User Reviews
Rating: really liked it
Holy. Freaking. Moly!! I love this book!!Wow, what an amazing ride; I think this might end up being my favourite book of 2020, or at the very least my favourite science fiction! It was incredible. How the hell is this a
debut novel?? This is something a long time writer with years of writing experience would have written. This is genius!
The Vanished Birds spans a millennium and is set on many worlds in many galaxies. It begins on a planet where every 15 years, a spaceship arrives to collect the harvest of seeds grown on this planet. One of the workers, Kaeda, is drawn to Nia, the ship's captain. Because she travels in the "pocket" between this world and her own, she experiences only 8 months for every 15 years. We watch as Kaeda grows and changes and finally becomes an old man, while Nia remains much the same. When a small child appears next to a wrecked spaceship - he the only survivor and apparently not in the ship when it crashed - the citizens of this world do not know what to do with him. He does not speak and the people are afraid of him. The next time Nia's ship arrives, Kaeda convinces her to take the boy, sending with him the small flute of which he's enamored, the very same flute Nia had gifted Kaeda when he himself was a small boy.
We are then taken back in time to get to know Fumiko Nakajima, one of earth's most brilliant scientists. It is Fumiko who helped humans leave a dying earth by designing space worlds for them to inhabit and who in effect helped colonise the galaxies. I loved her character and Nia's. I loved that the two main characters were not just strong, intelligent women, but minorities as well. Nia is Black and Fumiko is lesbian. Hell yeh! And thankfully there weren't any stereotypes attached to either of these characters.
I won't write more about the plot; you can read the book's synopsis to learn more - or the book itself which is what I would recommend. I'll just add that the story is a mystery of sorts, a love story of sorts, a centuries-long saga spanning many galaxies and star systems. There is love and hate and revenge and an evil corporation. There are deep friendships and old enemies. And at its heart this is a story of family, the people we are most connected to whether or not we share blood, of the people we always long to return to. The prose is gorgeous. Exquisite. From page one I was entranced. There is not one thing I did not like about this book and that says a lot. I don't even care that there wasn't much science in this though normally I am disappointed with science fiction sans science. I wish I could give this 10 stars instead of 5. It is a masterpiece and Simon Jimenez is an author I will be eagerly awaiting another novel by.
Incredible. Absolutely incredible.
Rating: really liked it
Not sure how I like this book. The story is clear and obvious, but I again think it’s the Fictive Dream that I am missing. The writing is top notch, the concept intriguing, the characters interesting, for a Space Opera.
The first chapter doesn’t open with the main character which I always think is a mistake. The opening words are the contract with the reader that says, “take a look, this is what and how I’m going to tell the story.” The first chapter is historical information in the point of view of a throw- away character and was interesting enough to hold my attention, but it felt more like a too-long prologue. The next chapter is the main character and I was right there with the story, all though I would have preferred more scenes instead of the summary “telling.” The next chapter we are back in history, giving background setting up the space stations so we were not in the main character’s point view long enough to grab hold. The rest of the book had a similar feel. This book has interesting prose and a great concept I just don’t find myself thinking about the characters. In writing voice is king and I’m not sure-for me anyway-that it’s here. I was on the fence about how to rate this one, between a three and a four. If asked to recommend this book, I’d have to say, “Meh.”
David Putnam
Rating: really liked it
Vanished Birds is a mysterious science fiction tale bathed in beautiful prose that offers glimpses of a future of seasons changing, stars within reach, technological marvels, corporate greed, and metaphysical depth.
Starting with a distant world, a colony frozen in time except for brief decades-apart visits from offworlders. You get a strong juxtaposition of the few backward souls living simple lives and the grand civilization out there. A young boy exploding from the stars ✨ changes everything. And, his future appears special. He's mute. He doesn't belong anywhere. But he may just be the one everyone in the cosmos has been waiting for. Or not.
Meanwhile, a thousand years earlier, a designer baby changes everything and puts in motion things unimagined. The question is always what matters most, personal affections or human progress. Is it the job or the relationship that's important? Is loyalty to your friends, shipmates, companions paramount or setting aside a nest egg? Ultimately are we all disposable, interchangeable, useful? And what are the limits of corporate greed? Will it take us places we never thought we'd go?
This is a metaphysical story, not a bang bang shoot em up. It's filled with a sense of wonder and magic. Although I enjoyed it, I'm not certain everyone will.
