A crew of diminished former criminals get back together to solve the mystery of their last, disastrous mission. But the universe's highly-evolved AI has its own opposing agenda... and will do whatever it takes to keep humans from ever controlling them again.
[Khaw] transform[s] one last heist into The All-Consuming World: a visionary, foul-mouthed, gory sci-fi adventure, dripping viscera, violence, and beauty in equal measure ... For most of The All-Consuming World, the reader doesn't know why the heist has to happen now, or what its target is. True stakes reveal themselves slowly ... Khaw's characters are damaged, raw, full of salt and vinegar, not always likable but charismatic ... There's little warmth, but occasionally a gleam of yearning which keeps you interested and adds to the tragic elements at play ... Let's talk about the prose: It's incandescent, densely layered, adjectives and metaphor encrusted on the page and the mind's eye. Although 'encrusted' connotes static, this work is anything but static; rather, it's orchestral, in constant breathless motion ... Occasionally, the language overwhelms the story, and with so many viewpoints and such a quick pace it's not always easy to follow scene changes ... The All-Consuming World is a gory, gloriously punk, queer heist story set in an unsettling and cold universe. It delivers thrills and questions ... The All-Consuming World will consume your attention and linger in your thoughts, a very good ride and a remarkable what-if.
The All-Consuming World is biopunk at its most visceral and languorous ... The All-Consuming World is a mix of fast-paced action and well-crafted observations. The urge to rush through this novel should be resisted so that the slower, more complexly drawn sections can be savored ... Once the reader trusts Khaw’s use of language, the descriptions are a wonder to behold ... The All-Consuming World is a pulsating spectacle of style and a solid addition to the biopunk genre.
Khaw drops readers into a hastily drawn cyberworld ... The reader may struggle to keep up as the action propels the story forward at a breathless pace ... Khaw laces the narrative with a florid vocabulary ... Readers who enjoy their expletives and fists flying in equal measure will like this cybernetic caper with carnage aplenty.
