Section 1: Urban Fantasy Books Similar to Borderline
Section 2: Most Powerful Themes Represented in Borderline
You see the main character, Millie, struggling with her daily life due to having borderline personality disorder and being an amputee missing both legs. Her psychosis makes her rough around the edges and not the easiest person to befriend. Clearly, she also keeps people at arm's length as a coping device to avoid getting close and vulnerable.
Despite her limits and negativity, Millie finds ways to succeed in the Arcadia Project’s dealings with the magical world. The way she navigates the world pushes us to question our perceptions and possible prejudices against people with similar mental or physical disabilities.
Most of the Arcadia Project’s human team members have different disabilities, and they all find their way of dealing with the world. But, Baker doesn’t do this as a sugar-coated story of “look how group XYZ overcomes adversity.” Baker’s story shows the reality of these characters, and it shows how society treats them, sometimes letting them fall through the cracks. They, too, are at the borderline of acceptance, and Baker’s story makes us face the places we’ve put such people.
Section 3: What I Did Not Like about Borderline
Devils advocate: If you just called them all Supernatural or Other, would that term be as annoying?
For me, I’d prefer one of those truly general terms. I’m sure people will argue with this, but I don’t consider the term “Fae” as a broad label, no matter how you spell it. The Fae are a very specific subgroup of the supernatural world, and within that subgroup are even more subgroups of specific types of Fae.
Maybe they get into the non-Fae in the rest of the series, or perhaps they can only contact the Fae. I don’t know yet. All I want is for writers not to generalize the Fae Folk.
OK, off my soapbox.
Section 4: Who Will Love and Hate Borderline
On the other hand, if you prefer your urban fantasy to follow a typical story arc and finish in a satisfying, almost Hollywood ending, you will have significant problems with the realism and grittiness displayed in this book.
Section 5: L. Rigdon’s Star Rating of Borderline
I didn’t give this the full five stars because Baker deliberately held back the supernatural world from Millie (and the reader), which frustrated me. I’m unsure if it was deliberate to give you a taste of Millie’s frustration with never knowing all the details, or if Baker didn’t want to overload us with the world and lose track of the story. I get it, but we could have discovered more about the world without sacrificing too much of the story. Either way, I’m eager to read the next book and learn more about the Arcadia Project.