This one was really good. The characters were very different and each had their own very distinct voices. The plot was interesting and the interweaving timelines and vignettes that all fused together at the end to make the complex story had this as a book I will recommend. . The sci-fi elements kept me hooked. I highly recommend this one.

Here is a link to my review on my youtube channel,Wicked Good Books! Absolutely loved this book. It kicked me in the heart and then helped me back up. Looking forward to owning a physical copy later this month!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CpTnJ2cZDEc&feature=youtu.be

The Vanished Birds is an interesting mix of science fiction and fantasy, playing with the aspect of time relating to space travel. It is an investigation of how people interact between the traveling being done--the story begins even way before the actual plotline, with Nia and a relationship she strikes up with Kaeda, which is maintained 15 years at a time.

The meat of the story actually starts when a boy mysteriously crashes into Umbai V, Kaeda's home planet. When the villagers refuse to keep him--despite Kaeda's attempt to do so--this boy is delivered to Nia, who agrees to take him on her ship The Debbie to drop him off at the next space station. It should have been a clear-cut mission, and Nia would have liked nothing more than just to cut and run, but relationships are tricky, and her interactions with Kaeda--and then the boy--change everything.

We are also introduced to the creator of the many satellites in space, including Pelican, Nia's destination. Fumiko Nakajima was a brilliant engineer, and she successfully designed several stations that became sustainable in space. Celebrated and revered, she is cryogenically frozen for years on end, so that even in the thousand years that has passed, Fumiko is no older than a few years since she started designing for the Umbai company.

At first I wasn't sure where all of this connected to, and why the boy was so important, but with this book, things start coming to light pretty quickly, and once Nia arrives at Pelican, the plot definitely gets rolling. Fumiko gives Nia a contract she does not refuse; and while both women have different motives for the mission (Fumiko's search for time and space Jumpers and Nia's desire to stay with Ahro), they move toward the same goal--to keep Ahro from Umbai territory by hiding out in Pocket Space for 15 years.

That's not to say that this book is very plot-heavy. If anything, it's very relationship, people heavy. A lot of the writing focused on the characters, especially Ahro and Nia, Fumiko and Dana. From time to time the chapters segue into other people's points of view (Sonja, Gorlen, Elby, Ahro, to name the few...), and this wasn't necessarily a bad thing! I actually liked the addition of how the different characters felt through their interactions with people. A lot of the worldbuilding could actually be seen through the telling in each characters' POVs. A lot of the plot also gets mixed into this, especially since there were characters outside of Nia's and Fumiko's realm that had other ulterior motives. There is some betrayal and action involved, and there was definitely a point in the plot where a "villain" emerges. But plot definitely took a back seat on this story.

The Vanished Birds is ultimately a lyrical novel about the intricacies of passing time and traveling an epic distance through space. A lot of the characters feel this change of time and distance acutely, either through a sort of motion-sickness symptoms, or mentally and emotionally. With how Jimenez wrote, the story was beautifully described, and it hit the right amount of exposition to keep a vivid picture in the reader's mind of how the different settings look.

Honestly, I haven't felt so pumped about having read literary prose in a while. I'm glad that when I did, it was in the science fiction genre!

This space opera is so good and needs more hype in the book community.
In the Vanished Birds we find a future where humans have left the earth and are been transported to different space stations across the galaxy.
At the beginning of the book, we meet Kaeda who lives on a planet where Dhuba seeds are harvested. Every 15 years a spaceship travels to the planet to take their harvest away. This special day is call shipment day and everyone participates in this amazing party held for both offworlders and the farmers.
On these trips, Kaeda meets Captain Nia and falls in love with her. The planet sees these travelers ageless because 15 years for them is only months for people in the spaceships. That part of the book reminds me of a lot of the movie Interstellar.
The story then continues with Nia and a boy who appears on Kaeda's planet that no one knows where he came from. Upon returning to the space base, Nia meets Fumiko Nakajima, the person responsible for creating these space stations and saving the people of planet earth. Fumiko informs Nia that the boy possesses a special ability and hires Nina to protect him.
Simon Jimenez creates in the Vanished Birds a plot that transports us to different times and places. I love the way the author intertwines each character and story and you don't know where it's going to take you. It is a book that captivates you and makes you fall in love with the characters, in my opinion, it is
one of the best books of the year!!
5 amazing stars
Thanks to NetGalley for this book in exchange for an honest review.

