As an avid reader of dystopian fiction, I have read two books in this genre I would call completely unique. “Mountain in the Sea” by Ray Nayler is one of them. I have since heard this book referred to as the one true eco-punk novel, and I could not agree more. The novel asks what good is interspecies communication if we ourselves cannot communicate.
Set in the future, just as truly artificial intelligence has been invented in the form of Evrim, an android created by DIANIMA CEO, Dr. Arnkatla Mínervudóttir-Chan, a species of octopuses with their own language and culture is discovered. In order to kill the octopuses and map their brains to give her next invention a competitive edge, the CEO buys the Con Dao Archipelago. Hired by Dr. Mínervudóttir-Chan, marine biologist Dr. Ha Nguyen begins looking for the cephalopods, who resist discovery and grow violent. Still, DIANIMA pressures Dr. Nguyen to keep searching.
Across the ocean, Eiko, who was kidnapped and brought onto an AI-captained fish dredging boat, has become a victim of modern-day slavery. After revolting and killing the humans on the boat, Eiko and the AI keep the boat moving toward the Con Dao Archipelago in search of the remaining fish. The archipelago, however, is protected by a security agent who is ordered to protect Con Dao’s waters at all costs. Driven solely by profit, the ship moves for Con Dao on a path toward certain destruction.
The true dystopia of this novel is not the setting but how possible everything feels. We already have plenty of CEOs willing to put the environment at risk to chase profit. Replace Dr. Mínervudóttir-Chan with any tech billionaire, and there is a headline instead of a work of science fiction. What unnerves me is how plausible the events seem if we ever discover other sentient life. “Mountain in the Sea” reflects modern-day issues and growing trends, pointing to a possible near future that we should hope to avoid.