This was okay. The writing was fun and I enjoyed the characters. I dont think scifi is my thing though.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me free access to the advanced digital copy of this book.

I really wanted to love this book, but it just didn’t book me. I found it clunky and less engaging than the description alludes.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review. I really loved the premise of this book--Jumanji meets The Sun Is Also a Star, set at an airport--in Atlanta, my hometown, no less, but this book ultimately fell flat for me with its confusing plotline and characterization. I liked the mind-bending, wonky premise and the diversity of the characters, but it did sometimes feel like checking a box--the connections felt sometimes inauthentic and confusing. Overall, I was drawn to the idea and I think some of my students would be intrigued by this book, so I would definitely snag a copy for my classroom, but I'm not totally sold on it.

BEFORE TAKEOFF by Adi Alsaid (Let's Get Lost) is a mind-bending story of a day (Alsaid calls it "my weird trip of a book") at the Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson airport. Strange events (micro-climates like snow or a jungle inside the airport where all exits no longer function) are experienced by travelers including James, 16, and Michelle, 18, two strangers who develop a connection. Huge explosions, disappearing family members, and an earthquake are just a few of the often scary activities described by an omniscient narrator. Equally fascinating are the reflections on human nature as cooperative communities, a dance party, and looters or mobs form in various parts of the airport. While moving between gate areas, James and Michelle converse about sibling relationships (are there more who get along or more who don't?); about becoming an adult ("The future is big and foggy. We're always making plans that the world has no intention of letting us keep."); about days that can change your life and finding joy while the fear presses in. Readers meet several other characters like Roger Sterlinger who regularly battles social anxiety and Rosa Velarde, a young TSA employee. BEFORE TAKEOFF contains elements of fantasy, romance, and mystery and received starred reviews from Publishers Weekly and School Library Journal (for grades 7 and up). Also by Adi Alsaid and on my TBR pile: We Didn't Ask for This and Come on In (short story collection he edited).

This is actually a quite unexpectedly interesting book. It lands pretty well if you're exactly in mood for something thrilling, speculatively exciting, slightly insensible, and purely entertaining. Of course, being at an airport would be an icing on the cake.

This might be one of the most confounding YA books I've ever read. It's contemporary. It's magical realism. It's romance. It's dystopian. And the omniscient narration is really a wild concept, giving you a look into so many brains. I would definitely be careful who I recommended this too - a reader has to have a taste for all of these, as well as adventure. But for those who dare, I feel I can say you'll not find another story quite like it.

If you are looking for an adventure with an introspective look into human nature then I think you would enjoy this book.
[check out my review on my blog}

3.5 stars.

Before Takeoff is unlike anything I’ve read before, and I’ve read a good amount of books. I usually don’t like when books are promoted as “blah meets blah“, but “The Sun is Also a Star meets Jumanji” is the perfect way to describe this.

The story takes place over 24 hours and follows two teenagers (Michelle and James) as they fall for each other in an airport where completely nonsensical disasters have begun taking place. Machines explode, glass shatters, all forms of external communication are mysteriously cut off, and all of the airport exits suddenly disappear. It doesn’t take long for the humans to form factions, all trying to deal with the escalating chaos in the ways they deem fit. Michelle and James find themselves unable to find their families and set out on trying to figure out what is causing this so they can stop it before it’s too late.

Nothing made sense in this book and, honestly, that was the best part. The story does drag a little in the middle, but it was a lot of fun trying to guess at what could possibly happen next. Throughout the novel, Alsaid points out several flaws (and strengths) of human nature. We see some humans band together, while others take their frustrations out on each other. In the end I was left to ponder the following question: does the good in the world—in humanity—outweigh the bad?

Thank you to netgalley for providing an e-galley for review. Before Takeoff is a bizarre book that tells the story of two teenagers that are caught in an airport after pushing a weirdly blinking greenlight. They are also caught in some sort of strange weather pattern, time warp that exists only in the airport. Definitely has shades of Satre's No Exit, hell is other people. The overhead announcements definitely provided some comedic relief.

A totally different style for this author to explore, and I was here for it 100%. I was on the edge of my seat, waiting to see what they were going to encounter next in the airport!

CW: racism, physical altercations, death

When I first heard about Adi Alsaid’s Before Takeoff, which was described as a sort of YA The Sun Is Also a Star meets Jumanji, I was immediately intrigued by the premise. I’m sad to say that I don’t think the execution was really for me.

