Despite my love for old Greek tales, I just couldn't get into this one. For some reason, I never really settled into the story, like there was some kind of barrier.

Perhaps it was the way it was written. There is a lot of redundant sentences and retelling information that is sometimes within the same paragraph. For example, there is a sentence that essentially "They were killed. They are dead." Wow, this guy has won awards for storytelling? Could have fooled me.

As a retelling it seems fine. It never tries to be more than what it is. And yet, maybe this hurts it. I was really looking forward to a possible relationship between Leander and Orestes, but it never became anything more than vague queer-baiting.

I probably won't read anything more from this author. If this book is anything like his others, they probably aren't really my taste.