Totally Biased Review #4: The All-Consuming World by Cassandra Khaw

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