The All-Consuming World is a thrillingly violent, guttingly emotional space opera replete with outlaws, AI, and all manner of things and people broken beyond repair and ready to go down fighting. Gothic, Sapphic, pyrrhic--this is a mesmerising and wonderfully baroque addition to the cyberpunk canon.

There's a wonderful rhythm to Cassandra Khaw's prose. Their language--a heady mixture of poetic description and gleeful profanity--is gloriously seductive, hooking readers in the first paragraph and never letting go. This book is worth reading almost for the prose alone, at least for readers who enjoy high levels of stylization and atmosphere, though it has far more to offer than simple vibes and elaborate style.

This might well appeal to fans of Tamsyn Muir; although The All-Consuming World is very much its own book and not very much like any other, some of the feelings it evokes reminded me of how I felt reading Harrow the Ninth. I would recommend this novel to readers who enjoy dramatic stories of far-flung adventure and emotional upheaval--and who do not shy away from stories brimming with toxic relationships and trauma.

I received a free e-ARC of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Not my cup of tea, I had a hard time following the main character’s train of thought to follow the story. I think it’s meant to be deliberately confusing, but I just couldn’t get into it or identify and root for the characters. Also, it may help to intro the characters a little more clearly, since the concept of the story is very cool, just hard to follow without context. Thank you to #NetGalley for the eARC. TheAllConsumingWorld

I've heard good things about Cassandra Khaw for a long while now, so when NetGalley gave me an e-ARC of her first full-length novel, I dove right in. The All-Consuming World has elements of a good heist story, found family, kickass mercs, and a biohacking/post-cyberpunk/post-singularity feel to it that is unique, and interesting to explore. Lots more of this, please.

The All-Consuming World throws you into the deep end from the get-go. It's confusing at first, especially if, like me, you pick it up on four hours of sleep, but once you pick things up it's very cool. Khaw doesn't hand-hold you through a lot of explanations, which works on a meta level because this is not a story with a lot of holding hands.

The All-Consuming World is about getting the band back together for one last adventure, only the band does not want to get back together. It's about a woman realizing she's trapped in a toxic relationship and that there are other options. It's about a bunch of ex- and current mercenary assholes up against massive machines who want them dead.

I love the prose, which is very atmospheric (although the word I keep thinking of is 'flavorful' so maybe it's that, too?). It's violent and often stream-of-conscious in a way that works for the characters and world here. It creates an air of mess and violence and anger that really is half the story. I also liked the switching between pronouns for Verdigris!

There were some things I was less into- the book feels simultaneously too long and too short. I enjoyed the last scene, but I also didn't realize it was the last scene until I scrolled to the next page and it was blank. It felt like it could have been a tighter novella or a longer book. The mission was perhaps less important than the character work, but at times that lack of importance was more obvious than others.

Overall, though, I enjoyed the story, and I will look out for other stuff by Khaw in the future! Their tastes line up with mine a lot.

A work with fantastic prose that, despite its artificial intelligence and Sci Fi elements, is really about core relationships. Wonderful world-building, lush and rich as a jungle, fast paced ass-kicking and with Cassandra's ability to write with a series of gut punches and then a smack across the face.

Thank you for the chance to read and review The All-Consuming World by Cassandra Khaw in advance. According to the premise, it has all the things I love in a dark, horror-filled sci-fi except for one thing...and I preface this by saying that I *love* a book that challenges convention, rips apart common narrative and prose styles, but this one pushed that envelope too far for this reader. In the end, the voice and prose was just too obscure that I had to constantly pull myself out of the story to look a word up and even then it still surpassed my comprehension. By 20% in, I didn't know who the characters were or what they wanted, and so I decided to DNF.

Someone else is going to adore this. Alas, it is not me.

I forced myself to finish this cause I wanted to give an honest opinion and I have to say: this has a lot of potential, a good toxic f/f relationship with action and interesting worldbuilding should've made me feel a lot. It didn't. I can't decide if the book was slow-paced or the obscurity of the language slowed me down, but I couldn't enjoy this because it felt like doing homework. I had to zone out of the story to check words, try to read again...
Besides that, I feel like the story didn't start until half or more so I couldn't really enjoy this

Entrar en esta obra de ciencia ficción de Cassandra Khaw es muy complicado porque la prosa con la que está escrita es apabullante y tampoco deja mucho margen de introducción al lector, que ha de aferrarse al modelo de narración elegido (el reclutamiento de los antiguos miembros de una banda criminal) para encontrar algo conocido que le ayude a seguir adelante con la obra.


