Publishers Weekly
06/28/2021
Khaw (The Last Supper Before Ragnarok) delivers a gore-drenched, sci-fi take on Ocean’s Eleven set in a Gibsonesque cyberverse. Puppet master Rita rounds up her infinitely reanimated clone/cyborg minions for one last caper: a hit on the planet Dimmuborgir, “a chunk of rock” shrouded in rumors that make it the obsession of wetware and circuitry entities alike. Rita’s crew call themselves the Dirty Dozen, though at the outset it’s just Rita and right-hand Maya, coaxing former colleague Ayane to listen to their pitch with a combination of four-letter epithets and a crushed larynx. Their opponents are the Minds, assorted AIs of nautilus-chambered complexity targeting Dimmuborgir for their own purpose—though what this may be is slow to coalesce. This isn’t a precision-built world: limits and definitions don’t meaningfully exist, and connections are often fragmentary. Khaw employs densely poetic prose to capture betrayal, rage, injury, and death, but is less invested in conjuring an image of the future, with abundant anachronisms and inconsistencies. For readers who don’t mind the fast-and-loose worldbuilding—and who can stomach a fair amount of body horror—the fury and lyricism make for an adventure that doubles as a cathartic scream. Agent: Michael Curry, Donald Maass Literary. (Aug.)
From the Publisher
★ “Khaw’s first full-length novel is a sensory deluge of language and action that will sweep readers away in a flood of joyful, violent abandon.” —Library Journal, starred review
“Khaw employs densely poetic prose to capture betrayal, rage, injury, and death . . . the fury and lyricism make for an adventure that doubles as a cathartic scream.” —Publishers Weekly
“The All-Consuming World will consume your attention and linger in your thoughts, a very good ride and a remarkable what-if.” —NPR
“An explosive, lyrical, foul-mouthed science fiction novel in which technological advances fail to silence the most basic human emotions, The All-Consuming World . . . proves Khaw is exactly what readers of their shorter work have known for a long time: Khaw is one of the most exciting voices in contemporary genre fiction.” —Locus
“The All-Consuming World is biopunk at its most visceral and languorous…. a pulsating spectacle of style.” —Washington Independent Review of Books
“This book is a knife to the ribs: sharp, brutal, and absolutely designed to do exactly what it's doing. Brilliantly written and paced, I don't think there's another author working right now who could have pulled this off.” —Seanan McGuire, award-winning author of Every Heart a Doorway
“Cassandra Khaw wields words like a butcher’s knife—with expert grace and blunt violence. The All-Consuming World is a lean story of traumatized near-immortal ex-mercenaries, ancient AI warships, and mind-bending biotech. It’s relentless, profane, and weird—and I mean that in a good way.” —Fonda Lee, author of the Green Bone Saga
“The All-Consuming World is the angry queer space opera you've been waiting for. Khaw's style is as ferocious as their characters, and I love the rusty intimacy of the world they’ve built around the interconnected fates of flesh and machines.” —Annalee Newitz, award-winning author of Autonomous
“The All-Consuming World has that frenetic, urgent energy that doesn’t so much compel you to read further as it grabs you by the chin and drags you across the pages. Khaw has written a surly, sneering, zero-g, sharp-toothed poem of vulgarity and violence, and I am here for every electric word of it." —Chuck Wendig, author of Wanderers
"What a @#*% ride! Khaw has built a world as scarily beautiful and complex as their expansive imagination. Be warned though: once this book gets a hold of you, it won’t let go until the mind-bending, explosive end!" —P. Djéli Clark, award-winning author of Ring Shout
“This is Khaw at their most raw and unrestrained. Prepare for a wild ride.” —Kameron Hurley, Hugo Award-winning author of The Light Brigade
Library Journal
★ 07/01/2021
The universe is controlled by the Conversation, a hive of AI minds who refuse to let what's left of humanity take it back. The planet of Dimmuborgir is mostly legend, hiding a secret superweapon that will make whoever controls it supremely powerful. The Dirty Dozen, a diverse mercenary group, was once feared throughout the universe, but 40 years ago their last mission ended in a tragedy that still binds them together, yet apart. Now Rita and Maya are bringing the Dozen back together—kicking, screaming, dying, reviving—for one last mission: to find the secret of Dimmuborgir before the sentient spaceships do. They also need to recover one of their own who'd been thought dead. But when you're made of clone tissue, uploaded sequences, and modified tech, can you ever die? Filled with emotional trauma, some body horror, and abusive relationships, this can be a difficult read. Yet it's enthralling too, as it mashes and blurs the lines separating human from machine; the commanding prose brings to mind Tamsyn Muir's "Locked Tomb" trilogy. VERDICT Khaw's (Hammers on Bone) first full-length novel is a sensory deluge of language and action that will sweep readers away in a flood of joyful, violent abandon.—Kristi Chadwick, Massachusetts Lib. Syst., Northampton
