Chaos Bites (Phoenix Chronicles, Book 4) by Lori Handeland

 

I'm conflicted about this series. I like the characters, I mostly like the worldbuilding. I've talked about pacing issues in the past, but I'm pleased to say that the pacing was mostly okay in Chaos Bites.

But (you knew there was a but coming, right?) I've ranted before about cliffhangers, haven't I? And there are a lot of cliffhangers at the end of this book. I'm not talking "unanswered questions" here. I'm saying that the main plot of the book wasn't resolved. Several plots, actually. Major issues. More of a cliffhanger than "Who shot JR". This felt like the first half of a book, not an entire book. And that's really too bad, because I liked Chaos Bites, right up until the point that I realized that none of the plots of the book were going to be resolved.

Here's the blurb:

It’s not the end of the world—yet. But Doomsday once again lies in wait for demon-slayer Elizabeth Phoenix. Several weeks ago she had no choice but to kill a man she loved. Sawyer was a witch and shape-shifter, a sorcerer of incredible strength. And now he’s started to invade her dreams…in the most dangerous and sensuous ways imaginable.

Through her nighttime visits with Sawyer, Liz has acquired a new set of paranormal powers. She has also received a special new gift in the form of Sawyer’s baby. Now nothing is as it seems as Liz combs through the chaos of her new life while trying to outrun death at every turn. She’s going to need all the help she can get—even if that means dealing with her embittered ex-lover Jimmy Sanducci. He may be the only one left she can trust…since every other demon on earth is hell-bent on her destruction.

I'm giving Chaos Bites a 6 of 10. If the plots had been wrapped up it would have been a 9 of 10.

Lori Handeland's site says the next book will be called Demons at the Gates and is due out in 2011. I'm assuming that means we'll have to wait about another year for it. If the next book were due out in three or four months then I might have given Chaos Bites a 7 instead of a 6. Still annoying, but not so bad since there would already be hype about the next book, and not long to wait for the rest of the storyline.

I wasn't sure if I'd continue with the series after Doomsday can Wait, and I almost didn't. I will likely wait for some reviews of Demons at the Gates before I decide whether to read it or not. I like most of the characters and I'm interested in what happens to them, but I don't need the frustration of cliffhangers without promise of the next book any time soon. Books in the Urban Fantasy genre are read for enjoyment and escape, not frustration. Authors can resolve the plots in their individual books and still have multi-book arcs stretching through the series that keep people anticipating what may happen next. The key is that an author needs to resolve the main plot in each book.

Book Rating: Chaos Bites: 6 of 10
Series Rating: Phoenix Chronicles: 6 of 10

1. Any Given Doomsday
2. Doomsday Can Wait
3. Apocalypse Happens
4. Chaos Bites
5. Demons at the Gates

Doomsday Can Wait (Phoenix Chronicles, Bk 2) by Lori Handeland

A few days ago I said that I was having trouble finishing Doomsday Can Wait. After finally finishing it, I'm ready to talk about it.

The problem with Doomsday can Wait is not the plot, or the characters, or the world building. All of those things are well done.

The problem with this book is pacing. I think. The characters just kind of wander around without a plan. Other books have their characters do that, too, so that by itself isn't a bad thing. But it doesn't work in this book.

Before I begin talking about specific things, I should give you the official blurb:

It took the near annihilation of humanity for Liz Phoenix to understand the true meaning of her premonitions. Liz is one of the sacred few on earth who has the psychic powers to fight the malevolent forces that have tried to wipe out the human race since the beginning of time. She battled these beings once, thwarting Doomsday but losing most of her soldiers in the massacre. Now she must replenish her troops quickly—because the supernatural war isn’t over yet.

