ameliamadetea's review
adventurous
emotional
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
krispysev's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
ichirofakename's review against another edition
1.0
Ridiculously over-rated future dystopia sci-fi. If you are going to have 120-foot tall bears, that FLY, you must state a reason they can fly. And don't then suddenly stop them from flying.
Borne is an auto-tech/alien shape-shifter being that eats but doesn't excrete, getting bigger every day. Rachel, our narrator, raises him and gets attached somehow. There is nothing lovable or fascinating about him to justify the focus.
Prose is purple-lite, and feels rote AND self-satisfied. Plot is unengaging, ongoing disaster. The only reason I can figure that I read the whole thing is that it is a very easy read.
Not recommended.
Borne is an auto-tech/alien shape-shifter being that eats but doesn't excrete, getting bigger every day. Rachel, our narrator, raises him and gets attached somehow. There is nothing lovable or fascinating about him to justify the focus.
Prose is purple-lite, and feels rote AND self-satisfied. Plot is unengaging, ongoing disaster. The only reason I can figure that I read the whole thing is that it is a very easy read.
Not recommended.
1morepaige's review against another edition
3.0
Borne is a Good Book. Why three stars then? Well I’m glad you asked.
Borne has a lot of things going for it, so I’ll start with the positives.
1. It is absolutely beautifully written, especially considering so much of the world this story is set in defies easy description.
2. The story and world are extremely original, many elements unlike anything I have read before. (That’s always a bonus!)
3. The creeping sense of dread evoked by the pace and the narration was masterfully done. Not surprising considering the heebie jeebies I got from the other novel I read by Jeff Vander Meer, Annihilation (which I loved, but couldn’t manage to tough it out through the second book, Authority)
What didn’t work for me:
1. Sometimes the gorgeous, lush, literary writing got in the way of the experience. I found myself saying “what did I just read? what’s happening again?” and having to flip back through til I found my footing again. I got through it, but it was hard to stay immersed in the story and that makes for a rough read for me. (It took me like a WEEK to finish Borne, which is unheard of)
2. The characters felt distant and almost cold to me. There were a lot of events that should have wrenched at my guts, but it was really hard for me to feel what the characters were feeling and so much of the reading experience was less enjoyable for me because of this distance. It’s hard to pinpoint what about the book made me feel disconnected from it in this crucial way, but that’s how I felt about it all the way up to and through the end.
3. Speaking of: The ending was...fine, I guess? I won’t spoil anything but it just didn’t take with me. I’m not sure what I wanted out of it but whatever it was I sure didn’t find it. I kept feeling like there was some kind of message or lesson I was meant to learn but it felt like it was buried underneath so much other stuff that there was no uptake, no sense of “oh of course!” tying it together, no feeling of purpose behind what I had just finished.
I think my issue is that I felt the entire time I was reading this book that it was like this beautiful exercise in world building and characterization of strange beings that the humanity and emotion fell totally flat for me and that made it really difficult to get back to when I set it down. I was never biting my nails or breathlessly awaiting what comes next, i was wondering how much longer it would be before I was finished and allowed to read something that would sweep me away into it. And with Borne, that just never happened.
But honestly, I’m not sad I read it or that I kept going even when it was hard to get through. It really is a beautiful book and people other than me are going to just absolutely devour it and want seconds.
This just wasn’t my thing!
Borne has a lot of things going for it, so I’ll start with the positives.
1. It is absolutely beautifully written, especially considering so much of the world this story is set in defies easy description.
2. The story and world are extremely original, many elements unlike anything I have read before. (That’s always a bonus!)
3. The creeping sense of dread evoked by the pace and the narration was masterfully done. Not surprising considering the heebie jeebies I got from the other novel I read by Jeff Vander Meer, Annihilation (which I loved, but couldn’t manage to tough it out through the second book, Authority)
What didn’t work for me:
1. Sometimes the gorgeous, lush, literary writing got in the way of the experience. I found myself saying “what did I just read? what’s happening again?” and having to flip back through til I found my footing again. I got through it, but it was hard to stay immersed in the story and that makes for a rough read for me. (It took me like a WEEK to finish Borne, which is unheard of)
2. The characters felt distant and almost cold to me. There were a lot of events that should have wrenched at my guts, but it was really hard for me to feel what the characters were feeling and so much of the reading experience was less enjoyable for me because of this distance. It’s hard to pinpoint what about the book made me feel disconnected from it in this crucial way, but that’s how I felt about it all the way up to and through the end.
3. Speaking of: The ending was...fine, I guess? I won’t spoil anything but it just didn’t take with me. I’m not sure what I wanted out of it but whatever it was I sure didn’t find it. I kept feeling like there was some kind of message or lesson I was meant to learn but it felt like it was buried underneath so much other stuff that there was no uptake, no sense of “oh of course!” tying it together, no feeling of purpose behind what I had just finished.
I think my issue is that I felt the entire time I was reading this book that it was like this beautiful exercise in world building and characterization of strange beings that the humanity and emotion fell totally flat for me and that made it really difficult to get back to when I set it down. I was never biting my nails or breathlessly awaiting what comes next, i was wondering how much longer it would be before I was finished and allowed to read something that would sweep me away into it. And with Borne, that just never happened.
But honestly, I’m not sad I read it or that I kept going even when it was hard to get through. It really is a beautiful book and people other than me are going to just absolutely devour it and want seconds.
This just wasn’t my thing!
olived218's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
4.5
susanw's review against another edition
3.0
3.5 stars. While the world building was great, the Borne character fascinating, the writing excellent, and the potential huge, I felt the story lagged in places and the climax was not very climactic. It does have all the markings of a great Hollywood movie, survival, biotech, monsters, and power struggles in a world gone very wrong.
pandagirlmb's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25