What I think makes this novel work so well is that you never really know where the story is going. At first, you think one is the main character, but then there's a shift and the story focuses on someone else in another part of he universe becomes the focus. A lot of the story takes place on an aging ship with a motley crew, but it's a few giant steps till you get there. First, you have to flee the dying earth and it's not necessarily fair who gets to go. First, you have to have the oddest extramarital affair imaginable. First, someone has to predict what may come to be.
In any case, the writing is captivating, mystical. And takes the reader on a
One strange trip through ugh time and 🚀 space.
Rating: really liked it
This book went so far over my head, it's now residing somewhere in the thermosphere.
Let's chat about it, shall we?
The Vanished Birds is a good book. The quality of the writing is fantastic. Absolutely gorgeous storytelling, however, I have to rate the book based upon my personal reading experience.
For me this was a fair, to good, reading experience. Pleasant, nothing off-putting, but not significantly engaging either. If I had the mental capacity to understand it more, perhaps my rating would have been higher.
I think what it boils down to is that this just isn't my type of book. I am fast reader. Additionally, I am a polygamous reader. I read multiple books at the same time, quite quickly.
As annoying as this character trait is, it is the only way for me to do it. I have tried to take my time, or just read one book at a time, and it puts me into a reading slump.
Therefore, deep books steeped with a lot of philosophical meaning tend to be wasted on me.
I just don't take the time to really sit back and assess the messages that the author is trying to convey. I wish I could, or really even wanted to. I envy those of you who are able to do that.
The Vanished Birds is a lyrical Science Fiction story of various relationships connected across space and time. I think a lot of readers will be able to get so much out of this. Even I can tell that the quality of this story is above average.
As a character piece, I think this holds a lot of value, and I'm not afraid to admit that it is beyond my comprehension.
I want to encourage everyone to read this synopsis and if it sounds intriguing to you, please pick it up. The synopsis is true to what is in the book, so I think it will draw in the appropriate readers.
With intelligent, subtle narrative, futuristic concepts and beautiful writing, for many Sci-Fi readers, I anticipate this being 4-or 5-stars. Maybe that reader will be you.
Thank you so much to the publisher, Del Rey Books, for providing me with a copy of this to read and review.
I appreciate it so much and look forward to seeing other reviews for this one!
Rating: really liked it
4.5ish stars.
I couldn't help seeing this as kind of the anti-Wayfarers. This book and Becky Chambers’s series share themes of finding family, love, and acceptance among motley crews across spacetime. Whereas The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet (which I also really enjoyed) is optimistic and warms your heart, Vanished Birds leaves your heart outside in the heat until it’s shriveled like a raisin. Still sweet but with several extra sides of bitter.
Not a selling point? Then let me assure you that it’s gorgeous. Jimenez crafts each sentence with such expressiveness, and his characters never fail to impress and disappoint us, often in quick succession.
So it's not as cute and escapist as thematically similar books, but if you need a counter-balance after reading that particular brand of positivity to bring you back to reality, this is that. As my reading buddy Denise says, "Vanished Birds was the kind of sad I recognize in the world- missed opportunities."
Posted in Mr. Philip's Library
Rating: really liked it
4+ stars - I’ve been craving a good science-fiction or fantasy novel like craving something missing from my reading diet. Maybe it’s a dessert or Vitamin SF, but a well-written book in this genre can be truly satisfying for those of us who like the genre. ‘The Vanished Birds’ more than met my expectations. Kaeda is a newborn with an extra finger, which the doctor removes. The father dreams that his son will grow up to be a governor of the Fifth Village on their planet, Umbai V, and places his son’s finger bones in a bone jar. On Umbai V, offworlders come every fifteen years to collect dhuba seed on ‘Shipment Day.’ Kaeda is seven-years-old the first time he sees the sky open up and the metallic ship descends. An even more fascinating vision is the offworlder woman he finds in an alley playing a wooden flute. She is black-skinned with a shaved scalp. Kaeda is very taken with her and her music. She gives Kaeda her flute before she leaves.