As the new leader of the federation, Liz is marked for death by a Navajo witch with a link to her past. To survive, she must rely on her few remaining allies—her mentor, a shaman with too many secrets, as well as ex-lover, Jimmy Sanducci. Bringing Jimmy into the mix is a dangerous move, for Liz’s darkest desires are razor-sharp—and her longing for Jimmy is at a fever pitch. But can Liz afford to give into the cravings that burn inside her, with the next shot at Doomsday just around the corner? This time, if evil wins, chaos will reign—and the world as we know it will be lost forever…

The big question right now is whether I will read the next book, Apocalypse Happens, when it is released in November. The answer is that I don't know. I will leave it on my Anxiously Awaiting list for now, but I'm not sure if I'll read the next book or not.

I gave the first book in this series an 8 of 10. I'm going to have to give this book a 4 of 10, and the series a 5 of 10.

Book Rating: 4 of 10
Series Rating: 5 of 10






1. Any Given Doomsday
2. Doomsday Can Wait
3. Apocalypse Happens
4. Chaos Bites

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Currently Reading: Doomsday Can Wait (Phoenix Chronicles, Bk 2) by Lori Handeland

I've been reading Doomsday Can Wait for days. I want to know what happens, but the temptation is there to just put the book down and not pick it up again. I really enjoyed the first book in this series, Any Given Doomsday, but this book just isn't doing it for me.

I won't rate it until I've either read the whole thing or decided it is a DNF. But I normally read about a book a day, or every other day. And I've been reading this book for five days because I keep putting it down to do something else.



1. Any Given Doomsday
2. Doomsday Can Wait
3. Apocalypse Happens

Rising Moon (Nightcreature Novel, Bk 6) by Lori Handeland

I wasn't sure who was speaking when the book started out. At first I thought maybe Cassandra had a sister who was out there looking for her, but at some point I realized the times weren't right (this sister had been missing three years, and was just out of high school when she disappeared), and then when Detective Sullivan looked at the picture and didn't recognize her, I knew for sure that it wasn't the case. I was pretty sure by then, but that was the final nail that made it impossible.

This means I was again blind during the beginning of the book with brand new characters, people I didn't know. Eventually we get Cassandra and then Edward and then a few of the other New Orleans Jager-Suchers that we already know. And there are a few twists that came at me out of left field, things I didn't understand until they were actually explained. Things that are spoilers, so I can't talk about them. I'm usually good at figuring out that sort of thing, and yet I didn't figure it out at all in this book. Very clever. I loved it.

This book also furthers the series along some, so I'll raise the series rating from a 7 to an 8. The book gets a 9 of 10, it was very good, even if I was blind at the beginning. This was another book that was hard to put down until I reached the end. Not enough to make me stay up late and finish it, I did put it down to go to sleep at a reasonable hour, but I finished it first thing this morning before the rest of the house was awake.

Book Rating: 9 of 10
Series Rating: 8 of 10





Blue Moon (2004)
Hunter's Moon (2005)
Dark Moon (2005)
Crescent Moon (2006)
Midnight Moon (2006)
Rising Moon (2007)
Hidden Moon (2007)
Thunder Moon (2008)

Midnight Moon (Nightcreature Novel, Bk 5) by Lori Handeland

This is Cassandra's book. We met her in the last book, so at least we know someone as this book opens, as opposed to the last one. In this book we learn about Cassandra's past. 

As a mom, watching someone come to grips with the death of a child was hard. It's the unthinkable, that you could lose your child. And to see someone in that much pain over it so many years afterwards... I didn't like that part of it. Not at all.

But other than that, this was a good book. The plot was good, the characters were either totally likable or totally hate-able, and the action kept me involved. And the further world building that we get was very well done. We learn more about what magics work in this world, and what Cassandra's powers are. I have a feeling she's going to be a very big part of future books as she comes more and more into her powers. I can see a lot of fuel for thought when it comes to the grey areas between good and evil that Cassandra may have to deal with, also. Unfortunately, it's doubtful we'll see things from her perspective again, since it seems each character only gets one book. That's a shame, there are several characters I'd like to see again, from their own perspective.

