Simon Jimenez

Bold, lyrical and imaginative, this space opera is a must for fans of Becky Chambers and Alastair Reynolds Nia Imani is a woman out of place and outside of time. Decades of travel through the stars are condensed into mere months for her, though the years continue to march steadily onward for everyone she has ever known. The captain of a transport ship contracted to the Umbrai corporation, she lives only for the next paycheck, until the day she meets a mysterious boy, fallen from the sky. A boy, broken by his past, and hunted by his present. For he is one of the few born with the gift of the Jaunt. The ability to travel instantly anywhere in the universe. An ability that threatens the vicelike control of the settled worlds by corporations such as Umbrai. Fumiko Nakajima, the great scientist responsible for the design of bird-like Stations that Umbrai uses to control vast tracts of space, has been searching for one such as he for a thousand years. Together, they set out to protect the boy, a journey that will cross the decades and light years all the way out to the fringes of settled space where the laws of civilisation do not apply, and they will have only each other to rely on.

The Vanished Birds

Nate

He lived in flight between worlds. There was freedom in these uninhabited places, where it did not matter how he behaved, or how he dressed, or not dressed. Pissing where he liked, bowels loosened from great heights, forbidden words shouted into the air--he listened as they bounced like stones off the faces of sheer cliffs. He said silly things into the ears of grobin birds, and sang into a great black pit his secrets, the fantasies, the wet dreams he ached with. He laughed, alone. Those were his animal days. And they were good.

telly

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.

"They once called me cursed," he said to the sleeping child, holding up his scarred hand for proof. "Best not to listen to what they say. There's no end to the stories that cowards tell."

"The people who leave always forget that the world doesn’t end once they're gone," she said. "They forget about the decay." 

an excerpt from Sartoris’ report to Fumiko

Sustainability is great theory, where there are no humans involved.

“From here there are two paths. Stay, and let the birds peck at your body. Or leave, with me, and deny them their stolen meal." 

The Vanished Birds quotes

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