Jeff VanderMeer

Borne

“Am I a person?” Borne asks Rachel, in extremis. “Yes, you are a person,” Rachel tells him. “But like a person, you can be a weapon, too.” In a ruined, nameless city of the future, Rachel makes her living as a scavenger. She finds a creature she names Borne entangled in the fur of Mord, a gigantic despotic bear that once prowled the corridors of a biotech firm, the Company, until he was experimented on, grew large, learned to fly, and broke free. Made insane by the company’s torture of him, Mord terrorizes the city even as he provides sustenance for scavengers. At first, Borne looks like nothing at all—just a green lump that might be a discard from the Company, which, although severely damaged, is rumored to still make creatures and send them to far-distant places that have not yet suffered collapse. Borne reminds Rachel of the island nation of her birth, now long lost to rising seas. She feels an attachment that she resents: attachments are traps, and in this world any weakness can kill you. Yet when she takes Borne to her subterranean sanctuary, Rachel convinces her lover, Wick—a special kind of dealer—not to render down Borne as raw genetic material for the drugs he sells. But nothing is quite the way it seems: not the past, not the present, not the future. If Wick is hiding secrets, so is Rachel—and Borne most of all. What Rachel finds hidden deep within the Company will change everything and everyone. There, lost and forgotten things have lingered and grown. What they have grown into is mighty indeed.

A Novel

Ryan Mateyk

The sheer scope of Jeff VanderMeer's weird imagination is unbelievable and this book is the purest reflection of that. Even reading the acknowledgements in Borne is reflective of it.

Jason Lo

Probably closer to 3.5. It’s fun, enjoyable, but extremely Fictional Story and I’m not sure how long it will
stay with me.

azliana aziz

VanderMeer made his entry to literary dystopian in stunningly beautiful Borne. 

I loved Annihilation and was so disappointed with the second book in the series that I don't bother to finish it. So admittedly I approached his latest with cautious hope and when it delivered I am beyond happy.

Borne is a prime example for everything a 'mature' dystopian novel should strive to be. VanderMeer's vivid prose worked so well for the world building and what lacked in the Annihilation, the emotional core of a story is considerably elaborated more here. I root for Rachel and I deeply care about Borne. I thought Wick was thinly written in the first half of the book but he was redeemed in the third chapter. 

Also the motherhood metaphor of Rachel and Borne's bond is wonderfully heartbreaking and certainly the highlight of the novel. 

The first chapter and half of the second chapter read a bit languorous but it was brilliant as it lulled the reader to think that 'oh well this collapsed world is not so bad and Rachel/Borne's bonding moments were adorable' but that twist with Borne/Rachel/Wick nearly the end of second chapter was genuinely heart thumping and crushing. And mind you, it's not the sole twist in the story so be prepared.

VanderMeer's meticulous writing of details really demands his sentences to be read again and again and it's challenging, yes but when you get what he's trying to say it was just so satisfying and rewarding as a reader. 



definitely will be thinking about Borne from time to time.


**************************************************


re-read in july 2020, paperback. 

:'(( 
because i know where the story is going even if some things were hazy but the impact. still hitting it hard.

Loved this, but also felt like I didn’t give it as much attention as it deserves. Took forever to finish it after a strong start because life happened. 

Wonderfully dark and imaginative and impossible. 

Michael Klepacki

Loved this, but also felt like I didn’t give it as much attention as it deserves. Took forever to finish it after a strong start because life happened. 

Wonderfully dark and imaginative and impossible. 

Shona Tiger

3.5 stars if you're as squeamish as I am. More fantasy than sci-fi, and really actually a horror story. About 2/3 of the book was me slogging through a nightmare; but what a pleasant resolution.

Maggie Gordon

After 4 years, I FINALLY won a Goodreads giveaway! To make it better, it was for the latest book from one of my favourite authors! So this review starts with a massive thank you to Goodreads and Harper Collins for an ARC of Borne by Jeff Vandermeer! 

