3.5
All That We See or Seem
ByPublisher Description
Award-winning author Ken Liu returns with his first scifi thriller in a brand-new series following former “orphan hacker” Julia Z as she is thrust into a high-stakes adventure where she must use her AI-whispering skills to unravel a virtual reality mystery, rescue a kidnapped dream artist, and confront the blurred lines between technology, selfhood, and the power of shared dreams.
Julia Z, a young woman who gained notoriety at fourteen as the “orphan hacker,” is trying to live a life of digital obscurity in a quiet Boston suburb.
But when a lawyer named Piers—whose famous artist wife, Elli, has been kidnapped by dangerous criminals—barges into her life, Julia decides to put the solitary life she has painstakingly created at risk as she can’t walk away from helping Piers and Elli, nor step away from the challenge of this digital puzzle. Elli is an oneirofex, a dream artist, who can weave the dreams of an audience together through a shared virtual landscape, live, in a concert-like experience by tapping into each attendee’s memories and providing an emotionally resonant narrative experience. While these collective dreams are anonymous, Julia discovers that Elli was also dreaming one-on-one with the head of an international criminal enterprise, and he’s demanding the return of his dreams in exchange for Elli.
Unraveling the real and unreal leads Julia on an adventure that takes her across the country and deep into the shadows of her psyche.
Julia Z, a young woman who gained notoriety at fourteen as the “orphan hacker,” is trying to live a life of digital obscurity in a quiet Boston suburb.
But when a lawyer named Piers—whose famous artist wife, Elli, has been kidnapped by dangerous criminals—barges into her life, Julia decides to put the solitary life she has painstakingly created at risk as she can’t walk away from helping Piers and Elli, nor step away from the challenge of this digital puzzle. Elli is an oneirofex, a dream artist, who can weave the dreams of an audience together through a shared virtual landscape, live, in a concert-like experience by tapping into each attendee’s memories and providing an emotionally resonant narrative experience. While these collective dreams are anonymous, Julia discovers that Elli was also dreaming one-on-one with the head of an international criminal enterprise, and he’s demanding the return of his dreams in exchange for Elli.
Unraveling the real and unreal leads Julia on an adventure that takes her across the country and deep into the shadows of her psyche.
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Meet readers like you in the Fable For You feed, designed to build bookish communitiesAll That We See or Seem Reviews
3.5
Alec Thornburg
Created 2 days agoShare
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“If you only know Ken Liu from his work of Translations of contemporary Chinese sci-fi or his Silkpunk novels- the grace of kings this book may appear to be a departure from his standard fare, however if you know Liu from his work on Pantheon or Love Death and Robots this novel will very much feel like a continuation of some of the ideas and concepts he wrestles with in those previous works. From my point of view this book looks to modernize the pulp P.I novels (that in the modern age have worked to romanticize the Transatlantic accented dames and gruff detectives of the 30's-40's) and instead flips the tropes of genre on their head instead of an art deco eras past still glimpsed today past it sets us up in near future with a grounded theoretical technology we are seeing the first glimmer in today's world. the character we follow has a completely different skill set from what we expect when we think private detective but the reality that is quickly becoming true and will be ever more so is that a former hacker with computer forensic skills are the detectives of the modern era, and that regardless of physically ability or gender becomes the damsel in distress in this ever evolving digital landscape, as embodied by the dame our P.I finds herself paired with...a middle aged lawyer, loyal husband, and technologically adverse man who brings to the table skills our somewhat socially inept protagonist lacks. I appreciate what Mr.Liu attempted with this novel and hope his next is novel set in this universe refines what he started here and it can become a detective novel series for our modern era.”
DebDebDeb
Created 4 days agoShare
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tinycl0ud
Created 4 days agoShare
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“I avoided any and all spoilers because ratings were mixed and I wanted to see for myself why there wasn't as much praise as I expected. Now that I'm done, I don't get the hate. I'm not sure what there is to dislike strongly. The futuristic world presented reminded me a lot of 'Cyber Mage' by Saad Z Hossain (it's good!) and the technological developments are plausible, given the current climate. In fact, I was surprised by how apolitical the novel was, no veiled caricatures of our IRL villains and it had a neutral stance on the ethics of AI use. Which is why I don't think it's that serious. This novel is not interested in preaching/condemning as it is exploring what our future could look like. It's kind of a hellhole.
I found the plot very imaginative (within a formula that you would be used to if you've read the Dandelion Dynasty series—gadgets and gizmos a plenty, clever characters who explain the mechanisms to their more ordinary sidekicks) and often funny. The villains are almost cartoonish. Violence is latent, recounted or menacingly hinted at, with the physically violent scenes happening behind closed doors or summed up into one line. Safe for teens and accessible for anyone who is online enough. I can imagine gobbling this up if I were half my age.
My main takeaway is that even when humans have technology so advanced it's akin to magic, humanity persists in people and in their creations, the good and the bad. It makes sense that human-based products and services would increase in value when facsimiles become commonplace, and it also makes sense that so long there is a premium on human output, there will be some Finance Bro trying to exploit the poor and vulnerable. I was also tickled by how everyone seems to be living in a different genre. Julia is living in a detective/spy film, the Prince in a biopic, Victor in a buddy comedy, Piers in an action thriller, and Elli probably in something A24.”
Dave Landry
Created 5 days agoShare
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“A great read. Set in a very modern setting and a great cautionary tale.”
About Ken Liu
Ken Liu is an award-winning American author of speculative fiction. His collection, The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories, has been published in more than a dozen languages. Liu’s other works include The Grace of Kings, The Wall of Storms, The Veiled Throne, a second collection The Hidden Girl and Other Stories, and the forthcoming Julia Z series. He has been involved in multiple media adaptations of his work, including the short story “Good Hunting,” adapted as an episode in Netflix’s animated series Love, Death + Robots; and AMC’s Pantheon, adapted from an interconnected series of short stories. “The Hidden Girl,” “The Message,” and “The Oracle” have also been optioned for development. Liu previously worked as a software engineer, corporate lawyer, and litigation consultant. He frequently speaks at conferences and universities on topics including futurism, machine-augmented creativity, the history of technology, and the value of storytelling. Liu lives with his family near Boston, Massachusetts.
Other books by Ken Liu
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