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10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Lovin' Me Some Angels of Desire!, March 2, 2010
AND FALLING, FLY is not an easy read. Its a twisted, layered plot that has you continually questioning the sanity of its characters. Are they really fallen angels turned vampires? Does the hero truly recall dozens of lost lifetimes and lost loves? Or are they all as delusional as they claim to be? Am I delusional for believing them? Am I being tricked? All these are questions I asked myself repeatedly from page one to the very last sentence. And one question still lingers: Was any of it even real?
Also, this book takes commitment with a capital C. On numerous occasions I dropped the book, willing to give up and walk away from this supposed "novel". I couldn't connect to the characters. I couldn't even figure out what the hell was going on! But I stuck with it, determined to figure out the confusing mystery laid out in this complex pattern of words and phrases. The author wanted to convey something to me. And while I don't claim to be smart enough to know for a fact that I took away from AND FALLING, FLY exactly what the Ms. White intended, I do believe that I took at least one thing from her incredible imagination and that is that love can, and does set us free.
Olivia Wright is a vampire, cast from heaven to be the angel of desire - desire in corporeal form for others to covet but never desire for herself. Molded and shaped into a being to satisfy other's appetites, Olivia is sickened by their lust-fulled gaze that forever keeps her from seeing her true native face. All she sees it what they want and while their cravings allow her to momentarily fill the void of her everlasting numbness with their blood, it does not provide for her the love that she seeks and that of which would ultimately set her free. Now, filled with self-loathing and damned for eternity, Olivia has given up on her one and only hope: The loophole that would return her wings so that she may be able to once again fly. That dream is now lost and all that remains is Hell. But Hell is home - an inverted hotel deep beneath the mystery-seeped soil of Ireland. There her sisters reside. There she can wallow in her numbness and escape the cloying eyes of the surface and the mortals that inhabit it.
However, Hell is the last place Dominic O'Shaughnessy ever hoped to see again. A neuroscientist searching for for the means to block memories from the remembrance capabilities of the human mind, Dominic's struggle has him checking back into the dreaded L'Otel Matillide - Hell and the hotel of the damned. There he hopes to acquire research subjects that are consumed by delusion for that's what he believes the guests of Hell to be - delusional. With combined brain scans and an experimental drug, Dominic hopes to cure them of their illnesses while simultaneously curing his own.
Dominic, a man of strict science-based logic, is plagued by memories - memories that he's rationally convinced himself to believe as simply being an illness that needs a cure. Since he turned eighteen he's had these strange memories that weren't made in his lifetime. He's loved, lost, had children, been white and black, has died and been reborn time and again. Nine years ago he came to Hell to understand his infliction and was told by the owner that he's cursed - cursed as the Reborn: a mortal forever to be reincarnated. But Dominic cannot - will not - believe that he's cursed. He doesn't believe in curses, he believes in science and science is telling him that he has a disease, one that needs to be cured so that he can finally be sane. Hopefully the inhabitants of Hell can give him the data he needs to find his desperately needed cure.
Within minutes of Dominic's arrival in Hell, his entire being lights up when one particularly beautiful woman arrives soon after. Ushered immediately from the lobby by the irritatingly enlightened owner, the beauty first makes eye contact with Dominic and little does he know that this moment starts him on a irreversible path towards a surprising outcome. One that the present Dominic would never believe.
Olivia is just as intrigued by the man in the lobby as he is with her. She's even more intrigued when he visibly restrains his desire for her. No human, male of female, has been desirous of Olivia and not acted upon it in some way. Even more intriguing is that his desire does not change her body to conform to his appetites. He finds her natural form beautiful and that in and of itself deserves her attention. But there's a distinctly different situation in Dominic's case that impacts his reaction to Olivia and that is that he knows she's a vampire, an angel of desire, and he's not afraid of a woman that to him is clearly delusional. He simply can't fear what he doesn't believe for his scientific mind will rationalize the anomalies as just that, anomalies. But Dominic can't rationalize his feelings for Olivia.
Woman have always been a mystery to Dominic and one better left unsolved. But a part of Dominic also fears falling in love because his disease, his delusions, have shown him the pain of heartache and he does not wish to live it again in this reality. Olivia, however, is not easily avoided and while Dominic has distinctly told her that he can't use her in his research because of her emotional affect on him, she's quite persistent. And really, Dominic can't stay away from her either. She fascinates him on a level beyond even his beloved research and against his better judgement, Dominic falls in love with Olivia.
In the moment that Olivia is given up all hope that she'll find salvation, Dominic gifts her with his. For the first time Olivia feels sensation, emotionally and especially physically. Dominic's kiss, his touch is felt by her and Olivia finds herself consumed by her own desire. She desires Dominic. But this desire eclipses the physical and while that is surely a part of it, beyond that they each desire the hearts of the other, their passion, their souls. But it all comes at a price and that price is sacrifice. Will it be too much? Now that they've each finally unburdened themselves with their delusions and embraced each other in love, can they let go?
This is a difficult review and I just know I'm not doing the book justice. There is so much going on, so many concepts tested and destroyed that its almost impossible to describe it sufficiently. Instead, I've focused on the romance which is what I loved most the about the novel. The romance is passionate and while its not one's typical romance by any means, in fact its the most different of any I've previously read, its still the romance that's the pulsing heart of the novel.
Again, AND FALLING, FLY is not an easy read but if you can commit yourself to the novel and push through the initial confusion, the end is worth it. The novel makes you question who we are, what we're capable of and that delusional or not, we're all deserving of love and the strength to fall with the hope of flying.
