ARC: Any Given Doomsday

Title: Any Given Doomsday
Author: Lori Handeland
Genre: Fantasy, Urban Fantasy
RIP III Challenge: Book 1 of 2

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Commentary: Any Given Doomsday by Lori Handeland is the first book in the series The Phoenix Chronicles. The major characters in the book are adults in their twenties who had extremely troubled childhoods but who also were given special gifts. One theme running throughout the book concerns being or becoming who you are instead of fighting who were meant to be. The rules of this universe that Handeland creates assumes that everyone has a purpose and the events they have experienced in this life were designed for a purpose. Everyone has worth. Everyone is a teacher to someone and a student to someone else.

The playing field of this story takes place in places like New York City, Milwaukee, and New Mexico, but the story really takes place on the spiritual/supernatural realm. Handeland combines Old Testament and New Testament explanations to explain why vampires, werewolves, shapeshifters (and other beings who go bump in the night) exist. If you have read many books with this kind of thread, especially books where the plot and explanations are more involved (ala Anne Rice) then you will probably find this particular assumption in Any Given Doomsday a bit ho hum. However, what is interesting is that Handeland uses bits of Genesis as foundation in her story that don’t usually get dragged out into the light. Check out the story in Genesis that discusses briefly the existence of the Nephilim. The what? Yes. Go check out Genesis, first book of the Old Testament (aka Hebrew bible, Jewish bible, Torah, etc.)

As for the main character, Elizabeth Phoenix, well she has potential. I like the sense of humor and sarcasm. However, the Phoenix seems to be a bit immature. Much of her sarcasm seemed adolescent and it wasn’t long before I became tired and impatient with this aspect of the character. And the humorous remarks sometimes seemed out of place. But then there were other times when Phoenix focuses on the task at hand instead of constantly thinking about herself and how unfair everything is and I liked that particular Phoenix. This is the Phoenix who could weigh her options and her desires against her responsibilities and in adult fashion make more mature choices. In fact, as I write this review, that is probably another major theme in this story: Growing up. Thinking about this theme in the context of the overall story, it will be interesting to see if the Phoenix evolves into a fully mature adult. So I think I can cut Handeland a break on some of Phoenix’s constant adolescent whining, but I think Handeland could have executed this element of Phoenix’s character a bit better.

As for the sex: I have read enough fantasy and science fiction to know that sex is regularly included in the genre. And some of it is pretty steamy. However, much of the sex that I have read in this genre has not been well, a major tool of the plot in the way that Handeland uses it in this book. And sex is a major tool to this plot. If I was a teenager, I’d be reading this book at 2am and praying that my parents didn’t find me reading Any Given Doomsday. But I’m not. At all. So I became rather impatient with all the drawn out sex. I kept thinking: Okay I get the point. Can we get on with the rest of the story?

Yes, in other books in fantasy/science fiction sex is a major element to “get things done,” (check out Marion Zimmer-Bradley on this one) but in these other books, the plot was more intricate and multi-faceted. There is diplomacy, intrigue, religion and other subplots to create a richer story with the sex being just another part to the story instead of a distraction. Any Given Doomsday seems to be a cross between fantasy/science fiction and a romance novel. Which I find odd, but that could just be me. Maybe that is what urban fantasy is — I just don’t know. What I do know is that for me, it seems Handeland could not make up her mind as to whether she wanted to write a fantasy/science fiction novel or a romance novel.

I understand that this series is suppose to be light–a non-heavy duty story. And I like those kinds of books. I just think that this first book could have been written better in some ways. Will I read the next book or two? Highly probable. I want to see if the character develops any and if Handeland fine tunes the writing of this series so that while the story remains lightweight and fun, the execution of the story is smoother. I have not read her other books, so I do not know what her writing style overall is like. Maybe the Phoenix series is a break out of her normal writing style and she’s still figuring out it out for this series. I guess I’ll wait for the next book (no I haven’t read the bonus pages of book two) and see how things go.

Additional Reviews Of This Book Can Be Found Here At:
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