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    Borne
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    Borne
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    Borne
    Audiobook12 hours

    Borne

    Written by Jeff VanderMeer

    Narrated by Bahni Turpin

    4/5

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    Unavailable in your country

    Unavailable in your country

    About this audiobook

    A FINANCIAL TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR

    The dark, dangerous, funny and uplifting new novel from the author of Annihilation, the inspiration for the major motion picture directed by Alex Garland.

    ‘Neither of us had control of our monsters anymore’

    In a ruined city of the future, Rachel scavenges a strange creature from the fur of a despotic bear.

    She names him Borne.

    He reminds her of her homeland lost to rising seas, but her lover Wick is intent on rendering him down as raw material for the special drugs he sells. Nothing is quite what it seems, and if Wick is hiding secrets, so too is Rachel – and Borne most of all.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins Publishers
    Release dateJun 15, 2017
    ISBN9780008159191
    Unavailable
    Borne
    Author

    Jeff VanderMeer

    Jeff VanderMeer is an award-winning novelist and editor. His fiction has been translated into twenty languages and has appeared in the Library of America’s American Fantastic Tales and in multiple year’s-best anthologies. He writes non-fiction for the Washington Post, the New York Times Book Review, the Los Angeles Times, and the Guardian, among others. He grew up in the Fiji Islands and now lives in Tallahassee, Florida, with his wife.

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    Reviews for Borne

    4/5

    564 ratings47 reviews

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    • 3/5
      This book has the same sort of ambiguous weirdness that I loved in Annihilation. However to me it lacked an actual story to pull me through. It seemed that the focal characters were just thrashing around trying to survive, not chasing a goal or trying to solve a mystery. I'm going to read reviews of the following books carefully before deciding whether to read them.
    • 3/5
      I am a fan of the author, this is a good story, and VanderMeer should be just the guy to handle post-apocalyptic biotech, but I didn't think the story moved well with VanderMeer-sentences hanging on it.
    • 5/5
      Absolutely fantastic! Set in a post-apocalyptic world, our main character is a scavenger. It's a strange world and whether this is earth can only be pondered by the reader. The Company dealt with bioengineering and is one faction of the city. Defences at the ready but otherwise seemingly abandoned. The Magician is a mysterious figure working against the Company. Meanwhile, the city is terrorized by a piece of bio-engineering that has turned against the Company, a giant (Godzilla-sized) bear. It is in this world that Rachel the scavenger finds a small biological piece that she takes for a plant, that is until it starts to move around and talk. Borne is a fantastic creature and the whole story is science fiction bordering on The Weird. As soon as I had finished this I wanted more, so I've now downloaded VanderMeer's Annihilation to my kindle and am caught up in it. A new author discovered for me!
    • 4/5
      The feel of the world in this novel is reminiscent of Margaret Atwood's Maddaddam trilogy, which I loved. I almost love Borne, too. As it is, I really, really like it, but it doesn't quite blow me away enough to say I love it. The questions were long and many, and the answers were short and few, but usually that doesn't bother me. Maybe fewer answers would have been more satisfying. Or maybe not. Either way, very good novel.
    • 5/5
      Beautiful sci-fi audiobook, has a lot of cool moments, definitely a must
    • 2/5
      Pela sinopse eu fui esperando que "Borne" fosse de uma forma, mas logo no primeiro capítulo percebi que seria complemente diferente, o que não foi ruim! De início, quando estamos acompanhando Rachel nas explorações, conhecendo melhor o mundo (eu gostei muito de não haver explicações sobre o porquê das coisas serem da forma que são), quando ela encontra Borne, e Wick é só um personagem de fundo, o livro é maravilhoso! Não da para parar de ler, da vontade de descobrir mais sobre o passado de Rachel, entender o que Borne é e do que ele é capaz.

      Mas à medida que a história vai avançando e o autor começa a forçar esse romance estranho de Rachel e Wick garganta à baixo, querendo que nos importemos o suficiente com eles dois para entendermos o porquê das brigas sobre confiança e sei lá mais o quê. Só que não da! Rachel e Wick simplesmente não são personagens interessantes o suficiente para carregar a história, depois que eles põem Borne pra fora, o livro fica chato, lento e sem sentido. Não tem como criar um medo no leitor do perigo de Mord e os proxies se a pessoa relatando os ataques e o controle que eles têm sobre a cidade está vivendo perfeitamente segura numa fortaleza. Se o autor tivesse continuado narrando as expedições de Rachel como no começo e se ela tivesse mais encontros diretos com os proxies – como quando Borne foi atacado –, o clímax teria sido muito mais efetivo e medonho. Quando ela e Wick estavam fugindo dos proxies eu só queria que isso tudo acabasse logo para descobrir se Borne sobreviveria ou não (até a luta de Mord e Borne(!!) foi mal explorada e deixada de fundo, pelo menos o final incrível foi narrado).

