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The Vanished Birds
- A Novel
- Narrated by: Shayna Small
- Length: 13 hrs and 17 mins
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Publisher's summary
A “highly imaginative and utterly exhilarating” (Thrillist) debut that is “the best of what science fiction can be: a thought-provoking, heartrending story about the choices that define our lives” (Kirkus Reviews, Best Debut Fiction and Best Science Fiction & Fantasy of the Year).
Finalist for the Locus Award • Named One of the Best Books of the Year by Tordotcom and Kirkus Reviews
A mysterious child lands in the care of a solitary woman, changing both of their lives forever.
I expected many things from this trip. I did not expect a family.
A ship captain, unfettered from time. A mute child, burdened with unimaginable power. A millennia-old woman, haunted by lifetimes of mistakes. In this captivating debut of connection across space and time, these outsiders will find in each other the things they lack: a place of love and belonging. A safe haven. A new beginning.
But the past hungers for them, and when it catches up, it threatens to tear this makeshift family apart.
Praise for The Vanished Birds
“This is the most impressive debut of 2020.”(Locus)
“This extraordinary science fiction epic, which delves deep into the perils of failing to learn from one’s mistakes, is perfect for fans of big ideas and intimate reflections.” (Publishers Weekly, starred review)
“A lyrical and moving narrative of space travel, found families, and lost loves set against an evocative space-opera background.” (Booklist, starred review)
“The Vanished Birds finds an intimate heartbeat of longing in a saga of galactic progress and its crushing fallout.... A novel of vast scope that yet makes time for compassion, wonder, and poetry.” (Indra Das, author of The Devourers)
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- Part One of the Newirth Mythology
- By: Michael B. Koep
- Narrated by: Gabrielle de Cuir, John Rubinstein, Stefan Rudnicki
- Length: 12 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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Psychologist Loche Newirth becomes hunted when he sees a painting that opens a window onto the afterlife. An ancient order of men seeking to control the art pursue him across the world, through centuries, into madness, and beyond. The first part of Michael B. Koep's the Newirth Mythology The Invasion of Heaven is mystery, adventure, myth, betrayal, murder, and madness. Loche Newirth wonders if it was his fall: The 50-foot drop from the rocky cliff to the icy water below. Is this why he has been hallucinating?
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Good story - well written
- By Amy Q on 05-17-20
By: Michael B. Koep
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Survival
- Species Imperative, Book 1
- By: Julie E. Czerneda
- Narrated by: Angele Masters
- Length: 17 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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Herself a biologist, Julie E. Czerneda has earned a reputation in science fiction circles for her ability to create beautifully crafted, imaginative, yet believably realized alien races. In Survival, the first novel in her new series, Species Imperative, she draws upon this talent to build races, characters, and a universe which will draw listeners into a magnificent tale of interstellar intrigue, as an Earth scientist is caught up in a terrifying interspecies conflict.
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I study salmon!
- By Amazon Customer on 03-05-20
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Secrets in the Mist
- Skyworld, Book 1
- By: Morgan L. Busse
- Narrated by: Taylor Meskimen
- Length: 8 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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In a world where humanity lives in the sky to escape a deadly mist below, Cass’s only goal is survival. That is, until she finds a job on the airship Daedalus as a diver. Now she explores ruined cities, looking for treasure and people’s lost heirlooms until a young man hires her to find the impossible: a way to eradicate the Mist.
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Loved it!
- By Hunter Duran on 04-18-24
By: Morgan L. Busse
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The Ten Thousand Doors of January
- By: Alix E. Harrow
- Narrated by: January LaVoy
- Length: 12 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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In a sprawling mansion filled with peculiar treasures, January Scaller is a curiosity herself. As the ward of the wealthy Mr. Locke, she feels little different from the artifacts that decorate the halls: carefully maintained, largely ignored, and utterly out of place. Then she finds a strange book. A book that carries the scent of other worlds and tells a tale of secret doors, of love, adventure, and danger. Each page turn reveals impossible truths about the world, and January discovers a story increasingly entwined with her own.