Like many, I discovered Vandermeer when I picked up his Southern Reach trilogy a few years ago. It was a haunting, disturbing, yet addictive read, and these three books remain some of my favourites today. The rest of his work is equally weird which, given his support and love of the weird genre, isn't surprising. No other author can make me feel quite so unsettled as Vandermeer, and because I am obviously a masochist, I fell in love with his work.

Borne is a different novel than Southern Reach or his Ambergris series. It's a strange, other-worldly post-apocalyptic story that managed to intrigue and surprise me even though I am extremely burnt out on the genre. The book is narrated by Rachel, telling a story about her life in this challenging landscape. She's a scavenger, looking for useful things to bring back to the home she shares with her lover, Wick. They live in a wreaked city, controlled by a giant flying bear. Yes, you read that right. A giant flying bear named Mord. The world was once enthralled with biotech, though even biotech could not save them from a collapse into anarchy and fear. In the City where Rachel and Wick lives, the Company existed and released Mord as... well, no one is really quite sure. Life is a struggle without much hope until one day Rachel finds a strange object that looks a bit like a sea creature. She names it Borne and becomes quite attached to the object, even when it starts growing and moving. The rest of the novel deals with the consequences of Rachel's choice to take Borne into her home, consequences that have City-wide application...

It is hard to write an innovative post-apocalyptic novel. But center it on a gigantic flying bear and you're doing a pretty good job! Vandermeer's future is a strange, dark place filled with mysteries. It's hard to understand what happened, but things are quite obviously not okay in the City. It is unsettling to read about Rachel's forays into the world, but Borne is equally disconcerting. He's a strange lifeform that Rachel clings to for the happiness he coaxes out of her, but he's obviously not a person in the same way that humans are persons. He's sentient, but... strange. Dangerous. A mystery. But also so good at weaseling his way into people's hearts. It's easy to see him as a child, but the truth behind Borne is much less innocent. 

Vandermeer's latest balances introspection with action. In a post apocalyptic world, one's safety and surroundings are never safe, and Rachel and Wick find themselves on the run more than once. There is no villain in the series, but a whole bunch of grey. People do what they need to do to survive, but there are differing perspectives on what is necessary. Borne, however, represents a time of great change and revelations that will draw you in and keep you reading late into the night. It's a gripping book with lyrical language about a broken world and messed up people. Definitely on my recommend list!

Sonja H

Jeff VanderMeer ist für mich dank der Souther-Reach-Trilogie und dem „Wonderbook“ kein unbekannter Autor. Ich wusste, es würde mich etwas Außergewöhnliches erwarten.

VanderMeers Welt ist mit keiner anderen Welt, die je von einem Schriftsteller erfunden wurde, vergleichbar. Ja, es ist eine Dystopie, ja, sie steckt voller unbekannter Technologien – doch die Wesen, die sich auf ihr tummeln sind einzigartig.
Da ist Mord, der fliegende Bär, einst ein Mann, der ein Experiment der allesbehrrschenden „Company“ war und letzten Endes zu ihrem Untergang führt.
Außerdem gibt es eine Magierin, deren Motive unklar bleiben, die aber einen Funken Hoffnung für die Menschen und Nicht-Menschen bedeutet, die in der zerstörten Stadt um ihr Leben kämpfen.

Und dann ist da Borne.

Borne beginnt als eine Art Pflanze, die Rachel aus dem Fell von Mord pickt. Doch schnell wird klar, dass er mehr ist. Er entpuppt sich als eine ungewöhnliche Intelligenz, künstlich oder natürlich lässt sich nicht bestimmen. Doch Borne zeigt Interesse an seinem Umfeld, ist wissbegierig, macht sich die Verhaltensweisens seines Umfeld zu eigen und Rachel versucht, ihn zu einem moralischen Wesen heranzuziehen, in einer Welt, in der nur der Stärkere besteht.
Wäre da nicht Bornes Instinkt, so viel wie möglich zu „absorbieren“…

VanderMeer hat mehr als eine nette SciFi/Fantasygeschichte geschrieben. Dieses Buch steckt voller philosophischer Fragen und Betrachtungen. „Was macht Menschsein aus?“, „Können sich auch nichtmenschliche Wesen menschlich verhalten?“, „Bedeutet Menschlichkeit, niemanden zu töten, auch nicht, wenn die Existenz davon abhängt?“.

