A picture of my copy of "The Mountain in the Sea."
This week will be a little different. I have been super busy going to work full time and school part time. I haven’t been able to read as much as I have wanted to, so this week my blog will only review half the book.
What is the book about?
What does it mean to be alive? In the book The Mountain in the Sea one of the discussion points are about if AI and Octopuses are alive and have a true consciousness. Dr. Ha Nguyen is a marine biologist who traveled to work for a transnational tech corporation called DIANIMA. She is about to make a breakthrough discovery with the worlds first android and a battle-scarred security agent. Will they be able to make it before the elements of discovery fall apart?
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I read outside one of the days because it was warm, although it was a bit windy.
What do I like so far?
One of my favorite things so far are the parts with the macaroon. They take place in the beginning of the book. Ha gave Altantsetseg (the battle-scared security agent) and Evrim (the android) a macaroon. Well she set Altantsetseg’s one on the table and walked out and gave Evrim’s theirs. Evrim seems super happy to receive the gift. A few chapters later Altantsetseg tells Evrim to surrender his macaroon because he is a robot and can’t eat it. They refuse to give it because it is a gift and they enjoy looking at it. Altantsetseg says that she will pilfer it. A few more chapters later Evrim says that Altantsetseg did take the macaroon. This shows that Altantsetseg did eat the macaroon and liked it although in the beginning it seemed that she did not want to try it. It reminds me of that episode of Spongebob Squarepants where Squidward tries the Krabby Patty for the first time. It shows us that Altantsetseg is a grumpy sunshine character because she is slowly warming up to them and grumpy sunshine characters are one of my favorites.
I also like that there are multiple parts to the story and it isn’t just following Ha. It also fallows two other main characters named Rustem and Eiko. Rustem is a hacker who is trying to break into or figure out how someone’s consciousness works. Eiko was kidnapped and is on an AI fishing boat, trying to figure out how to escape. There are also a few side characters too. Before each chapter there is a quote from either Dr. Ha Nguyen or Dr. Arnkatla Mínervudóttir-Chan from their books talking about octopuses or consciousness and it allows us to understand them and see how different they are. They also foreshadow some of the book, the side stories foreshadow the book too and everything is somehow connected.
Where I was at in my book and an ecample of one of the quotes.
What are my Predictions?
I don’t really have too many predictions. I mostly think that DIANIMA will end up becoming a bad company. I think that Rustem will end up figuring out how Evrim’s brain works. I think the company that Rustem works for will kill Evrim or try to make another one of them and they will betray Rustem and kill him. I think that Eiko’s boat will end up getting too close to the DIANIMA territory and Altantsetseg will have to destroy it. Eiko might escape and somehow meet up with Ha and realize they grew up together. Will any of my predictions come true?
What Do I think so far?
So far I am really enjoying the book. I am not used to reading a Sci-Fi book, so that and it being all third person and switching from different characters is interesting, especially since the chapter titles are numbers and not character names. Overall I really like the book and how it has science, thriller and humor all in one. There is great imagery and foreshadowing throughout. It keeping me on the edge of my seat.