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A princess in a castle can't fend for herself
- By Summer on 11-11-19
By: Alix E. Harrow
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Migration
- Species Imperative, Book 2
- By: Julie E. Czerneda
- Narrated by: Angele Masters
- Length: 20 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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Senior co-administrator of the Norcoast Salmon Research Facility, Dr. Mackenzie Connor was a biologist who studied the spawning habits of salmon. Then, last season, just as she and Dr. Emily Mamani were starting their research, they were interrupted by the arrival of Brymm, the first Dhryn to set foot on Earth. And suddenly everything changed for Mac, Emily, Brymn, the human race, and all the member races of the Interspecies Union. Base was attacked, Em was kidnapped by the mysterious Ro, and Mac and brymn had to flee for their lives to the Dhryn home world.
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Love the story - 'hero's' voice not for me
- By GADFLY64 on 11-04-20
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The Event
- By: Nathan Hystad
- Narrated by: Luke Daniels
- Length: 6 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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Cities all around the world reported strange alien vessels descending. Some saw them as the heralds of a new age; others fired everything they had at them. All were taken as the beams lashed down and drew them into the sky. Dean was left behind, seemingly the last man on Earth. A trail of clues left by his dead wife guides Dean on a perilous journey across America and beyond to learn the truth behind the mysterious ships and save humanity from its doom.
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Did not inspire me to get the next book.
- By MD on 12-13-18
By: Nathan Hystad
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Whose Waves These Are
- By: Amanda Dykes
- Narrated by: Hillary Huber
- Length: 12 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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In the wake of WWII, a grieving fisherman submits a poem to a local newspaper: a rallying cry for hope, purpose...and rocks. When the poem spreads farther than he ever intended, Robert Bliss's humble words change the tide of a nation. Boxes of rocks inundate the tiny coastal Maine town, and he sets his calloused hands to work, but the building halts when tragedy strikes. Decades later, Annie Bliss is summoned back to Ansel-by-the-Sea when she learns her Great-Uncle Robert, the man who became her refuge during the hardest summer of her youth, is now the one in need of help.
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Great Story
- By Rita N. Bulington on 07-08-21
By: Amanda Dykes
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The Lost Melody
- By: Joanna Davidson Politano
- Narrated by: Amy Scanlon
- Length: 12 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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When concert pianist Vivienne Mourdant’s father dies, he leaves to her the care of a patient at Hurstwell Asylum. Vivienne had no idea the woman existed, and yet her portrait is shockingly familiar. When the asylum claims she was never a patient there, Vivienne is compelled to discover what happened to the figure she remembers from childhood dreams.
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New favorite!!!
- By Lisa Scott on 12-13-22
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Outpost
- By: W. Michael Gear
- Narrated by: Alyssa Bresnahan
- Length: 18 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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Donovan is a world of remarkable wealth that comes at a high price. When Supervisor Kalico Aguila's ship arrives, she discovers a failing colony, its government overthrown, the few remaining colonists gone wild. Donovan could make her career - or kill her. Planetside, Talina Perez is one of three rulers of the Port Authority colony - the only law in the one remaining town. With the Corporate ship demanding answers about the things she's done, Perez could lose everything, including her life. For Dan Wirth, Donovan is a last chance. A psychopath with a death sentence looming over his head, he will make a desperate play for power. No matter who he has to corrupt, murder, or destroy. Captain Max Taggart is the Corporation's enforcer. But is it too late to seize control of Donovan?
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Must have been written for teenage girls
- By Bob on 03-30-20
By: W. Michael Gear
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The Gilda Stories
- By: Jewelle Gomez
- Narrated by: Adenrele Ojo
- Length: 11 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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This remarkable novel begins in 1850s Louisiana, where Gilda escapes slavery and learns about freedom while working in a brothel. After being initiated into eternal life as one who "shares the blood" by two women there, Gilda spends the next 200 years searching for a place to call home. An instant lesbian classic when it was first published in 1991, The Gilda Stories has endured as an auspiciously prescient book in its explorations of blackness, radical ecology, re-definitions of family, and yes, the erotic potential of the vampire story.
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A Critical and Timely Classic
- By Qasima Wideman on 08-09-19
By: Jewelle Gomez
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Mira's Return: The Complete Series: A Mermaid Fantasy Adventure & Prequel to the Elemental Origins Series
- By: A.L. Knorr
- Narrated by: Gabra Zackman
- Length: 9 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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Mira is a mermaid on a mission. It’s time to leave the ocean. Mira Belshaw has been at sea for...well, she doesn’t know how many years. It’s hard to keep track of time when you live in the ocean. But after enough time, the salt water triggers the desire to procreate, and her time is up. Finding a mate is the most important thing to her right now, and to do that, she has to return to the place where she was last human - the coastal city of Saltford.
