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Borne
- Narrated by: Bahni Turpin
- Length: 12 hrs and 9 mins
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Borne
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Summary
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.
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Critic reviews
‘Jeff VanderMeer’s Southern Reach Trilogy was an ever-creeping map of the apocalypse; with Borne he continues his investigation into the malevolent grace of the world, and it's a thorough marvel’ Colson Whitehead
‘Jeff VanderMeer’s deeply strange and brilliant new novel extends the meditation on the central question of non-human sentience in his earlier work … No one writes a post-apocalyptic landscape like VanderMeer, so detailed and strange in all its lineaments and topography’ Neel Mukherjee, Guardian
‘From being a very successful SF writer, VanderMeer will become mainstream – and Borne is full of signs that he is already thinking ahead of that easy transition, and perhaps subverting it’ Toby Litt, New Statesman
‘No one writes a post-apocalyptic landscape like VanderMeer, so detailed and strange in all its lineaments and topography, at once a wasteland and yet seething with the weirdest kind of flora, fauna and biotech’ Neel Mukherjee, Observer
‘As Borne grows and evolves, so develops a weird family dynamic in a novel that is as much of a fascinating hybrid as its title character, both an enthralling fantasy adventure and a bleak eco-dystopic admonition’ James Lovegrove, Financial Times
‘Borne is a fantastic read, a vivid vision of an apocalyptic future that defies expectations and challenges any preconceptions as to how events are going to unfold. It can be disturbing at times – there are some chilling moments that wouldn’t be out of place in a horror novel – but it’s a book that ultimately transcends genre, offering its reader a range of emotions and a finale that provides more than one twist, all of which should be applauded. Rachel’s story is one that will stay in the memory for a long time; VanderMeer shares her hopes and dreams with us, as well as her failures and concerns, making Borne an intimate portrayal that appeals on a multitude of levels’ Starburst
What listeners say about Borne
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Paul Frankl
- 10-05-18
Incredible book
One of the best I’ve ever read, and beautifully read by Bahni Turpin. Beautiful and haunting and sad.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Rich
- 30-08-23
Wonderful and full of heart
I ate this up so quickly. I feel bad giving the story only four stars, and I also had the inkling to give it three. But that felt unfaithful to how much I enjoyed the book. I found the main two protagonists delightful and constantly intriguing with their own stories and secrets that is deftly revealed, and Borne, of course, was the star of the show and stole every scene they was in. But VanderMeer set up so interesting a world that I wanted to see *more* of how this world operated. The Company, Mord, the Magician -- they were often just a backdrop to our three main characters. And that's fine, an author can't answer all the questions they set up--but it just often felt like they were only ever there in service TO the characters, and so sometimes felt not as thought out.
There's a great thematic discussion here of simulations/simulacra, of what is *real*, especially by the novel's end, and I think VanderMeer mobilises a lot of good characterisation and plot structure to evaluate what it truly means to be real, and whether or not that question even ultimately matters (of course, the meta-analysis here being that none of this world and the characters are real anyway, they are fabricated by the author). The final kind of remark being 'so what if we're not real, we're made real by what we do' is ultimately a well-deserved thematic assumption, and definitely helped add a star there at the end.
Truly beautiful story and a wonderful New Weird text. VanderMeer never disappoints, though, does he?
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- saskiadotritchieatgmaildotcom
- 12-08-18
Superb - best listen in ages
I loved this. struggled to put it down to such a degree that I listened to it all night. the story pulled me in and the characters kept me going.
I had it in my wish list ages, unsure. This is a definite re-listen.
Read this Book
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- David Connor
- 28-01-23
Borne to be mild
Another case of premise not living up to potential. Considering this book has a giant flying murder bear, a shapshifting sentient sea anemone, and a cult leader called the magician you'd think something would happen!
very well read and wrote, with some really outstanding lines but in the end felt like playing fallout without accepting any quests.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Daryl Pride
- 17-10-18
Dreamlike
I loved this book. Like his Southern Reach Trilogy, Jeff VanderMeer manages to find magic in minutiae and comfort in the surreal. Can't recommend this book highly enough
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 16-05-18
good book, but I feel that something was missing.
it was okey, I liked the storey but struggled to finish a bit. just didn't get pulled in to it
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Jonny Ridders
- 14-06-19
Loved it, it kinda feels like a film to be.
Really enjoyed it. Preferred it to annihilation, it sort of reads like a film that hasn't been made yet and I can't wait to see that too.
Love the idea of it being normal and absolutely crazy at the same time. Vandemeer makes the weirdness sort of believable too!
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Rose Kolodony
- 13-09-18
Strange Story That Struggles To Engage
I started out finding this post apocalyptic story of a scavenger finding an odd piece of discarded biotech and taking it home to raise it, an interesting concept, but overall, there are too many unbelievable quirks, such as the flying ability of Mord, to make this really engaging. I also struggled to understand the motivation of the protagonist, who is analytical in her day to day life, but fails utterly to visualise the potential in her adopted Borne.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- mr
- 24-10-18
Very unique book
The most creative and imaginative sci-fi I've read in a long time. Very unique book.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- L Cron
- 05-01-23
Bizarre, fascinating…
Mad, beautiful, gross, funny and sad…
I’d recommend this book to any soft sci-fi fan or anyone with an interest in biology, climate and the future of our planet. Although, if you haven’t already, perhaps read the Southern Reach trilogy first because this book seems to exist in a similar universe. It seems less serious than the Southern Reach trilogy, more tongue-in-cheek and sometimes consciously silly but the themes discussed and concerns raised are significant.
In some of the more despairing moments I wondered if I could continue listening through the apparent hopelessness of it all but I couldn’t leave it for long without knowing more about Borne. The end is a little ‘safe’ but overall this book is worth your time.
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