This story centres around three women, a time-traveller, healer and seer. They all lovely characters, they are wholesome and just want to do good in the world. The magical realism is amazing throughout. The women try and create a safe space in a harsh world and this makes for a beautiful concept to read about. The topics explored are important and I think this is done well - do check trigger warnings. The pacing is slow to allow the characters to discuss and explore the negativity surrounding them. Overall a lovely book but also an important one.
Thank you to NetGalley and Pam Macmillan for an E-ARC. This is a voluntary review of my own thoughts.

This is an amazing historical fantasy set around a magical circus. Beautifully written but the story is very brutal at times, with lots of upsetting images of war. A wonderful book with great characters and a very original, clever plot .

'The First Bright Thing' is a melancholy piece of historical fantasy, set between the two world wars in a circus of misfits and outcasts. Described as 'X-Men' meets 'The Night Circus', its certainly packed with characters with interesting magical powers and a captivating magical circus - but there's far less optimism here than those comparitors, with this exploring some of the darker trenches of humanity. It's a well-crafted debut, but not the book I expected going in.

It's 1926, and the Circus of the Fantasticals is travelling across the American Midwest. But unlike most circuses, its troupe are fantastic in more than just name. Ringmaster Rin can travel through time as easily as most walk down the street, trapeze artist Odette is a healer, and behind the scenes lies Mauve, a woman who helps ensure the troupes safety by seeing glimpses of the future. This circus is a home for magical misfits, or Sparks. But the circus is under threat: another circus, a dark circus lead by the mysterious Circus King, is always on their tail - and ahead Mauve can see an even graver concern. War. Rin, Odette, and Mauve will do anything to protect their safe haven, but even their powers have a limit - and a price.

A single perspective fantasy, the book is told through the eyes of Rin - the circus Ringmaster, wife of the trapeze artist, and a woman haunted both by an abusive past and the threat of war in the future. Rin is a complex woman. Years of abuse have left her with chronic low self-esteem and a fear of letting anyone too close. She's caring, determined to keep others safe from what she experienced - but she has less of an independent streak and more of an independence complex, struggling to allow others to carry any of her burdens. Her head can be an unsettling place to be, despite her best intentions.

'The First Bright Thing' suffers from incorrect marketing. This is a dark, harrowing read in places with themes of war, abusive relationships, and grief. Being compared to lighter, atmospheric books in 'The Night Circus' and 'The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue' leaves the reader blindsided by some of the darker moments. A more apt comparison would be the work of Robert Dinsdale, such as 'Paris by Starlight' - an atmospheric read, but one that takes the reader to dark places and doesn't promise a happy ending. This is a book you need to be in a certain mental headspace to read - otherwise its too much of a slog to get through.

Taken as a story of trauma through a historical fantasy lens, however, this is a solid debut. Rin is an easy character to care about, the worldcrafting is solid, and the atmosphere is all encompassing, immersing the reader in the world. The magic sits easily alongside the 1920s setting, never fully explained but with enough to make it believable. The real strength, however, is the exploration of abuse and its impact. The book tackles various forms of abuse, from romantic coercion and control to hints of physical child abuse, and the coplex lingering impact that trauma has. Each character has their own coping mechanisms - some healthy, most less so - and each can become overwhelmed, with horrible consequences. Trauma is never minimised, and no magic can take it away forever. Its not easy reading such an introspective trauma narrative, but its powerfully done.

Overall, 'The First Bright Thing' is an excellent slice of dark historical fantasy - but its not an enjoyable, atmospheric magic circus book.

Oh boy do we love a circus, especially one that loves consent!

The First Bright Thing by J. R. Dawson is about a circus. It's also about the horrors of war, the joys of love, the strangeness of humans, and the strength of recovery. But mostly the circus.
Specifically a 1920s travelling circus full of performers with incredible abilities, called Sparks.

Rin, the Ringmaster, can move between moments in time, and takes her circus with her. Odette, her wife, can heal with a touch. Their home in the circus is a place for the outcasts and misfits of a world still trying to catch its breath after the war to end all wars.

But with the ability to move through time comes knowledge of the future. Another war is on the horizon, another world devastating upheaval. One that may take the lives of every Spark Rin cares about. And though the future seems threat enough, Rin's past is also creeping closer.
A rival circus with midnight black tents and a cruel, sadistic ringmaster follows on the heels of the Circus of the Fantasticals. Rin's circus has something he wants, and he's coming to take it.

This story is a splash of magical colour, complete with trapeze, silks, creatures, and talents to amaze and delight. It's also a heartfelt attempt to heal some broken bits and soften some rough edges. We love some found family, and some creepy magical abilities!

