The Vanished Birds

A Novel

By: Simon Jimenez

Narrated by: Shayna Small

Length: 13 hrs and 17 mins

Publisher's summary

A “highly imaginative and utterly exhilarating” (Thrillist) debut that is “the best of what science fiction can be: a thought-provoking, heartrending story about the choices that define our lives” (Kirkus Reviews, Best Debut Fiction and Best Science Fiction & Fantasy of the Year).

Finalist for the Locus Award • Named One of the Best Books of the Year by Tordotcom and Kirkus Reviews

A mysterious child lands in the care of a solitary woman, changing both of their lives forever.

I expected many things from this trip. I did not expect a family.

A ship captain, unfettered from time. A mute child, burdened with unimaginable power. A millennia-old woman, haunted by lifetimes of mistakes. In this captivating debut of connection across space and time, these outsiders will find in each other the things they lack: a place of love and belonging. A safe haven. A new beginning.

But the past hungers for them, and when it catches up, it threatens to tear this makeshift family apart.

Praise for The Vanished Birds

“This is the most impressive debut of 2020.”(Locus)

“This extraordinary science fiction epic, which delves deep into the perils of failing to learn from one’s mistakes, is perfect for fans of big ideas and intimate reflections.” (Publishers Weekly, starred review)

“A lyrical and moving narrative of space travel, found families, and lost loves set against an evocative space-opera background.” (Booklist, starred review)

“The Vanished Birds finds an intimate heartbeat of longing in a saga of galactic progress and its crushing fallout.... A novel of vast scope that yet makes time for compassion, wonder, and poetry.” (Indra Das, author of The Devourers)

©2020 Simon Jimenez (P)2020 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

"This extraordinary science fiction epic, which delves deep into the perils of failing to learn from one’s mistakes, is perfect for fans of big ideas and intimate reflections." (Publishers Weekly starred review)

"A lyrical and moving narrative of space travel, found families, and lost loves set against an evocative space-opera background." (Booklist starred review)

"The Vanished Birds finds an intimate heartbeat of longing in a saga of galactic progress and its crushing fallout.... A novel of vast scope that yet makes time for compassion, wonder, and poetry." (Indra Das, author of The Devourers)

Ambitious premise that fails to deliver

The story starts out with incredible promise and an intriguing premise but I had a hard time connecting emotionally to the characters. The author has a habit of switching view point characters frequently seeming to abandon their story once you get invested as a reader. Without revealing spoilers I felt like the second half of the novel dragged and the resolution was not as satisfying as I hoped it might be.

While the narrator does a good job infusing this story with emotion their range of voices left me wanting after to many characters started to sound like kids from a cartoon.

Didn't live up to potential

The concepts, character development, and description of the ways in which the characters experience time was phenomenal. However, the overall story felt lacking. After the climax (at least, I think it was the climax because it took almost the entire book to get there), the story faded away a bit and I was close to losing interest. By the ending, I wasn't really invested anymore. Interesting, but I feel like it had so much more potential.

Great book. Wow.

I loved this novel. Would have loved for it to last a bit longer, but wow, ended it misty eyed.

I will say the narrator did a pretty great job, despite her portrayal of male characters being hard to distinguish at times. Other than that she was great.

Great book if you love space opera. Highly recommend.

Incredible Deeply moving

I love science fiction for its exploration of big themes like what does it mean to be human and what is our place in the universe. This story delivers one that is much more personal and specific. It destroyed me. Reduced to tears so that I had to pull over to the side of the road more than once. Deeply moving on many levels. Also delivers the space tech and world building if that is your thing. This is an immediate favorite , an incredible debut novel, and I can’t wait to see what Jimenez comes up with next.

Avian jaunts

Simon Jimenez' The Vanished Birds is an intriguing story spanning one thousand years. During Earth's environmental collapse a young engineer is critical to the design of space stations and manages to get off planet (although leaving her lover behind). Throughout successive cryogenic sleep cycles she manages to amass fortune and influence. The 1K future world is a bit colonial with planets supplying foodstuffs and other materials for the conglomerate that owns the space stations. One one world, a boy is found among space wreckage and becomes the key in a power struggle between the engineer and the conglomerate. The boy has the ability to 'jaunt; or travel interstellar distances directly. Eventually he is captured, and the conglomerate learns his secret, but keeps him in coma using his blood for the interstellar drive. The engineer takes her revenge on the conglomerate and the boy and the captain who raised him are re-united.

Jimenez provide quite a bit of backstory for the characters such that the tale is more a story, rather than a novel. The secret of the boy's jaunts remains a mystery, nor was it ever clear how he was first identified and how everyone seems to know of him.

The narration was reasonable with decent character distinction. Pacing is smooth and brisk.

Unusual

I really liked it a lot. It’s not your usual sci-fi and that’s part of its charm. Can’t say it was a happy ending, but it was an excellent one. You can’t be a lazy listener or you will get a little lost.

Character driven, tech minimum space opera

Unusual book about chosen families and memory (and colonialism, too) in a space opera setting. Some beautiful writing. Will look forward to author’s next book. Narrator conveys story well.

The Plot is Amazing, but…

This book pulls a Game of Thrones (TV show). The plot and writing are so good for most of the story, but then there comes a point when you realized there isn’t enough time left to resolve the story. The resolution is rushed and all of the satisfying details are skipped. The author basically wrote half a book and tacked on the outline at the end. I’m genuinely disappointed.

Good but I wanted better explanations at the end.

I wasn’t quite sure how to write the review for this book. I absolutely loved the beginning, but the last third left me wanting something. It was a realistic ending, and well written, but also felt like much of the most fascinating aspects of the world-building were left as loose ends.

Human story

I love this novel. I wish I were better at writing down why.

It's perfect for listening, intricate but with an overall clarity which makes all the rich detail a dark foliage. (I want to start listening again.)

It's about transport, in a way, and it does that, describing places and times and following a few strong, imperfect characters. These are the kind of characters who unknowingly and secretly shape the world beneath the notice of large powers, or knowingly and secretly despite the notice of large powers. But only in fine strands between the giant impersonal idiot waves of those large powers. (You know the ones.)

The performance is excellent mostly. There are a very few false shifts and accents in the thirteen hours.