"Before We Disappear" is a historical fiction YA book with a magical twist. I really enjoyed this book and haven't read anything like this in quite some time. The story follows Jack and Wilhelm, two young assistants to rival magicians, as they navigate the 1909 Alaska-Yukon-Pacific World's Fair Exposition. While this is a lengthy book, the pacing is well done. The characters feel very real and easy to empathize with. A fast, fun read!

3.5/5 Rounding up

This was a fun book! There were some really simple and poetic phrases that were aided by the abilities of one of the characters.

Overall, It was a good book. There were a few things that I wish would have been added--more worldbuilding, an explanation of some of the magic, and more Evangeline. I thought the romance was going to be less of a focus and it was going to be a bit more fantastical..

I'd recommend this to anyone who enjoys romance and light fantasy. The author's note also highlights that he took liberties to allow for "queer joy" and I love that.

Thanks to HarperCollins and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this to review! Shaun David Hutchinson is probably one of my favorite YA authors, and I was super excited to dive into this historical fantasy.

Let’s start with the characters. One thing Hutchinson is always great at is writing characters that maybe you don’t always love, but you really enjoy reading about them. In this book, we get narration from both Jack and Wilhelm. Immediately, you feel for Wilhelm, who’s been trapped in this incredibly abusive relationship from the beginning. Jack is a bit more of a morally ambiguous character, but you can definitely tell that he has a good heart. The two of them have a lot of great chemistry, and they are what make this book worth it.

However, I think the pacing overall for this book is mostly what threw me off. At first, time passes incredibly quickly, skipping over weeks at a time. It slows down a bit in the middle, but for me, this made for a kind of odd reading experience. I think the book could have been shorter and the story still would have been just as effective.

There were also some moments with the narration that I was just taken out of the story. At times, it seems like maybe the narrators are talking directly to the reader, and at other times, it doesn’t. For example, there’s a moment toward the beginning when something is said in French, and then the narrator says it will be translated from then on. It was little details like that that took away from the overall story.

While this is a promising historical fantasy, it just fell a little bit flat to me. You never know what you’re going to get with a Hutchinson book, and this was definitely the case here.

3.5 stars

First things first: I love Shaun David Hutchinson. I will read anything he throws out there and be happy about it.

And I enjoyed this one, I really did. It has some The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue vibes (and I ADORE that book) with the focus on the historical setting (1909 Seattle World's Fair) and LGBTQ characters. Hutchinson is up front about the fact that these characters could never have really been out and in love in 1909, but this IS a fantasy book...so why not? And they are LOVELY. Jack and Wilhelm are adorable--though I would have liked more interaction between the two--and the Rose/Jessamine storyline is a nice touch.

HOWEVER. There are two things I usually love about Hutchinson's books: quirky sci-fi and laugh-out-loud humor. This one is obviously missing the first (considering it's fantasy, I'm not really bothered), but I really would have liked some of the second. Humor was definitely missing from this one, and between Jack's character and Rose's sharp wit, there were some missed opportunities.

I also struggle with books about illusion-based magic. Illusions are all about seeing the impossible and being amazed...and you just can't SEE the illusions in a book. You can imagine them, but it's not the same as being completely spellbound by something that can't possibly be happening. You can describe any illusion you want in a book...but it doesn't have near the impact.

So...enjoyable but a little bland. However, I'll probably be picking up the next installment!

Jack has been the assistant of Enchantress—a respected magician of Europe—since his parents died. Learning thieving and magical trickery, Jack has aided in the Enchantress’ success that leads them to the 1909 Seattle Alaska-Yukon-exposition. But upon arrival, new competition is revealed, and Jack and the Enchantress find themselves in the shadow of Laszlo’s science-defying magic show. As the competition rises between the Enchantress and Laszlo, Jack meets Wilhelm—the boy behind Laszlo’s incredible shows, who has real magical powers. Despite his loyalties to the woman who has given him this magical life, the chemistry between Jack and Wilhelm is growing like the tension is between their magical masters. Jack is left to decide if his loyalties of the past mean more to him than the boy offering to disappear together.

