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A review by charles__
Borne by Jeff VanderMeer
2.0
Literary, dystopian fantasy in which a woman raises a biotech creature as if it’s her human child to become the ambiguously human savior of a world ravaged by the biotech of Toxic, Inc. . First in the author's Borne series.
My dead tree copy of the book was a modest 340 pages. It had a 2017 US copyright.
Jeff VanderMeer is an American author, and science fiction literati. He as written more than ten (10) novels which include two (2) series, many short stories and some science fiction related non-fiction. This is the first book in his Borne ‘universe’ set books. This is the first novel of the author's that I recall reading. I have read several of his shorter works.
This book has been recommended to me for some time. I could tell it was well wrought, but I didn’t like it. It was not post apocalyptic science fiction. It was however, technically well written. I'd classify this book as litfic, an emerging genre. It had: literary, dystopian fantasy with science fiction elements. It reminded me a lot of the litfic written by [a:China Miéville|33918|China Miéville|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1243988363p2/33918.jpg]. I frankly find that genre too: liberal, detached, concerned with aesthetics and self-pleasuring.
In the story, the protagonist (Rachel) provides the single POV. She’s an Action Girl, with a maternal streak scavenging for re-usable biotechnology amongst the ruins of her world. Her immediate locale was a metropolis demolished by war, climate change and malevolent biotech. She rescues a biotech creature (Borne) from the biotech, 20-meter tall, flying, bear Mord. Mord was her, ravaged world’s terrestrial Leviathan. Borne was her Doorstop Baby. The mother-child relationship between Rachel and Borne was the major plot-line of the story. The subtle difference between Personification and anthropomorphism as well as other story-related semantics are explored as Rachel ‘teaches’ Borne to be a person. For example, the flying bear’s name was Mord. Wick, Rachel’s male partner was a biotech mage with murky roots in the world-destroying, and self-destroyed, biotechnology The Company. (I use the word "mage", because the biotech was indistinguishable from magic (#3). Rachel and Wick survive by Wick ‘re-spinning’ salvaged biotech into usable and tradable biotech artifacts. Wick’s ambivalence to Borne was one of the story's artfully developed deep-plots. Another female, surviving, biotech mage of The Company further complicates the situation. “The Magician” was attempting to establish dominion over the wreckage of the city. Mord was her major obstacle. Wick was useful to her. Grown-up Borne becomes the Awakening of the Sleeping Giant . Rachel executes the gender bent, Rescue Romance of Wick from The Magician. Somewhat happy ending.
The prose was very good. The three (3) main human characters (Rachel, Wick and The Magician) were well executed. The story’s NPCs were also good. The plotting was good, but not great. Borne as The Sleeping Giant was obvious too early in the story. The climactic battle(s) and its Villain Reveals the Secret(s) were anti-climatic and expected. The world building of the post-apocalyptic urban wasteland was very good. The detail of its biotech flora and fauna was impressive. However, I balked at the Frankenstein-like splicing of human and non-human in the mutable Borne and the flying Mord. They were too much litfic symbolism rather than the products of the author's world building.
This was not a post apocalyptic story about a plucky, Action Girl adopting a non-human child and teaching it to be a person and saving her lover. It was litfic dressed-up to end in a post apocalyptic, metaphysical, King Kong vs. Godzilla (1962). (Borne was King Kong.)
The story was well written. Its: prose, characters, plot and world building were good. However, it was too metaphysical for me to outright enjoy. One example was the fanciful nature of Borne and Mord in contrast to the realistic contours of the post-apocalyptic world building. They were metaphysical creatures. Another example, was the stealthy pedantry of the linkage between language and thought. As Rachel ‘taught’ Borne and as it back channel ‘taught’ her (and the reader). I was constantly being alerted to this attempted intrusion throughout the middle of the book. The post apocalyptic camouflage was too thin to disguise the litfic nature of the book for me.
My dead tree copy of the book was a modest 340 pages. It had a 2017 US copyright.
Jeff VanderMeer is an American author, and science fiction literati. He as written more than ten (10) novels which include two (2) series, many short stories and some science fiction related non-fiction. This is the first book in his Borne ‘universe’ set books. This is the first novel of the author's that I recall reading. I have read several of his shorter works.
This book has been recommended to me for some time. I could tell it was well wrought, but I didn’t like it. It was not post apocalyptic science fiction. It was however, technically well written. I'd classify this book as litfic, an emerging genre. It had: literary, dystopian fantasy with science fiction elements. It reminded me a lot of the litfic written by [a:China Miéville|33918|China Miéville|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1243988363p2/33918.jpg]. I frankly find that genre too: liberal, detached, concerned with aesthetics and self-pleasuring.
In the story, the protagonist (Rachel) provides the single POV. She’s an Action Girl, with a maternal streak scavenging for re-usable biotechnology amongst the ruins of her world. Her immediate locale was a metropolis demolished by war, climate change and malevolent biotech. She rescues a biotech creature (Borne) from the biotech, 20-meter tall, flying, bear Mord. Mord was her, ravaged world’s terrestrial Leviathan. Borne was her Doorstop Baby. The mother-child relationship between Rachel and Borne was the major plot-line of the story. The subtle difference between Personification and anthropomorphism as well as other story-related semantics are explored as Rachel ‘teaches’ Borne to be a person.
Spoiler
Borne was not a person, it was a weapon.The prose was very good. The three (3) main human characters (Rachel, Wick and The Magician) were well executed. The story’s NPCs were also good. The plotting was good, but not great. Borne as The Sleeping Giant was obvious too early in the story. The climactic battle(s) and its Villain Reveals the Secret(s) were anti-climatic and expected. The world building of the post-apocalyptic urban wasteland was very good. The detail of its biotech flora and fauna was impressive. However, I balked at the Frankenstein-like splicing of human and non-human in the mutable Borne and the flying Mord. They were too much litfic symbolism rather than the products of the author's world building.
This was not a post apocalyptic story about a plucky, Action Girl adopting a non-human child and teaching it to be a person and saving her lover. It was litfic dressed-up to end in a post apocalyptic, metaphysical, King Kong vs. Godzilla (1962). (Borne was King Kong.)
The story was well written. Its: prose, characters, plot and world building were good. However, it was too metaphysical for me to outright enjoy. One example was the fanciful nature of Borne and Mord in contrast to the realistic contours of the post-apocalyptic world building. They were metaphysical creatures. Another example, was the stealthy pedantry of the linkage between language and thought. As Rachel ‘taught’ Borne and as it back channel ‘taught’ her (and the reader). I was constantly being alerted to this attempted intrusion throughout the middle of the book. The post apocalyptic camouflage was too thin to disguise the litfic nature of the book for me.