Flyboy


by James Munroe

The full title is "Flyboy Action Figure Comes With Gasmask" so you know this is a bit of an off-kilter book. I should have enjoyed it more than I did but it was the authors first book and, well, he just needs time.

Ryan is a Canadian college student who hangs out in his rented house with his friends, doing the hip, cool things that kids like that are supposed to do. Ryan is just going along with the flow, eyeing Cassandra, a waitress at a local diner. Oh, and he can turn into a fly at will, not that he does this often because he's never really explored this area of his life. He eventually asks Cassandra out, who turns out to have been a punk rocker who has a child that was fathered by an alien. Your typical waitress. Oh, and she can make things disappear. Together they don superhero outfits and go out to fight, um, well, not crime but rather the evil establishment, all the while discovering and exploring their abilities and each others bodies. While the possibilities could have been many for such a book, the events are actually quite mundane and very low-key. There were many humorous moments and some interesting characters that I wish had been fleshed out more. The ending is equally as abrupt and rushed leaving many loose ends. All in all, a good first boook but still a bit Gen-X-ish.

Three Gristles.