Speaking of Cassandra and her powers, there is one thing I have to say: As much as I respect and usually like Edward, the idea that he'd tell her to do something that would (technically) define her as evil, and then consider killing her because now that she's done as he said it makes her (technically, as definitions go) evil... that just really annoyed me. She isn't evil, she raised the dead to help someone... in this case to help Adam try to break the curse on his great (great great...) grandfather so it won't pass on to him. She did it to be helpful, mostly. Never mind she also considered it practice so she could do it on her daughter later. Err, okay, I guess it wasn't solely to be helpful. And since Edward knew her past he might have figured that out. Okay, still, she wasn't (and isn't) evil. And Edward annoyed me with that.

I'm giving the book a 9 of 10, but the series remains a 7 of 10 at this point. Much of the reason for the 7 is because the books aren't tying together in a cohesive series as much as I'd like for them to. The books are good, but the purpose (for me) of a series is that you get to see characters again and again, watch them change and grow. And I'm not really getting that with this series. There is hope for more of an ongoing plot, we'll see where things go after this book.

Book Rating: 9 of 10
Series Rating: 7 of 10





Blue Moon (2004)
Hunter's Moon (2005)
Dark Moon (2005)
Crescent Moon (2006)
Midnight Moon (2006)
Rising Moon (2007)
Hidden Moon (2007)
Thunder Moon (2008)

Crescent Moon (Nightcreature Novel, Bk 4) by Lori Handeland

Book four in this series starts out with someone we have not yet met. In fact, this book leaves us at such a loss as to what is going on, it may as well have been the first book in the series. I didn't like that. At all. One of the purposes of reading books in a series is so that you don't have to meet everyone, you already know them. Another purpose is that you already know the "rules" of that particular universe, and this book at first didn't fit any of the rules we already knew of this universe. By the end of the book everything was okay again, but nothing in previous books helps us out in this book until we are over three quarters into this book.

Since I'm not really sure where to start here, I'll start with the blurb from the author's site:

An ancient evil hunts by the crescent moon...

New Orleans is known for sinful pleasures and strange magic, but for cryptozoologist Diana Malone it offers one irresistible attraction. For over a hundred years there have been whispers of wolves around the Crescent City, and the recent discovery of bodies in the nearby swamps hints at a creature even more dangerous…one that could make Diana's career and fortune, if she lives to capture it.

And desire may be a fatal mistake…

Adam Ruelle is a reclusive former Special Forces officer, the last of a mysterious Cajun family rumored to be cursed, and the only person skilled enough to guide Diana in her search. Rugged and captivating, he fills her nights with desire…but by day, Diana is plagued with doubts. Adam clearly knows more than he's telling, but is his aim to protect her or distract her? Something is stalking its prey in the Louisiana bayous, and every step towards the horrifying truth brings Diana closer to a centuries-old enemy that lives for the smell of fear and the thrill of killing, again and again…

I'll start with explaining what a cryptozoologist is: someone who looks for proof of a species of animals that most people don't believe really exists. In this case, Diana is looking for proof of werewolves.

The kicker is that she doesn't believe they exist. She made a promise to her now-dead-fiance' that she would continue his quest. So now, years later, she's still looking. Even though she doesn't believe.

The book is set in New Orleans, so it should come as no surprise that Crescent Moon is probably more about voodoo than it is about werewolves, and lucky for Diana she befriends a voodoo priestess. And not your stereotypical voodoo priestess, either.

I'm not really sure how I feel about this book. I didn't much like it the first third of the book. Once I got to know a few people it was better, and by the end of the book things got okay again. But I think I'm going to give this one a 6 of 10. If this were the first book in the series it might have been a 7 or 8, but for the fourth book in the series one should not feel lost through so much of the book.

I'm also downgrading the series to a 7 of 10.

