Review of Flipside
Books like Flipside by Leumas Llewtnac are why I read SciFi/ fantasy. This post-apocalyptic novel with magical elements hit all of my favorite content. You get action, drama, and gore. The dystopian setting reminds me of the small port towns in my area, the Pacific Sound Region of Washington state. Things are bleak there, as they should be in this genre, but Llewtnac’s well-rounded characters still find hope and routine. In this way, they are very human and realistic.
The main character in this book is Burke. A widower whose hand pain from his days as a professional boxer prevents him from shooting an unmodified gun. Yet, he jumps into the fray without hesitation when someone is in danger, a genuine hero. He spends most of his time looking after his good friend Arvin, who has dementia. These two have a relationship full of witty banter and a long history of protecting each other through the perils of their dangerous world. A world of aliens and mercenaries.
They watch out for those in the small town who survived the squid invasion. This creature mounts the human’s head and forces its tentacles through their eye sockets to take control of their brain. The older men find themselves wrapped up in a mission to save Charlie a thirteen-year-old girl who reminds them of everything they have lost.
I listened to the audiobook and was thoroughly impressed. I would compare his work with my favorite narrator, Frank Muller. His range and attention to detail while representing each character is impressive. I encourage everyone to listen to the audiobook.
Usually, after introducing the main characters and describing the setting, I explore which readers would appreciate this book and why. This time will be different. I am inspired to share my journey while reading this story. This review will get personal, but first, let us start with a quote.
She wondered how much longer he could hide his feelings behind humor. Would he stop one day and he’d find himself crying? Or would the humor just get darker and darker until it and sorrow were inseparable?
This quote hit home. I am a labor and delivery nurse. People know us for our dark humor. When people die, when I am abused while I am on the job, it is suffocating because we must suppress our emotions. We wear a mask of professionalism until our shift is over, float home in a fog, and clock back in the next day. What is waiting at home is no help either. Partially because how can anyone understand what it is like to do chest compressions on an infant? Partially because we do not want to force our trauma onto our loved ones. So when we make jokes. Dark jokes. We sow our sorrow and our humor together and force smiles. We find distractions. I read books. Dark books, just like my dark jokes.
I am always grateful when I find books like this one. Where I can escape so far into the world the author created, I am free to cry for my losses as the characters cry for theirs. This book was a cathartic experience. Well written, with pristine world-building, but that is not why I loved it. Flipside, with all its darkness, helped me say goodbye to a few ghosts that haunted me.