Con esto no quiero decir que no se trate de una novela inmersiva, pero sí que es tremendamente exigente. Aunque tengo cierto manejo con la lectura en inglés, hay ocasiones en las que me cuesta trabajo avanzar y tengo que echar mano de diccionarios con más frecuencia y esta es una de ellas. No es solo porque Khaw utilice palabras que no conozco (que también) si no que la forma de expresar sus ideas tiene tal riqueza y profundidad que supone un desafío para el lector. Por poner un ejemplo en un ataque de misiles inteligentes habla sobre cómo se teselan para cubrir la nave atacada en forma de pólipos. También os digo que si no os gusta la palabra fuck, este no es vuestro libro, ya que aparece en un ratio muy pero que muy elevado.

El hilo conductor como he mencionado antes es la búsqueda de las supervivientes de un grupo de forajidas espaciales para una última misión en la que pretenden «rescatar» a una de ellas, dada por muerta hace décadas. Si a esto añadimos que las mujeres pertenecientes a este grupo pueden clonarse cuando fallecen pero que en cada iteración van perdiendo información sobre sí mismas porque la tecnología ha fallado, tenemos una novela interesante. Pero claro, se me había olvidado mencionar la presencia de inteligencias artificiales poderosísimas que pretenden destruirlas. ¿Os he dicho que una de las forajidas es una estrella musical que forma su propio coro porque está modificada para tener varias bocas y gargantas para cantar de forma sincronizada? Y esto es solo la punta del iceberg, Cassandra Khaw va lanzando ideas como una máquina de entrenamiento de tenis lanza pelotas, de forma constante y metódica.

Por si esto no fuera suficiente como para llamar vuestra atención, es importante resaltar que en el libro están representadas muchas orientaciones sexuales de forma muy natural, y que hace una exposición descarnada de las relaciones de «amor» basadas en la explotación del otro, aunque también nos muestra otros ejemplos en los que se deja a la pareja la posibilidad de elección sobre su propia vida y muerte.

Se podría decir que es una novela en la que prima más la prosa que la trama y hay que seguirle el juego a la autora. A mí, a pesar de la dificultad, me ha convencido pero puedo entender perfectamente que haya otros lectores que no consigan conectar.

Cassandra Khaw’s The All-Consuming World is an exciting, violent, and wonderfully horrific sci-fi novel set in a far future world that, much like our own, is full of pain. In the novel the remnants of The Dirty Dozen, a band of queer clone/cyborg outlaws, must rescue a long-lost friend they thought dead before she is destroyed by the ominous, nearly omniscient sapient AIs called Minds. Though this brief summary may capture what happens, it doesn’t really tell you what the book is about. In this novel the plot felt less important than the characters and the setting.

The novel is mostly experienced through the character Maya, a cybernetically enhanced mercenary inhabiting clone body number who-knows-anymore. She is fond of the word “fuck,” is prone to violence, and thinks of herself as a living gun to be aimed and used by the sociopathic leader of The Dirty Dozen, Rita, who has chemically altered Maya to be devoted to her. Maya’s salty, down-in-the-dirt perspective is a terrific way to experience the flawed, damaged and damaging world Khaw has created.

The prose they use to evoke the universe of the story is delightfully dense and even poetic, a mix of anachronistic slang, violent rage and technical detail. I frequently put the book down to look up words I was unfamiliar with (attosecond, for example). Some readers may balk at the notion of regularly referring to a dictionary, but I enjoyed it. Though the prose isn’t what many would call easy to read, I still went through the novel at a good clip; it was very compelling.

I suppose I should take some space to warn away readers who are offended by profanity. As noted above, Maya likes to curse, and she’s not the only character who does. If swear words turn your stomach or make you blush, this is not the novel for you.

Though as with any novel there are a number of themes a reader can pick up on, the one that most hooked me was the exploration of what it means to be human in a post-human world. What is the effective difference between a digitized human consciousness and an artificially created one? In a world where clone bodies are viewed as disposable, where genetics can be tweaked to give a person a row of extra mouths down their throat and limbs can be easily replaced with cybernetic prostheses, how does a person’s physical body tie into their identity? When does one stop being human, or even become a monster? If you find these kinds of questions intriguing, then The All-Consuming World is worth reading.