Letzten Endes war ich ein wenig enttäuscht, dass wieder einmal der Mensch die überlegene Rasse war, und durch Rachels „Erziehung“ Borne einen guten Einfluss auf eine schlechte Welt hatte.

Dennoch ist es ein hervorragendes, detailreiches und ungewöhnliches Werk, das ich jedem empfehlen kann, der sich für Dystopien mit Fantasyelementen interessiert.

newt the ungallant

An intriguing landscape filled with questions of human survival in a post apocalyptic world. 

A FINANCIAL TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR The dark, dangerous, funny and uplifting new novel from the author of Annihilation, the inspiration for the major motion picture directed by Alex Garland.

Melanie Richards

A novel that is simultaneously harrowing, dark, dangerous, funny and uplifting from the author of the Southern Reach trilogy "Am I a person?" Borne asks Rachel, in extremis. "Yes, you are a person," Rachel tells him. "But like a person, you can be a weapon, too." In a ruined, nameless city of the future, Rachel makes her living as a scavenger. She finds a creature she names Borne entangled in the fur of Mord, a gigantic despotic bear that once prowled the corridors of a biotech firm, the Company, until he was experimented on, grew large, learned to fly, and broke free. Made insane by the company's torture of him, Mord terrorizes the city even as he provides sustenance for scavengers. At first, Borne looks like nothing at all―just a green lump that might be a discard from the Company, which, although severely damaged, is rumored to still make creatures and send them to far-distant places that have not yet suffered collapse. Borne reminds Rachel of the island nation of her birth, now long lost to rising seas. She feels an attachment that she resents: attachments are traps, and in this world any weakness can kill you. Yet when she takes Borne to her subterranean sanctuary, Rachel convinces her lover, Wick―a special kind of dealer―not to render down Borne as raw genetic material for the drugs he sells. But nothing is quite the way it seems: not the past, not the present, not the future. If Wick is hiding secrets, so is Rachel―and Borne most of all. What Rachel finds hidden deep within the Company will change everything and everyone. There, lost and forgotten things have lingered and grown. What they have grown into is mighty indeed.

Cindy Lieberman

3.5 due to a very slow start (I almost abandoned the audiobook, but glad I didn’t). A dismal dystopian future where our bio-tech has run amok and (literally) comes back to haunt us. Adapt or die. The one constant is our need to connect; to find love. But understanding doesn’t always mean forgiveness....

jiaqi kang

if this happened in real life wouldn't that be fucked up

Chiara Malaspina di Orezzoli

La cosa che più mi trattiene dal dare 5 stelline è che i colpi di scena mi sono sembrati tutti molto prevedibili -e infatti lo avevo intuiti tutti, prima che fossero svelati. Questo non ha intaccato la piacevolezza della lettura, ma non le rende piena giustizia.

Sunyi Dean

Two days after finishing Borne, the latest read in my Vandermeer streak, and I am still not okay because I have all the feels for an inhuman murderous squid tentacle monster. 

I'll try and break down what this book is about, with only minimal spoilers. 

BORNE is a personal story of found families, lost children, broken homes, and couples trying to "make it work" against the odds.

BORNE is an epic story about monsters, humanity, and the incredible struggle of people who wish to be good but cannot stop being evil. 

BORNE is a science fantasy story about a post-apocalyptic world overrun by biotech/wetware, all of it as beautiful and ingenious as it is insane and deadly. 

BORNE is everything I look for in a speculative fiction novel, and if you are a fan of this genre, you cannot afford to miss this modern classic.

akshaya

(This is the first book review I've attempted to write, so please bear (haha) with me.)

I've read four Jeff VanderMeer books in a row, and I still can't get enough of his writing.

Borne did not disappoint. It made me emotional in surprising ways! Like a lot of VanderMeer's books, I think I'll still be processing Borne in the back of my mind for quite a while. 