Told from an omniscient POV, I found myself mostly confused by the tone of the novel. On the one hand, you have typical banter and musings about life’s meaning only a teen could express with full angst while awkwardly flirting with their counterpart – which is totally fitting since this is a YA story. The narration underlines that with a lot of humor, sprinkled with knowledge that only the reader will be privy to, while the characters are none the wiser. However, on the other hand, the story got a lot darker and weirder than I expected, with much more permanent consequences. That, in a way, made it feel much bigger than YA and possibly more suitable for older teens on the cusp of adulthood. Ultimately, this tonal inconsistency didn’t fit the narration style in my mind.

In addition to that, I thought we’d mostly focus on James and Michelle, but we also learned about so many side characters, that I eventually found hard to keep track of. Same with the layout of the actual airport and its different gates and climates. While they added to the big picture, showing that this scenario was so much grander than the two kids, it simultaneously didn’t allow for enough depth to get attached to certain characters.

Having said all that, the world building was still something else. There was a certain randomness to it that kept my heart racing with anxiety and worry, but also glee at what might happen next. It’s a micro study of human behavior in the strangest of circumstances, and while it only scratched the surface of what makes us good and terrible as a species, it really delivered on some insightful and profound moments.

Lastly, I don’t think this book will be for everyone. Personally, I was just mad at some points (mixed with some sad), but also very confused. It’s a wild ride, that’s for sure! If you feel like it might be the right story for you – go for it! Just, please, don’t read it at an airport. Read it somewhere safe at home!

Fazit: 3/5 stars! Interesting but also wildly confusing and darker than expected.

An introspective adventure and rumination on societal norms in a fun, magically realistic romp around the Atlanta airport. Explores the absurdity of humanity. As always from this author, deep, yet fun!

Have you ever gotten stuck in the airport?

Before Takeoff by Adi Alsaid will make you rethink your experiences.

James and Michelle couldn't be more different. One thing they have in common is that they are both in the Atlanta airport with delayed flights. Then Michelle pushes a green button and things get weird.

Seriously weird. The airport is cut off from the rest of the world. It's snowing in one terminal and a literal jungle in another. A society is building. There's a random dance party and an igloo. So odd even for Hartsfield-Jackson. Our heroes then do a lot of soul searching and plotting to break the spell that is holding the airport in its grip.

I read Alsaid's novel Let's Get Lost recently and really liked it. This one didn't quite live up to my expectations, but mostly because I wasn't quite ready for it. It's weird. Speculative Fiction is something I generally have to be psyched up for. That being said, if you're into speculative fiction, teen thrillers, or are stuck in the airport in Atlanta, this one may be for you!

Thank you to the author, publisher, and @netgalley for the eARC in exchange for my honest review.

CW: violence, death

Honestly, I went into this one pretty blindly - between the gorgeous cover and the tagline, “The Sun is Also a Star” meets “Jumanji” - I didn’t really need to know more 🤩 And I love a story set in an airport - there’s always something otherworldly about them, right? Thankfully, it’s never typically THIS otherworldly.

This one was lots of fun and I loved the dynamic between James and Michelle :)

A wild and crazy romp. As someone who was recently stuck in the airport for 36 hours, I identified with the main characters in a big way. Would definitely recommend to anyone looking for an offbeat, wholly original adventure that breaks out of the standard YA fare.

Bizarre story I would never had read if I had seen in the reviews it was like Jumanji. I did not like that story. I continually picked this story back up but still was not drawn in by either the characters or the plot. I'm sure it is well written but not my kind of story.

Thank you to the publisher, Alfred A. Knopf BYR, and TBR and Beyond Tours for providing me with an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

James and Michelle meet at the Atlanta airport while on a layover. With flights delayed all around, they decide to explore and find a strange flashing green light which turns out to be a button. Michelle presses it and while there is no effect that they can see immediately, they soon realize that the Atlanta airport has more or less been turned upside down. There are jungles growing in one terminal, snow and rain in another, and worst of all, no way to get out of the insanity that the airport is turning into. James and Michelle team up to locate their families who have mysteriously vanished in the havoc and find a way to stop the chaos.

This book has been on my TBR for quite some time now, so I was thrilled to be able to join this blog tour. I really enjoyed the last book I read by this author, Come On In, so I was very curious to see what this would be like, especially with the switch in genre. From the sound of the premise, I expected a read that would be on the more lighthearted side and action-packed given the comparison to Jumanji, so this story really took me aback when it went in a completely different direction. Despite that, it was interesting how it got pretty deep in places, reflecting on human nature and societal issues. Slower paced though it was, this book was still an adventure and a fun read and a look at how people might react under such bizarre and inexplicable circumstances.