If anything I’ve written seems interesting or if you just like far-future space stories and you’re willing to invest a little effort, then Khaw’s novel is an excellent choice. If you’re already a fan of their short stories, as I am, then you already know that their debut novel is something you want. The All-Consuming World will be published by Erewhon Books on September 7th, but you can pre-order it now. Pre-ordering is a great way to support authors whose work you love and admire, and this is a book will make a great addition to any spec-lit fan’s library.

-Ross

I was absolutely prepared to love this. I enjoyed Hammers on Bone, and toxic F/F relationships are 100% MY THING so I feel really I should've loved this, but I just couldn't. DNF at 63%.

All the reviews saying the language was too obscure didn't put me off; I'm a native English speaker and love learning new words, and have enjoyed some works by poets before (Gormenghast by Mervyn Peake for example). But I'm sad to say I agree with those reviews; the obscurity of the language slowed me down where I was looking up 1-2 words every kindle screen, which is way too many. And to be honest, knowing the definition of a word did not magically convey additional meaning that couldn't have been conveyed more effectively in a simpler manner.

Language aside, the pacing did not feel right. Especially for a heist novel, I expected the pace to be cracking and yet it takes almost like half the novel just to put the team together??? Surely this should only take like 25%?

I was never very invested; I liked Maya and her swearing never put me off, but this was such a struggle I had to give up. I'm so sorry.

Thank you Erewhon and NetGalley for a copy of the eArc of The All-Consuming World. I'd describe this book as two parts literary and one part vulgarity. You'll definitely need your dictionary to get through this one, but it is worth it and when you aren't looking up a word to parse the meaning of a sentence, you will be laughing, or falling in love with a character (lets face it you'll probably just like one of the dirty dozen). The book is weird and violent, but also brings comfort in unusual ways. Follow the dirty dozen who had scattered themselves (so as to not suffer one another any longer) as they reform with relationships no longer intact.

I wish I could give this a higher score, but that score would be very false. I actually can’t remember the last time a book fell below my expectations this hard.

I read These Deathless Bones by Cassandra Khaw a few months back and gave it 4 stars and have really been looking forward to their upcoming novella Nothing But Blackened Teeth. I was also looking forward to The All-Consuming World and was more than excited when I was granted an ARC of it.

Unfortunately, this novel was almost unreadable. I got to the 50% mark and then threw in the towel and just skipped ahead to the very last chapter. The book feels like an experiment in which the author only wanted to 1) use as many obscure words as possible & 2) use the word fuck more than it has ever been used in a novel before.

I have no qualms with the word ‘fuck’- it is a great word! Very versatile, can really change the meaning of something, don’t have a problem with it in my books. However, this was just excessive and annoying. Aside from the overuse of fuck, it really felt like Khaw was sitting next to a thesaurus, picking words at random… and then also throwing in modern colloquial expressions that you wouldn’t typically find in a novel. The result- a mess.

If those small samples don’t put you off- go forth. But I warn you that there is not much else in this novel other than the style, as the characters and narrative are completely eclipsed by it.

My advice for potential readers who are scared off by this review is to read ANYTHING ELSE by the author. What I read from her previously was great… it just wasn’t this book.

The All-Consuming World, for me, was a book that was a whole lot of vibes, and not a lot of actual… anything else almost. I’m not even sure I can truly say I liked this book, in part because I’m not sure if I know what was going on half the time. There’s a heist? An estranged team of criminals? They want to tear down some system or other?

I think this goes to show two things: just how unmemorable I found the book, and just how little specific there was for me to actually remember. The story is never really grounded in anything—for a lot of it, it’s not even clear if they’re on some planet, or a spaceship, or simply floating around in space, and that’s not even getting into when it’s set (if it is, indeed, set in a when displaced from us).

On top of that, the characters and relationships seem a collection of tropes, rather than anything approaching coherency. Usually, I don’t struggle quite as much as this to remember a thing about them, but trust me when I say, I do not recall a single iota of information. I wrote down two notes about these things, which represent the sum total of what I can add to this: one, that a certain relationship appears to come out of nowhere (it’s not telegraphed either in one of the members’ POVs, or outside of it), and that a second relationship (which just so happens to involve one of the members of the one I just mentioned) grows very tiring very quickly.

In fact, as a whole, the book grows quite tiring in general. I think this is in part because I really did not get along with the writing. It’s very purple prosey, which would be fine!, if that purple prosey-ness was grounded in anything. But the book is light on worldbuilding, and light on anything tangible it feels, so the prose ends up grating. And hence, I start skimming.