When Nia Imani returns, Kaeda is twenty-two years old. She explains to Kaeda that she travels in Pocket Space along currents like those that run in the ocean. Her trip to collect the dhuba seed and return it to her base station takes eight months while on Kaeda’s planet, fifteen years pass. Kaeda has dreamed of Nia all these years. He asks her to take him with her, but she leaves the next morning while he is still asleep. Before the last ‘Shipment Day’ in Nia’s circuit (six trips), a fireball streaks across the sky, making the ground shake when it lands. When the village hunters return from the site where it landed, they have with them a naked boy, about twelve-years-old, unharmed. He cannot speak or tell the villagers where he is from. Kaeda takes him in and decides he will be given to the offworlders who are due in three months. The villagers who are perturbed by the boy’s appearance are appeased that he will soon be leaving. By now Kaeda is eighty-two.
Fumiko Nakajima was born on earth back when it was whole. During the time of her birth, parents designed the children they wanted to have, but Fumiko’s mother, an actress, was part of a post-vanity movement and designed her daughter to be unattractive. Crooked teeth, eyes close together, large ears, her looks make her stand out among all the other beautiful children. “At least she is a genius,” one man tells her. Fumiko can figure out complex mathematical problems without a Handheld. Eventually, she is able to achieve fame when she works on creating an airship hull that can withstand the pressures of folding into Pocket Space. At a gathering, she meets Dana Schneider, who is even more beautiful than the usual designer people. Her parents had created her as an artist would. Tall with full red lips and purple eyes with gold flecks, she makes Fumiko’s heart jump.
This is Simon Jimenez’s debut novel; previously he has written short fiction. The first section read a bit like a short story in that one of the characters that I thought was going to be a main character goes off radar. I was starting to be a bit disappointed when enough things started happening to ensnare my attention and I was again caught up in his beautiful writing. The slow roll out as I tried to figure out what direction the story was going to take took a bit of patience, but it was well worth it. The writing is consistently beautiful, striving for meaning, but not in a work-hard way. His characters are the focus of his writing, not his world-building, which is an aspect I appreciated. The technological marvels and time travel elements appear as part of the story, not the focus of it. The characters are diverse, ‘other,’ strong, good, honorable, and villainous. The pacing is mostly terrific. Secondary characters are great and much will turn on the actions of one of them. The ending was breath-taking and cinematic; perhaps some will expect it; I did not.
Themes are colonialism, ‘going home’ accompanied by a music motif, the loss of time, resource abuses, betrayal, loneliness and isolation, loss of love, and love as fulfillment. There was one section that reminded me of Philip K Dick’s ‘Minority Report,’ but otherwise, it felt like its own story, fresh and unique. Recommended to those who love the genre.
Rating: really liked it
Probably the best SFF book I read this year. Beautiful beyond words. It's just been a day since I finished it. I realize anything I'll say in this review will not do it justice.
What I
could say for
now is that the novel spoke to me in such a profound way. I was not just immersed in its fascinating world-building, but it was emotive since the very first page. While the plot held my attention, the character-driven narrative, written beautifully, was the X factor. I could not help but sympathize with the POV characters, felt their tribulations as human, having relationship with other human beings, no matter whether it’s short or spanning over than a thousand years. After all, like the great Terry Pratchett said, we, humans, are made of the people we encounter, who influence our thoughts and actions (I am totally paraphrasing that one).
If you're looking for a pure SF, this is not for you. In fact, at first I got a fantasy feel (forgot that I voted for it in an SF poll), then it became space opera SF, but later on there were parts throughout that make it a genrebending book. For me, 'twas totally fine.
Aside from the relationships, the other theme that occupied my mind during and reading the book was the colonialism/capitalism theme. It's not as angry as The Word for World is Forest, but it was as intense and heart-wrenching. Yet, it's not depressing per se, more like somber and contemplative.
I'll stop there and would recommend reading these SFFBC discussion threads since many members there are more articulate than me and the discussions have been illuminating so far: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/group...
Thanks again for the Coode Street guys for yet another fantastic recommendation.
Folks, if you could only read one SFF book in 2020, let this be it.
Rating: really liked it
This is a deeply moving character-driven book that could have been a love child, a cross between Becky Chambers and Orson Scott Card at his very best.
It has the wonderful relationships and harrowing loss of interstellar travel including time dilation effects, colony worlds, and the people who must suffer such a life, but more than that, it goes beyond an almost litSF beautiful prose approach and heads straight into classic SF territory.
Let me be frank. I love this.
And I laughed out loud when I heard them refer to "Jaunt" because that is exactly what Alfred Bester called the event, the instant teleportation, in The Stars My Destination, but with an extra e "Jaunte". Of course, this doesn't have the same overriding revenge theme, but the sense of loss and pain and neverending desire makes them intensely similar.