James and Michelle were both likeable characters and the style of the narrative made it so that the can really get inside their heads and see what they are thinking through the whole crazy experience. The switches between the two POVs were nicely handled and the story moved between the perspectives seamlessly. In depth character development was not really something I expected from this book, but both their arcs were written so well. The narrative also does switch focus to other adults in the airport from time to time which was an interesting choice in a YA novel and it added an fascinating perspective to the story.

I felt the pacing was rather slow however, and the story dragged a lot in the middle, where not much was happening and there was just a lot of descriptions that didn’t really seem necessary. I found myself skimming a lot in those sections, just waiting for the story to move along, which was quite annoying.

Before Takeoff was an engaging read with a very unique concept and I enjoyed it. I would recommend this book for fans of any genre and it is the type of story that would appeal to readers of both YA and adult fiction. I’m looking forward to seeing what book this author writes next!

I moved from wanting to give this book 4 stars or 3 stars a couple of times. I finally decided on 3 and a half stars. It’s not to say that I didn’t like this, I really did! It just also confused me a lot.

What I mean when I say ‘it confused me’ I meant that the comps are The Sun is Also a Star meets Jumanji. Now I’ve never read The Sun is Also a Star, and neither have I watched it (it’s been adapted into a movie this year? Last year?). But I love Jumanji. I’ve watched the original multiple times and the new sequels a couple of times. I love all of them. But I think I focused too much on the Jumanji side of the comp when I should’ve focused on the other side – even if I’ve never read the other comp.

Yes, this does have the fantasy element in it but also I wanted more? I did really enjoy the utter absurdity of snow falling in the airport and plants growing everywhere. Their phones being permanently on 100% and anytime they tried to post about what was happening – they just couldn’t. Like was it the airport somehow stopping them? Who knows and I quite liked that! I like the writing and that the author wrote an omniscient third person point of view. That was definitely different than other books I’ve read (I don’t even know of any other). There was often a feeling of show, don’t tell (meaning it felt like the author just described everything rather than letting the reader read about it), and I’m not a big fan of that.

The plot was interesting (even though I wanted more 😄). I did however become annoyed a lot of times as I’m like “do they not… think it’s super weird to have snow falling IN the airport? Why are they just walking around and holding hands?

I liked the characters enough, even though James and Michelle were instalove – not a favourite of mine, unfortunately. I like to build up to the relationship most of the time. It’s rare that I’ll enjoy an instalove and that’s usually due to the writing style or the plot/characters.

I also didn’t like their voices or personality as much as I had hoped to. Michelle felt like she was written as a Manic Pixie Dream Girl. Or like she only watches foreign art films and her favourite thing is to go to old bookstores – that type of quirky, I’m not like other girls vibe. She also kept giving all of these big speeches to James even though she’s just 2 years older than him. But other than that I liked her fierceness. She had plans and she wanted to fulfil them. I could get behind that!

I liked James a lot. He was funny and I liked that he just didn’t really know what he wanted to do a lot of times. Which, I know, is probably a weird thing to say, but I liked that. I would actually want to see more characters not knowing what their next step is – in any genre.

Unfortunately in this instance I would not be walking around with a stranger 😆. No matter how hot they are! I’ll be trying to get back to my parents. Like there has to be service stairs or normal stairs? Something the staff uses or a back entrance? I’d make a huge fuss over it so I think I would’ve liked to have seen that in the book.

There was a Harry Potter reference (referring to a Boggart) and you could’ve literally just replaced it with a normal shapeshifter and the reader would’ve understood?

I have never been to Atlanta but after reading this I definitely want to fly down just to see this airport. I did google for the images and wow is all I can say.

The main characters are James (16 years old) and Michelle (18 years old) and they are both stuck in the Atlanta airport on layovers. They are like night and day but still get along. It didn’t solely focus on them just meeting but also about their lives outside of the airport. This is definitely not a meet-cute kind of book. Although I have to admit I wasn’t sure what to expect and to be honest that is a good thing.

With that being said they spot this mysterious flashing green light, you know right away that this won’t be a good thing. Nothing good can come of a mysterious flashing light. They discover that it’s actually a button. I was thinking NO don’t push it but at the same time, I was like push it. You know they will push it because if they don’t there will be no story.

Well, they did push it and before they can figure up from down strange and weird things begin to happen in the airport. It’s like all hell breaks loose. Each terminal is experiencing a different thing. One terminal is experiencing a snowstorm, another is getting torrential rain and inside is no better because an earthquake happens and a jungle appears. This, of course, freaks people out and they panic trying to get out of the airport and no one can find exits. What would you do if this happened to you during a layover?