128 pages
Published Feb. 27, 2018 by MCD x FSG Originals.
like the best of VanderMeer's work, i'll need to revisit this one. highly recommend reading Borne first, as well as Dead Astronauts, but i do think this could stand on its own.
A short story to complement Borne, The Strange Bird is set in the same biotechnological dystopia. It not only looks at the Borne plot from another angle, but also manages to provide an almost phenomenological account of life as a weird sentient piece of biotechnology.
The short form fits well with VanderMeer's writing, as his complicated ideas are forced into clarity. I enjoyed The Strange Bird more than Borne, but would still recommend reading the latter first.
