Review

The first I had read of Ken Liu was the three-body problem series. He was the translator for the first and the third books in the series. And I had enjoyed both of these books. So, when this book showed up in the e-library I had marked it in my favourites list. That list is how I pick up the next book to read.

This book takes place in the near-future, with AI models living in tensor banks and online. Julia Z is the protagonist - a quintessential hacker, who gets pulled into a tale of murder and mystery. That tale is something you should experience on your own.

The things that spoke to me were the various descriptions of how things might turn out in this AI-field world we are all stepping into. This book hence feels timely (It was released in 2025). I enjoyed all of those parts, and it felt like that would be the equilibrium we are kind of barreling toward. I also enjoyed the reveal of the business that the antagonist was engaged in. For most of the book, it felt like he was a normal super villain. But when you find out what he actually does - it also felt like a product of the times we might be living in, in line with the rest of the book - a kind of near-future realism to it all.

I enjoyed reading it.