Wow wow wow wow wow. This book. It's taken me days to try and put into words how good this book is. From the very first chapter I was completely consumed. I thought this book was going to be about Kaede, who I loved, and then with each subsequent chapter I thought I knew who the book would focus on. It takes you through this journey of different focal points character-wise and manages to make you care about every single one, despite them ultimately being in the periphery. I really don't think I've read any other book that can do that so seamlessly. The cast is huge, but it doesn't feel huge at any one time, and characters move in and out constantly, while still leaving a footprint behind that makes them unforgettable (Nurse for instance).

And the prose. WOW. THE PROSE. I was originally reading a review copy, and then had to go buy my own copy so that I could underline and tab the book as on nearly every page I met a sentence or paragraph that just made me stop in my tracks and soak it in. This book has so much to say about capitalism, and the morality of humans, and selfishness, and attachment, and love and it balances saying it all without overwriting or saying more than a scene requires. And what I love MOST is how subtlely queer it is. Fumiko and Dana and then later Ahro and Oden (which in a book of best parts, this is the best best part). It does it without making a huge statement of this book is queer. It just is, and I think we need more queer characters who just ARE, without it having to be a big thing, like cis straight characters get to. A diverse found family, dystopian, futuristic melting pot of excellence.

This book ended up being more sci-fi than I anticipated (I don't read blurbs or synopses beforehand and only when I was purchasing my own copy did I notice Del Rey -- who publishes all of my favorite sci-fis so I SHOULDA KNOWN), but I think even if you're not a fan of science fiction, you will still absolutely adore this book. It really brings modern day issues into a futuristic world, and has absolutely no info-dumping. The future just IS, like the queer rep. This book expertly presents everything that presents in this world in a way that doesn't require adjustment or explanation. There aren't questions. You're just allowed to exist in it. THE VANISHED BIRDS meets you where you are and I don't know if I'll feel this affected by a book like this again for a long while.

Thank you NetGalley for a complimentary copy. I voluntarily reviewed this book. All opinions expressed are my own.

The Vanished Birds
By: Simon Jimenez


REVIEW ☆☆☆
The Vanished Birds is an excellent story with beautiful writing, and it's lovely to read. My issue is with comprehension, or incomprehensible, as it were. Science fiction is the type of genre with ever deepening levels, and this story dives deep into the philosophical unknowns. I know it's about human relationships and interconnectedness and the universe, which I understand in theory, but in reality, I'm easily lost in the meaning of it all. This is the perfect book for deeper philosophical readers who question and debate narratives such as this. The narrative is everywhere at once, and the descent is further than I want to delve. The fault lies with me, not the story. It's worth reading simply for the lyrical experience, whether you understand it or not, and I recommend it for this reason. I tip my hat to you if you grasp the ideas on these pages with some certainty.

**3.5-stars**
This is a GREAT book. The quality of the writing is delicious. Absolutely gorgeous storytelling, however, I have to rate the book based on my reading experience.
For me this was a good, to very good, reading experience. If I had the mental capacity to understand it more, I am sure my rating would have been higher.
Deep books steeped with a lot of philosophical meaning tend to be wasted on my brain.
I just don't take the time to really sit back and assess the messages that the author is trying to convey. If wish I could. I envy those of you who are able to do that.
The Vanished Birds is a lyrical science fiction story of various relationships connected across space an time.
I think a lot of readers will be able to get so much out of this. Even I can tell that the quality of this story is far above average.
As a character piece, I think this holds a lot of value, and I'm not afraid to admit that it is beyond my comprehension.
With intelligent, subtle narrative, futuristic concepts and beautiful writing, for many scifi readers, I anticipate this being a 4-or 5-stars! Maybe that will be you!
Thank you so much to the publisher, Del Rey Books, for providing me with a copy of this to read and review. I appreciate it so much and look forward to seeing other reviews for this one!

The vanished birds
By Simon Jimenez
Although a difficult topic this book has a remarkable lesson. The idea that human beings exploit the ecological world to its destruction is the recurring theme of this story. Set in space after man has exploited and devastated Earth. People do not learn their lesson. The characters are compelling as they are intricate, the woven story of three lives makes another worldly complexity. The authors use if memory and skip time travel makes the story all the more poignant. A remarkable story.