I read this in the basis of it revolving around a magical circus, with an element of time travel. Sadly for me it didn't meet my expectations as there was so much focus on WWI and WWII this may be better explained in the blurb for release but it wasn't what I was expecting so it was a DNF for me, unfortunately.

very surprised by how little i enjoyed this seeing as the reviews were so glowing and it seems like it should be up my street, but the writing feels pretty thin and flat and uninspiring.

This was an exciting whirlwind of a book full of magic and adventure.

A stunning juxtaposition of anticipation and horror, of the evil we can do and the joy we can still find.

It's found family and doing your best each day.

It's a beautiful and haunting magic.

It's a circus story with a difference. I thoroughly enjoyed this historical fiction/fantasy/magical/LGBTQIA+ story that is set over multiple timelines. We follow Rin, a Ringmaster with a difference. In a time of 'Sparks' - people with superpower abilities. This is a story about love and found family and so much more.

A dark, but brilliant book!

Anyone who watched the British T.V series ‘Misfits’ will find the concept of people suddenly and unexplainably having a ‘Spark’ very familiar. In this case the appearance of the sparks occurs during WW1. The story is based in the time period between the two wars, but time travel is Rin the Ringleaders spark so there is a fair amount of jumping about!.

Although this is a story set in a circus, it is a more a story of family than anything else- both real and adopted. The misfit setting of the circus makes this feel particularly inclusive and it seems every member has an interesting back story and a shadow in their past.

Rin does everything she can to help make others lives better. When it comes to battling with her own dark past however, she is determined not to endanger those she loves; struggling to understand that it is a risk they are glad to take for her- one of their family.

I actually thought there was a certain cathartic Matt Haig type message in the story about accepting ourselves and allowing ourselves to believe that others can accept and love us too (regardless of our pasts and imperfections)………though maybe that was just me 🤔!

I would really recommend this book to anyone who likes an inclusive story with a strong female lead, science fiction/fantasy who is prepared for a slightly slower read- I found at times I needed some processing time as the story jumps through time, space and from the lighter feeling setting of the circus family to something very much darker. However if you are looking for something more lighthearted, a faster paced read or a book focussing on the circus this book possibly isn’t for you.

Many thanks to Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I must admit that I did enjoy this story but found it quite difficult to read at times. Moving through space and time can have quite the ‘whiplash’ effect on you.

This story is set in the early 1900s where Sparks (people with magical abilities) exist after World War 1 and it is unknown why magic became a part of people’s lives. We follow a circus around the mid-west with Rin, the ringmasters who can jump space and time, along with her wife Odette and other ‘misfit’ sparks to which I will let you figure out their magic.

The main topic I really liked about this book was the sense of family and belonging that Rin accomplished. In essence, that was her goal, to move around, helping fellow sparks and, running from the ‘Circus King,’ who bared a very dangerous magic indeed. This book touches on abusive relationships, alcoholism, depression and many more but it all adds to the book.

The magic of it all was exciting and dramatic but I think it fell short for me. Personally, I felt it lacked flow. I loved the story that was trying to be told but I couldn’t get into the book. I found myself having to go back chapters to remind myself of different things to be able understand what I was reading, but that could just be me.

On this occasion, I would rate it a 3 star novel to read. If you like magic and a circus mixed with a little action, this would be a book you should read. I will definitely be picking it up again to read and will amend my review if my opinion has changed.

Thanks to Netgalley for giving me the opportunity to read this novel in return for an honest review.

The First Bright Thing by J. R. Dawson.

Thank you Netgalley for an arc for an unbiased review.

Devastatingly beautiful. I find I use this description a lot when I'm drawn into certain books, and this is no exception. It is gutwrenching, emotional, and yes at times, because of the subjects tackled, difficult to read. Some might say uncomfortable. But I'm a firm believer, under the right criteria, it is supposed to make you feel uncomfortable. To make you look back and question. To wonder, what if things were different.

There is a lot going on with this book. And I do mean a lot. However, despite that I still found myself engaged. Except one tiny aspect - at times I wasn't entirely sure on characters, so had to look back for context just to remind myself. It makes the book marked here a 4/5 stars, but realistically I'm hovering to 4.5/5

The ending wasn't clear until the last pages, and I'm grateful it wasn't as clear cut as it might've been. But once it came, I sat back and knew I hadn't wanted the book to end. Rin particularly was beautifully crafted.
This is a heavily driven character book. So while it has a lot of aspects I love to read (time travel, wlw, magic, worldbuilding), for some I know they'd possibly enjoy it less. But I say to anyone, please give this a chance. You might be surprised.

I really wanted to enjoy this book but it was too slow for my liking. The story was dragging from the start with time jumps that felt like they were written by two writers. I really liked the magic system explored in this story (although it wasn't particularly innovative) and the characters dynamic but apart from those two elements I found it a bit difficult to get engaged with the story.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC.

