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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 novel that is simultaneously harrowing, dark, dangerous, funny and uplifting from the author of the Southern Reach trilogy.
'Am I a person?' Borne asks Rachel, in extremis.
'Yes, you are a person,' Rachel tells him. 'But like a person, you can be a weapon, too.'
A ruined city of the future lives in fear of a despotic, gigantic flying bear, driven mad by the tortures inflicted on him by the Company, a mysterious biotech firm. A scavenger, Rachel, finds a creature entangled in his fur. She names it Borne.
At first Borne looks like nothing at all - a green lump that might be a discard from the Company. But he reminds Rachel of her homeland, an island nation long lost to rising seas, and she prevents her lover, Wick, from rendering down Borne as raw genetic material for the special kind of drugs he sells.
But nothing is quite the way it seems: not the past, not the present, not the future. If Wick is hiding secrets, so is Rachel - and Borne most of all. What Rachel finds hidden deep within the Company will change everything and everyone. There, lost and forgotten things have lingered and grown. What they have grown into is mighty indeed.
Critic reviews
Borne he continues his investigation into the malevolent grace of the world, and it's a thorough marvel." (Colson Whitehead)
Praise for the Southern Reach Trilogy:
"I'm loving the Southern Reach Trilogy.... Creepy and fascinating." (Stephen King)
"Hauntingly weird and brilliantly new.... These are contemporary masterpieces and career-defining novels." (Adam Robert, Books of the Year, The Guardian)
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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
- 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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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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