Published by Del Rey on January 14, 2020

The Vanished Birds is a contemplative work of science fiction. The story involves a miraculous boy with the power to revolutionize interstellar travel, but it is really a story about connections that grow and endure in the face of hardship.

Captain Nia Imani owns a cargo ship that travels in Pocket Space between the Federated Worlds. She has a crew of four, including Nurse, her best frenemy, whom she rescued from the fringe region years before the story begins.

During the first part of the novel, Imani takes a lover on a world that is part of her trade route. Kaeda is just a child when she first sees him. He is a young man when she first sleeps with him. He ages fifteen years between encounters, while she ages only eight months. Simon Jimenez allows their relationship to unfold slowly, focusing on Kaeda and the life he lives between liaisons with Imani. Relativity teaches Kaeda that time is not on his side, that “the best-case scenario of a well-spent life was the slow and steady unraveling of the heart’s knot.”

During his last meeting with Imani, Kaeda introduces her to a boy of about twelve and implores her to take him on her ship. The boy was apparently on a vessel that crashed on the planet. Kaeda and his wife raised the boy. Now he wants to give the boy the life for which Kaeda always ached, a life that would allow him to see different sunsets. The boy’s name is Ahro.

Imani takes Ahro to Pelican Station where its designer, Fumiko Nakajima, offers her a new contract. She must take the boy to the fringe region, keep him safe for as many as fifteen years while he develops, and then surrender him to Nakajima. Nakijima suspects Ahro has a gift, an ability to manipulate quantum entanglement, that will one day allow him to think of a place and travel there instantly. Nakijima’s backstory is developed in depth before she disappears, only to resurface near the novel’s end. Ahro’s backstory is less detailed and more mysterious.

Imani doesn’t warm to people easily, although there is something about the boy and his fascination with a flute that speaks to her. They spend years together on their ship. The journey gives the reader time to learn about Nakijima’s representative, Sartoris Moth, who was sent along to keep an eye on the boy, and Vaila, who was Nakijama’s personal pilot. Both characters seem to play stock roles until the reader discovers that they are capable of surprises.

Relationships in the book tangle and untangle, sometimes ending with real or perceived betrayals. By the time the novel approaches it end, the beginning seems to have lost its relevance. Then Jimenez deftly circles back to the novel's start, giving it new meaning in light of all the years (both temporal and relativistic) that have passed. The ending suggests a connection between characters and generations that is bridged by music, and while I couldn’t quite wrap my head around the mechanics of how that worked, the story is so appealing that I didn’t fret about it. In fact, a good many explanations are wanting (how does Ahro’s blood make instantaneous travel possible, and how can it be used to power a fleet of ships?), but I guess some things need to be accepted on faith for the sake of enjoying a good story.

Characterization and relationship development are the strengths of The Vanished Birds. For that reason, this is probably a good science fiction novel for readers who are not fans of science fiction. Imani holds herself responsible for the loss of a sister she left behind. She prefers the isolation of constant travel, but her willingness to look after the boy reflects the hope that she might be able to bond with someone she will not lose. Ironically, making that choice causes the loss of friends and crew members who do not want to spend fifteen years in the fringe territory. And whether she will lose or regain Ahro is the source of the novel's dramatic tension.

I would need to read The Vanished Birds again to appreciate all its nuances. It is certainly a novel that would bear rereading. Jimenez constructed it with skill, ultimately tying together its disparate sections (some of which would stand nicely as short stories) to create a unified whole. For its detailed characterizations and evocative descriptions, The Vanished Birds is an award-worthy example of science fiction that breaks the boundaries of the genre.

RECOMMENDED

The writing is beautiful. But what really captured my interest was character and story development. This story was truly an original. I hope that this 1st time author writes many more books!

Beautiful writing and well-developed characters make this sci-fi book worth reading. The excellent story development was a good tool to make readers questions what makes a relationship work between humans. This first-time author knows how to write.

A big thank you to Random House, the author Simon Jimenez, and NetGalley for providing me an ARC in exchange for my candid review.

This is definitely a science fiction book. It is about off world travel to distance worlds via spaceship. The only complication is the only way to travel to these far flung planets is to travel through "the fold". The Fold happens in real time, but the planets that they visit live for 7 years. So people who transport goods from place to place must be willing to miss years of their loved ones lives.

I really mostly enjoyed this book....but it took a wild and harsh twist in the end. Perhaps it just got a bit too out there for me. But I read the book with relish and would recommend it for anyone who enjoys sci-fi, but perhaps not for your average reader.

