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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
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“As entertaining as it is intellectually rigorous, this taut exploration of human―and inhuman―consciousness is a knockout.”
— Publishers Weekly (starred review)
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“Equal parts intriguing, thrilling, and eerie. Best of all, it’s always compellingly narrated, making for a performance that’s difficult to pause.”
— AudioFile
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"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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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