      Honestamente, mal consegui entender o que estava acontecendo durante o encontro de Rachel com a Magician ou o que a Magician queria dela realmente ao longo do livro, mesmo depois da explicação de Wick na carta sobre a Magician ter as memórias de Rachel de quando os pais dela morreram, eu não sei como ela imaginava que isso dava-a poder sobre Rachel. Rachel matá-la a pedradas foi ridículo, mas à essa altura eu nem consegui me importar, acho que o autor não sabia mais o que fazer e ao invés de manter o mistério do destino da Magician após a tentativa falha de matar Mord, decidiu que ela precisava morrer canonicamente e não conseguiu pensar numa forma melhor.

      Ainda sobre a carta de Wick, é incrível que o personagem dele foi tão mal construído que o plot twist sobre ele também ser uma criação da Companhia nem me surpreendeu, foi só um momente de "hm, ok, continue".

      Porém, apesar dos pesares, o último capítulo até que foi bom, eu esperava bem mais, mas pelo nível que a história chegou acredito que tenha sido uma boa forma de fechar. Só achei triste que mesmo Borne tendo voltado, ele não vai mais poder evoluir, ou ao menos não enquanto Rachel estiver viva, mas ela disse que as criações da companhia provavelmente passarão dos humanos, então com certeza chegará um momento em que Borne se tornará para os "animais" o que Mord foi para os humanos.

      Lerei os demais livros da série, já que não parecem ser diretamente ligados aos personagens desse, mas sinceramente não recomendo.
    • 3/5
      I ended up really enjoying this, despite my slow reading pace. I found this a little hard to get into, the writing style wasn't super easy to read, I really had to slow down to take in what was happening and what was going on. Which wasn't a bad thing, just different. This was definitely one of those books that explores themes of humanity, what makes you a person, and death. Hard topics, that make you think, and thus need to be taken in slowly.

      I enjoyed Rachel as a narrator, and enjoyed getting to know Borne and Wick, but I found it hard to even really like them. The writing felt distant and standoffish, not really personal. The plot was interesting, and I wasn't really sure where it was going to take us at any point - but I did enjoy what happened and how we got there. It was a very interesting read.

      3.5/5 stars
    • 4/5
      This book is about a dystopian world although it is focused in one extremely messed up city. The city has been cast into ruins by a biotech company called The Company. They have created a monster named Mord that is destroying everything and everybody. Mord was formed by the company as a giant bear, and has minions that are also bears.Borne is a being found by a young woman named Rachel. She names the creature Borne because she considers him/it her child. Borne learns very quickly and helps Rachel stay alive in the city. The word "borne" is also the past participle of the word bear (to carry) and this has significance in the story.I had problems with the author's descriptions of some of the biotech. He was vague enough on some of it that I found it hard to picture. It made the story a little less believable, but I still liked the book.
    • 4/5
      What a weird book, I love Jeff VanderMeer's writing. Didn't top the Southern Reach trilogy, but really fascinating and entertaining.
    • 4/5
      I didn't finish this not because it wasn't compelling or well written, but because it was so goddamn grim. I just couldn't deal.
    • 5/5
      Based on a copy from NetGalley.

      So weird! So good! Read it! Just read all of Jeff VanderMeer.
    • 5/5
      Two days after finishing Borne, the latest read in my Vandermeer streak, and I am still not okay because I have all the feels for an inhuman murderous squid tentacle monster.

      I'll try and break down what this book is about, with only minimal spoilers.

      BORNE is a personal story of found families, lost children, broken homes, and couples trying to "make it work" against the odds.

      BORNE is an epic story about monsters, humanity, and the incredible struggle of people who wish to be good but cannot stop being evil.

      BORNE is a science fantasy story about a post-apocalyptic world overrun by biotech/wetware, all of it as beautiful and ingenious as it is insane and deadly.

      BORNE is everything I look for in a speculative fiction novel, and if you are a fan of this genre, you cannot afford to miss this modern classic.
    • 3/5
      An interesting novel, but not really my cup of tea. There are so many ways I could describe this book: weird, imaginative, unsettling, dark. The world building is excellence and I can see why this author and this style of futuristic fiction has attracted readers. Still, this just wasn't the book for me and I struggled to finish it.
    • 4/5
      Borne is part amoeba, part hydra and all curious. Also, very, VERY hungry.

