Reviews tagging 'Violence'

Borne by Jeff VanderMeer

26 reviews

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

ranas_books's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark hopeful mysterious reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I don't really know how to review this book. It was weird, beautiful, disastrous, and horrifying. I didn't really like any of the characters, especially Rachel, and I didn't understand her fascination with Borne. Everything at the end was very disorienting and confusing. Not much was explained, not about the before, not about the after, so there is a bit of mystery that remained unsolved. But it was a fun read and a good ending.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

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: Confinement, Gore, Violence, and Murder

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

gogol's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny inspiring mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Violence, Grief, and War

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

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Trafficking, 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

edensbookshelf's review against another edition

emotional sad medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death and Violence

Moderate: Death and Sexual content

readingrainbowroad's review

adventurous mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Drug use and Violence

Minor: Addiction and Sexual content

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, Death, and Violence

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

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

fireswatch's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

It is as perplexing as it is enthralling, from beginning to end. Jeff VanderMeer does an incredible job of painting an overwhelmingly bleak setting that leaves you wondering if there will ever be even the possibility of a glimmer of hope on the horizon. It is difficult to predict where the story will go from one chapter to the next, but you can be sure that it will be both mind-boggling and exhilarating. I would also be remiss if I didn't mention the ending was absolutely outstanding!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, and Violence

Moderate: Child death, Chronic illness, Blood, Medical content, and Medical trauma

Minor: Sexual content