Borne, by Jeff Vandermeer, is probably the weirdest book I have ever read. It is a science fiction novel and takes place in an unnamed future city, destroyed and overrun by foul creatures made by “The Company”. The story is told by Rachel, who is the main protagonist, and we follow her life in the city after she discovers Borne, a peculiar creature found on the back of a giant flying bear named Morde. At this point I was interested, but very confused, and was wanting answers. 

The book goes into the relationship between Rachel and Borne, as well as Wick, who is Rachel’s drug dealer partner and boyfriend in the apocalypse. Issues arise when Borne starts growing, and the “normal” lives of Rachel and Wick are thrown off by Borne and his tendencies. To make things worse, the Magician, who is a rival drug dealer to Wick, is becoming more and more aggressive, further threatening the lives of Rachel and Wick. Between the decrepit city and its inhabitants, Morde the giant bear, and now Borne, Rachel and Wick have to somehow find a way to survive. 

This story is very engaging.It describes the world and creatures in it in a really in depth manner. However, one of the best parts to me is the dialogue between the characters, specifically between Rachel and Borne. The character of Borne, who is essentially a weird alien baby, allows a lot of entertaining and interesting conversations and situations. 

The book is at its best during any action scene. Due to the sort of hectic writing style and first person perspective, it seems like you yourself are right next to the characters. The creatures that the story describes make the action very suspenseful, and I found myself going back to re-read certain parts to fully grasp what is going on. 

Although the action and dialogue is well done, there are also things that I wish were done better or expanded. For example, the creatures and world building the book, but I wish that there was even more of that. The Company and its biotech creations are super cool and make this book special, yet there are only a few instances where new things are actually present. However, as I said, when these creations are introduced, it is really cool. To add to this, the book creates a lot of questions, but answers very few in a concise and satisfying way. Like Mord the flying bear, something as ridiculous as that leaves you with a lot of questions. The origin and reasoning of Mord’s creation is not really explored leaving more to be desired.

Also, I think Rachel and Wick are bland characters. We get information about Rachel through flashbacks and her memories, which are some of the only ways we get to know about her. I also noticed that the book tells us a lot that she is, for example, resourceful or hardened, but actually shows that far less often. As for Wick, we learn almost nothing about his character, which results in him being pretty dull. The telling and not showing type of description is even worse for him, as we don’t see him do anything really. 

As someone who enjoys dystopias and sci-fi I overall I think there are some great aspects to the story, but much to be desired. The negatives of this book outweigh the good. I would steer clear of this book as the weird factor is almost too much for me. However, if you are a fan of crazy , goofy creatures and ideas, then I think you should consider checking this out