      Not happily-ever-after. But, a good ending, nevertheless.
    • 3/5
      Extremely trippy piece of imaginative fiction. Brutal at times.
    • 4/5
      Borne is post-apocalyptic fiction that takes place on an ecologically devastated Earth where survivors scavenge among the ruins of a demolished city competing with one another to salvage useful pieces of biotech, water, and any bit of refuse that might extend their lives. In between stealthy hunts for resources, the remnants of humanity hide from experiments turned deadly predator and humans intent on terrorizing others. The fast-paced action belies the underlying transhumanist theme, leaving a read that is exciting without being devoid of substance.I came to this series backwards, reading the second book before the first, which didn't diminish my reading experience in the least. Despite sharing a common universe, each stands alone as a complete novel. I will say, however, that I prefer the more experimental new-weird companion story Dead Astronauts.
    • 2/5
      I don’t get it. I read Annihilation and, okay, Ballard did it first and Ballard did it better, but I thought Annihilation quite good, and VanderMeer is one of the good guys and his Wonderbook is a damn sight more useful as a writing tool than 99% of the how-to-write books out there. But reading Borne, I’m reminded of The Book of Phoenix and the Binti novellas by Nnedi Okorafor, both of which read like they were written by a teenager, but Okorafor has a PhD in English, and if you know that much about writing fiction, why would you deliberately write something bad? And Borne – which, it must be said, has been highly praised – did not seem to me to be very good at all. There’s this post-apocalyptic city, and a five-storey flying bear, yes, really, and a woman called Rachel who finds some sort of biotech creature which grows and grows and can imitate all manner of things. None of this makes the slightest bit of sense, nor gives you any reason to continue reading. It doesn’t help that the prose is so lazily written, such as the narrator witnessing an invisible person make a gesture, or crashed helicopters having “wings crumpled”. I read Borne and I didn’t see any reason to get invested in the story. It felt like a half-a-dozen pet images on endless recycle. I thought Annihilation was good but didn’t bother with the sequels. Borne is apparently the first in a trilogy but I definitely won’t be bothering with the sequels.
    • 3/5
      Original science-fiction setting and the writing wasn't awful. I felt that the narrator's tone was slightly off, but otherwise it was very enjoyable.
    • 5/5
      A heartbreaking take on child rearing and climate change and the absurd all taken from a beyond strange take on dystopian themes of science fiction but it is also more than that it is beyond that and also is the aforementioned. What does it mean to take care of something only to see it grow and be affected by the world around it and see it go out on its own and make choices that you may or may not agree with? What does it mean to be a parent in a world that is on its way to being more ruined that it already is? What does it mean to raise something beautiful and terrible? How does raising a life with love create space in the world for healing? These question-themes and more abound in Borne. In Borne the world is torn apart and climate change made increasingly worse by an all powerful company whose biotech creations have turned the world and this specific city an unnamed city where Rachel the protagonist lives into an post-apocalyptic hellscape that still somehow has beauty however that beauty is likely only in the eyes of Rachel herself. Rachel finds a piece of biotech from the fur of the great flying bear Mord who rules over the City in constant tension and war with other forces vying for power other creations and The Magician. Borne turns out to be a shape shifting squid anemone that disrupts the balance of power and post-apocalypticness of the city. Vandermeer's Borne is a heart breaking story that will cause you to look at the torn apart places with new eyes. It will encourage you to take care of what you have and to help the living things around you and will maybe help you to consider the things that common sense says are not living as living things. It will hopefully make you think about change and the sort of change you want to be and associate yourself with. However above all else Borne is just damn good fiction: it is fun and it is sad and it is full of power dynamics that will keep you interested and reading. Read Borne. You will come out the other side changed.
    • 3/5
      3.5

      I don't care what any other reader thinks. Bourne is my precious baby, and I love him. Other than that, I emerged from my first delve into the "new weird" with a somewhat healthy appreciation. Though, at times it lost me, but that's more due to my inability to visualize certain things. However, I loved the writing style and do plan on reading more VanderMeer.
    • 4/5
      With Vandermeer you at least are sure you're always going to get something original and interesting. The characters in this one didn't blow me away and the long "letter" that explained much of the background of the story towards the end was just too much "telling" for me, but the story itself was cool and Borne was hilarious.
    • 4/5
      Certainly a unique book, I really enjoyed the premise of exploring how a non-human intelligence might evolve and learn from a human trying to survive in a post-apocalyptic world.
    • 5/5
      Dark and beautiful, deceptively simple
    • 4/5
      I am reviewing Borne by Jeff VanderMeer. Here are my thoughts:

