All That We See or Seem

By: Ken Liu

Narrated by: Kat Cleave

Hugo, Nebula, and World Fantasy Award–winning author Ken Liu's first sci-fi thriller, his most commercial, accessible, and action-packed outing yet.

Julia Z, a young woman who gained notoriety at 14 as the "orphan hacker," is trying to live a life of digital obscurity in a 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 recreated 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 onierofex, 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 waking dream and providing an emotionally resonant and narrative experience. While attendees’ dreams are anonymous, Julia discovers that Elli was also providing a one-on-one dream experience for the head of an international criminal enterprise, and he’s demanding his dreams in return for Elli.

Unraveling the real and unreal will lead Julia on an adventure that will take her across the country and deep into the shadows of her psyche. This is the first in a near-future science fiction thriller series.

Critic reviews

"Kat Cleave grips listeners as she portrays Julia, a no-nonsense rebel, hacker, and off-the-grid survivor. When Julia is forced to abandon what she most values—her privacy—Cleave brings her dangerous world of cybercrime and surveillance to life. In giving only select characters distinct voices, Cleave shows listeners just who matters in this story. Myriad characters who stumble into Julia’s life are not all important. But those like the villainous Prince, whose evil cannot be understated, are portrayed clearly. The audiobook’s determined pace is maintained whether there’s tension, a technical explanation, or a rare moment of emotional vulnerability. Kat Cleave’s performance propels listeners into a computerized future, leaving no one behind."

Fascinating protagonist, dystopian vision of an AI enhanced future, and attention to verisimilitude.

The story unfolds in the near future as our augmented reality is shaped by AI. But the old forces of idealism, greed, and revenge continue to battle. The book is very cinematic and has lots of twists and turns that keep you on the edge of your seat.

Captivating, Great Charaters, and Believable World!

Love love love the story and the characters! The portrait of both the technologies and behaviors of all characters are so believable. The theme and social phenomena depicted in the story are spot on: privacy issues, digital crimes, personal AI, new art form in the lonely gen-AI era…. Listening to the thinking process of the bad guys, I thought oh my god that’s totally how someone like him would project his values onto other people. And the story was so thrilling and have multiple memorable turns. I felt like watching a movie when listening to it, and I pray that this book will be adapted for the big screen soon! Highly recommend to sci-fi lovers and who want to learn how the real world would be like (some of it are already true, saying this as an AI researcher living in Silicon Valley).

Best science fiction book of the year

A computer hacker teams up with a lawyer, navigating a mystery that spans AI, augmented reality, artificial dreamscapes, and international crime syndicates. Few writers seem better suited to speculate on these areas than Ken Liu. I hope this books wins awards and the author follows up shortly with new adventures of Julia Z.

Decent story so far - narration was.. off

Acura pronounced “Akuhra”, Soldering pronounced “soldiering”. Lots of other examples. I thought maybe it was me until we got to the “soldiering irons” - then I knew. Story is ok so far, but that narration is sloppy at best.

Another masterpiece

Such creative storytelling incorporating really fascinating possibilities for how ai may be incorporated into everyday life in our near future. Compelling main character and engaging plot that keeps the listener locked in.