The Mountain in the Sea

While I didn't dislike this book, I'm not sure why so many highly recommend it. Like so many authors, Nayler delivers a prediction and a warning about a future collapse of Earth's ecosystem, zeroing in mainly on the destruction of the Earth's ocean life. It is a world of fully developed AI and ruthless corporate/scientific machinations. In Southeast Asia a protective area has been set aside after an intelligent species of octopus is discovered to be creating its own form of civilization in that area. Split into three separate storylines, it can be somewhat hard to follow any connection between them until the very end. While the interaction with the octopi is the most interesting aspect of the story, it is disappointing that this aspect is not covered nearly enough. Subject matter of the book also considers the problem of finding a mode of communication between humanity and any form of possible future alien intelligence.