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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Bizarro., January 25, 2011
I was excited to read And Falling Fly by Skyler White, the cover was completely gorgeous, the blurb was interesting, the book was surrounded by a huge amount of hype... I REALLY didn't like it.
**** Contains spoilers ****
My main grievance is the fact that And Falling Fly is just flippin weird. I'm not really sure what it was trying to achieve. Olivia, the main protagonist is a fallen angel of desire who is also a vampire and feeds through quills, which are like sharp hollow spines on her teeth and nails, people can't even tell when they have been fed on. Well, that was a bit weird but I was willing to roll with it. Then I find out that Olivia is kind of like a succubus, her appearance morphing into whatever it is that her observer desires, kinda like Richelle Mead's succubus books only Olivia and all her fellow fallen angels of desire/vampires can't actually have sex. Why? Because of some rather bizarre physical abnormalities.
Okay, I'll be honest, that really wierded me out.
Olivia and her brethren refer to the humans they intend to hunt and drink from as 'Figs'. Why? Not really sure. The vampires sharpen one another's quills, called keening so as not to hurt their figs too much in the feeding.
Dominic, the male protag and love interest for Olivia is a scientist, working with the brain specifically, who is also a reborn. He has thousands of memories from all of his past lives that haunt him. Dominic refuses to believe he is a reborn, instead claims to be the victim of detailed hallucinations and seizures.
On the request - and dime - of a wealthy woman who's child thinks they are a vampire, Dominic travels to Ireland and the L'Otel Matillide (Hotel of the Damned) The proprietor is some weird old guy who provides for the damned on earth to congregate in his subterranean hotel. There is even a washed up rocker who believes he is damned and can't enjoy life. Everyone refers to the hotel as Hell and Gahod (Runs the hotel) as some kind of devil figure. The hotel is run on weird recycling energy, the furniture moves and absorbs energy and crap that to be honest, lost me. Dominic even runs into the snake that tempted Eve in the garden of Eden. I won't go into what the snake has to say for itself but needless to say, that particular scene could have been written by an acid tripping psych student who had read WAY too much Freud.
Dominic goes to Gahod's hotel with the intent of researching some of these 'damned' people who think they are vampires. Enter Olivia, who, for reasons that escape me, instantly attracts Dominic who within about 8 pages declares himself in love with her. Olivia is likewise attracted even though she can feel nothing.
And Falling Fly is quite well written, the prose is beautiful and you can tell it was painstakingly penned, but it is almost too much. I got over the similes and purple prose and dense lyrical descriptions. I just wanted some interesting action. But no... I was to be disappointed. In truth I think the writing in this novel is completely self indulgent. I get that our world is many faceted and intriguing and that there are layers and layers of self introspection that can be done and existential curiosity can span pages and pages but, I mean, enough already. Yawn.
This book is heavily heavily loaded with angst. Olivia goes on and on and ON about all her woes and desires and the many torturous aspects of her life. It's boring. After just a few paragraphs of (admittedly beautifully written) narcissistic winging, I'm just over it.
Every character in And Falling Fly waxes poetic about EVERYTHING, there is so much philosophising and scientific jargon that most of the time I had no flippin clue what the hell they were talking about. Maybe I am just too dumb to get this book. But seriously, it's just weird and boring and wordy and pretentious and self indulgent and just plain annoying.
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8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Despair, Desire and Damnation, March 3, 2010
Quick & Dirty: A complex, intriguing and atmospheric read that will have you thinking.
Opening Sentence: The angel of desire is damned.
The Review:
Olivia is a vampire and fallen angel of desire. She goes through the motions, but in reality she's dead inside. Olivia feeds off the fears and desires of others while she herself derives no pleasure. Trapped in hopelessness, despair, and unable to feel pleasure or pain, Olivia is on the hunt for love. She wants to get her wings back so that she can return to Heaven. Dominic O'Shaughnessy is a neuroscientist battling his own demons. He's haunted by memories of suffering and loss and struggles to separate reality from delusion. They both end up at the Hotel of the Damned in search for answers.
"and Falling, Fly" is a philosophical journey that delves into desire, life and death. Ms. White certainly did an excellent job of setting the mood of the novel, making it very atmospheric. In addition, The Hotel of the Damned especially is a fascinating concept/place. Olivia has pretty unique abilities that intrigued me, but I don't want to give too much away.
I had a hard time writing this review. This dark tale of despair, desire, damnation left me a little frustrated as a reader. Ms. White switches between narrative POVs, which at times pulled me out of the story. I was never able to really establish a connection with Olivia, and as a result I didn't like her character. She never felt sympathetic to me. I also found the pace of the novel to be a bit off at times, and certain elements of the story confusing. I did enjoy many elements of the worldbuilding, but sometimes I thought that the mythology was a bit dense.
Overall, lovers of dark fantasy should read this book. I love dark fantasy but found this debut novel to be a tough and complex read. The book has a great premise, but falls a little short in the execution. Ms. White does skillfully blend some creepy and chilling elements in this twisted world to give the book a unique appeal.
Notable Scene:
In the moon's naked light, all the places where his face wears rage are stripped to an ancient, bare pain. His eyes pierce me. "Thank you," he says again. "I needed to get away." His beautiful lips curl into a soft smile before he presses them against the knuckle of my thumb. A hard, motionless shiver radiates from that point through the deep bones in me. My nails quill against my crushed fingers, but he's looking right into me, warmth and memory in his night-blue eyes.
FTC Advisory: Berkley provided me with a copy of and Falling, Fly. No goody bags, sponsorships, "material connections," or bribes were exchanged for my review. In addition, I don't receive affiliate fees for anything purchased via links from my site.
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