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wyrdwit 's review for:

Borne by Jeff VanderMeer
5.0
adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious reflective 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: Yes

Should I tell you all the ways in which this broke my heart? How I have maybe never held a character so close as I now do with Borne?

A dystopian future. A mysterious biotech company. A couple of scavengers. A monstrous flying bear. And a squid / sea anemone creature whose adolescent joy and quirky yet unsettling sense of humor often seem like the sole reasons these characters (and me) don’t remain in a state of utter despair throughout the entire story.

How is a book this strange—this weird and incomprehensible—able to coalesce into something so beautiful, deep, and meaningful? You'll have to experience that for yourself.


TL;DR (my review, not the book): Unsettling and disturbing yet somehow weirdly playful. Why is this so fun and also so sad.