile -
"Exciting, cerebral, and surprisingly compassionate, The Mountain in the Sea shines a light on the importance of our fragile ecosystem. Read this riveting novel if you love fresh takes on science fiction or you’re just fascinated by the mysteries of nature.
— Apple Books Review -
Nayler’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 -
Less a science-fiction adventure than a meditation on consciousness and self-awareness, the limitations of human language, and the reasons for those limitations, the novel teaches as it engages.
— Kirkus 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 -
The Mountain in the Sea is a first-rate speculative thriller, by turns fascinating, brutal, powerful, and redemptive. The book poses profound questions about artificial and nonhuman intelligence, and its answers are tantalizing and provocative.
— Jeff VanderMeer, author of Annihilation -
I loved this novel’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 -
The Mountain in the Sea is a wildly original, gorgeously written, unputdownable gem of a novel. Ray Nayler is one of the most exciting new voices I’ve read in years.
— Blake Crouch, author of Upgrade and Dark Matter
Awards
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An AudioFile Editors’ Pick of the Month
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Finalist for the Nebula Award
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Finalist for the Los Angeles Times Ray Bradbury Award
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A New York Times Book Review pick of Best Books Now in Paperback
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An Amazon Editor’s Top Pick in Science Fiction & Fantasy
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A Barnes & Noble Pick of the Month
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Among longlisted titles for Slate Book Review Best Books of the Year, 2022
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Winner of Locus Awards - Winner, 2023
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Among shortlisted titles for Nebula Awards - Nominee, 2023
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About Ray Nayler
Ray Nayler is the author of critically acclaimed short fiction published in many magazines and anthologies, including The Very Best of the Best: 35 Years of The Year’s Best Science Fiction. For many years, he has lived and worked outside the United States in the Foreign Service and the Peace Corps.
About Eunice Wong
Eunice Wong is a classically trained actor who works extensively in professional theaters across the United States and in New York City, as well as having appeared on HBO, NBC, ABC, Comedy Central, and in various independent films. Eunice is a graduate of the Juilliard School Drama Division Actor Training Program and has also studied piano and singing at the Royal Conservatory of Music of Toronto. A first-generation Chinese Canadian, born in Toronto to Eric and Eleanor Wong, who immigrated to Canada from Hong Kong, Eunice grew up with her brother Eugene in Toronto and thanks her family for their constant love and support.