I immediately fell for Jack and Wilhelm. Their troubled pasts made me sympathetic to their cause and adore their relationship. They both have strong personalities that seem antithetical but naturally balance each other out, leading them to find the sense of belonging they have yearned for their whole lives. Their relationship embodies forbidden love and rivals-to-lovers tropes, but it doesn’t feel rushed or cliche. The amazing characterization of Jack and Wilhelm, and the love-to-hate villains of the Enchantress and Laszlo, kept me reading this story. I was eager to see how their character and relationship dynamics would shift as the story continued. However, the plot lacked luster for me. With fast-paced situations like heists, forbidden romances, rivalry, and magic shows, I was expecting to never put this book down, but at times I felt it was difficult to pick up. I enjoyed the characters so much that I was determined to finish and look past these plot issues. Overall, this book is a good read if you’re looking for queer romance, diversity, found family, and magic!

(Pine Reads review would like to thank NetGalley and HarperCollins publishing for sending us an ARC in exchange for an honest review. Any quotes are taken from an advanced copy and may be subject to change upon final publication.)

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review. This YA book features a diverse cast of characters ( LGBTQ, POC, and disability rep) in a turn-of-the-century story about magic and traveling showmen. The plot is reminiscent of "The Prestige" and "The Night Circus". In the first half of this book, I was relatively hooked; I liked the setting and the characters but after that, the book just felt like it was being drawn out and the characters' actions were very repetitive. I started questioning the intelligence of some of the characters and the two main characters started to annoy me. The end felt very much like a Scooby-Doo episode where all of the characters "unmask" the bad guy and stand around pointing at the villain while he/she shakes his/her fist and yells " And I would have gotten away with it too if it weren't for you meddling kids!"

Overall, it was an okay book. I think my favorite thing about it is the beautiful cover and the historical setting.


Trigger Warnings: physical and mental abuse, racism

When I heard of this book, I knew that I had to read it. As someone who’s been a fan of Hutchinson and his books for awhile now I can safely say this is one of my favorites. The characters were very well developed and I was easily able to see myself in some of them. All around this is a great book and I definitely recommend checking it out!

This was very enjoyable fun read I really loved it more than I was expecting. The characters and the banter. Ugh. To die for. Truly. I loved this and will be recommending to everyone.

WOW!
That is the first word that comes to mind when I think of this book. This book of magic, and love, and found families, and heists, and did I mention magic?..

This book was a beautiful story of the lengths we will go to find our place in the world and the people who will walk alongside us. It gave me some Six of Crows/Night Circus vibes which is a combination I did not know I was missing from my life.

While the author does an incredible job of building this world full of magic and illusion, he also does a brilliant job of touching on delicate topics such as emotional and physical abuse, prejudice, racism, loss, and mental turmoil. It was a book that allowed me to escape while also remaining relevant and intertwined with so many issues we experience today.

I was completely blown away by this book. I didn't know what I was expecting, but I wasn't expecting to be moved to tears in a complete devouring of this book.

I absolutely recommend this book to anyone and everyone. An easy 5 stars from me.

TW- Racism, Homophobia, child abuse/neglect, self harm

Rating 3.5
The synopsis of this reminded me of a m/m version of The Night Circus which I loved. The representation was fantastic. While this didn't blow me away it kept my attention and I ended up enjoying it.
I received an ARC of this book via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

CW emotional and physical abuse, gaslighting

I have absolute shivers. Before We Disappear is a queer, historical, magical realism exploration of two boys being emotionally abused by their parental figures, the second boy being physically abused to boot, and all the while being told that their abuser loves and cares for them. And they find each other. And they fall for each other. And then they get out. Throw in a subplot of a stalker asshole who won’t take no for an answer, and this story deals with **heavy** themes. It is not any easy read, and my heart broke over and over as both Wilhelm and Jack insisted on staying with their abusive parental figure.

And most exquisitely jarringly, the story is set at a turn of the century world fair, one that actually took place in history. It adds intrigue and grounds the emotional arc within a more concrete conflict: two competing con artists/magicians at the fair, and the protagonists their assistants. The author fully admits to taking liberties by allowing the queer romance to exist more or less out of the closet, but still points out injustices like racism in the real historical setting.

An absolutely fantastic read; a unique and poignant story. Would have been five stars if not for a handful of scenes that felt a bit disjointed on an editing level.

Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins for the earc in exchange for my honest review.

4.5, rounded up.

