The Vanished Birds by Simon Jimenez

Published by Del Rey on January 14, 2020

The Vanished Birds is a contemplative work of science fiction. The story involves a miraculous boy with the power to revolutionize interstellar travel, but it is really a story about connections that grow and endure in the face of hardship.

Captain Nia Imani owns a cargo ship that travels in Pocket Space between the Federated Worlds. She has a crew of four, including Nurse, her best frenemy, whom she rescued from the fringe region years before the story begins.

During the first part of the novel, Imani takes a lover on a world that is part of her trade route. Kaeda is just a child when she first sees him. He is a young man when she first sleeps with him. He ages fifteen years between encounters, while she ages only eight months. Simon Jimenez allows their relationship to unfold slowly, focusing on Kaeda and the life he lives between liaisons with Imani. Relativity teaches Kaeda that time is not on his side, that “the best-case scenario of a well-spent life was the slow and steady unraveling of the heart’s knot.”

During his last meeting with Imani, Kaeda introduces her to a boy of about twelve and implores her to take him on her ship. The boy was apparently on a vessel that crashed on the planet. Kaeda and his wife raised the boy. Now he wants to give the boy the life for which Kaeda always ached, a life that would allow him to see different sunsets. The boy’s name is Ahro.

Imani takes Ahro to Pelican Station where its designer, Fumiko Nakajima, offers her a new contract. She must take the boy to the fringe region, keep him safe for as many as fifteen years while he develops, and then surrender him to Nakajima. Nakijima suspects Ahro has a gift, an ability to manipulate quantum entanglement, that will one day allow him to think of a place and travel there instantly. Nakijima’s backstory is developed in depth before she disappears, only to resurface near the novel’s end. Ahro’s backstory is less detailed and more mysterious.

Imani doesn’t warm to people easily, although there is something about the boy and his fascination with a flute that speaks to her. They spend years together on their ship. The journey gives the reader time to learn about Nakijima’s representative, Sartoris Moth, who was sent along to keep an eye on the boy, and Vaila, who was Nakijama’s personal pilot. Both characters seem to play stock roles until the reader discovers that they are capable of surprises.

Relationships in the book tangle and untangle, sometimes ending with real or perceived betrayals. By the time the novel approaches it end, the beginning seems to have lost its relevance. Then Jimenez deftly circles back to the novel's start, giving it new meaning in light of all the years (both temporal and relativistic) that have passed. The ending suggests a connection between characters and generations that is bridged by music, and while I couldn’t quite wrap my head around the mechanics of how that worked, the story is so appealing that I didn’t fret about it. In fact, a good many explanations are wanting (how does Ahro’s blood make instantaneous travel possible, and how can it be used to power a fleet of ships?), but I guess some things need to be accepted on faith for the sake of enjoying a good story.

Characterization and relationship development are the strengths of The Vanished Birds. For that reason, this is probably a good science fiction novel for readers who are not fans of science fiction. Imani holds herself responsible for the loss of a sister she left behind. She prefers the isolation of constant travel, but her willingness to look after the boy reflects the hope that she might be able to bond with someone she will not lose. Ironically, making that choice causes the loss of friends and crew members who do not want to spend fifteen years in the fringe territory. And whether she will lose or regain Ahro is the source of the novel's dramatic tension.

I would need to read The Vanished Birds again to appreciate all its nuances. It is certainly a novel that would bear rereading. Jimenez constructed it with skill, ultimately tying together its disparate sections (some of which would stand nicely as short stories) to create a unified whole. For its detailed characterizations and evocative descriptions, The Vanished Birds is an award-worthy example of science fiction that breaks the boundaries of the genre.

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