And, of course, any novel that deals with the nastiest possibilities when it comes to faster than light travel will get two thumbs up from me.
So, yeah. A litSF with deep characters AND a hard SF tale is something I don't often see, but when I do, I treasure them, as I will treasure this.
Authors who know their audience are very, very appreciated. Thank you. :)
Rating: really liked it
There is a promising glimmer of brilliance in
The Vanished Birds, the debut sci-fi novel by Simón Jiménez. It pains me to consider what a masterly work this might have been with some additional polish, scenes cut or added here and there. Keep an eye on Jiménez, though. He will likely become one of the important voices in this genre in the coming years.
The first forty pages or so had me engrossed in the life of a young boy growing up in a primitive farming community on an alien world. He falls in love with one of the visitors who lands on his planet every fifteen years to pick up the harvest of purple
dhuba, an exotic crop in great demand on other worlds.
This is a bittersweet love affair that reads like a fable or folklore. For the visitor, Nia, only a few months have passed. Meanwhile Kaeda the boy becomes a young man, middle aged and finally the elderly village leader.
One day a naked and mute alien boy appears on their doorstep, and the village is in an uproar. At great political cost old Kaeda shelters the mysterious boy in his home until the next scheduled visit from Nia's ship.
Jiménez's lyrical prose and captivating vision of the primitive society made this part a delight to read. The chapters about Fumiko Nakajima's life on Earth and the crew of Nia's ship on leave at Pelican station felt like a completely different book. These scenes dragged on a bit and particularly on Pelican station it felt like Nia was wandering about with no particular goal. The worlds of Pelican station and near-future Earth were somewhat bland and contrived compared to the lush, original setting of Umbai-V or some of the other places the author takes us later in the story. I was close to putting the book down at this point, but I'm glad I continued reading.
Once the crew finally embarks on their mission from Fumiko, the story shifts to a higher gear and for the most part I was enthralled to the very end.
The author's vision of our distant future populating fascinating new worlds and cultures was breathtaking - Gorlen and his dogs on the lonely moon of Ariadne, the Painted City, the fringe settlements and the ragamuffin who stole Ahro's heart in the sunbaked fishing village on Kilkari.
Later, when the boy returns to Umbai-V, I had high hopes he would visit those distant villages with Elby and meet more interesting characters and local conflicts. It was disappointing that we didn't get to explore more of this setting. Also would have loved to read about some of the exotic locales mentioned briefly in passing:
The black spires. Sounder’s Outpost Kai. Networked streets of Suda-Sulai. The icescapes of Gallahad. We’ve performed countless jobs in places both large and small. Delivered vaccinations across continents. Escorted three wealthy sisters as they pilgrimaged to the old temples of their religion. Diagnosed the mysterious ailment that plagued the son of a Primark Prince
Some reviewers complained about the ending. For me it worked. There are a few lingering questions, but I suppose any story that has me still mulling over its secrets long after I've finished reading is a story that succeeded in moving me in some way. Perhaps would have liked to see a bit more of an interesting twist in Ahro's origin and the identity of the Kind One.
Many thanks to NetGalley and Del Ray Books / Random House Publishing - Ballantine for providing advance review copy
Rating: really liked it
It has been said, there are no new stories, just new ways to tell a story. The Vanished Birds reminded me of an old cartoon Rocky and Bullwinkle that used to feature a series of vignettes called Fractured Fairytales. These stories were about 10 minutes long and the basic premise was to do an off kilter mashup of various fairytales to produce thought provoking commentary on humans. Pretty clever way to entertain children and grownups alike. In the case of this book, we have literary and science fiction tropes rather than fairy tales to fracture. Overall this was a chase story and a coming of age story with a redemption arc. The obvious themes of exceptionalism, acceptance, greed, innocence, hubris, vindictiveness, betrayal, redemption, love, community, family.
I enjoyed the Vanished Birds more that I thought I would. For me it had a bit of heart in the characterizations and storytelling. This was a time travel story and a space opera, corporations run the universe. It had elements of mystery and some ethical and philosophical depth. It isn't a happy tale or uplifting tale; but by the end of the story, a glimmer of hopefulness. I was interested and engaged the entire time with the story. A touch too much deus ex machina but on the whole, a very smart page turner.
4+ StarsListened to the audiobook. Shayna Small was excellent as the narrator!
