Borne—Jeff Vandermeer

I knew Borne was terrified at the end. I knew that he had suffered, but that he had given us this gift of a better life anyway, and I mourned the child I had known who was kind and sweet and curious, and yet could not stop killing.

I won a copy of this book through Goodreads Giveaways, which was very exciting because I NEVER win those. (I win often through LibraryThing's Early Reviewers program though.) It'd been on my TBR for a while, mostly because I was super intrigued by the cover, and then was drawn in by the description. It seemed weird, and I'm always up for some weird.

Well, this one might have been a little too weird for me, I'm afraid to say. BookRiot even included it in a post about "the new weird" trend in books. I don't know that it's really new, but it was a step beyond what I was anticipating.

One day, Rachel, a scavenger in a not-quite-described post-apocalyptic world, discovers a dark purple lump that flashes emerald green stuck on the fur of the evil and dangerous gigantic flying bear called Mord (who used to be a person, but was transformed into a bear by the once evil, now mostly defunct Company). See what I mean? Already weird. She rescues that purple lump, and names it Borne. As time goes by, Rachel realized that Borne is sentient and growing; mysteriously, all of the lizards that used to scuttle through the cavernous area where she lives have disappeared around the same time. Curious. Rachel's lover Wick is incredibly cautious and wary of Borne, and recommends to Rachel that she send Borne away. But Rachel doesn't have the heart. Turns out he does that for a good reason, and after a catalyst event, Rachel finally banishes Borne to leave their caves. Secrets are shared, lives are lost, and decidedly weird shit happens until we get to the end of the book and the big reveal tells us more about how Rachel and Wick and the world even got to this point.

The writing was beautiful and emotional, but man, what a slog for a big chunk of it. The first...maybe 35% kept me pretty engaged, and then basically until after 70% in the book, just not a whole lot happened. It's also one of those books that relied a great deal on telling rather than showing, and not in an expositional way because the whole thing is to leave you kind of in a state of unknowing until the big reveal at the end. Along with that, there were a number of underdefined things that weren't later included in the reveal, and it's just assumed that the little bit would be enough. I liked the aspects of biotech, like the worms that seem to have a symbiotic relationship with Wick, and the alcohol minnows. (Though I still don't really get those...this is one of the aspects where they were underdefined.)

By far, the strongest aspect for me was the character development and emotional growth in both Rachel and Borne. Which, of course, has a tremendous impact on a book itself. I might not have even finished the book, to be honest, if it hadn't been for the arc that Borne goes through. It makes me feel very much like Jeff Vandermeer saw Little Shop of Horrors, and he was like, "What if that plant wasn't evil, and also was just an amorphous Flubber-like lump, and it was learning and cared about the person who discovered it but ALSO couldn't stop killing?"

I haven't read any of Jeff Vandermeer's other books, so I'm thinking I might check those out. I think if I'd been fully in the mindset for this one, it might have been better, but based on the headspace I was in when I read it, it was just fine. But I also think it's entirely possible that his style of writing and plotting just might not be my cup of tea.

One last note: 2017 was lousy with phenomenal cover art (and 2018 looks to be continuing the trend, based on covers I've seen so far). I will say that, though I often judge books by their covers—I know, I know—that might not be as safe a strategy anymore because the content has not lived up to the cover with several of the books I read this year.