What I can say is that I loved exploring the city's surreal biotech nightmare and the absurd yet terrifying reign of a colossal bear. The world of Borne made me feel dusty, slimy, starving. I felt like I was with Rachel every step of the way.

Admittedly, the first half of the book was hard for me to get through. Something about Borne and Rachel's relationship wasn't as compelling to me as Rachel and Wick's relationship. Still, I can't wait to read the next installment of the series!
 
***

"We all just want to be people, and none of us know what that really means."

Olivera Mitić

Uvek će mi biti neviđeno lakše da pišem recenzije za knjige koje mi se nisu previše dopale, dok ove jadne što zapravo stvarno obožavam dobiju neki žnj prikaz gde samo u krug tupim kAkO sU fAnTaStIčNe!!1!!

I, mada Borne jeste fAnTaStIčAn roman, ipak ću dati sve od sebe da o njemu kažem nešto više, jer je i suviše tematski bogat da se zadržim na nekim plitkim i obezličenim utiscima. 

Prva polovina ove knjige verovatno je nešto najbolje što sam ikada čitala (ima i druga polovina sjajnih stvari, ali o tome kasnije). Džef Vandermir gradi nerealno bogat i imaginaran svet i kreira sebi široko polje da pričamo o tome šta nas čini, a šta ne čini ljudskim bićima i da li je sve što je čovek osoba ili postoje osobe koje nisu ljudi. Takođe, on ovde maestralno raspravlja i o odgajanju dece i svemu ružnom i lepom što od nas uče, čak i onda kada se svom silom trudimo da uče samo one dobre stvari. 

Omiljeni aspekt ove knjige bili su mi svi bizarni i manje bizarni razgovori između Rejčel i Borna i nije mi jasno ko je dozvolio Vandermiru da toliko dobro piše (zovite policiju). Ima trenutaka kada vas dirne, ima kada vas zgrozi, a ima i kad vas samo ostavi zbunjene (da li je ovo nešto duboko ili samo budalaština koju proizvodi vanzemaljski oblik života na osnovu toga kako zamišlja da ljudi inače razgovaraju???). Najzanimljivija crta Borna kao lika bilo je svakako to da nikad nismo načisto sa tim da li je dobar ili zao, jer uvek nekako pada tu u sivu zonu i uvek je podeljen između prirode i između nekog usađenog morala. One scene gde se sam preisputuje o tome da li je dobra osoba ako radi loše stvari i da li može da ide protiv sebe da bi usrećio nekog drugog su takođe među najsvetlijim tačkama romana i imam želju da im se stalno vraćam čisto da i ja sebe to isto propitam. 

Kulminacija se, po mom mišljenju, dostiže negde na 60% knjige, mada i onaj ostatak, iako ne toliko impresivan na nivou poduhvata, nudi neke interesantne polazne tačke za razmišljanje. Ako je taj prvi odeljak bio filozofski triler o bioinženjerstvu u post apokaliptičnom svetu, onda je drugi deo lamentacija nad ekološkim katastrofama, životima imigranata i sposobnosti prirode da se obnavlja i da opstaje. Ima ovde još po koji zarez koji nastavlja priču o čovečnosti i ličnositma, ali je fokus više na oproštaju, opraštanju od tereta koji nosimo i na nekoj nadi da će sutra biti bolje. 

Iako je Borne nekome manje uspešna knjiga zbog tog narativnog preokreta, meni se dosta dopao i smatram da je imao svoje mesto u knjizi i da možda i nije moglo drugačije da se završi. Jedan deo mene možda priželjkuje da je ovo bilo kraće, misterioznije i bez nekih odgovora na postavljena pitanja, ali, s druge strane, mislim da bi to ipak pre naškodilo određenim stvarima u narativu koje knjizi u stvari daju njenu snagu. 

Ne znam, eto, toliko od mene. Preporuka svima koji vole čudne stvari i smak sveta. Verujem da će ovo sutra postati sci-fi klasik, ako već sad ne možemo tako da ga zovemo.

