Before We Disappear by Shaun David Hutchinson (review)
Buy Issue for $25 at JHUP- Before We Disappear by Shaun David Hutchinson
Trade ed. ISBN 9780063025226 $17.99
E-book ed. ISBN 9780063025257 $9.99
Reviewed from digital galleys Ad Gr. 9-12
The 1909 Alaska-Pacific-Yukon Exhibition in Seattle offers a heady mix of grandeur and entertainment for Jack Nevin, a sixteen-year-old magician’s assistant. Taken in from the streets by a self-serving woman known as The Enchantress, he’s traveled the world, helping to confound audiences—and oftentimes the law—with dazzling illusions and sleights of hand. Jack can’t explain the mystifying performances of competing illusionist Laszlo, however, and while burgling their rival’s dwelling, he discovers the shocking source of Laszlo’s magic: sixteen-year-old Wilhelm Gessler, kidnapped and imprisoned because of his ability to instantly transport people and objects between places. Jack is determined to free Wil, setting up a summer of stolen moments and daring escapes that evolve into unconditional love. Hutchinson (A Complicated Love Story Set in Space, BCCB 1/21) acknowledges in an author’s note that the novel’s fantasy elements go beyond magic, as characters exist in a Seattle devoid of homophobia. Though that enticing premise allows for two genuine [End Page 15] LGBTQ+ romances, it often finds itself at odds with the novel’s other elements, and the parallels of magical and queer identities undercut the concept’s execution. Fantasy romance fans willing to accept these shortcomings may nonetheless be swept up in a seedy world of deception and illusions, as Hutchinson’s evocative writing carries his protagonists to a well-deserved happy ending that delights in the reality of found families.
