Review: The Mountain in the Sea, by Ray Nayler

Ray Nayler’s The Mountain in the Sea is a stunning work of science fiction, which – unlike other underwater adventures – pays proper attention to the details of scuba diving

A group of octopuses make a vast evolutionary leap and develop a recordable language. Helped by a conscious robot, a leading marine biologist is being either used to save or exploit the highly intelligent cephalopods.

Humans are traded to work as slaves on AI-run industrial trawlers pillaging the last vestiges of marine life. Genius hackers are murdered as rivals probe governments and corporations vying to control the world’s diminishing resources.

These are the threads of this dystopian thriller that at times weave together, but mostly run their own course and build to a complex and gripping whole.

What is outstanding in this much-praised debut novel is not so much the clever and often page-turning action but the profound and provocative questions Nayler asks about big subjects, such as consciousness, artificial intelligence, the uses of technology, protecting and conserving our planet, and communication between species.

The author clearly has enjoyed non-fiction books such as Other Minds by Peter Godfrey-Smith, dealing with octopus intelligence, and he has had hands-on experience working in marine conservation in Southeast Asia.

Nayler, a former international advisor to the USA’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) on marine sanctuaries, knows his stuff. He also has the gift of making demanding abstract ideas come alive on the page.

This 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.

As you would expect from such a gifted writer, he captures the experience of diving, being underwater, and encountering beautiful but alien species, better than any other author. No breathing oxygen and wearing flippers, here.

At last, a well-written novel that includes diving which isn’t clichéd tosh. I can’t wait for the film.