DNF @ 21%

I have a rule of thumb, that if a book does not draw me in in the first quarter, I am no longer wasting my time on it. The First Bright Thing had all the buzzwords that usually appeal to me, but for some reason, the writing was so stilted and slow I could not get into it. It's told in a dual timeline, and the writing style for the 1917 chapters is soo much better than the 1926 chapters. It almost feels like a separate writer. The third-person distant style of narration does not seem to work for the 1926 chapters, meanwhile, the third-person personal style is something I enjoy reading in the 1917 chapters.
Long story short: I wasn't much intrigued by the characters, but it was mainly the quagmire-esque writing that made me drop this book.
Thank you to Netgalley and Pan Macmillan for sending me an advanced reader's copy in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced review copy of this book.

Overall I enjoyed this story, especially the vivid descriptions of the circus and surrounding scenery. I also enjoyed the darker tone to the story that developed a sense of good and evil throughout.

I did feel that the story moved too slowly at times and the plot was fairly straightforward with little in the way of twists.

Rating: 3/5

TL;DR: I didn't care about anyone in this book, It's compared to the Night Circus but other than a magical circus there isn’t much to compare. Riddled with circus issues, writing issues, forced language and character points. Two half plots do not make one good plot.
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I was so excited for this book as a fan of The Night Circus, as an aerial silks and circus arts instructor and because who doesn't love a bit of historical fiction with magic! Unfortunately, the whole thing felt like a bit of a mission, I could've DNF'd it but kept telling myself to power through. It was not an enjoyable power through I'm sorry to say.

This book is compared to The Night Circus and you can definitely see where the similarities are. Particularly in "On other days, in other towns, the train simply arrived in the middle of a field, with not a railyard around for miles. Like magic." and in "The Spark Circus always arrived at the right place at the right time, even if it was just for one person who needed to see their show that night." and finally, "The Circus King's Midnight Illusionatories always arrived in the black of night." Why am I highlighting these particularly? Because The Night Circus' opening line is "The Circus arrives without warning." So straightaway, I was already worried that this would be so like The Night Circus that they were even paraphrasing its wording. Fortunately, except for a magical circus and vaguely similar wording here and there, the comparisons can stop between the two.

A lot of my comments are going to relate to the writing, details and overall content because those were the continuing issues to me, and I found I didn't actually care about any of the characters. Which also that is a criticism of its own. Genuinely, only one character seems to have any meaningful character growth. There are so many side characters and names thrown around that don't actually matter but you end up trying to remember who was who. The Ringmaster/Rin is really irritating, and the Circus King's character was trying very hard to be dark and instead came out as an edgy teen that was going through their 'It's not a phase' phase.

I'm bring up another quote here (which is also going to be a rant about the circus, I apologise for nothing), this one about the 'Trapeze Swinger' (not a term I or any of my circus contacts have ever heard but maybe we're in the wrong circles?): And probably some pedantic fella would point out after the show that trapeze swingers and aerialists were two different jobs. -It's me. Hi I'm the pedantic fella, it's me.
They are two different things! As are aerial hoop, tightrope and acrobatics. So why is all this put into one character called the Trapeze Swinger, when she doesn't actually do much trapeze? But fine, whatever, Odette apparently does all this while being whatever a Trapeze Swinger is. Some of the details and writing around Odette's performances were very...I don't want to say techy but for lack of a better word we'll use that.
"She wrapped herself in the two silks, then prepared for a double star drop." Most people have no idea what that means. "...like the daisy chain Odette knotted them into for storage on the train." Again, not a reference people outside of circus or silks would really have. So why was it included? It didn't add anything.
On that same note, I have to include this: Odette dropped on her illegal silks, spinning around and around, catching in a knot at the end before hitting the ground. Odette spun around right ways up, then did a figure-eight foot lock with a fan kick, arabesque, fan kick, arabesque, hold as she spun.
Again, super techy teaching language there. But also, you do not drop into a knot from a double star and you physically cannot do that series of moves. I read the sequence to aerial silks performers who tried it, it's not possible.
You might be thinking "Ok you're just being picky about the specific circus parts of the book." Yeah probably, but ok let's move on. The language.

Why was 1920s lingo thrown about casually with no explanation of what things were in the lingo when it isn't clear? Equally, why were characters throwing around b*tch and swears which didn't fit the lingo of the day? Why was God written as G-d multiple times in Rin's POV but not otherwise? What was the benefit of the sentence "Then the man called Kell a word no good man says."? Why was 'living quarters' casually abbreviated to LQ, which is an initialism no one ever uses casually? The lingo felt forced, "They'd shouted out a John Robinson," – a what now? The swears felt out of place. The use of censoring letters and vague sentences describing insults were unnecessary - especially since the Circus King throws out slurs at Rin unapologetically in their confrontation, so why bother censoring some, but not all of them, if it was an issue? The random abbreviations were unhelpful because they still required the explanation so why not just write the whole thing out in the first place?

