Borne

A Novel

by Jeff VanderMeer

On Sale: 04/25/2017

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Borne

A Novel

by Jeff VanderMeer

On Sale: 04/25/2017

Format:

Amazon Indigo

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Book Overview
Author Info

International Dublin Literary Award

About the Book

**A National Post Best Book of the Year**

In a ruined, nameless city of the future, Rachel, who makes her living as a scavenger, finds a creature she names Borne entangled in the fur of Mord, a gigantic, despotic bear. Mord once prowled the corridors of the biotech organization known as the Company, which lies at the outskirts of the city, until he was experimented on, grew large, learned to fly and broke free. Driven insane by his torture at the Company, Mord terrorizes the city even as he provides sustenance for scavengers like Rachel.

At first, Borne looks like nothing at all—just a green lump that might be a Company discard. The Company, although severely damaged, is rumoured to still be making creatures and sending them to distant places that have not yet suffered Collapse.

Borne somehow reminds Rachel of the island nation of her birth, now long lost to rising seas. When she takes Borne to her subterranean sanctuary, the Balcony Cliffs, she convinces her lover, Wick, a former employee of the Company, not to render Borne down to raw genetic material for the drugs he sells.

Wick is a special kind of supplier; the drug dealers in the city sell tiny creatures that can be swallowed or stuck in the ear to release powerful memories of other people’s happier times, or to pull forgotten memories from the user’s own mind, or to just produce beautiful visions that provide escape from the barren, craterous landscapes of the city.

Searching Wick’s apartment one day, Rachel finds a burnt, unreadable journal titled Mord that cryptically references the Magician, a rival drug dealer, and the Company building. What is Wick hiding? Why won’t he tell her about what happened when he worked for the Company?

Critical Praise

“A dizzying thrill-ride of a book, reader-friendly and immersive, by turns hilarious, harrowing and heartbreaking in perfect measure.” - National Post

“The most necessary VanderMeer book yet.” - Wired

“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, bestselling author of The Underground Railroad

“Borne, Jeff Vandermeer’s lyrical and harrowing new novel, may be the most beautifully written, and believable, post-apocalyptic tale in recent memory.” - Los Angeles Times

“This coming-of-age story signals that eco-fiction has come of age as well: wilder, more reckless and more breathtaking than previously thought.” - New York Times Book Review

“Supremely literary, distinctly unusual . . . Superb.” - Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“VanderMeer’s deep talent for worldbuilding takes him into realms more reminiscent of Cormac McCarthy’s The Road than of the Shire. Superb: a protagonist and a tale sure to please fans of smart, literate fantasy and science fiction.” - Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“VanderMeer, author of the acclaimed Southern Reach trilogy, has made a career out of eluding genre classifications, and with Borne he essentially invents a new one. . . . More than just weird fiction: weird literature.” - Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“VanderMeer offers another conceptual cautionary tale of corporate greed, scientific hubris, and precarious survival. . . . [His] talent for immersive world-building and stunning imagery is on display in this weird, challenging, but always heartfelt novel.” - Booklist (starred review)