The Vanished Birds by Simon Jimenez
A mystery infant is left in the care of a lone woman, forever altering both of their lives. I had a lot of hopes for this trip. A family surprised me.
A skipper of a ship, free of time constraints. A mute youngster who carries unfathomable power. a woman who has lived for millennia and is plagued by her mistakes. The things these outsiders lack—a place of love and belonging—they will discover in each other in this fascinating premiere of connection beyond distance and time. a haven of safety a fresh start. However, the past lusts after them, and when it catches up with them, it threatens to split this impromptu family in two.
The Vanished Birds by Simon Jimenez
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Simon Jimenez’s The Vanished Birds is a slow dance through time and space that takes place over a thousand years of love, hate, friendship, and everything else that binds people together. This intricate space opera will leave you thinking hard, crying, and missing the planet you never lost.
When reading science fiction, I tend to like works that are action-packed, have high stakes, and move quickly. So it’s no little achievement that this book is shaking my universe so dramatically. All the qualities I’ve ever desired in a book came together in what felt like a novel created just for me.
The Vanished Birds may seem like an odd title for a space opera, but the entire book is filled with all things bird—bird analogies, bird imagery, bird everything—and I can’t explain why it all works so well without giving anything away. And it’s absolutely ideal. This book is purposeful in every way. Each and every detail even the cover seems ethereal.
The variety of styles in this book is interesting. It has a space opera scope, with ships travelling to several star systems and various rival nation-corporations. The opening chapter is written from the perspective of an individual who is clearly a minor character. Much of the novel is centred on the crew of one modest commercial spacecraft. Over the course of the narrative, we begin to question whether one of the key characters is insane before learning that she is fox-crazy.
The world building was really fascinating to me. Although there is some type of faster-than-light travel, the actual travel time as measured by inhabitants of planets may take decades. We discover that Earth has experienced an ecological catastrophe and is now uninhabitable. The “vanished birds” of the title are the names of extinct bird species that one of our main characters gave to important space stations.
I won’t go into great detail about the plot because it’s driven by a number of riddles that need to be solved. However, I thought it was fascinating and am forward to reading more from this author.
