Upside Down by Jenna Hilary Sinclair

[reviews_and_ramblings]

Jeff as Commander and Rell as Colonel are fighting together to bring peace in a world destroyed by years of war. Probably tired of the war and of the coldness of nights spent alone, Jeff is looking toward Rell with different eyes, but it's not simple; it's not a question of being gay that is a problem, but it's more a multicultural barrier between them: even if Rell looks like a human, he is not entirely that, and his breed approaches in different way a relationship; love is not part of the equation. And so Jeff has always hidden his feelings, even if they are grown nevertheless, and he can only express them being Rell's best friend. And in Rell's detached behavior, Jeff sometime can see a spark of something, something special only for him, or maybe it's what he wants to see.

When Rell is seriously injured in a fight, it's upon Jeff to decide if subject Rell to a therapy that is against Rell's beliefs, but that is the only way to save him. Jeff has to decide if he wants to respect the decision of the man, or if he wants to save the lover he never had.

I like the feeling of this story since I usually find futuristic stories to be a bit cold and detached, and instead this one is more a love story than a futuristic adventure. Sure, the story has also an elegant "tune", it's never really sexy or erotic, if not in the end, when the author launched herself in an erotic encounter that it would not look out of place in a porn movie: it is almost like all the sexual tension that both heroes repressed before blows up suddenly and uncontrolled.

Of the two characters the one who shines is Jeff, probably since it's also the narrative voice; it's not that the story is in first point of view, but it's through his eyes that we follow their story. Rell is a bit in the background, even since he is mostly catatonic (!), but when he acts, well, he is like a lightning in a clear sky, Rell could have few chances to speak, but more than the words, it's his presence that drives all the story, he is like the puppeteer behind the scene. Since Jeff is so clear in love with him, the reader has to like him as Jeff does, we like him even without a direct proof.

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Amazon Kindle: Upside Down

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