Book Review: The Vanished Birds by Simon Jimenez (Broken Binding edition)

4.5/5 stars. A standalone science fiction debut novel, from a promising young writer, that many people consider a literary speculative fiction. I have heard so much about this novel and his second, The Spear that Cuts Through Water, that I was excited to receive and read this Broken Binding edition. As one might expect, the writing is beautiful and lyrical, the story is quite interesting, and the characters develop throughout the story in surprising, but understandable, ways.

The story begins in a small community on a farming planet that has recently been added to the Umbai company’s expanding empire. The company delivers supplies to the planet, and one captain becomes enamored of a local farmer. He must wait 15 years for her transport to return but, because of time dilation through the space fold, the captain only ages a few months while she is gone. We see his story for the first third or so of the book until a strange alien boy suddenly appears in the farming community and then it picks up with her story from that point forward when the captain takes the boy from the planet with her on her last visit to see the farmer, who has now become the mayor, and a senior member, of the growing community. The relationship between these two is a fascinating study of space travel and how that might affect both parties in the romance.

As we follow the captain, and the boy, away from Umbai-V, we learn more about the crew, the ship, the captain, and the boy – who loves music and plays the flute all of his waking hours. We learn that the boy might have a special gift and that some very influential people want to discover his abilities. I do not want to spoil the book at this point, but I will say that humanity never fails to amaze in its cruelty, but also in its love and compassion.

My only negative with this novel was some of the transitions between characters. I know the author was experimenting, but there were times when the story transitioned from one character to another within the same sentence. This technique threw me out of the story momentarily and slightly lessened my enjoyment; however, I thoroughly enjoyed this beautiful story and highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys the expansive thinking of science fiction, found family, and magical elements in a well-written ode to the stars.