6/28/2023 0 Comments The vanished birds![]() Time dilation applies: in the Pocket, mere days pass for the travelers, while on the planets years go by. ![]() The Umbai “corporation” rules all, from Stations to City Planets. We start in a far future where galactic civilization is held together by starships that travel the “Pocket” on cosmic currents. I am going to be constrained when conveying the plot of this story to you, since it is so full of switchbacks, surprises, unexpected circlings, resonances, and reveals that you really should experience it without foreknowledge for maximum enjoyment. If The Vanished Birds is not on all the SF award ballots next year this time, then this whole damn planet is even more cockeyed than recent events would have us believe! I am reminded of the excitement I felt when encountering A.A. ![]() Simon Jimenez’s touching, bold, surprising, gorgeous debut novel-a certain manner of postmodern space opera, despite the fantasy-resonant title-is not only the best debut novel I’ve read in ages, but simply one of the best SF novels in recent memory. The Vanished Birds, Simon Jimenez ( (Del Rey 978-8-5, $27, 400pp, hardcover) January 2020 ![]()
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