Ms. Hen reviews The First Bright Thing

 

The First Bright Thing

J. R. Dawson

2023

Tor 

Ms. Hen decided to read this novel because she saw the author at the Arisia Sci-Fi Con in January, and she was impressed with her presentation. The author did not read from this novel, but she read from an upcoming one, and she was on a panel called Writing Hope, which Ms. Hen thought was a fascinating discussion.

This novel is about a magical circus in the 1920s. The lead character is the Ringmaster, or Rin, and she is in charge of a circus of Sparks, or people with a type of magical power. During the Great War (or the First World War) sparks appeared in people, and they developed a particular power. Ruth's power was that she could jump to anywhere in the world. She jumps to the trenches, to save a young British man, Edward, from being killed.

Rin is married to Oddette, a trapeze artist, and Mauve is the other person who runs the circus with them. They are a family, but Rin is running from The Circus King, who is an evil man. In Rin's circus there is music, and they help people in the audience have better lives. A pair of young twins arrive at the circus, and Jo has the power to conjure images, that can be positive or negative, and they bring out emotions in people.

A lot takes place in this novel. Time travel occurs, and romance, and the fear of the future, when Rin and her friends discover the atomic bomb and the next war, which they do not want to happen. They also fear the Circus King, who will not stop to get what he wants.

Ms. Hen has read other novels about circuses before, and this one reminds her slightly of Geek Love, which is one of Ms. Hen's favorite books. The First Bright Thing is not as dark as Geek Love, it's warmer and more positive, and is a feel-good story, whereas the other is gruesome, and dreary, but they're both about magical circuses.

Ms. Hen thinks this novel has wonderful worldbuilding, and she was swept right in to the alternate history, and the world of magic. The 1920s were a fascinating time, a time of upheaval and change, even though it was one hundred years ago, things happened then which transformed the world today.

Ms. Hen found out that the circus is in her town right now, but she doesn't know if she'll get to go. She thinks this novel is a marvelous escape from the world we live in, to think of problems these characters have, and to imagine possibilities that are endless and hopeful and magical all rolled into one.