I would also like to ask what was happening with the similes in this book.
- Like she'd formed cement bricks along her bones
- Like wolves smelling a dog
- Like she was a dragon (because she had a fire inside apparently)

The Judaism, for all it was hyped by other readers, felt forced IMO. Nothing is mentioned about her background until about 16%, by which point we've already met and seen a bit of her and her mother. Why not introduce it then? Mention something about the decor in the house? A necklace, candles, literally anything! Then there's random Hebrew thrown in to try and, I don't know, reinforce her heritage? It, like the lingo, felt forced and unnatural when it appeared. Like it was introduced as a side note or after thought. I'm also a little confused by Rin remembering Yom Kippur "from when she was very small" and apparently fasting, which doesn't track since children under 13 don't traditionally fast. But equally they refer to Jo, a 15-year-old, as a little girl, so who even knows anymore. But it could have been depicted with Rin as proud Jewish woman reclaiming her culture as she reclaimed herself through her circus. Maybe that was goal but if it was then it was so far off the mark that it wasn’t even in the same field anymore.

As for the plot, I ended up really confused about the subplot of stopping the war, which ultimately, they sort of gave up but kept saying they weren't giving up, and the subplot of the Circus King. Neither really went anywhere but at least the Circus King provided some story progression so why not just focus on that? Escaping an abusive, obsessive, equally magical ringleader would have been plenty for the story to focus on – throw in Rin regaining her Jewish identity as well! And because that confrontation doesn't happen properly until waaaaay later in the book, there is a lot of dead air. Instead of an interesting and gripping plot, it felt like two half plots that took too long to get anywhere for the one that did and a waste of time for the one that didn't.

I read an eARC of this book so thank you to Net Galley, the author and the publisher for allowing this.

The First Bright Thing is a magical circus novel. During the First World War people start developing powers that they call Sparks. These abilities vary from person to person. Our main character Rin runs a circus where she collects Sparks to give them a safe and welcoming home. Her main story is set in 1926, she’s the Ringmaster and runs the circus with her wife Odette and their close friend Mauve. All three are powerful and search out new additions to the circus who they think may need a safe home.

The book also regularly dips back to the story of Edward in 1917, a soldier who is rescued from the battlefield by a teenaged girl. A girl with the power to jump between places. Edward soon starts to discover his own spark.

This book is setting out to strike a hopeful tone but I did frequently find it really sad. The sparks regularly suffer from other peoples’ prejudice. Both for their abilities but also sexuality for some. Edward’s storyline covers some heartbreaking manipulation of a person causing them immense pain and division from their family. I would check content warnings for this book as there is an abusive relationship element.

The sparks themselves are quite interesting and there’s a strong theme of working together and combining powers to try to do good. While many of the sparks are used for entertainment, there are also characters using their powers to help others without their knowledge. Sometimes however certain characters will try to help others to the extent that they harm themselves.

Found family is huge in this book, many of the characters are escaping from something, experiencing cruelty and prejudice in their lives, victims of others. The circus provides them with a loving space to be themselves and have positive relationships.

Overall an interesting application of magic with strong focus on relationships and using your power to help others. Worked well within the time period and the circus setting.

Since reading The Night Circus and Caraval books years ago, I'm been on the hunt for another Circus based story to get into and this one absolutely delivered.

The First Bright Thing is set in the roaring twenties, when the world is settling back down after the devastating First World War and Rin is travelling America with her troop of performers. But this circus is different; instead of tricks and illusions, each performer has their own special gift - Their Spark.

But Rin is hiding from her past; a rival Ringmaster is desperate to join forces despite having a very different agenda.

This story was definitely darker than other Circus based books that I've read but held something special as the characters dipped in and out of not only social issues, but politics too.

I have a feeling this book is going to be very popular and I'll definitely be seeking it out for my collection on publication day!

A heady mix of 1920s atmosphere, circus adventures and very dark magic, this is a truly captivating and brilliant read!

What a great read! I'll admit it took me a little while to get into the story, but once I was I couldn't put it down and finished in one sitting. The Circus King is a truly horrifying character and definitely hit a nerve with me. The flip in the narrative between past and present was well done, and there were several beloved tropes in there that I loved. It did a fantastic job discussing sensitive topics such as grief, trauma and gaslighting, whilst still managing to get a laugh out of me now and then. Overall well worth picking up!

Magical and emotional journey that I had to take a moment when I finished the book

Here, this book not only takes you through time during the World War One and two. But it also talks about depression, alcoholism and abusive relationship. Don’t let that stop you from reading it because the way the author has written the book is very cleverly done. It really put yourself in the characters shoes without it being too heavy. Of course there is a beautiful journey of circus life and the friendship that develops into family like will just melt your heart. “Circus people never say goodbye”