Reviews tagging 'Injury/Injury detail'

Borne by Jeff VanderMeer

7 reviews

diana_blackmoon's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

In this crazy story about big bear, I was amazed to find such a compelling story. About motherhood, love, hope, betrayal and what it means to be a person. It is gruesome and terrifying but also beautiful and hopefull. The narration style takes a minute to get used to but was the best possible choice for this book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Child abuse, Death of parent, Torture, Grief, Animal death, Blood, Terminal illness, Physical abuse, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, and Child death

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Alcohol, Grief, Excrement, Drug use, and Confinement

msawyer77's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Blood, Body horror, Child death, and Death

bedtimesnack's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Murder, Confinement, and Violence

Minor: Blood, Child death, Cannibalism, Sexual content, Kidnapping, and Injury/Injury detail

crowcore's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug abuse, Mental illness, Addiction, Body horror, Animal death, Injury/Injury detail, Chronic illness, Drug use, and Violence

Moderate: Trafficking, Toxic relationship, and Toxic friendship

annemaries_shelves's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Weird, open-ended, and a predictable plot wrapped in unpredictable imagery.

That's how I would summarize Borne. 

VanderMeer's Weird dystopian eco scifi skills are on full display here - I really enjoyed the world building and all the disturbing (and often violent) imagery generated by the destruction of the City by the Company. 

There's a lot of questions I have about the world and what the last 50 pages meant - questions I doubt I'll get answered. So if you're a reader who's frustrated by open and interpretable/vague endings, I wouldn't necessarily pick this up.

Much of the plot was predictable and the ending relatively anticlimactic- mostly due to the significant amount of narrative foreshadowing by our main character. (Rachel literally tells us "If I'd known X ahead of time, maybe things would be different.)
I think the novel would have been strengthened by some interludes with perspectives from other characters (notably The Magician, Wick, and Borne). Take 25 pages out from Rachel "raising" Borne and add in those additional POVs, and I think it would've been better.

I did really enjoy the writing and the relationships between Rachel, Borne, and Wick - even as they frustrated me at times. There were a lot implicit messages that VanderMeer was leaving the reader on the consequences of exploitative industries, the damage and havoc wreaked upon the population, and the long-term consequences to the environment. Contrary to a lot of books handling similar topics, I felt VanderMeer was less obvious with his messaging. 

Overall, I enjoyed the reading experience and felt the buddy read aspect helped me keep on track (it's fairly slow-paced). I'll probably pick up the second in the series but it won't be for a while. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death and Blood

maryellen's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death of parent, Death, Gore, and Injury/Injury detail

troisha's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Violence, and Death

Moderate: Alcohol, Blood, Chronic illness, Child death, Drug use, Excrement, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Torture

Minor: Animal death, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Rape, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, and Xenophobia