Before We Disappear follows Jack and Wilhelm (a pair of thieves, but like- loveable, thieves) as they attempt t0 earn a living and, really, just survive the Alaska–Yukon–Pacific Exposition in Seattle 1909. Things aren't exactly what they seem, however, and Jack soon learns Wil has many secrets and an incredible hidden talent. As they get to know one another and feelings develop, Wil must decide whether or not to let Jack in on those secrets and accept the help he so desperately wants to live a better, free life.

So, I absolutely adored Wil and Jack. Like, from the beginning knew I would be crushed if anything bad happened to either of them. Wilhelm really goes through it, and boy did my heart hurt for him, but things worked out okay in the end.

I really enjoyed the dual pov in this book, and I think it worked well. Both boys were great at telling their part of the story, and I liked seeing things from each of their perspectives. It was also nice to see them interact with all the other characters on their own, too. It was super easy to read and though it was long, I didn't feel like it was being drug out or that I was just pushing through to finish.

It really tugged at my heartstrings, and I was ready to FIGHT for Willhelm so many times. Bless him. He's precious snd never done a thing wrong in his life.

I also loved that the author made it commonplace for same-sex relationships to be happening in 1909. It was refreshing not to see mountains of homophobia on top of all the other awful things the characters were facing, and I appreciate this choice.

I definitely recommend picking this one up! Enjoyed it a lot.

3.5/5 stars, rounded down // Thank you to NetGalley for sending me an eARC in exchange for an honest review!

Before We Disappear follows Jack and Wilhelm, two thieving magicians trapped in their ways of life in unique ways. When their worlds collide at the 1909 Seattle Alaska–Yukon–Pacific Exposition, the pair find themselves falling in love and out of "contentment" for the lives they thought they were chained to.

It's a little hard to describe how I felt about this book. Given that it's 500+ pages, I definitely expected more. I'm usually really into character-driven narratives, and while I certainly enjoyed Jack and Wilhelm's story well enough -- I finished it, after all -- it really did drag at some points. There's a lot of room to explore within 500 pages, but by the end, it felt like we'd only just dipped beneath the surface level of who Jack and Wilhelm really are. In Jack's case in particular, we learn early on that he lived on the streets for a time after his mother died, but we don't really get to see in any real depth the mark this left on him.

I also wish we'd gotten to see more of Lucia, Ruth, and Jessamy, because I really did love them. All of the characters are wonderfully unique, and we see teasers into their lives and emotions and wants and needs, but we don't really get to delve into that. Everything as a whole might have felt more solid had we spent more time with them.

Teddy and George can rot <3

All that said, I did enjoy it well enough! As dual narrators, Jack and Wilhelm are engaging and easy to love and root for. The romance was incredibly sweet, healthy, and well developed, and I enjoyed watching them realize what real love could feel like. The real plot of Before We Disappear was ultimately the romance, which is fine, although it left me wanting in regard to the subplots, all of which were deeply interesting but just... not quite there.

If you're a stickler for historical accuracy, you might find yourself a bit annoyed with how homophobia is approached here, but SDH makes a really good statement in his author's note: "We were there in 1909 whether people knew it or not, and while Jack and Wil's story isn't true, I'd like to think it could have been." I'm personally in the middle ground, as I love to see gays just bein' happy and will always root for more of these narratives, but from a writing perspective, broaching the subject of homophobia could definitely have added a bit more emotional depth to the characters and subplots.

All in all, it's a fun read and worth your time if you're looking for something a little lighter (that still hits on some deeper, more serious topics such as mental and physical abuse, gaslighting, kidnapping, etc.).

I didn't realize how deprived of queer fantasy novels I've been until I read Before We Disappear. This book felt like such a rare treat, to be set in the early 1900s -- with magic -- but centered around people more like me (queer, POC, etc.). It took me a little bit to really get into Jack's parts of the stories (admittedly, stage magic is kinda boring to me), but once I read Wilhelm's first chapter I was hooked (and once Ruth appeared in Jack's parts, I was fully invested). The complicated relationships between Jack and his adoptive family, and Wilhelm and his captor, felt real and heartbreaking and deep. I love a story that allows the characters to discover themselves, connect with each other, and make their own choices about their future (however hard that may be). This book provided plenty of that self exploration, combined with clever schemes, interesting puzzles, sweet romance, cheeky friendships, and the beauty of magic. I think the only thing that bothered me was more of a technical issue: each chapter has a place & time listed at the top, but the dates were inconsistent (is it 1908 or 1909?) and that threw me off at first. I also felt that these bits were largely unnecessary and so I started ignoring them after a while to avoid confusing myself. Anyway, this book was a delight and I loved it.

