Any Given Doomsday, for better or worse is best summed up as what the Anita Blake series by Laurell K. Hamilton would be if all supernatural creatures (almost) were actually the spawn of fallen angels, left on Earth to challenge (aka slaughter) humankind.

The set up demands that readers accept the absolute existence of God and the Christian mythos, whereas most urban fantasies ask a reader to believe in the creature, but leave religion out of the picture. This can potentially bring Christian readers into urban fantasy, if they can get past the sex.

And the sex… is non-consenting. Definitely an aspect that will turn off many readers Elizabeth, the heroine, is drugged, and raped graphically multiple times within the book. This is completely forgivable (in the context of the story) because sex is vital to Elizabeth’s powers. While I normally avoid giving such blatant spoilers these I found particularly troubling.

The story itself starts when Elizabeth Phoenix finds her foster mother dying on floor of her home, attacked by something Elizabeth can’t explain. With a few cryptic words and a dark vision Ruthie passes something on to Elizabeth that lands Elizabeth in a coma. When she wakes up Elizabeth learns from her ex-coworkers, the Milwaukee PD, that her foster brother and ex-lover Jimmy is their number one suspect. Jimmy himself breaks the news that Ruthie passed her powers to Elizabeth, which makes Elizabeth obligated–for her own safety–to hunt down Ruthie’s killers. And Elizabeth isn’t just a seer, she’s THE prophesied seer, meant to be the most powerful one, a seer and a demon killer and the person who is supposed to lead the side of good in the war against the evil Nephalim.

Elizabeth’s complete lack of knowledge about the supernatural world does not set the story up in a good frame. Instead of being introduced to the rules of the magical world slowly it leads to the reader, like Elizabeth, to have no clue what’s going on, but being pressured to accept tension, and to see Elizabeth attacked with no real idea of how these things are important. The pacing is slow, the revelations convenient and Elizabeth herself is a much quieter, less dynamic urban fantasy character.

The pace is unsure, more than once a fact is hidden from the reader for effect, though the story is told in first person and Elizabeth herself already knows of it. Readers are never given a solid idea of the “rules” of magic and the paranormal because they seem cherry picked for effect rather than for character building. While all Nephalim are absolutely evil both men presented as love interests have Nephalim blood and Elizabeth herself may have (after all, she has everything else that might make her powerful, other than strength of personality).

Any Given Doomsday has action, but feels slow despite it, reluctant to participate in or commit itself to its own story. The similarities to other series and the Biblical/Apocalyptic set up could bring in a fan base, but many will find this book vapid and unsatisfying.

Review by M.A. Hunt

Any Given Doomsday, by Lori Handeland, is the first book in her The Phoenix Chronicles series.

Elizabeth Phoenix is a young ex-cop in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, now working in the bar owned by her deceased partner’s wife, Megan Murphy… Murphy’s Bar, of course.

This is a small indication of the kind of wit Handeland brings to this tale.

Phoenix has some latent psychic powers, aided and abetted to partial fruition by two not-quite-human men, Jimmy Sanducci, whom she’s known since childhood, and Sawyer, a Navajo witch, and a dead mentor, Ruthie Kane, who is very much from the same vein as the guide in the Matrix Trilogy, of popular film.

A wonderful romp of a novel, filled with things from the underworld, and beyond, written by a highly intelligent author.

Unfortunately, it’s not until chapter 23 that the real story begins.

The first 22 chapters are mostly filled with fluff, aka ‘back story’, which she would have been better off disseminating in dribs and drabs throughout, as she unfolded the tale, rather than bunch it all upfront.

From there on, Handeland shows considerable and impressive talent in the progression of the tale, even if some of her obvious wit becomes a tad tedious, but it’s a compelling, page-turning read.

If the blurb for the next book is any indication, Doomsday Can Wait promises to be a continuation of very strong storytelling.