Frank J. Fleming's Sidequest: In Realms Ungoogled

(I don't do this, but I'm going to recommend listening to Code Monkey by Jonathan Coulton while reading this review. It fits and it's available on Spotify so you can listen to it for free.)

Ya know, it's weird. I've read approximately eleventy bajillion books. I've read books with heroes so eager to do their thing that they screw it up. I've read books with reluctant heroes who were forced into a role they never wanted and did what they had to do regardless. But I just read Frank J. Fleming's Sidequest: In Realms Ungoogled and it is the first book I've read whose protagonist doesn't rush off to do the right thing because he's not sure if it's real or not. It can be a bit frustrating at some points, but it's also really awesome.

Terrance Denby is one of us. He's not some Superdude in bright colored underwear flying off to destroy the opposition with his big muscles and X-ray vision. He's not a test pilot and he doesn't have some magical power ring that can make whatever he likes out of light and have it function like a regular object. He doesn't have a lass of truth and bullet proof bracelets. He's a goofball programmer who has no luck with chicks. One day, someone hands him a sword he doesn't know how to use. And he's not even sure if he WANTS to use it. Even worse, he's not even sure that there is a need to use it.

Look, I loved the opening to Monster Hunter International as much as any other human being on the planet. I hope to be able to write an opening like that myself someday. That much being said, I do kind of find Terrance's response to be more realistic than a lot of other peoples'. Seriously, Terrance is confronted with the fact that there might be a world that he is unaware of and isn't sure if he should believe in it or not. He doesn't run away in fear but he doesn't charge ahead swinging a sword either.

Mr. Denby (and I say this lovingly and as a kindred soul) is a nerd. He programs computers, plays video games and watches nerdy movies. He is way to easily influenced by beautiful women. He thinks before he acts but sometimes he's afraid to reach the right conclusions. And, above all, I can't help but shake the impression that he'd prefer to spend his time in his nerdtacular pursuits and just ignore the existence of the rest of the planet. I could see myself spending a Friday night with this guy over a bag of chips and a beverage or two playing Dungeons and Dragons and arguing over the proper tactics to take down the boss dragon at the end of the adventure. He's that guy and I'd be cool with it as long as he didn't keep my copy of Dragons of Autumn Twilight at the end of the campaign and eat all of my beef jerky because, ya know...

Errrr....

Anyway...

The world of Sidequest is our normal mundane world, only it's not. There are places that we could get to if only we knew how and where to look for them. Walmart and McDonalds exist there, but there's something pounding on the bottom of the floor, and Terrance lives in a ground floor apartment. His company has empowerment meetings, but they may not mean what he always thought they did. It's almost right but not quite. There are pretty ladies but you might be surprised what they do for a living. It's complex, it's rich and it feels close to normal without being mundane. I like it.

Of course, a sword is a weapon of war and when Terrance is given one, he finds out that there is a war to be fought. The enemy is not necessarily my favorite type of villain. It is neither obvious nor easily defined to start out. There is an immediacy to the threat but not one that most of the population can see. This isn't a Harry Potter novel. It's not that the villain is He Who Must Not Be Named. It's that Terrance isn't even sure if the villain exists or what they might be like. That adds a level of creepiness but it also speaks to another pet peeve of a lot of people, and how well Fleming avoided it.

Terrance Denby is not Clark Kent, Bruce Wayne or Tony Stark. He doesn't have any superpowers or a suit of all powerful armor. Terrance Denby is also not Honor Harrington or Montgomery Scott. He makes mistakes. He has massive shortcomings. He struggles the whole book just to believe that he is capable of doing what he needs to do. Half the time when he does something right it feels like he did so on accident.

I don't want to give too much away, but Terrance's girlfriend reminds me in some ways of some of the women I've dated and the one I was married to. I just wish they would have been as obvious about their tendencies when we first met. Lord knows I can feel his pain at times. He's not always as decisive in his love life as he should be either, but who can't identify with that? We've all had to fight that feeling of doubt before. Terrance may take things a bit further than I would but hey, it's his call and I know the feeling.

There has to be a sequel coming. Actually, let me rephrase that: I WANT MY SEQUEL DAMMIT!!! I have yet to see an actual announcement but if I don't get one I'm going to pout like a three year old and refuse to eat my dinner. I mean it. There better be a sequel. I'm not going to give away the ending because I'm not that guy. I will say that not everything is as resolved as I want it to be. I need closure. I have to know where this story goes next. Threads are dangling. I'm not a cat. I don't like dangling threads. Dangling threads are for authors to play with. They don't make good toys for Jimbos. I know this from experience. But when your biggest gripe about a book is that the next one hasn't been released yet, I suppose you have to acknowledge that it was a massively enjoyable read.

Bottom Line: 4.75 out of 5 Faerie Swords

Sidequest: In Realms Ungoogled
Frank J. Fleming
Liberty Island, 2018


Sidequest: In Realms Ungoogled is available for purchase at the following link: