All That We See or Seem
Ken Liu
Hardcover/Ebook/Audiobook
ISBN: 978-1668083178
S&S/Saga Press, October 14 2025, 416 pgs

Reformed hacker Julia Z is laying low in Boston, trying not to draw any attention to herself after a tumultuous youth. When corporate lawyer Piers Neri turns up on her shabby doorstep with a missing persons case, her first impulse is to turn him away. Her interest is piqued when she finds out that the missing person is his wife, Elli, a famous oneirofex—an artist known for weaving complex AI-enabled communal dreams. The search for Elli thrusts Julia back into the fast-paced world of doing tech crimes for justice and has a surprising impact on her emotional life as well.

Ken Liu’s All That We See or Seem is, in many ways, a straightforward thriller. It’s told in dry, direct language with lots of action and simple characterization, has a really violent downer plot twist, and relies on some pretty far-fetched puzzles and code breaking at critical moments to keep the momentum going. But it’s also science fiction, and fortunately, the worldbuilding here is expansive and detailed in a way that really makes the reader think. Liu envisions a world in the very near future where AI and automation have been integrated seamlessly into everyday life. The internet as we know it is dead, but it’s been replaced by a deeply textured, AI-enabled virtual landscape with seemingly endless possibilities.

There’s a lot of trepidation regarding AI in the real world these days. I appreciate that this book really leans into techno-joy instead of fear, and it leads with surprising optimism. It does this by really looking at the possibilities of artificial intelligence beyond the current generative AI mania and leaning into more practical usages. As a result, Julia interacts with some fun and very plausible future tech before even getting into the nitty-gritty of her profession. There are the expected AI assistants, avatars, and drones, but they’re explained in a way that mostly empowers human effort and thinking—rather than blunting it. Once Julia does get into the more professional applications of these tools, there are some thrilling on-the-job moments. There’s a sequence involving a remotely operated, AI-enhanced drone that had me on the edge of my reading chair waiting to see what would happen next.

There’s still quite a lot of thought about the impact of generative AI on future art in these pages. Interesting points about the nature of personalized tech and how it can contribute to loneliness and isolation are made, and there’s a really eerie bit of in-world technology built from the idea of learning and inputting artist processes into AI tools, rather than just raw stolen data. Again, there are a lot of valid real-world concerns about meaningful art in the era of content monetization. While that’s gone in some interesting directions in Julia Z’s future, it’s presented in a way that is a little more hopeful for artists than a lot of the takes floating around at the moment. Not that it’s hopeful, not reassuring or even all that optimistic. Liu manages to see a clear future that keeps artists and their whole humanity in art, though, and that’s a valuable bit of imagination in these times.

All That We See or Seem is apparently the first in a new series of SF thrillers by Ken Liu. It sets up a really interesting near-future world with very realistic tech that manages to comment on our current world honestly, but hopefully. It also gives us a heroine that I wouldn’t mind seeing more stories about. I’ll probably keep an eye out for the next installment.