I love a good slow burn.
I wasn’t sure what to expect from this, but the first chapter (really, the first 5 pages) absolutely gripped me.
It’s a centuries long tale that takes place all over the universe.
But it’s really about people and their connections to each other.
I will say, that if you love science heavy science fiction, this might not be for you. This is mostly character driven and lyrical in prose.
These reasons are exactly why I loved it, but could be reasons that deter others.
I loved the concept, the writing, the characters. *chefs kiss* So good!

In a future controlled by the corporation that runs Resource Worlds for extraction, a young boy with the power to go vast distances instantly might hold the key to an alternative. But this summary is vastly misleading because the book is almost the opposite of “plucky rebels somehow survive vast apparatus against them”; everyone but the boy is implicated in various ways (and he’s more of a victim than an actor), and victories are few and partial at best. It’s a mournful, elegiac book, in which each character is bound to their own past in ways that make it hard for them to work with each other. I understand why people like it, but I didn’t need this much of a downer.

This is a captivating, whirlwind of a story and it took me places that I have never been before. I am not talking about Time and Space, although that is a major part, but issues of the heart, emotions that are so vibrant, loving and sometimes fearful. Definitely not your typical Scifi read, and I say that in the best way possible. This book should be read and loved. I not only discovered new ideas about the universe and my world but about myself as well.

This is a beautifully written and immersive space opera. The characters were full, as was the world. I just think I was a little out of my depth! I haven’t read much scifi, but I think this was beautifully done and I will definitely recommend it.

I wasn't able to read the book but will be featuring it in a series called "I Wish I'd Read That'. Text below:

The Vanished Birds had me at 'space opera,' as do most books in the sub-genre. The description promised an epic character-driven piece that shifts from vastly differing individual stories into a group narrative that's both compelling and perhaps heartwarming. I love the concept and the only think I love more than space operas is solid character work amidst well-done world building. I'm hoping that I can eventually get to this one in the future, if only to see how these characters meld together in what I'm sure is a top notch narrative. I'd love to hear more about this book from those of you who were able to red it! Read more about the author and book below, or purchase a copy for yourself. And of course, a big thank you to Del Rey for the free review copy!

This is an epic, sweeping tale of ambition and love. In the days when Earth was failing, one woman has the chance to build the future in the stars, but only if she gives up her chance at love. With the use of hyper sleep, Fumiko’s unending ambition will echo through the next thousand years.

But this isn’t just her story. It’s also the story of a mysterious boy who comes crashing down on an agricultural world, and the ship captain who becomes his surrogate mother. But the secrets hidden in his blood have the power to change the world forever.

At first, this seems like three separate stories, but all the pieces come together in the end. This reminded me of the Starless Sea, but in space.

Space Opera written in beautiful prose; definitely a genre outside my comfort zone. A stunning debut novel set in a future where humans no longer have a home on Earth. Fabulous world building and complex characters,this is an easy story to be drawn into. Immersive to say the least. I was pleasantly surprised. I would recommend this book for lovers of sci-fi and for anyone seeking to branch out in their reading. Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to review this book.

QUICK TAKE: a slow-burn space opera about the captain of a space ship and the young boy she takes under her wing who may have a special power that will change human civilization. It's a quiet story, but I found myself very invested in the characters and mystery...Jimenez does a nice job with story structure and character development, and I found myself emotionally invested all the way up to the epic conclusion.

The Vanished Birds is a beautifully written story from debut author, Simon Jimenez. When I say beautifully written, I mean like stunningly gorgeous prose . Set in the future of a world like our own, after humans have been forced to abandon an earth no longer inhabitable, the tale jumps between several central characters. The plot unfolds very slowly, but the reader is given plenty of time to soak up the author’s insanely fantastic writing and some top-tier worldbuilding.

The synopsis for the book did not really interest me, but it ended up far surpassing my expectations. After just the first chapter, the author had my attention captured. Even though this is primarily a sci-fi novel, I thought the best part of it was the way the author wrote relationships between characters. And although Nia is our protagonist, I found I liked the sections of the story that focused on Fumiko Nakajima best. Fumiko’s romance with another character early on in the novel was easily the best part of the story for me. While I am not really one for romance in my reading, Jimenez writes love and sex in a way that is electrifying. I am honestly not sure if I have ever been as invested in a relationship between two characters in a story as I was here. Round of applause here; I went back and re-read several of the lines just because god damn.

