I loved Borne, and I’ve been slowly falling in love with Vandermeer’s prose through his short stories elsewhere, but I have to admit. I’m not sure what to make of this one. Dead Astronauts is set in the same universe as Borne, with different characters, but while it has some of the familiar strangeness, it’s automatically a much odder novel.
I don’t really know how to describe the prelude and first chapter. The blue fox definitely interests me – a strange being that calls all the other foxes after him – and then come the three, I suppose, titular dead astronauts? They’re not immediately characterized as more than not-quite human wanderers, but I sense timefuckery in this book already.
All I know is that this is going to be a mushroom samba, and I am hesitant – but ready.
Elliott Dunstan 