Saturday, September 20, 2008

Any Given Doomsday by Lori Handeland is written in a genre I've never dabbled in before. Oh, I watched Buffy a few times, but wasn't an avid fan. I did watch quite a bit of Charmed when I lived alone and had nothing else to do on a Sunday evening. And I do watch Ghost Whisperer. But I've never felt drawn to reading the vamp/paranormal genre. And I'm still not sure I am, but I will look for the further adventures of Elizabeth Phoenix in Doomsday Can Wait when it comes out in May 2009.

Phoenix is one busy psychic, empathic, dream-walking, shape-shifting chickie! Sheesh!

After the first few chapters I had to put the book down and go do some vacuuming. I felt like I was reading "Gilmore Girls Go Vamp." My head was spinning. The dialogue is fast, furious, and smart-ass. It took me awhile to settle into it, but as I read more it went easier. I do, however, feel that there were things in those first few frenetic chapters that may have been short-changed by the author's eagerness to dive into the genre style. They felt overdone to get that style across, pushed and losing a bit in really drawing Elizabeth Phoenix more clearly for the reader.

I really didn't "get" Phoenix until she was faced with Sawyer. Sawyer was drawn far more clearly, and because he was, Phoenix's interaction with him gave her more depth.

But I get the idea that this genre is not necessarily character driven, but action driven. I get that. "Any Given Doomsday" certainly fills that bill well and why I will look for the next installment of vampires, chindi, stregas, witches, etc. doing their darnedest to put our heroine out of commission.

But I still would like more character. I'm hoping the sequel will give us more insight into Elizabeth Phoenix.

http://www.lorihandeland.com/

2 comments:

Michelle said...

not my kind of book either.

Betty Lindholm Navta said...

Michelle ~

Well, it's interesting reading something that I might not otherwise pick up in a bookstore. It was an easy read, finished it in a day. Urban fantasy is very popular these days. I can see why. It's action-packed and deals with mostly archetypal characters. This genre seems to rely heavily on archetypes and myths. Kind of like comic books for adults.

It may not be my cup of tea, but it is interesting to read suspending preconceived perceptions.