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Mermaid Mira
- By Shoe Monger on 04-10-20
By: A.L. Knorr
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The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue
- By: V. E. Schwab
- Narrated by: Julia Whelan
- Length: 17 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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France, 1714: In a moment of desperation, a young woman makes a Faustian bargain to live forever - and is cursed to be forgotten by everyone she meets. Thus begins the extraordinary life of Addie LaRue, and a dazzling adventure that will play out across centuries and continents, across history and art, as a young woman learns how far she will go to leave her mark on the world. But everything changes when, after nearly 300 years, Addie stumbles across a young man in a hidden bookstore and he remembers her name.
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Prose style not to my liking
- By C.V. Cox on 10-18-20
By: V. E. Schwab
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Song of the Forever Rains
- The Mousai, Book 1
- By: E.J. Mellow
- Narrated by: Madeline Lake, Nelson Hobbs
- Length: 13 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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The Thief Kingdom is a place hidden within the world of Aadilor. Many whisper of its existence, but few have found this place, where magic and pleasure abound. There, the mysterious Thief King reigns supreme with the help of the Mousai, a trio of revered and feared sorceresses. Larkyra Bassette may be the youngest of the Mousai, but when she sings her voice has the power to slay monsters. When it’s discovered the Duke of Lachlan is siphoning a poisonous drug from the Thief Kingdom and using it to abuse his tenants, Larkyra is offered her first solo mission to stop the duke.
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couldn't finish
- By Mae Fishel on 08-25-21
By: E.J. Mellow
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It is the eve of Earth’s environmental collapse. A single ship carries humanity’s last hope: eighty elite graduates of a competitive program, who will give birth to a generation of children in deep space. But halfway to a distant but livable planet, a lethal bomb kills three of the crew and knocks The Phoenix off course. Asuka, the only surviving witness, is an immediate suspect.
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In the ancient city-state of Gujaareh, peace is the only law. Upon its rooftops and amongst the shadows of its cobbled streets wait the Gatherers - the keepers of this peace. Priests of the dream-goddess, their duty is to harvest the magic of the sleeping mind and use it to heal, soothe . . . and kill those judged corrupt. But when a conspiracy blooms within Gujaareh's great temple, Ehiru - the most famous of the city's Gatherers - must question everything he knows.
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Refreshing Take on Fantasy
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The time: not so long from now. The place: AutoAmerica. The land: half under water. The Internet: one part artificial intelligence, one part surveillance technology, and oddly human - even funny. The people: Divided. The angel-fair "Netted" have jobs, and literally occupy the high ground. The "Surplus" live on swampland if they're lucky, on water if they're not. The story: To a Surplus couple - he once a professor, she still a lawyer - is born a Blasian girl with a golden arm. At two, Gwen is hurling her stuffed animals from the crib; by 10, she can hit whatever target she likes. Her teens find her happily playing in an underground baseball league.
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Fantastic. A modern classic.
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The Just City
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Created as an experiment by the time-traveling goddess Pallas Athene, the Just City is a planned community populated by over 10,000 children and a few hundred adult teachers from all eras of history, along with some handy robots from the far human future - all set down together on a Mediterranean island in the distant past.
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Could Not Get Past Mispronunciations
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The Salvation Gambit
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- Unabridged
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Murdock has always believed in Hark, the woman who shaped her from a petty thief and lowlife hacker into a promising con artist. Hark is everything Murdock aspires to be, from her slick fashion sense to her unfailing ability to plan under pressure. Together with Bea, a fearless driver who never walks away from a bet, and Fitz, Murdock’s infuriatingly mercurial rival who can sweet-talk the galaxy into spinning around her finger, they form a foursome with a reputation for daring heists, massive payoffs, and never, ever getting caught. Well, until now.
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quick, space story
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The Cipher
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Nicholas, a would-be poet, and Nakota, his feral lover, discover a strange hole in the storage room floor down the hall - "Black. Pure black and the sense of pulsation, especially when you look at it too closely, the sense of something not living but alive." It begins with curiosity, a joke - the Funhole down the hall. But then the experiments begin. "Wouldn't it be wild to go down there?" says Nakota. Nicholas says "We're not." But they're not in control, not from the first moment, as those experiments lead to obsession, violence, and a very final transformation.
