The Vanished Birds : Book Review

Thanks to Del Rey Publishing for the complimentary copy of

The Vanished Birds by Simon Jimenez

A cargo ship lands on a source planet every fifteen years to load the crop grown exclusively there and transport it through Pocket Space. But time in Pocket Space is different and what is eighteen months to Nia on her ship is fifteen years to Kaeda on Umbai-V. They meet every fifteen years when Nia comes to collect another shipment. One year when Kaeda is very old, he asks Nia to take the mysterious boy who dropped from the sky.

I rarely read Sci-Fi books. It's just not the genre that I'm consistently drawn to. I'm not exactly sure why I was initially so intrigued and accepted a review copy of The Vanished Birds. However, I am so glad that I did.

I was entranced by the novel. I fell for the characters--emotional, brave, flawed and deeply human. The plot was new, fantastical and fascinating. It brought up existential questions. If you could periodically freeze yourself and live forever, would you? Is it worth it to sacrifice a soul to bring new life-changing technology to millions?

The writing is so lyrical and intoxicating, that I found myself routinely staying up later than I intended devouring page and page. It is a beautiful novel and in a world devoid of relationships, it ultimately glorified the human connections.

The Vanished Birds by Simon Jimenex was published January 14, 2020.