I did not really like this book very much. Definitely not what I was thinking it would be. Well written but I didnt enjoy it.

I requested this from Netgalley but for the life of me I can't remember why. It's not entirely uncommon for me to not remember what a book is about when I start reading it but I when I started reading this book, it wasn't even something that I would normally choose. Sci-fi? Me? Still, I have read and enjoyed sci-fi and Jimenez pulled me into his story immediately. Or, should I say his first story. Because The Vanished Bird is not so much a novel as a series of closely connected short stories that Jimenez will bring full circle by the time the book ends.

For a while, though, we're not so certain where the book is going. The book begins on the planet Umbai-V, where we first meet Nia when she arrives there to pick up a harvest and she first meets young Kaeda. Her ship arrives on the planet every 15 years, although only a few months has passed for her between visits. He is smitten and when she returns 15 years later, the two of them make love. It feels like we're reading a love story; and we are, but not the love story we're expecting. Because, of course, Kaeda is aging more than 15 times as fast as Nia. And Nia's heart will soon belong to the young boy.

So when Fumiko makes her a job offer, Nia chooses trying to save the boy over the crew which had become her family and sets out with a new crew. Fumiko thinks the boy make have a power she is certain the corporation she has spent her life working for will exploit for profit. While she has spent 1000 years helping the corporation dominate the universe, she will not stand by quietly and watch them destroy the boy.

Now, as a person who hasn't read much sci-fi, I can only guess as to how true fans will respond to this book. But I believe it will give them everything they want in a sci-fi novel - space travel, world building, time travel, a whole lot of science, and a lot of action. But the book's strength is in the fiction part of that genre name, in its characters and their relationships. It's a book about incredible greed and incredible love. About the power of one person and the power of connections.

So while I can't remember what made me request this book, I'm certainly happy that I did. It's reminded me that it's good to go out of your comfort zone; there are good stories to be found everywhere.

This story was fantastical and confusing at the same time. I really loved the sense of wonder effused throughout but the confusing nature of who the main character was and the winding narrative made it hard to get back into the story after I had put it down. Despite that the prose was still captivating and has incredible promise for future books from Simon Jimenez.

In this science fiction novel, Jimenez imagines a world where humanity has already colonized space. Some planets are used to harvest specific resources while others host city populations. The cast of characters is diverse: a ship captain who carries resources to and from planets, a brilliant scientist/architect who designed the new space stations to look like birds, a nurse who was found stranded in fringe space, and a mysterious boy who crash lands onto a planet after escaping his home planet of musicians.

I will admit, when I started reading this book, I wasn't sure where it was going. But I felt compelled to keep reading. The reward was a slowly unfolding, beautiful story of love, loss, and space. I would recommend this to a friend, or anyone looking for something a little different to read. It's not perfect, but it sticks with you.

Way out of my comfort zone but I enjoyed this! The Vanished Birds is the perfect way to ease into science fiction. The writing is beautiful and I can’t believe this isn’t getting more hype!

Instagram review to come

You know I'm not entirely sure how to write my review of The Vanished Birds by Simon Jimenez. It was slow going for me when I started reading it. I just had trouble getting involved in the story and I found myself struggling to maintain interest. In fact, I laid it aside for over a week. In the interim, I started and finished reading at least three other books. Since I began reading and reviewing books I have never not finished a book and not wanting there to be a first time, I decided to give it the old college try or rather "re-try".

I'm glad I did, not only for my personal anti-DNF record, but because there were instances of some really interesting writing. The number three holds some significance as the novel is divided into three parts and seems to follow three main characters in particular. I was not engaged in part one, it just didn't resonate with me. The characters did not really appeal to me. Part two was more interesting to me. The time the boy spent on The Debby, with both crews, was interesting. The introduction to Fumiko laid the groundwork for a lot of important events. Part three had its moments. I don't like to say more because I want to avoid giving away the story.

I don't read a lot of science fiction so I am unsure if this book and the way it is presented is unusual or not. I see that it has been rated highly, I have not read the reviews to avoid any undue influence. While I don't think The Vanished Birds is my personal cup of tea, I certainly appreciate the tremendous amount of effort expended to imagine, create these worlds and ultimately put pen to paper, or as more likely, fingers to keyboard. I think sci-fi fans would enjoy seeing these stories on screen. The descriptions of the scenery and gadgets would translate visually well.

