Reviews

Review : THE VANISHED BIRDS by Simon Jimenez. Thanks to @delreybooks for the complimentary copy. ⁣
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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 until one year when Kaeda is very old, he asks her to take the mysterious boy who dropped from the sky. ⁣
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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. ⁣
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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? ⁣
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The writing is so lyrical and entrancing, that I found myself routinely staying up later than I intended devouring page after page. It is a beautiful novel and in a world fairly devoid of real relationships, it ultimately glorified the human connections. ⁣
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THE VANISHED BIRDS by Simon Jimenez was published in January 2020. ⁣
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nravede's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

jonahbarnes's review

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Yeesh. If this won sci-fi awards, I am afraid sci-fi is dead. Sci-fi has turned into a platform for virtue signaling and this one marks all the boxes. Skip it.