      ^^ Rachel's a scavenger trying to survive in a destroyed world that is littered with biotech experiments the Company have discarded and nothing is ever what it seems. She meets Wick who makes his own way, by dealing with all sorts of things he finds, breaking them down and making the best use out of what he can. Then Rachel finds Borne, but instead of breaking him up and using him for parts, she keeps him. Not only does he start to talk, become a person and grow on her, he starts to grow - into somethi ng quite huge and alien. Yet despite his quirkiness Rachel and Borne become attached; like mother and child. What can become of such a relationship in a world where survival is everyone's priority?

      ^^ Borne. How to explain Borne? He waffles between childlike and adult states as he finds his way around Rachel's world. He can morph into objects and people, but without these disguises he forms a six-foot hybrid of a squid and a sea anemone with a ring of circling eyes. In short, he's a fascinating, shape-shifting character, and one Rachel takes it upon herself to teach the ways of the world. One he is clearly not used to living in.

      ^^ Then there's the giant grizzly God-Bear called Mord, the Magician, the poison rains, memory beetles, and the odd discarded biotech that could cause death or discomfort.

      ^^ I quite liked how this book is split into three parts, and each part/chapter has a sub title relating to the next part of the story.

      ^^ U nderneath the surface of this post-apocalyptic tale of survival, there is something more. Something deeper. You'll see it as you read through. Maybe the author is writing of a world not so alien after all. If you read in between the lines, is our society so different? Do we teach our children what is best, only to have them go their own way as soon as they have a mind of their own? If you look closer, there are so many similarities to modern life as we know it today.  It's a kind of charming, yet terrifying read all rolled into one.

      ^^ This is a great book for any fan of fantasy and science fiction set in a dystopian world, where technology and the supernatural intertwine.

      Overall: VanderMeer's dystopian world is a weird and wonderful mix creative strange characters, a fascinating mind and world-building skills. I've never read anything quite like it!

      Thank you to NetGalley for my ARC copy.
    • 5/5
      Beautifully written.
    • 5/5
      Weird and fabulous. Jeff VanderMeer creates worlds unlike any other and fabulous and haunting creatures to inhabit them. Borne stars a "blob" that Rachel finds while scavenging on the hide of the colossal bear-creature that rules their world. What does it mean to be alive? What does it mean to be a person? What does it mean to be good? So many themes and ideas. If you enjoyed the Southern Reach trilogy, you will definitely like this!
    • 2/5
      Couldn't finish this one: after reading a summary of the complete plot, maybe I should have kept going a bit, but just could not get interested in the story and characters
    • 5/5
      The book Borne is, "as terrible and beautiful and sad and sweet as life itself." (p. 7) This quote is actually Rachel speaking of the drug (memory beetles) that her companion Wick sells. But I think it's an accurate description of each of the three main characters - Rachel, Wick, and Borne itself - and the strange family they comprise.In addition to being the convoluted story of these three and the ravaged city they live in, it is also a meditation on what a person is and how trust, distrust, secrets, love, and forgiveness mingle in our lives, and the strange places that give rise to (or bear) hope.
    • 4/5
      When I bought this book at City Books in Brighton while being there on vacation the week before Easter, I was mainly attracted by (1) the very colourful and pleasing cover and (2) Jeff VanderMeer's name (I had read Annihilation last summer - coincidently also bought while on vacation in the UK).I didn't really know what to expect.What I found was a unique story of a kind of patchwork family in a post-apocalyptic city (not particularly novel) ruled by a giant flying bear (very unusual) and a Magician. Strange biotech everywhere.Is this Fantasy, Science-Fiction, all of it? Does it matter?The ending worked for me although it leaves some things unanswered - which somehow reminds me of Annihilation. I guess if you liked Annihilation's writing style, you will also like Borne.This was my second book by Jeff and I read both in English - which I do with a lot of novels - but have to admit it was not always easy. This is no critism of the language used, I just felt I couldn't fully appreciate all the details of the prose. Maybe I need to reread this one as a German translation or grab a German copy of Jeff's next book - which I surely will be looking forward to.
    • 4/5
      This took me forever to get into. Maybe it was because it was the holidays or maybe it just didn't catch my imagination the way that Annihilation first did. Once I got into it, I liked it, but it never did engage me in the way that The Southern Reach Trilogy did.