Artificial Truth

A Novel

By: J.M. Lee, Sean Lin Halbert - translator

Narrated by: Michelle H. Lee, Austin Ku, Zion Jang

From J.M. Lee, a bestselling phenomenon in Korea, comes a haunting and mind-bending novel about the revolutionary possibilities of AI and the infinite mysteries of what it means to be human.

In the virtual city of Alegria, fantasies are made real, innumerable lifetimes are lived, and even death itself is a survivable experience. An escape from reality that changed the landscape of artificial intelligence, it is home to more than one hundred million people. Though it’s been six years since Alegria’s creator—revolutionary tech genius KC Kim—died of cancer, his legacy is alive in the pinnacle of KC’s genius: an AI named Allen who surges with KC’s memories.

As hard as KC’s widow, Minju, and her new husband, Junmo, try to move on, Minju can’t shake the unnerving feeling that somehow, from somewhere, KC is watching. She sees a stranger who bears an uncanny resemblance to him. A pair of KC’s custom-made shoes arrive at her doorstep. And someone has booked a Tokyo hotel room where she and KC shared happier times. Certain of nothing except KC’s mad innovation, Minju can only imagine what he is accomplishing without even existing.

If KC is reaching out from an infinity of memories, what are his plans for Minju and Junmo, and how can they hope to escape KC’s all-seeing grasp? And whose plans are they, really? The possibilities are frightening.

©2024 by J. M. Lee. (P)2025 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved. Translation © 2025 by Sean Lin Halbert.

Critic reviews

“AI versus humanity: is it either/or, winner/loser, coexistence/destruction? Lee, convincingly ciphered by Halbert, expertly provokes.”—Booklist

ai scary

This started of a little slow and confusing. BUT the way it came together was fantastic. Oh what a creepy look into the future and how ai might evolve down the road. Truly is horrifying. Based in Korea, mostly in Seoul. No spice, just straight up mind blowing science/fiction. But probably soon to be reality of we keep going the same direction. I got confused at couple times thinking there were plot holes but it gets "filled in" later on.

Grabbed this off Kindle FirstReads free for November and it turned out to be a good choice. I thought it was gonna be more about virtual reality. It was so much more. I dont like ai and this takes it to a whole different level. 💀 This may be what our future looks like. I liked this enough to keep reading cause I wanted to know what happened and I am glad I stuck with it.

Boring and monotonous

This story makes no sense. Listening to three different timelines and making a lot of references to Japan. I couldn’t follow it and got really bored with the long, monotonous descriptions. This would probably work better in Japan, but not here. Skip this title.