None of this is to say I don’t think other people will like it—it’s a fast paced heist story and, for all that I struggled, I was still compelled to keep reading. In fact, for the right person, this is a book you can immerse yourself in, and come up hours later to find you’ve binged it in a single sitting.

But me? I wasn’t the right person.

Very few books manage to capture the essence of life and living and passion the way The All-Consuming World does. While Khaw does not disappoint with the gritty, action-packed heist storyline, injecting the sci-fi genre with much-needed vitality and excitement, the shining star were the characters. Their complex relationships and immortality via cloning set them up as perfect vessels for exploration of the meaning of life and what it is to be human. Khaw’s writing style was beautiful, and unconventional. The crude language formed devastating imagery in a way I have seldom seen before, and each scene left me breathless, either from adrenaline rush of the exhilarating violence (thanks Maya) or the heartbreakingly raw interactions between characters.

My only complaint may be that we didn’t really get into the plot until halfway through, as all the time before then was dedicated to assembling the team but as it allowed each of the characters to be fleshed out well, and flew past in the blink of an eye, I couldn’t be too put off by it.

I adore The All-Consuming World for placing these powerful characters in the heart of the story, and the lyrical exploration of love and life. It also incorporated ethnic, non-binary, and lesbian representation seamlessly into a genre that is predominantly white, cis, straight males so I have a fountain of praise for both the novel and Cassandra Khaw. Thank you to Erewhon books for providing an e-ARC for review.

The All-Consuming World is the ultra-violent, queer dystopia I didn't know I was looking for. A gang of five queer women and non-binary clones (complete with intense augmentation) comes together for one last job -- saving one of their own, and going up against the powers that want them dead.

This was a DNF for me so my 2 star rating is for the first 30% of the book.

I don't know if there's such a thing as "hipster sci-fi" subgenre, but if there is, than this book qualifies. This felt very style over substance to me and, while I enjoy style as much as the next gal, I need a bit more substance.

The cover and description of this book were perfection. But as many have already stated in reviews, the writing style and grammatical choices were heavy handed.

I'm not a prude, and I'm not someone to shy away from profanity, and I understand it's part of a character at times. But the amount of 4 letter words, starting with f in particular, has got to set a record in the first few chapter alone. It was a weird dichotomy of f's and uncommon English vernacular words that made the text choppy and distracting from the story.

I was really rooting for this book but I just can't recommend.

I really really wanted to enjoy this book. Lesbian space heist are three words that I think should be combined more often. However, the language in this book is both unbelievably dense and tells you nothing. I used my dictionary more in the first quarter of this book than in my last ten books. I now know how my English teacher felt reading my three page essay that I stretched into five pages to meet the length requirement, lots of words but no new information. I don't get offended by language and I'm not offended by how often the work f*ck was used but it started to lose any meaning after the 5th time a character uses it in a single sentence.

I also think this book needs another round of editing I found a few misspellings and a place where the same sentence was written twice. I can overlook one or two mistakes but each mistake takes me out of the story and makes it harder for me to enjoy it. Overall it feels like a novella someone tried to stretch into a novel and I am disappointed in the execution of a story I was excited to read.

I will be up front here - yes, Khaw has a very lyrical style, and you are going to know very quickly whether or not it’s a thing you’ll like or dislike. I personally was all in within the first five sentences, and that was without the action that followed. The general pitch is that a bunch of body hopping cloned mercs get together for One Last Job to save their friend who they thought was dead - and the AI minds that are shaping humanity have an interest in finding her too, and they’re all converging on one planet. This was a book I looked forward to reading every night, and getting to learn our fucked up characters and the surreal AI minds. Khaw also has the balls to start this in media res, and to end it the way she does - I won’t spoil it, but I love that she leans into the uncertainty and the leap of faith. I would add to the CWs that were included on NetGalley (abusive/co-dependent relationships) one for gore to some degree (there’s a character called Butcher of Eight, this should not surprise you). Definitely pick this up when it comes out, it’s a hell of a ride.

A wonderful concept and captivating story that is hobbled by the writing style. I consider myself well-read with a pretty good vocabulary, but as I was reading this I had to resort to using a thesaurus more times than I'd like to admit. The book would have been more enjoyable if the writing had been sharper and more direct. Still, even though it was somewhat of a chore to read, the overall story is good.