I wanted to love this book and whilst there were some chapters I thoroughly enjoyed, I never found myself itching to get home from work and pick it up again. That being said, Borne is a wonderful character and I cant help being fascinated by a giant flying bear.

Heather

3,5 stars.
Jeff VanderMeer endings are worth all the wondering and confusion of his books.

Tara King

I read and liked/loved/liked the Southern Reach Trilogy (Annihilation, Authority, Acceptance).  They were some kind of weird X-Files-y monster story but from the inside, full of strange moments and inexplicable happenings.  When I watched the movie with friends, they pumped me for answers to what actually happened and I couldn't really say.  It felt Lovecraftian that way--something totally inexplicable, and probably terrifying.  A mysterious and powerful world we only move through, despite all our attempts at control and knowledge.

Borne feels similar in so many ways.  I wondered if this is the same universe, a while after the powers of the first novel have annihilated what we know as regular life. I wondered where the City is, which City it might be. I wondered why Jeff Vandermeer thinks so much about biotech and why the eyes of his monsters are always human. But I also _understood_ a lot more of Borne.  I understood what was happening, roughly, even when it wasn't spelled out. I followed the plot, the themes, through the novel, and found them touching and powerful.  Questions of creation--who makes a person? What makes a parent or a child? Who decides which life is important? 

I don't know yet if I think Borne or Southern Reach is better.  Southern Reach sat with me a long time in a way that Borne has not.  But Borne was less frustrating, less opaque, more inviting to the reader.  One of the best things about Vandermeer's work is it says: Make your own choice!  Read about monsters that you think might be human on the inside, and humans that you think might be monsters on the inside.  Pick your own metaphors.  Fill in the blank.

Shantesh Patil

This was the first book by Jeff that I read, with my only previous familiarity with his work being the movie Annihilation. I absolutely loved his vision of this kind of apocalyptic world

 Bruna Acioly Leão

Borne is a weird dystopia set in a futuristic city governed by a biotechnical engineered super bear called Morde who controls the city and instills fear in both the citizens and the Company responsible for its very existence. That sounds pretty wacky a concept, and the book is wacky like that, but honestly when you are in it, everything sort of makes sense. Despite being super weird. Now I am not sure if I am making any sense.

While the city itself is so vivid of a world as to be like a character in the story, our actual main characters are Rachel, a young woman who is just trying to survive; Wick, the guy she lives with who tries to make a living and find a purpose out of the biotech scattered in the world; and Borne, the strange biotech created creature that Rachel once found while she was scavenging Morde's fur (yup, that's a thing). The story is a saga of how Rachel finds Borne, develops into considering Borne both her plant, then her child, her protegee and a monster she must fight against - or fight with. It's about how Borne both shapes her relationship with the outside world, with Wick and with her own self.

The book is filled with interesting pieces of information about the world, and the writing is rich and detailed but it never feels like bogged down explanations force fed to you. It never feels too weird, even though everything is really weird. Inside the world of the novel, everything makes perfect sense. Every feeling is felt along with Rachel, who is also our narrator. She is scared for her life, she is burdened by her past, she is enchanted with Borne and Wick in turn; her voice, her emotions shine through and her character is so complex as to feel like a real person.

The audiobook is narrated by Bahni Turpin, who is quickly becoming one of my favorite narrators, and if you are either going to read this physically or listening to the audiobook, I would recommend the latter, because her narration really makes this story come alive. Not that the story wouldn't stand on its own, but I am one who appreciates when an audiobook adds something to the experience of reading a novel, rather than just being someone conveniently reading it to you.

Overall, of course, I loved this book, I want to re-read it in the future and I just wished there were more of it! I recommend it to anyone who is interested in science fiction, even if you think this might be too weird for you. It is easily palatable while being wonderfully complex.

Brook

I don't usually read men's writing but I took a jaunt back over to luxuriate in this lush bioengineered post-apocalypse. I love the idea of being the mother to a monster, and the themes of trauma and the memory loss that is so often the result. This book absorbed me, and got me across the Atlantic to Iceland. Unlike other VanDeMeer books the secrets seem more laid plain, but in their clarity the joy of the story shines.

Borne

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