And falling, fly

[a:Sam Chupp 11847 Sam Chupp http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1219698183p2/11847.jpg] has been after me to read this book for weeks, so as soon as I finished [b:All Clear 7519231 All Clear (All Clear, #2) Connie Willis http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1267552735s/7519231.jpg 9735628], I started it. This book is different from anything else I've read in years. I hesitate to say it's more literary than most fantasy, because I don't like “literary” books - they're usually stuffy, dry, and presumptuous.After the first few chapters, there's no slowing down, because you're as caught up in what's happening as the characters are. I was transfixed by White's descriptions, which can make even ugliness fascinating.We are traveling into time, burning two hours for every one I endure beside this babbling, cursed child of Greece. I see them all the time, these bastard half children of stories and mortals, trapped between worlds, the genetic lineage of myth reasserting itself across the inextricable ages. Helen of Troy is born the socialite child of a partial Zeus mated to half of a swan-loving Leda, the mythic DNA in each of them dormant until they breed and damn their offspring with its expression.White's vampire mythos is like no other I've encountered. I found it far more believable than most of what's being printed over and over and over again. Another refreshing thing about the book is that there's no feeling of a set up for a series. Oddly, though, I'm now seeing the book identified as the first of a series called Harrowing, at least on GoodReads, but as far as I can tell, the second book has no characters in common with the first. Perhaps it's simply set in the same universe?In any case, I've added [b:In Dreams Begin 7850577 In Dreams Begin Skyler White http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1269478625s/7850577.jpg 10971303] to my to-read stack, and I'll be keeping an eye on [a:Skyler White 2977214 Skyler White http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1290046039p2/2977214.jpg].