Any Given Doomsday-Book Review

I was really hoping to enjoy this book. Considering the books I normally read, this seemed a perfect fit to me. Unfortunately, it falls a little short of my expectations for a good urban-fantasy read. I don't expect great literature, but I do want believable characters, fast-paced action, and scary monsters.

I couldn't relate to the protagonist, Elizabeth Phoenix, a psychic ex-cop turned bartender. I also didn't care about the relationship between her and her childhood love, Jimmy Sarducci. (I will not be going into my problems with the names.) I know he is supposed to be the "bad boy" type, but really, he's just not like-able and I couldn't understand or believe the attraction.

The mystery starts off right at the beginning when Elizabeth's friend and former guardian is found murdered. She discovers that Ruthie was a "seer" that helped demon killers find their prey and somehow passed her gifts on to Liz. The middle was a little slow while Elizabeth comes to grips with her newfound knowledge and gifts. The action picks back up towards the end, but in a very different way than I was expecting. The book went from urban-fantasy to racy romance book and not in a good way. The amount of sex going on for what seems like the entire last 1/4 of the book is not romantic, just disturbing and doesn't help in making me like or respect Phoenix as a female character I want to read about.

The monsters were somewhat interesting and different from the usual batch of supernaturals that fill the fantasy books I love. They are very obscure, however, so I felt the need to research a bit. Not something I really want to do while reading this type of book.

I think if the "romance" plot line was left out or if Elizabeth was given a better way to absorb others powers this would have made for a much better read. It was good enough to keep me reading to the end but there are definitely much better urban-fantasy books with much stronger more likable women protagonists.

2/5

You can see Blacklin's review of Any Given Doomsday on her blog, Blacklin's Reading Room Reviews & More.