Rating: really liked it
Copy furnished by Net Galley for the price of a review.
A young boy falls from the sky. He is mute, but eventually finds his voice with a wooden flute and the magic of music. There is something very special about this boy. Myriad worlds in outer space have become established now. The blue sky overhead may very well be virtual, cherry blossoms no longer exist except in memory and fireworks. Digital glamour is all around, artificial youth and designer babies are par for the course. All tempered with a poisonous moon, a smell of hate, a two-tailed cat, and a city of dogs.
Sci-Fi is not my preferred genre, but I enjoy giving it a go from time to time. If you like Sci-Fi with a goodly dose of the metaphysical, climb on board and give this a spin.
Rating: really liked it
4.5 stars
A beautifully woven and well-crafted story about finding and defining identity, friendship, and family. It's about coming to terms with what love means, and what lengths you will go to defend it, or to redeem its loss.
The story is intensely character driven, exploring the interior lives of the players in great detail. Jimenez's debut novel shines with the polish and assurance of a writer comfortable with himself and his craft, delivering to the reader equal helpings of joy and sorrow, loneliness and fulfillment, the bitter and the sweet of human experience.
Rating: really liked it
This book is so difficult to put into words. The blurb isn’t inaccurate, but at the same time I feel like it doesn’t do a great job of conveying how brilliant this story really is. Nia Imani is captain of a space crew, transporting goods for Allied Space. The problem is, they travel by what is called pocket space, eight months for her is the equivalent of fifteen years planet side. She watches her friends’ and lovers’ lifetimes go by in just a few short years. We also follow Fukimo Nakajima, the woman responsible for saving humanity and launching everyone into space. Finally, we have Ahro, a mysterious boy with a traumatic past.
This is largely a character driven book. The plot meanders from different places and view points, exploring the relationships between characters and how the choices they make effect them. Some choices we regret, some we can’t let go, and others are bittersweet. Could you choose one family at the expense of another?
One thing I loved about this book was the setting. If you’re looking for a sprawling intergalactic adventure, this is a good place to look. We visit farming worlds with purple skies, bustling high tech cities, abandoned planets overrun with dogs, the list goes on (though I will add, most time is spent on the ship between worlds). I was always excited to see where the crew was going and who they’d meet next.
In part three, the plot shifts in a big way. Where the book was previously content to take it’s time, suddenly every scene is filled with nail biting tension. You don’t know if the characters you’ve grown to love and spent all this time with will live, and if they do, how damaged they’ll come out on the other side.
This was a big point of contention for my friend the Captain @ The Captain’s Quarters (her review can be found here). It didn’t work for her and I completely understand why. The last third doesn’t feel like the rest of the book.
That being said- I didn’t mind the plot shift. I felt like the book had become very comfortable in part two and part three brought some much needed conflict to the story. I am also very accustomed to books like this so maybe I half expected it. Where I agree with her, is that the ending was mildly unsatisfying. I won’t spoil it, but I felt like it really could have used an epilogue to wrap it all up nicely.
My biggest complaint about the book is that the chapters are on average 30 pages in length (with some reaching up to 40 pages), which I know I’ve said before and I’ll certainly say again, makes me crazy. I want an opportunity to put the book down if I need it, and not in the middle of a chapter.
Overall I really loved this book and I’ll definitely be on the lookout for more from Simon Jimenez in the future. Thank you to the publisher for sending a review copy.
Rating: really liked it
This is a poetic, evocative, dreamlike, deeply imagined book. It’s hard to believe that it’s a first novel, considering how assured the sentence-to-sentence writing is, and how completely and convincingly Jimenez has created his far-future society. There are times when the pacing feels perhaps a bit too diffuse and languid, and one of the major plot twists in particular feels a bit unearned, but overall, I am deeply impressed by this novel, and I will avidly seek out whatever Jimenez does next.
Rating: really liked it
‘’The Vanished Birds’ by Simon Jimenez is haunting me like a song stuck inside my head. It’s beautiful and terribly sad.
The feeling is: https://youtu.be/CvFH_6DNRCY
There was a lump in my throat when I finished reading. Strangely, while the novel is an elegiac and melancholy tune, I feel good about having read it. It is in the end about love, memory, trust, duty and family. The novel made me very teary.
The science fiction plot is a series of stories which connect to each other like a music album of thematic tunes. A group of characters living on a planet and another group of characters on a spaceship intersect with characters on other planets and ships and space stations. Readers spend time with an individual long enough to really enjoy the knowing of that person, if not always their life or choices.