“One day, I will ask what it is he hears, when he hears the notes of music: the infernal, or the celestial. Judging by what I hear now—the flute song through my open door—it is most likely something in between. A fiery heaven all its own.”

A distant future, where Earth is long gone. The descendants of Earthlings inhabit spaceships resembling long vanished birds that once populated the planet. An immense array of worlds full of life to discover and resources for soulless corporations to exploit. A young boy that falls from the sky and who is destined for greatness, but not yet ready to change the future. A space crew that has lost its purpose and sense of belonging after years of travelling through space, free from the constrains of time. All of these tied together by the haunting music created by the boy’s flute.

Simon Jimenez’s debut novel offers a thoughtful glimpse into a distant future, where humanity has not bothered to try and fix the ravage of pollution, greed, and carelessness towards our environment. However, not only is The Vanished Birds a cautionary tale about the rather ominous future that awaits if we don’t change our current situation, environmentally speaking, but also an exploration of how our conception of humanity will also evolve…for the worse. In a world driven by capitalism, where the passing of time is not an issue anymore and new planets are conquered by the hour, things are not looking that good for individuals anymore.

Some of the human consequences of this evolution are groundbreaking, such as parents considering their children as their property, genetically modifying the babies for them to be perfect…or making them extremely ugly on purpose, just for the aesthetic effect of it. Others are occurrences that have been repeated through history time and time again: using people for one’s own benefit as if they were expendable objects or colonising entire planets to build hotel complexes or to exploit their unique resources.

All of these poignant issues are what the main characters of The Vanished Birds have to go through, while also trying to grasp stable connections both with other people and amongst each other—not an easy feat when the ongoing expansion of space territories simultaneously increases the feeling of loneliness rooted in human hearts. Interestingly, the first two sections of the novel are divided into chapters where a different character acts as the focalizer of the narration. Thus, most could be read as an individual short story. However, as the story develops, all of these fragments are linked by the three most prominent characters: the captain of the spaceship, Nia Imani, the mysterious young boy who initially communicates through music, Ahro, and the engineer who creates the stations where the population of Earth lives once the planet dies, Fumiko Nakajima.

For the most part, all of the characters that revolve around the three people at the core of the novel are beautifully complex and special in their own way. Each and every person has their own voice, no matter their ethnicity, race, gender, sexual orientation, or background. All of them are equally important and carefully listened to, and hence, each character’s story becomes undoubtedly discernible from the others, mostly through the way they express their thoughts and shape their reality through words. As a result, The Vanished Birds becomes a rich exploration of the diversity of humankind and how it can bloom even in the most unfavourable of future prospects. Sadly, said colourfulness is not extended to the last section of the novel and some parts of the second. Nia and Ahro begin a new journey with a different crew, who, unfortunately, blurs together. Most of the characters are less polished and harder to differentiate —with the exception of Sartoris Moth.

Coincidentally with this change of definition in the personality of the characters, the plot also takes a slight downturn. Divided into three sections that are harshly differentiated, the plot structure is the main flaw of this otherwise flawless debut novel. As previously mentioned, the first section of The Vanished Birds reads like a collection of short stories, each utterly interesting and unique. The first chapter narrates the life of Kaeda, the man who takes the mysterious child —and driving force of the novel— under his wing. The first chapter is the most-easy-to-detach from the set, most likely due to the fact that it was initially a short story on its own. From then on, the rest present one of the main characters: Nia, Ahro, and Fumiko, and, nonetheless, all of these individual fragments are so masterfully intertwined that Jimenez’s technique works beautifully.

The second part of the novel is a bit of a mixture, even if it maintains the changes in focalisation, all chapters are more closely interconnected and follow the same timeline, unlike the first set of chapters. Finally, the last section is completely unified and follows a single plotline. Of the three sections, the final one is the weakest, as it appears to lack the most original features of the other two. For the most part, it drags on too much, but at the same time, the ending feels rushed and out of control. Unfortunately, these different structures make the story seem a bit disjointed. Had Simon Jimenez continued with the short story composite structure, the novel would, from start to finish, match the uniqueness of its contents.