"A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection!

It’s a new star-crossed romance about the magic of first love from the acclaimed author of We Are the Ants and Brave Face, Shaun David Hutchinson.

Jack Nevin’s clever trickery and moral flexibility make him the perfect assistant to the Enchantress, one of the most well-known stage magicians in turn-of-the-nineteenth-century Europe. Without Jack’s steady supply of stolen tricks, the Enchantress’s fame would have burned out long ago.

But when Jack’s thievery catches up to them, they’re forced to flee to America to find their fortune. Luckily, the Enchantress is able to arrange a set of sold-out shows at Seattle’s Alaska–Yukon–Pacific World’s Fair Exposition. She’s convinced they’re going to rich and famous until a new magician arrives on the scene. Performing tricks that defy the imagination, Laszlo’s show overshadows the Enchantress, leaving Jack no choice but to hunt for the secrets to his otherworldly illusions. But what Jack uncovers isn’t at all what he expected.

Behind Laszlo’s tricks is Wilhelm - a boy that can seemingly perform real magic. Jack and Wilhelm have an instant connection, and as the rivalry between the Enchantress and Laszlo grows, so too does Jack and Wilhelm’s affection. But can Jack choose between the woman who gave him a life and the boy who is offering him everything?

It’s a stirring tale about the magic of love from award-winning author Shaun David Hutchinson."

Seeing as people I know and trust have been demanding I put down everything I'm doing and read this book I thought I should pass on this advice to you.

Before we disappear was so intriguing and queer! what a magical tale Shaun has woven; from the world-building to the amazing characters. Holy crap. I cannot wait to hold a physical copy in my hands.

This book was ok at the most and just kind of meh at its best. I want to say that if you loved the movie the Prestige and the Illusionist then this one might be fore you. For me though it just didn't work out. I liked the romance but the story itself I felt it was just boring.

3.5 / 5

Alrighty, I’m gonna preface this review by saying I was absolutely that kid who watched the Disney movie Now You See It way too many times, so gay magician book, seems like it was tailor made for me, yeah?

Overall, this was solid. The story was everything I’d hoped in terms of magic and atmosphere. There was some clunky phrasing in the earlier chapters—a random fourth wall break from Jack, overly superfluous similes from wilhelm, etc—I realize this was probably done to make the different POV chapters stand out but it was really jarring for the first part of the book. Eventually it hit its stride, I read 80% of this book in one day on a road trip and so I can solidly say it smoothed out its roughness in terms of dialogue and tone and once it did I didn’t want to stop. I liked Wilhelm more as a POV character but that was probably less to do with the writing and more to do with the situation.

This probably would’ve been a four star read had it not been for the random period accurate racism? Like the author has clearly done away with 1900s typical homophobia to create a fantasy novel and I can appreciate that, loved it actually, but why keep the racism, ESPECIALLY when the author was criticized for the way he handled race in his last contemporary. It didn’t add anything to the story and seemed to only serve to vilify the character of Teddy more which [MINOR SPOILERS] if you have a character who literally keeps a child hostage and murders people in front of said child hostage, you REALLY don’t need to have him muttering “ugh, BLACK PEOPLE” like a mustache twirling villain. Probably would’ve docked that half star had it been more frequent/Vitriolic, but as it stands I still rounded down on Goodreads because of it.

I absolutely adored this book! I love the LGBTQ representation and the magical romance. Fans of night circus would easily love this book!

Jack Nevin is the assistant to the famous magician ‘The Enchantress.’ After Jack is caught in thievery, they are forced to move together from Europe to America to perform their magic in a new setting. Once they settle in Seattle they meet Lazlo, a con artist who is portraying himself as a magician and is keeping a boy named Wilhelm, who has real magic, hostage as his assistant. As Jack and Wilhelm get closer, Jack becomes more determined to free Wilhelm from his abusive situation with Lazlo.
Before We Disappear was a magical book that held my focus even though I am not usually interested in historical fiction. It was such a beautiful story of queer romance and magic and I love it with every inch of my body.