ALL THAT WE SEE OR SEEM by Ken Liu

5 stars

Gave this novel a 5 star for the sheer BRILLIANCE of innovative storytelling around future tech, and despite the over-the-top plot weakly binding these illuminating and compelling flashes of future AI together. Set in the near future, this mystery centers around a missing person, Elli Krantz, who’s specializes in a new tech-laden art of weaving an audience’s dreams together into a vivid shared experience. When Elli suddently goes missing, a world-notorious criminal reaches out to her husband Piers Negri demanding the return something Elli stole from him. But the Prince refuses to say what it is.

In a panic, Piers reaches out to Julia Z, a 20-something famous for elaborate hacks she performed in her teens but has now gone as far under the radar as she can. Julia turns Piers down, only to have threatening men surrounded her apartment building trying to locate who Piers visited. Feeling herself imperiled, Julia decides to help Pier figure out what the Prince wants and to try to get Elli back. Meanwhile, Victor the Prince’s evil right hand man is trying to find them. Turns out there’s a HUGE secret connected to the Prince’s criminal enterprise and the private dreaming sessions he demanded from Elli.

So what’s amazing about the innovative future tech Liu conjures up? First the idea of cultivating a personalized AI bot, called an egolet,  that from a young age learns the way you approach life and think about things so that it can act as a sophisticated personal assistant to help tackle anything life throws at you. In addition, companies have created very skill specific bots: from financial, legal, to even a parental bot with a personality of your choosing. Biometrics have supplanted passwords. Next, there’s the very concept of dreamweaving- using virtual reality, tactic feedback, access to internal AI bots of each dreamer, and dreamscripts that guide the mind. Beacon codes embedded in subway ads that ping your phone and stream data back to the advertisers. Neuromeshes supplant storage devices. Machine unlearning becomes an art to remove data grabbed up in machine learning.

These are just the tip of Liu’s prolific future tech seering that have you intrigued and thoughtful as today’s tech headlines scroll by. Amazing look into the tech future.

Thanks to Saga Press, S&S, and NetGalley for an advanced reader’s copy.

Stacy DeBroff

Stacy DeBroff, founder and CEO of Mom Central.com and social and digital consultancy, Influence Central, is a social media strategist, attorney, and best-selling parenting author. A sought-after expert for national media, she trend-spots regularly with national brands and speaks frequently to national and international audiences on a wide range of subjects, including influencer marketing, social media, entrepreneurship, and consumer trends. A passionate cook, gardener, reader, and tennis player, she adores this new chapter of post-college-age parenting.