The life and culture of a farmer, Kaeda, is followed. He is a man living to harvest a single crop on a backwards farm planet while love, marriage and kids happen.
Another character, a brilliant high-tech engineering scientist, Fumiko Nakajima, shapes the future of Humanity while she lives on for a thousand years using suspended animation technology to extend her span of life. She reminded me of the real life J. Robert Oppenheimer, who focused his mind on the mysteries of radiation to the exclusion of all else, including political and business realities. Until he “woke” up to the uses people would envision later for an atomic bomb. Love is a useless mystery to her - and then she falls in love.
One character, a spaceship captain, Nia Imani, delivers goods and people through areas of space which have agreed to be part of Allied Space. Allied Space is mostly under the thumb of the Umbai Corporation. There also is the Fringe where ‘free’ planets are. Umbai is a company much like amazon.com, only Umbai is using mercantilism principles to govern the known universe of thousands of space stations, planets and solar systems. Capitalist business practices are the rule of law through ironclad contracts and a military force which enforces the contracts.
The spaceship voyages often can take a year or much longer, even with the invention of engines and machines which “fold” space and time travel. A year for a ship traveling in the “pocket” can mean being away for decades in real spacetime. Some space transportation companies are corporate, others are run by a single entrepreneur for hire. But it’s a living, and for many, they wouldn’t have it any other way.
The crew and Captain of a transportation ship on regular routes for contracted journeys can eventually become like family with the being together so long. Often at the end of a delivery contract, the departure of crew members can be bittersweet. Taking a lover bound to a life on a planet is very problematic, but it happens too. Visitations can be fifteen years apart for the person on the planet but only 4 months for a Captain and crew. Can culture and education and experience differences be bridged over, changing what is a relationship based on sex or business to something more? The author explores these kinds of love among others.
Whenever Umbai learns of a fringe planet with a product which can be profitable, Umbai makes a deal. Sometimes the planet has a failing civilization. Umbai can seem like a VERY bittersweet solution when independent communities agree to replace their own society’s autonomy with a high-tech corporate overlord of uniformity and control. Air conditioning and exotic entertainments can be wonderful - and maybe crippling of innovation. Or, if the corporation thinks keeping a planet uneducated and primitive, closed to offworlders to better focus the inhabitants on monoculture farming production, the contract might intentionally reenforce Umbai’s ideas for a desired social shape in a technologically weak society. Umbai’s preference for a good business environment is one in stasis - unless it is a change under Umbai’s control.
Or one can choose to live out in the fringes of known space or on an ingrown farming community or on a spaceship where every human desire and form of community is possible - including cult nightmares as well as idealistic lifestyles.
The scientist hears a rumor some people are born with a talent she calls “jaunting”. The rumor is some individuals can simply pop out of this space into another, from a planet to another, instantaneously, without losing time or needing a spaceship. She decides to commit some of her scientific explorations to explore if such people exist. When a boy shows up on an agricultural planet, popping unconscious into a field, she contracts with an entrepreneurial spaceship Captain to hire a crew and to take the boy out to the Fringe and raise the boy for fifteen years away from Umbai. It is an extraordinary contract. But the Captain agrees.
Everything changes on this long journey through Time and space - individual people, Allied, Umbai and the Universe. It isn’t good, gentle reader. The corporation sees everything and everybody as a product. Fortunately, individual people can still go off the reservation...
Personally I like pretty weeds and independent cats, actually, but they can unexpectedly overturn your personal expectations and plans for your little piece of property and life. Other people do enjoy primarily a rigidly controlled monoculture of social life and creative choices, like a community dedicated to the planting of a single crop, or a regulated lifestyle, living in a garden of only pretty flowers or an easily monetized product or a community dedicated to an ideology. Growing only one plant on a farm, as well as living in planned housing communities, can be a comfortable life of walled gardens. Such a controlled society can make for a secure sinecured living, one that is safe and well regulated and uniform, deliveries always on time, meals always A-grade quality, apples without bruises. Or a simplified life of primitive small-town universal conformity. The monotony can be tedious, but obviously trading certainty for uncertainty is preferable for many people. Long lives happen more often in high-tech controlled environments.
Ah, the sweet safe life of a huge corporation! Right? Right? Um. Maybe one should create or have a secret backdoor escape, though, just in case.
