I did enjoy Ray Nayler's science fiction novel The Mountain In The Sea (#1,135) because I've read a number of books, both fiction and nonfiction, about octopuses and found them very interesting, yet I didn't pass it along to my husband, an avid sci-fi fan.
Nayler's novel, placed in a not-too-distant future, relies so heavily on the neural network aspect of octopuses (and men and AI) that the plot of the novel seems to disappear totally at times. Are the octopuses found dwelling in a protected marine habitat off the coast of Vietnam the enemy of man, or not? The multi-billion dollar corporations and governments vying to control and/or destroy them seem to think so. The researcher sent to the island, Ha Nguyen, is determined to communicate with them. Who will succeed in the struggle for total domination? Unclear to me, but I did like the idea that such an octopus population might be possible...
Probably not a book for every reader, but worth a look.
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