All that being said, I wasn’t as invested in the rest of the story as I wanted to be. While I could have read an entire novel focusing only on Fumiko, I found Nia and the rest of her space crew to be significantly less compelling. And even though the story was good, it’s not an unforgettable one. In my opinion, it is a novel to be enjoyed more for the writing than the plot.

I will definitely keep an eye out for more from Simon Jimenez in the future and have already been recommending The Vanished Birds to friends. (If you are reading this review, give it a shot! His way with words will not disappoint).

I received a free electronic ARC of this excellent debut SciFi novel from Netgalley, Simon Jimenez, and Random House, Ballantine. Thank you all for sharing your hard work with me. I have read this novel of my own volition, and this review reflects my honest opinion of this work. Simon Jimenez writes a fine tale, one that keeps you reading long after lights out.

When my children were tween's we all, as a family, watched the TV series 'FireFly'. Could that have really been 2002-2003? How time does pass. We have watched it together again a couple of times over the last 15 years, always finding something new to marvel over, and appreciating very much the shear talent expressed by the special effects crew. I read this novel feeling that same connection and excitement, that dread as the pages dwindled and the ending is nigh. This is a novel to savor and share. You too will adore Ahro and Nia and feel comfortable in the Pocket and on various city planets. This is definitely a trip worth taking...

I don’t know what I expected when I started The Vanished Birds, but I can tell you that it blew any expectations I did have completely out of the water. This book is beautiful. It’s haunting and poignant. This story is filled with scenes that will make your imagination sing, and your eyes tear up. This is the kind of Science Fiction that I missed so very much.

It all begins on a world that is on the fringes of occupied space. One that is spared the colonization of other worlds, and is saturated with tradition. Jimenez makes it obvious early on that this will be a story about how civilization changes over time. How, despite what we cling to, the world is continuously evolving around us. A story about how one tiny thing, in this case a boy who falls out of the sky, can set in motion things that will change everything.

What is so fascinating about this story is that it also bring so the table so many questions about human kind. What depths will we go to in order to further a cause? Are people expendable, if it means progress? When does greed get to a point where it is no longer sustainable? As Nia and her crew navigate the stars, learning more about the mysterious boy who fell into their life as they travel, the story even questions what makes up a family. I can’t express enough how deep this story is, and how wonderful it was to sink into.

This story is not going to be for everyone, I know. It’s the kind of Science Fiction that is a gorgeous, slow burn. It takes a while to understand the characters, and how they interact with one another. You must be patient as the universe expands, and the terrible/wonderful things that come along with that unfold. If you are patient, you’ll be well rewarded. This book too my breath away and I can scarcely believe that it’s a debut.

The Vanished Birds is so beautifully written, and Jimenez is definitely an author I want to read more from. However, this story fell short for me. Most of the time I felt confused, and I found it difficult to keep up with all the things that were going on. This story feels like some sort of enigma that I just couldn't make heads or tails of. Perhaps, it was just too much for my brain and it may serve me well to read it again at a later time.

Overall, I still recommend this book because the story is interesting and the writing is superb.

Disclaimer: I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Thank you to Netgalley and Del Rey Books for this free copy. All quotes in this review are taken from the Advanced Reader Copy and may change in final publication.

So here apparently was another book that I was approved for on Netgalley and didn’t end up getting a chance to read it. And honestly maybe it was a good thing that I didn’t end up finishing this before it was published because I don’t think I would have been able to give this book justice. I honestly felt super uneducated while I was reading this novel because I felt like a lot of what was going on didn’t make sense to me. I understood some parts of it, and I’ll explain more here, but there was also most of the plot and content that seemed to be a lot more complex than what meets the eye, and maybe it takes someone with a lot more intelligence than me to fully be able to appreciate what Jimenez was trying to convey.

Let’s try to discuss this a little bit more.

First, I would say that each chapter almost acts as a mini storyline, but will all come together in the end. There are also some things that happen in an earlier chapter that isn’t always addressed in future chapters, so just keep that in mind also. For the most part, I would say that the main themes seem to relate to each other.

