Weird reading experience for me since I was slipping in and out of fever dreams. Reminded me of Solaris quite a bit, which is a good thing. I want to reread immediately now that I understand things a bit better, but I'll probably return it to the library since it's got a long wait list. Also appreciated the homage to Rachel Carson. Anyway, it was basically everything I would want in a book, but I was a bit confused sometimes, likely due to my sick state. ( )

A researcher and an android study the sea monsters on an island in an archipelago purchased by an AI conglomerate that evacuated all prior inhabitants who were not respecting its protected status as a sea life refuge.
One young man is kidnapped to become a slave on an automated fishing factory ship, and another young man is given the job of hacking an AI beyond anything he's seen before.
The characters are interesting if not compelling and the action moves right along. The stakes are realistic, though the body count get very high. ( )

Series Info/Source: This is a stand alone book. I borrowed this on ebook from the library.

Thoughts: When I read the first chapter of this book, I immediately thought this was going to be an interesting read. Sadly it went downhill from there and I ended up DNFing this at about 30% of the way in. I feel like I've been DNFing a lot of books lately but that may be because I am pulling a lot of odd stuff off my wish list to read.

I just did not enjoy the super serious tone to this and the jumping around. It was boring; there were so many opportunities to add some wit and humor in here given the subject matter, but it was written in such a dry and boring style.

It takes a bit to figure out the premise. The POV switches between many different people who are being interviewed by a mysterious woman and then to a marine biologist named Dr. Ha who has been requested to do some research on a corporate owned island. Dr. Ha has spent her life searching for cephalopod intelligence and DIANIMA has something curious they want her to study. The chapters alternate between Dr. Ha and random individuals who have had strange encounters.

There were some oddly intriguing things here. Dr. Ha is on the island with an AI, the only human-like AI ever made and the only one that will be made. The only other island dwellers are a woman who runs security and a bunch of robot Tibetan monks. This led me to think initially that I was going to like this story. It's an oddly futuristic world but it's never well explained. There are a lot of acronyms (like DIAMINA) that are never defined. Some of these acronyms are government, and some are corporations. As you get further in things are just way too simple and way too repetitive. We see the same things happen with random people over and over again. We see things happening with the hyper-intelligent octopus that are entirely predictable.

I didn't enjoy the constant jumping around and felt like it made the story very disjointed. I also didn't enjoy how dry this was; the dialogue feels stiff and the characters are underdeveloped. Given the subject matter there are so many opportunities for witty jokes or at least insightful and witty dialogue. This book tries to take itself too seriously. In the end, I was just bored and realized I was dreading reading anymore of this book, so I decided to move on to something else.

My Summary (2/5): Overall this started out promising but ended up not being for me. The story jumps around too much, is repetitive and boring, and just takes itself way too seriously. It is mildly interesting at the start but ends up being not at all entertaining. I think I put this on my wish list initially because it was listed on a list of books with Cthulhu vibes, I definitely didn't get those sort of vibes from this book. Maybe you get more of those vibes as the story goes on. Naylor's writing style just wasn't for me; I like a bit more wit and entertainment in my stories to go with the crazy ideas. ( )

for group: Beyond Reality
July 2023
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I wonder if the author read [b:War with the Newts|816440|War with the Newts|Karel Čapek|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1328766079l/816440._SY75_.jpg|1469484], the (mostly satirical) classic by [a:Karel Čapek|439723|Karel Čapek|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1208185188p2/439723.jpg]. If not, he should, and you might want to also.

I'm trying to read this as a First Contact novel, but it's paced a lot like [b:Contact|61666|Contact|Carl Sagan|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1602082958l/61666._SY75_.jpg|2416056]. Lots of interesting info-dumps disguised as conversations. Over halfway no real contact from the Other Intelligence yet... I hope we get more than we did in Sagan's novel.

But don't miss the decoration on the ends of pages opposite the spine, apparently called the "fore edge." If you have an ebook I doubt that you can see it.
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Ok done. I love the ideas and the themes. So many themes. Not enough aliens, though, as I predicted. Good ending, but not quite as satisfying as it could have been.
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Bookdarts:

I want a .5. Like a google assistant, a bit, but really an imitation friend. The drawback being it's like an imaginary friend, offering nothing of its own to one, needing nothing from one. But I still want one. Even though Ha was smart enough to know she needs real live friends to offer 'resistance.'

I will go look for videos showing octopuses' camouflaging abilities. It's important to the story that they can change color and pattern swiftly and convincingly. (Even if the author exaggerated, the themes hold true, however.)

"What we fear isn't that AI will destroy us- we fear it won't. We fear we will continue to degrade life on this planet until we destroy ourselves. And we will have no one to blame for what we have done but ourselves."

"Are we trapped, then, in the world our language makes for us, unable to see beyond the boundaries of it?" Anyone who has felt empathy has felt "identity with perspectives outside our own. The liberating, sympathetic vibrations of fellow-feeling. Only those incapable of empathy are truly caged."

"That's the thing about humans- we think everything is about us. We attribute everything to our own actions." (Including the idea that our pressure [from overfishing, etc.] caused the octopuses to evolve to sapience.)

I really enjoyed this book. It is long, but still I sighed when it was over, wanting more. ( )

Me ha gustado mucho. Ciencia ficción tranquila pero que no aburre y que invita a la reflexión. Sólo le ha faltado más intensidad y fuerza al final. ( )