Ash’s review of And Falling, Fly by Skyler White
Urban Fantasy released by Berkley 02 Mar 10
I picked this book up a few different times, thinking maybe it’s just my mood that’s keeping me from enjoying it. Finally I had to admit that the book is just not working for me. I hate giving up on books, but I couldn’t get through this one.
I had trouble making it past just the first page. The writing is just not what I find likable. It’s like Skyler White can’t say something simply, it has to be with as much description as possible. I was done with it by the third page. It’s just confusing and I had to work to figure out just what I was reading. I want to enjoy the books I read, and this I did not enjoy. I suppose I’m not sure if or when that will happen. With so many books to read, I can’t keep holding onto books that are maybes.
I also don’t care for Olivia. I kept waiting for a reason to like her or feel for her, and I never did. The first scene of her feeding is one of the big things that turns me off.
“I don’t mean to do it, but the subtle razor surfaces of my teeth and tongue erupt, grazing the insides of his mouth, making cuts too small for him to feel. It doesn’t take much to feed me, microscopic globules of blood from the tiny surface cuts my quilled teeth make in his lips and against his gums.”
Maybe it’s just the way it’s described, I’m not sure. It took me out of the story, instead of bringing me in. I kept imagining this awful monster mouth full of sharp edges.
Fans of darker urban fantasies will probably enjoy this more. I don’t think it is necessarily a bad book, it just isn’t the right one for me. Skyler White has definitely created a unique book, but sadly I wasn’t pulled in.
Grade: DNF
Summary:
Olivia is a vampire bored with modernity. Tattooist, boyfriend, black-metal singer: everyone you don’t love tastes the same. Since the fall from Eden, she has hungered for love, but fed only on desire. Dominic O’Shaughnessy is a neuroscientist plagued by impossible visions.
When his research and her despair collide in Ireland’s L’Otel Mathillide – a subterranean hell of beauty, demons and dreams – rationalist and angel unite in a clash of desire and damnation that threatens to destroy them both.
Read an excerpt.