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An Interesting Book of Weird...
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What listeners say about The Vanished Birds
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- Ada Lane
- 11-14-24
The most beautiful story
It is rare for a book to so encapsulate the human condition. This touches the soul
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- GG
- 03-16-20
Didn't live up to potential
The concepts, character development, and description of the ways in which the characters experience time was phenomenal. However, the overall story felt lacking. After the climax (at least, I think it was the climax because it took almost the entire book to get there), the story faded away a bit and I was close to losing interest. By the ending, I wasn't really invested anymore. Interesting, but I feel like it had so much more potential.
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3 people found this helpful
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- Tyler
- 04-23-21
Great book. Wow.
I loved this novel. Would have loved for it to last a bit longer, but wow, ended it misty eyed.
I will say the narrator did a pretty great job, despite her portrayal of male characters being hard to distinguish at times. Other than that she was great.
Great book if you love space opera. Highly recommend.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Andrew W. Taylor
- 08-23-23
Ambitious premise that fails to deliver
The story starts out with incredible promise and an intriguing premise but I had a hard time connecting emotionally to the characters. The author has a habit of switching view point characters frequently seeming to abandon their story once you get invested as a reader. Without revealing spoilers I felt like the second half of the novel dragged and the resolution was not as satisfying as I hoped it might be.
While the narrator does a good job infusing this story with emotion their range of voices left me wanting after to many characters started to sound like kids from a cartoon.
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- Liliana
- 06-29-24
really enjoyed it.
Fantasy with a splash of sci fi. perfect for those of us who don't gravitate toward Sci fi as much
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- Brenda
- 02-15-20
Incredible Deeply moving
I love science fiction for its exploration of big themes like what does it mean to be human and what is our place in the universe. This story delivers one that is much more personal and specific. It destroyed me. Reduced to tears so that I had to pull over to the side of the road more than once. Deeply moving on many levels. Also delivers the space tech and world building if that is your thing. This is an immediate favorite , an incredible debut novel, and I can’t wait to see what Jimenez comes up with next.
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6 people found this helpful
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- Michael G Kurilla
- 07-12-22
Avian jaunts
Simon Jimenez' The Vanished Birds is an intriguing story spanning one thousand years. During Earth's environmental collapse a young engineer is critical to the design of space stations and manages to get off planet (although leaving her lover behind). Throughout successive cryogenic sleep cycles she manages to amass fortune and influence. The 1K future world is a bit colonial with planets supplying foodstuffs and other materials for the conglomerate that owns the space stations. One one world, a boy is found among space wreckage and becomes the key in a power struggle between the engineer and the conglomerate. The boy has the ability to 'jaunt; or travel interstellar distances directly. Eventually he is captured, and the conglomerate learns his secret, but keeps him in coma using his blood for the interstellar drive. The engineer takes her revenge on the conglomerate and the boy and the captain who raised him are re-united.
Jimenez provide quite a bit of backstory for the characters such that the tale is more a story, rather than a novel. The secret of the boy's jaunts remains a mystery, nor was it ever clear how he was first identified and how everyone seems to know of him.
The narration was reasonable with decent character distinction. Pacing is smooth and brisk.
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- Rachel
- 06-28-23
Unusual
I really liked it a lot. It’s not your usual sci-fi and that’s part of its charm. Can’t say it was a happy ending, but it was an excellent one. You can’t be a lazy listener or you will get a little lost.
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- David
- 02-08-20
Character driven, tech minimum space opera
Unusual book about chosen families and memory (and colonialism, too) in a space opera setting. Some beautiful writing. Will look forward to author’s next book. Narrator conveys story well.
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9 people found this helpful
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- Kevin E.
- 04-05-22
The Plot is Amazing, but…
This book pulls a Game of Thrones (TV show). The plot and writing are so good for most of the story, but then there comes a point when you realized there isn’t enough time left to resolve the story. The resolution is rushed and all of the satisfying details are skipped. The author basically wrote half a book and tacked on the outline at the end. I’m genuinely disappointed.
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2 people found this helpful