Reviews

Borne by Jeff VanderMeer

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jaepingsu's review against another edition

4.0

While this wasn't quite as hard to put down for me as the Southern Reach trilogy, the world here was still really fascinating and I loved the themes of what it means to be "human" throughout. All three central characters grapple with this concept in different ways and their relationships with each other really cemented my enjoyment of this.

I loved the worldbuilding in here! The post-apocalyptic setting was well-done and fairly unique. The world has fallen apart, the meddling of The Company has left the unnamed city this is set in full of spliced up "biotech" monsters, and humanity is left scavenging to survive in ruins.

The pacing here is on the slow side of things as a lot of this just spends time developing the characters, but things definitely picked up in pace about halfway through and especially for the last third.

julianirwin's review against another edition

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4.0

Amnesia. A bleak, polluted, infested cityscape whose only refuge is carved into
the depths of a landfill. A life subjugated to the rule of grotesque,
monstrous, gene spliced, frankensteinian monsters. A godzilla battle. A couple
whose relationship harbours deep, deep secrets, waiting to be uncrated. All of
these sum up to Vandermeer at his finest!

Borne is less fragmented and experimental than previous works of JVM, like City
of Saints and Madmen or Annihilation. It's not some grand metaphor, it's not
selling a point of view, it's just a story about a sort of family living in a
post-pandora's-box world. I think it would make a great starting point for
someone getting into the whole "New Weird" thing.

Props to JVM for creating a rich, unique world, distinguishable from the herd
of apocolyptic visions being written into novels each year. Plus, the author
respects the reader enough to just toss her into the new world, leaving her to
piece things together on her own.

eileenbb's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious 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

4.0

tristnolson's review against another edition

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5.0

A delightfully deranged and dark tale that takes the self-serious tone of Annihilation and morphs it into a delusional and hysteric vision of the post apocalypse that still manages to keep its characters grounded in grief and devotion even while a giant murder bear gracefully glides overhead.