Despite these small flaws concerning the plot, the highlight of The Vanished Birds is, hands down, its prose. Simon Jimenez makes use of the most gorgeous lyricism and metaphorical images. Making use of an exquisitely languid pace, Jimenez pays special attention to the creation of mental images, through descriptions of interstellar landscapes and feelings. Subsequently, the strong contrast of the beauty of the prose and the “ugliness” of the very harsh topics the author delves in, creates an astounding assortment of balanced layers of meaning and intention.

In conclusion, The Vanished Birds is a truly remarkable debut novel, where Simon Jimenez offers a stunningly lyric approach to science fiction and a sharp form of criticism of the damaging path humankind is following towards the future, as regards nature and our environment. Heavily influenced by Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s prose and the whimsicality of David Mitchell’s Cloud Atlas, Simon Jimenez is an author readers should definitely keep an eye on.

4.25ish Stars

The Vanished Birds is that rare thing, a really haunting novel of science fiction. Nia Imani is a woman who is out of space and time with reference to everyone she knew, given her occupation as a space delivery runner, who takes odd jobs that have her traveling in pocket universes outside of time. Lovers age and fail and die and Nia lives on, aging slowly. Until one day, she receives into her care a child. Her aging lover Kaeda tells her of his mysterious arrival, seemingly crashing to his planet. The child does not speak and is covered in scars. He is afraid of everything. He does, however, love music and is soon playing a flute that Nia gave Kaeda. She agrees to transport the child to her company, Umbai's, station at Pelican, only to find that many people have an interest in this child, though she is unsure why. And first among them is Fumiko Nakijima, a woman with deep pockets and immense power. With feelings of attachment she has never known, Nia risks everything to provide this child a home, even if it means that she and her almost entirely new crew will be lurking on the outer fringes of the universe for fifteen years. Who or what is Ahro? What is the bond that links Nia and Ahro? What are home and family?

A poignant and haunting story, Jimenez is a writer I'll eagerly read in the future. The author has provided a book club kit for this thought-provoking read. (link embedded in the reviews on blog and goodreads)

I also listened to the audiobook, which was beautifully narrated by Shayna Small.

I received a Digital Review Copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

The Vanished Birds is an intriguing and beautifully written story of the importance of finding our place in the world, wherever that world may be. Following the intertwining lives of a pilot, a young boy, and the woman who changed the course of human history, The Vanished Birds explores the intricacies of family and the power of time.
Gorgeously written, The Vanished Birds is a must read for lovers of literary science fiction.
Thank you to Netgalley and the Publisher for the opportunity to read and review this title. All opinions and mistakes are my own.

Title: The Vanished Birds
Author: Simon Jimenez
Genre: Sci-fi, literary fiction
Rating: 3 out of 5

Nia Imani spends her time traveling through the stars and time—where mere months pass for her, for everyone she knows, decades and lifetimes pass—so apart from her crew, she has no other relationships. The job is her life. Until a mysterious naked boy crashes on an agricultural planet and his care is given to Nia.

The boy doesn’t talk. Instead, he spends his time playing an old flute and following Nia around the ship. They become a family of two and Nia finally has someone to care about besides herself. But the boy might possess powers only rumored before—making him a target for the greedy and powerful, and Nia will do whatever she can to keep him safe.

While the writing in The Vanished Birds is wonderful, I was not a fan of the story. I didn’t care about any of the characters. I’m not sure what the first 15% of the story had to do with anything. I felt sorry for the boy, but there were so many references to things in the past that might have made me connect with him or the other characters but remained only references, leaving me frustrated and annoyed. In short, the author has skills, but I don’t feel like this was a good choice for me.

(Galley courtesy of Random House/Del Rey in exchange for an honest review.)

The Vanished Birds was the first book I’ve read that actually takes place in space, and is also an adult science fiction novel. (I’ve read a couple that are technically YA) It was written beautifully, so much so that it is hard to believe this was the authors first book.

The thing is, it’s hard for me to really write a review for this one. I think because it’s an epic story in size and storyline. (Think along the lines of an epic fantasy novel except it’s science fiction.) I don’t want to do any injustice to the storyline by trying to describe it to you. It’s gritty and intense and not always a happy feel good story, but it is worth the read.

If you aren’t afraid of long in-depth novels set in space, give this one a go. If you’ve always wanted to try and read sci-fi actually in space, I don’t think you can go wrong here. This Vanished Birds is a book I’ll think about a lot as time goes on because it’s unlike anything I’ve read before.