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A review by heyleigh05
The Vanished Birds by Simon Jimenez
5.0
**4.5 stars- I WANT MORE!
So, I loved this book. I was really engaged in it and it kept me reading. This story is largely character-driven evidenced by the multiple perspectives. What I liked most about the book was the found-family aspect between Nia, the boy, and her crew. I was really invested in seeing how their relationships would develop and evolve. The Vanished Birds tells the story of Nia, a boy, and Fumiko navigating through time to find purpose and acceptance. This is a sci-fi novel but it isn’t bogged down with science-y jargon- I like to call it sci-fi lite. This sci-fi focuses more on the character development and social commentary rather than the science jargon. If more sci-fi was like this then I would definitely read more of it. I think my favorite character is the boy (I won’t say his name because that is kind of a part of the plot). He was just so endearing and I enjoyed seeing him grow up and discover the world for himself. I loved his and Nia’s relationship; she takes on a motherly role in his life and through that bond they find purpose and direction for their lives. I wish there were even more moments when we got to see them bond.
This novel also presents a critique on the exploitative nature of capitalism. Capitalism exploits and commodifies people and the environment, alike without regard of the long-term effects. Capitalism is short-sighted in its goals but never considers the long-lasting impact. This book touches on how capitalism creates class inequality and therefore leads to unequal distribution of resources- which a finite because industries destroy, consume, and pollute our environment. This book also alluded to how tourism is a form of colonization. The tourism industries will start development in underdeveloped locations and they will exploit the labor of locals and exploit the land for the purpose of pleasing outsiders, foreigners, who are usually wealthy. There’s a lot more to be said about how unsustainable the tourism industry is but I’m not going to go too in depth. This book also highlights the interesting way that we think about space and space exploration. Oftentimes we discuss space as the final frontier. This will be the next “manifest destiny”, or conquest for humans to undertake with the goal that humans will be eventually sustain entire communities in space. We’ll leave this world once we’ve exhausted all of earth’s resources and have denigrated the environment beyond repair and establish a new world and a new culture rather than fix the issues that are already happening. I appreciated this book for its commentary because it reminded me a lot of my environmental sociology class which was one of my favorites.
My few critiques are that the ending felt kind of rushed. Things were happening kind of quickly so I feel like I didn’t quite get the closure I wanted on a few of plot points. They weren’t fully explained as I would’ve have liked. Another critique that I have was Fumiko’s character arch. I feel like the way it resolved was very abrupt. I would’ve liked for her presence in the end of the book to be more balanced. Another critique I have is that I wish we got a more detailed backstory on Nia. Fumiko has an entire chapter dedicated to her backstory which was helpful for understanding her as a character. I really would’ve like for Nia to have the same treatment so we could get to know her better as a character. And... Vaila. I’m not going to say much about her because that would be a spoiler but she has some answering to do.
Overall, I really enjoyed this book. I was so engaged in the characters and the story and I really just wanted the book to keep going. I wish the book had a hundred more pages just so I could stay with the story longer. I also really want an epilogue or something because I just want to know what happens to all the characters. Simon, can you spare us a few crumbs, please?
So, I loved this book. I was really engaged in it and it kept me reading. This story is largely character-driven evidenced by the multiple perspectives. What I liked most about the book was the found-family aspect between Nia, the boy, and her crew. I was really invested in seeing how their relationships would develop and evolve. The Vanished Birds tells the story of Nia, a boy, and Fumiko navigating through time to find purpose and acceptance. This is a sci-fi novel but it isn’t bogged down with science-y jargon- I like to call it sci-fi lite. This sci-fi focuses more on the character development and social commentary rather than the science jargon. If more sci-fi was like this then I would definitely read more of it. I think my favorite character is the boy (I won’t say his name because that is kind of a part of the plot). He was just so endearing and I enjoyed seeing him grow up and discover the world for himself. I loved his and Nia’s relationship; she takes on a motherly role in his life and through that bond they find purpose and direction for their lives. I wish there were even more moments when we got to see them bond.
This novel also presents a critique on the exploitative nature of capitalism. Capitalism exploits and commodifies people and the environment, alike without regard of the long-term effects. Capitalism is short-sighted in its goals but never considers the long-lasting impact. This book touches on how capitalism creates class inequality and therefore leads to unequal distribution of resources- which a finite because industries destroy, consume, and pollute our environment. This book also alluded to how tourism is a form of colonization. The tourism industries will start development in underdeveloped locations and they will exploit the labor of locals and exploit the land for the purpose of pleasing outsiders, foreigners, who are usually wealthy. There’s a lot more to be said about how unsustainable the tourism industry is but I’m not going to go too in depth. This book also highlights the interesting way that we think about space and space exploration. Oftentimes we discuss space as the final frontier. This will be the next “manifest destiny”, or conquest for humans to undertake with the goal that humans will be eventually sustain entire communities in space. We’ll leave this world once we’ve exhausted all of earth’s resources and have denigrated the environment beyond repair and establish a new world and a new culture rather than fix the issues that are already happening. I appreciated this book for its commentary because it reminded me a lot of my environmental sociology class which was one of my favorites.
My few critiques are that the ending felt kind of rushed. Things were happening kind of quickly so I feel like I didn’t quite get the closure I wanted on a few of plot points. They weren’t fully explained as I would’ve have liked. Another critique that I have was Fumiko’s character arch. I feel like the way it resolved was very abrupt. I would’ve liked for her presence in the end of the book to be more balanced. Another critique I have is that I wish we got a more detailed backstory on Nia. Fumiko has an entire chapter dedicated to her backstory which was helpful for understanding her as a character. I really would’ve like for Nia to have the same treatment so we could get to know her better as a character. And... Vaila. I’m not going to say much about her because that would be a spoiler but she has some answering to do.
Overall, I really enjoyed this book. I was so engaged in the characters and the story and I really just wanted the book to keep going. I wish the book had a hundred more pages just so I could stay with the story longer. I also really want an epilogue or something because I just want to know what happens to all the characters. Simon, can you spare us a few crumbs, please?