ash's Reviews > The Vanished Birds

i'm saying fuck it and rating it a full 5 stars for emotional damage.

there are so many things i love about this book:
- the writing is GORGEOUS. it is so simple yet beautiful, never purple. THIS is creative writing. it's so tasteful, tender, and evocative.
- amazing storytelling. i was Hooked right from the very first page, simple yet compelling and never boring. executed so effortlessly. the transitions are sooo so smooth and the narrative structure worked so well with the story.
- the themes? heart-wrenching. had me sobbing on a monday afternoon. the tragedy, the loneliness, the determination, the destruction, the love, the struggle, the cost, the EVERYTHING . i don't think i can do it justice. it's so ???? wretched? stunning? insane?
- the characters are so skillfully written. their complicated psyches, their relationships, the— EVERYTHING. they're so whole and so real and [oh wow i'm crying while writing this review oh my god] just thinking about them makes me feel so unwell.
- the pacing was so deliciously slow, but it’s consistent. it spans decades— lifetimes, even — and yet the close-ups on little moments?? the intimacy, the [and now i'm crying again lmaooo this is insane.] like, it spoke to me? i feel like it changed my brain chemistry in some irreversible way. it's hysterical.
- the worldbuilding is stellar. incredible. impressive. no dreaded info-dumping from the usual sci-fi. it's so easy. so effortless. so enchanting.

anyway, this book is PHENOMENAL. it takes mad skills to write a story in this scale and make it feel so intimate, and even greater skills to pull it off so beautifully. an unexpected new favorite! shoutout to Rina for recommending this to me! see her review here https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...