Book Review: The Vanished Birds by Simon Jimenez
The Vanished Birds by Simon Jimenez
My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars
Series: The Cosmere
Genre: Science Fiction, Space Opera
Word Count: 129,000 words
Pages: 416 pages (Paperback)
Published: 14th January 2020 by Del Rey Books
The Vanished Birds is a beautiful, heartfelt, and tense standalone space opera story about kindness, choices, love, pain, ambition, and found family.
“Geniuses are born all the time, but kindness is rarer, these days especially. The world could use more kindness.”
I can’t believe it took me this long to read The Vanished Birds by Simon Jimenez. This debut novel belongs in the definition of the underhyped and underrated category. This book has been out for almost four years now, and still to this day, it is not frequent I stumbled upon people praising or discussing The Vanished Birds or The Spear Cuts Through Water, which I haven’t read but definitely will in the near future. But I know those who have read The Vanished Birds tend to love it. And they loved the book deeply. Like my friend, Evie, who gifted both The Vanished Birds and The Spear Cuts Through Water to me. Thank you so much, Evie. Without this gift, I doubt I would have read Jimenez’s debut novel this soon, and what a grave mistake that would be.
“They once called me cursed… Best not to listen to what they say. There’s no end to the stories that cowards tell.”
Despite some believable recommendations, I succeeded at reading The Vanished Birds while knowing nothing about it. And I plan to keep it that way in this review. You can read the official blurb if you insist on knowing more details about the story, but I strongly think if this is your first time reading The Vanished Birds, just read it immediately with as little knowledge as possible. I mean, skip this review if you want! I do not mind. But if you are still interested in my thoughts, I will share what I loved about The Vanished Birds as a spoiler-free review.
“The people who leave always forget that the world doesn’t end once they’ve gone… They forget about the decay.”
I will begin by saying that the first chapter of The Vanished Birds is one of the most memorable first chapters of any book I have ever read. The first chapter worked pretty much like a beautifully written coming-of-age short story, and after reading it, I knew right there I would love the rest of the book. This isn’t to say the main character will be Kaeda, the POV character in the first chapter, which I believe should be titled as a prologue instead of chapter 1 because of this. But the way The Vanished Birds is written from the first chapter… it is stunning. It reminded me of reading Ken Liu’s writing, and I don’t say that lightly. At all. Ken Liu is one of the best writers in SFF, in my opinion, and I treat his prose to be at a sky-high level. I was reminded of Liu’s prose from reading Jimenez’s writing style, both in the magnificence of the lyrical prose and the way the author utilizes unconventional storytelling to deliver a well-written character-driven story with poignant messages and emotional scenes. And it persisted throughout the whole novel.
“Let my daughter be a lesson to the world… that society’s idealization of physical beauty is wrong—that beauty comes in many forms, the most wonderful being the brilliance of the mind.”
In The Vanished Birds, Jimenez employed an omniscient narration that I don’t usually gel with. It was the same with The Grace of Kings by Ken Liu, but although not my preference of reading as I prefer to read first-person POV or close third-person POV narration, just like The Grace of Kings, it worked. The Vanished Birds is not a big book. My paperback copy of it is less than 400 pages long, and Jimenez’s omniscient narrative allowed him to be efficient and effective at implementing many ideas while developing the five key characters. Praising an omniscient narrated book seldom happens in my experience, and it was certainly gratifying to witness in The Vanished Birds. Even though there is an omniscient narrator, Jimenez strikes the right balance between when to focus on a specific main character’s point of view and when to switch them up quickly, especially during frantic situations like the last chapters. After the story shifted from Kaeda’s, I was still immersed in every subsequent main character. Nia, the mysterious boy, Fumiko Nakajima, and even Sartoris (who initially didn’t attain my interest) became characters I’m invested in sooner or later.
“Whatever you might think, I am but a mere mortal, and it is startling how easy it is for mortals to be cruel when they are afraid… But I hope that doesn’t dissuade you from learning your own lessons on love… whenever that may be. It should say something that despite my regrets I still stand by its recommendation. I would do it all again if I could, even with its lackluster ending.”
The Vanished Birds is a space opera story spanning decades, even a thousand years, of storyline. And it is brimming with thought-provoking, heart-rending, and intimate moments. I think the way I see it is this. With the group of motley crew in a spaceship that became a found family, The Vanished Birds gave me what I wanted from Becky Chamber’s Wayfarers series. It is wholesome, feel-good, and yet intense. The high stakes of the mission are there. The peril and dangerous moments keep ramping up starting from the final quarter. This contrast elevated the calm and peaceful moments so damn well. Jimenez implemented some big questions into the overall narrative. What will you sacrifice for progress? How far will you go to protect the ones you love? I would have preferred having an epilogue chapter at the end, but in hindsight, by ending the book the way it did, the impact of reading the last sentence of The Vanished Birds felt more profound and unforgettable.
“He wanted to warn these children that time was not their friend; that though today might seem special, there would be a tomorrow, and a day after that; that the best-case scenario of a well-spent life was the slow and steady unraveling of the heart’s knot.”
There is still so much unsaid brilliance about The Vanished Birds. However, as I said at the beginning of this review, it would be better for you readers to read this book with as little information as possible. If you want to read an impressive standalone novel about compassion, progress, artistry, and virtue in a journey of wonder and magic, then read The Vanished Birds. The storytelling in The Vanished Birds, just like the sound of music coming out of the flute from Macaw in this book, has the power to touch the soul of its reader. This is now one of my favorite standalone novels. An incredible debut. And if The Spear Cuts Through Water is as good as The Vanished Birds, even better if it ends up being superior, then Simon Jimenez will become one of my favorite authors. Unquestionably an author to watch out for, regardless. I look forward to reading The Spear Cuts Through Water in 2024.
“Take my day, they sang, but give me the night. Feed the hearth and ready the brew, for I am coming home to you.”
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