The Sum of All Things

by Seb Doubinsky

The highly anticipated final installment in Seb Doubinsky' s City-States Cycle is smart, subtle and unputdownable!In New Samarqand, trouble is The king is very ill, nobody knows who will succeed him and terrorist groups are plaguing the city-state. In the eye of the storm, the National Museum is opening a new wing displaying the magnificent tomb of two Amazon sisters, who fell in battle together. Following parallel lines in this ominous labyrinth, Hokki, the new museum director, Ali the police commissioner, Kassandra, the poet, Thomas, the used-books seller and Vita, the secret agent from Planet X try to keep the pieces together and fight against the forces of chaos threatening their very existence.

Genres: Science Fiction

184 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 5, 2024

About the author

I was born in Paris, in 1963, right in the middle of a western movie, of which my parents never saw the end. I have thereafter split my life between France and the USA, having spent most of my early childhood in Syracuse, and Seattle. After some studies, a lot of wandering and a few strange jobs, I have finally found myself teaching French literature in Denmark, where I have been living since 2007.

Reviews

[Caroline · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Sum of All Things left me rather disappointed. First of all the story feels like the ending to a series I haven't read the first part off. Secondly, it's written in a very fragmented style with each chapter being 1-2 pages (with a few exceptions) and a massive character gallery. The characters feel static, and their intertwining didn't really pay off in the satisfactory way I think the author intended. Additionally, I found several editorial errors which is always such an annoyance when reading printed books. I generally also disliked the style of writing which was very straightforward and informal.

The book deserves an additional star as it has some interesting portrayals of autocracies and why people choose to live in them. It also depicts the drug debate in an interesting light, although I don't personally agree with its messages.

[Matteo Songia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pseudoreality of conformity, Flattening of thought, Desire to belong and yet plenty of subtext references to our contemporary times all mixed within the City State Cycle panorama of New Samarqand made of interplanetary terrorists, political turmoil, poetry and a reality-wielding drug.

As a Sci-fi passionate reader, I’ve always been fascinated by authors of any time capable of making you question yourself, your time, the reality you live in or yet the reality you think you live in or yet the reality others make you live in...
Let’s just say some books hit you like Synth does, and Seb is a contemporary master in writing them.

[Ben Arzate · Rating 5 out of 5]

Seb Doubinsky returns one last time to his City-State Story Cycle in this thrilling tale of intrigue, aliens, and the politics of historiography. Combining the story-telling prowess and surreal alternative history of Philip K. Dick, the sharp-witted social commentary of Norman Spinrad, and the laconic prose of hard-boiled pulp stories, this novel and the series it's a part of is a must read for fans of New Weird and contemporary Science Fiction.

[Donald Armfield · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Sum of All Things reads like A Scanner Darkly with the apace Doubinsky pulp style. If you followed the previous trips through the The City-States then you’ll soon learn that all things are dangerous and reality is the fiction you can’t escape from.
Recommended to fans of Philip K Dick or a drug-fueled series of experiments, love, political antics and pulp Sci-fi.

[Victoria · Rating 5 out of 5]

Told from MULTIPLE points of view, The Sum of All Things is certainly……..SOMETHING. Dystopian in a Philip K. Dick meets the 1991 movie Oscar but it’s streamed on Hulu and leans towards the Clue movie but a violent version with pew pews. My first brief purview of this book was terrorism, the king is ill, tomb of two amazon sisters who fell together in battle, and aliens. It made me question……….will the sum of all things…..sum up?

A king is sick “Queen Elizabeth style”, multiple terrorist groups are running allover the place, a space drug is on the loose, this is a super religious run country that frowns upon those who disagree with their belief system with death “sometimes with a butter knife”.

Vita is a depressed goth biker chick that spends most of her reality with Synth which is a “cyberpunk” stolen from the government drug that cannot be detected by any test and can be turned on and off at will. Synth allows you to live in any reality of your choosing while being in actual reality simultaneously. Vita chooses to use Synth on board a spaceship she used to escape the Planet X while saving the subliminal empire.

Hokki survives a plane landing in a country known for their famously deadly plane crashes. Like the other characters in this story, also self-deprecating and depressed. Very noir. He is given a pink phone by his gigantic bodyguard. Its a whole thing.

Thomas is a famous computer hacker and owns a bookstore where everyone seems to gather and discuss secret things. He also seems to think books on ufo’s aren’t good, which is absolutely not true. Thomas does however, allow you to return books to exchange for new ones at a low price, so that is okay.

Kassandra is a dramatic dangerous famous poet. None of her poetry is ever actually told in the book which just makes her even more dramatic and very Kassandra. Good work Doubinsky.

Naila is Kassandra’s second hand lady. She’s a little creepy, possibly a double agent and is stalker weird about Kassandra.

Saran works at the museum and might have to quit her job to start an illegal synth lab because some amazon “sisters” are discovered to not actually be sisters at all and being gay in this country……way illegal.

Everything seems to come together at the end very well in smoke and violence. Kassandra if possible, even more dramatic here. The Sum of All Things are summed up.

also, books on Ufos dont always suck!

Take a look at my full review on my blog! https://wp.me/pbZ4ex-kW

[Lily · Rating 5 out of 5]

Doubinsky has woven a fascinating tale, full of intrigue, aliens, and politics. The imagery is vivid, and you can see the story unfold before your eyes. The story itself is interesting and well-written, and holds your attention from start to finish. The characters are well-done and believable, even Vita, the resident alien. There are definitely some underlying themes that feel like commentary about some things in today’s world. If you enjoy pulp sci-fi mixed with a bit of philosophy and spec-fic, then you need to grab this!

[Charlotte · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a short book or I would not have finished it. The characters are hard to know but the story is a science fiction one and about an evil empire. There are drugs that the characters use to deal with the mayhem.