I felt like even though it seemed to be pretty subtle throughout the novel, one of the main themes that Jimenez wanted to convey was that humans are killing the Earth, and the more that we mess with the environment, the sooner that we are going to destroy it. While extraordinary genius Fumiko Nakajima figures out a way to not only save humanity, but create thriving space stations that can house thousands and thousands of people, it doesn’t stop from the majority of the human race from being impacted. As Nakajima spends years designing these space stations and trying to make sure that humans are able to get to space safely, she mentions the extinction of various birds in the world – which would probably explain the title more. She ends up naming her space stations after three birds that died because of what was going on with the Earth. She was also able to somehow frog hop through time for millennia, seeing everything that she created and being celebrated for her achievements long after she should have been dead.

But it’s not just Nakajima’s story that the reader follows, and it’s not just in the beginning of the journey where she is tasked with building these space stations. We also follow the main story of what the synopsis tells us: the story about a space ship captain named Nia, and her relationship with a boy that drops out of the sky. We get to see how Nia becomes a loving person in a sense, and how her humanity comes out because of her feelings for this boy. After what happened to Nia’s sister – which is touched upon but not completely discussed – it seems like Nia just does what she needs to do in order to get through her latest contract. It’s on this contract, on one of her last trips to a Resource Planet in the Umbai Corporation, that she comes across this boy. He can’t seem to speak, he doesn’t have any memory of where he came from, and the people that found him see him as a bad omen. They don’t want him around, and so they give him to Nia and her crew to take him back to the space station that they report to.

I don’t want to say more about the story than that because it could go into spoiler territory, and I hope that me talking about the Earth and the space stations wasn’t some sort of spoiler for you. But really, it was definitely a lyrical journey that makes you think about all of the things that we are doing to the Earth today, and makes you wonder if there really are other planets out there that can be used the way that the Umbai Corporation uses them. It was… interesting I guess. They don’t ever say whether or not these planets were previously occupied before the Umbai Corporation came into existence in the universe, but now that I think about it… it makes me wonder if there was something else behind that.

I think I was the most sad about what was happening towards the ending because it just was really intense and I didn’t like how it happened. It almost made me lose all hope for how the book would end, and I was curious to see how the author was going to come to some sort of conclusion. This definitely wasn’t the kind of soap opera or anything that I would normally come across in the Sci-Fi genre, but wow it was definitely an interesting one. I don’t think I’ve ever read anything like this, and I liked that it felt unique. I do still think that I’m a little at a loss with my feelings on this book as a whole because it has been a while, and even when I did end up finish this book, I was kind of confused on everything. It just felt like something was missing, or something wasn’t sitting right with me. Maybe it was because there were some things that were left unsaid, and even though they didn’t have to be explained because they didn’t do much for the story, it was still something that I wanted to know about. I needed some sort of closure for a lot of things.

Which is ironic because since when do I ever finish anything?!

This book got violent, it got depressing, it got…. just really, really cruel at times too. I don’t know if I got all of the content warnings that I remember from reading this book, and I’m sorry if I missed some crucial ones. These were the ones that stood out to me even now, after trying to think about this book months after I read it. I would just be careful with this if certain things like what I mentioned above are difficult for you to read about.

I didn’t feel like there were a lot of happy things that happened in this novel either, and it felt like a really slow burn type of book that just took so long to get through because I had to stop reading and stop thinking about what I just read. It would really mess with me at some points and I just had to stop and get out of my head. So yeah, this was a difficult read for me, but I’m glad that I got the opportunity to read this. It’s also a little bit difficult for me to rate as well. It was definitely well written, and for a debut, I think that Jimenez did a great job. I just don’t know if this book was for me, or at least I don’t think I would read it again personally.

Gosh I’m sorry, I feel like I was repeating myself over and over here. But as with all books, I hope that you take a chance to read it and tell me what you think of it yourself.

I received this book from NetGalley in exchange of an honest review.

This was a literary speculative science fiction book and very inclusive. There are many interesting characters and settings. This book deals with relationships, corporations, class, trauma and family. This was a good read overall.

The Vanished Birds is a beautifully written debut novel. While science fiction isn't my most favorite genre, this book captivated me. There's strong character development and just enough wonder. I look forward to more from Jimenez.

Many thanks to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an unbiased review.

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.