Early Review: Any Given Doomsday
After an afternoon of working on a paper that has failed to hold my interest or attention for very long, I've opted to distract myself by once more digging into my to-be-reviewed pile and convincing LibraryThing that my opinions are worth a damn.
In today's procrastinatory installment of Dave as Early Reviewer, I present the first book in Lori Handeland's new fantasy series, entitled The Phoenix Chronicles. For the benefit of my faithful readers who like their reading extra pulpy, I present below my review of Any Given Doomsday, which was first published in November 2008.
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Let me preface my review of Lori Handeland's novel Any Given Doomsday by confessing that pulpy vampire fiction isn't really my cup of tea. Even as I was drawn into the book and found many of its scenes surprisingly compelling, I couldn't help but fixate on the fact that this just isn't my kind of reading. Ultimately, that's the way I feel I have to assess the novel: it's probably ideal for fans of the author or the genre, but I doubt it's likely to win over any non-believers.
The story revolves around psychic former cop Elizabeth Phoenix, who has attempted to move past the death of her former partner by working for his widow's bar. Her psychic abilities send her to the home of her former foster mother, Ruthie, whom Liz finds viciously murdered. As she will later discover, though, Ruthie bestowed Liz with a special gift in her dying moments, forcing Liz to come to terms with both her gift and the newfound curse she has to carry -- all, of course, in order to save mankind from nasty demons.
If my wrap-up was excessively glib at the end, it is at least in keeping with the tone of the novel. Liz is our first-person narrator, and we are privileged with the firsthand experience she provides us of both the human (jealousy, confusion, denial, etc.) and nonhuman (transformations, ghost whispers, demon killing, etc.) struggles she is forced to endure. While these would surely be enough to confuse and irritate even the most hardened of souls, Liz is the type of character who, in Handeland's words, "will say anything." This is not always, as it turns out, good for the novel. Though Liz's dry riffing does add a touch of humor to the proceedings, the fact is that it often feels out of place, often rendering Liz a character that feels painfully immature. Yes, she's only twenty-five, but you would think after a while she would catch on to the admittedly screwed-up nuances of her new world.
The novel actually works best when it is concealing, rather than revealing, its hand. The early scenes of Liz's fights against strange creatures are surprisingly frightening because we share her uncertainty and respect her need to improvise in order to save her own life. But the creepy crawly creatures of the story are most intimidating when we don't know what we're up to -- sadly, as the novel progresses and we find out what's going down, the intimidation factor wears off (perhaps because we only see a small portion of the master plan).
Fans of urban fantasy will be unsurprised to learn that the book is dripping with illicit sexual encounters, but again, sparer turns out to be better as the novel goes on. When the first flickers of tension break out into a full-blown sexual encounter halfway through the book, the impact is intense and evocative, just as Handeland presumably wants it to be. But the ashes are left to smolder a bit too long, and ultimately the novel seems to devolve into a series of critical sex scenes that tease at and lead up to a final, climactic sex scene that, unsurprisingly, feels a little empty and unsatisfying by the time it finally hints. A little goes a long way, but a lot tends to numb the reader by the time the plot machinations are finished.
By the time the novel is done, it seems a bit disheartening to find that the conclusion really only sets up the fact that there's another book to come in the series -- a volume that has a sneak preview right after the last page, go figure! Unfortunately, Any Given Doomsday feels a little bit too much like setup for my liking, resulting in a novel that has a bunch of disparate parts that all seem like they want to work together but don't quite mesh. I suspect it's because Handeland figured she would smooth everything out over the next few books. To that end, I have to admit that Any Given Doomsday will probably have fantasy fans waiting to see what will come next. But if it's not up your alley, one trip into The Phoenix Chronicles will probably be more than enough for you.
In today's procrastinatory installment of Dave as Early Reviewer, I present the first book in Lori Handeland's new fantasy series, entitled The Phoenix Chronicles. For the benefit of my faithful readers who like their reading extra pulpy, I present below my review of Any Given Doomsday, which was first published in November 2008.
------------------------
Let me preface my review of Lori Handeland's novel Any Given Doomsday by confessing that pulpy vampire fiction isn't really my cup of tea. Even as I was drawn into the book and found many of its scenes surprisingly compelling, I couldn't help but fixate on the fact that this just isn't my kind of reading. Ultimately, that's the way I feel I have to assess the novel: it's probably ideal for fans of the author or the genre, but I doubt it's likely to win over any non-believers.
The story revolves around psychic former cop Elizabeth Phoenix, who has attempted to move past the death of her former partner by working for his widow's bar. Her psychic abilities send her to the home of her former foster mother, Ruthie, whom Liz finds viciously murdered. As she will later discover, though, Ruthie bestowed Liz with a special gift in her dying moments, forcing Liz to come to terms with both her gift and the newfound curse she has to carry -- all, of course, in order to save mankind from nasty demons.
If my wrap-up was excessively glib at the end, it is at least in keeping with the tone of the novel. Liz is our first-person narrator, and we are privileged with the firsthand experience she provides us of both the human (jealousy, confusion, denial, etc.) and nonhuman (transformations, ghost whispers, demon killing, etc.) struggles she is forced to endure. While these would surely be enough to confuse and irritate even the most hardened of souls, Liz is the type of character who, in Handeland's words, "will say anything." This is not always, as it turns out, good for the novel. Though Liz's dry riffing does add a touch of humor to the proceedings, the fact is that it often feels out of place, often rendering Liz a character that feels painfully immature. Yes, she's only twenty-five, but you would think after a while she would catch on to the admittedly screwed-up nuances of her new world.
The novel actually works best when it is concealing, rather than revealing, its hand. The early scenes of Liz's fights against strange creatures are surprisingly frightening because we share her uncertainty and respect her need to improvise in order to save her own life. But the creepy crawly creatures of the story are most intimidating when we don't know what we're up to -- sadly, as the novel progresses and we find out what's going down, the intimidation factor wears off (perhaps because we only see a small portion of the master plan).
Fans of urban fantasy will be unsurprised to learn that the book is dripping with illicit sexual encounters, but again, sparer turns out to be better as the novel goes on. When the first flickers of tension break out into a full-blown sexual encounter halfway through the book, the impact is intense and evocative, just as Handeland presumably wants it to be. But the ashes are left to smolder a bit too long, and ultimately the novel seems to devolve into a series of critical sex scenes that tease at and lead up to a final, climactic sex scene that, unsurprisingly, feels a little empty and unsatisfying by the time it finally hints. A little goes a long way, but a lot tends to numb the reader by the time the plot machinations are finished.
By the time the novel is done, it seems a bit disheartening to find that the conclusion really only sets up the fact that there's another book to come in the series -- a volume that has a sneak preview right after the last page, go figure! Unfortunately, Any Given Doomsday feels a little bit too much like setup for my liking, resulting in a novel that has a bunch of disparate parts that all seem like they want to work together but don't quite mesh. I suspect it's because Handeland figured she would smooth everything out over the next few books. To that end, I have to admit that Any Given Doomsday will probably have fantasy fans waiting to see what will come next. But if it's not up your alley, one trip into The Phoenix Chronicles will probably be more than enough for you.
posted by Dave at 3/09/2009 05:24:00 PM
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