Book Rating: 6 of 10
Series Rating: 7 of 10





Blue Moon (2004)
Hunter's Moon (2005)
Dark Moon (2005)
Crescent Moon (2006)
Midnight Moon (2006)
Rising Moon (2007)
Hidden Moon (2007)
Thunder Moon (2008)

Dark Moon (Nightcreature Novel, Bk 3) by Lori Handeland

The third book in the series opens again with a different main character. We've met her before, the prim and proper Doctor Elise Hanover, the virologist trying to find a cure for lycanthropy.

The book opens with Elise's long-lost love paying her a visit. Unfortunately, her long lost love is now an FBI agent, with questions. So we already have an idea of what the love story is going to be, right? Right. And whatever you are predicting in your head is pretty much the way it goes: They can't, they must, okay just this once but never again, okay maybe one more time, they can't, they might, they miscommunicate, they can't, they communicate, they definitely can't, okay maybe one more time, more miscommunication, ad nauseum.

But the plot doesn't go where I thought it would go. So that part isn't predictable. And it's a good plot. More supernatural woo woo stuff, but this is a book about werewolves, so what do we expect. Right? The plot worked for me.

Dark Moon also gives us some more of Edward's backstory, though it probably creates as many questions as it answers. But, it goes a long way towards giving us answers that are part of the long term series plot. And that always makes for a better series.

I'm giving Dark Moon an 8 of 10. I am also going to give the series an 8 of 10 after reading the first three books.

Book Rating: 8 of 10
Series Rating: 8 of 10






Blue Moon (2004)
Hunter's Moon (2005)
Dark Moon (2005)
Crescent Moon (2006)
Midnight Moon (2006)
Rising Moon (2007)
Hidden Moon (2007)
Thunder Moon (2008)

Hunter's Moon (Nightcreature Novel, Bk 2) by Lori Handeland

This series is apparently going to jump around as to who the main character is. The main character in the last book is in this book, but she's a supporting character this time. That threw me at first, as I was reading "me" as it being Jesse and was a bit confused, and then someone called her Leigh and I realized what the problem was.

The premise here is that Leigh's family and fiance' were brutally killed by werewolves and now she's a werewolf hunter. Her life is strictly about killing them. Revenge. There is no other purpose in her life, and she does not really care if she lives or dies. She says this gives her an edge, as her enemies realize she'll die before she lets them live. She's found a way to cope with the past, and she thinks that this is probably as good as it's ever going to get. This is her life. She goes from town to town and kills werewolves. She was trained by the best, our friend Edward Mandenauer.

And she works alone. That is, until Edward orders her to train Jesse, the main character from our last book. Leigh refuses, but Edward tells her she doesn't have a job if she doesn't do it. So, she packs her things and heads that way.

There isn't much more I can say that won't be a spoiler, so I'll stop there. I enjoyed this book even more than the first, and there were no glaring flaws this time that made me have to suspend belief.

I'm giving the book an 8 of 10. I am also going to give the series an 8 of 10 after reading only two books, but part of that is because after reading the excerpt for the beginning of the third book I am convinced the series is likely to hold my attention in a good way.

I bought the first two books in this series to try it out, based on my enjoyment of Any Given Doomsday, the first book of The Phoenix Chronicles. I'm going to buy the next three books in the Nightcreature series and see how I like them before buying the final three.


Book Rating: 8 of 10
Series Rating: 8 of 10





Blue Moon (2004)
Hunter's Moon (2005)
Dark Moon (2005)
Crescent Moon (2006)
Midnight Moon (2006)
Rising Moon (2007)
Hidden Moon (2007)
Thunder Moon (2008)

Blue Moon (Nightcreature Novel, Bk 1) by Lori Handeland

This book had one very major flaw, but I liked it anyway. More on the flaw later.

First, what I liked: I liked the characters, and while this isn't my favorite myth (werewolves are evil and have no choice of being good or evil once bitten), it works well into the story and the world that is created.

I liked Jessie. I liked that she is different and she's okay with that. She knows who she is, knows what her strong points are and her weak points, and she likes herself just as she is.

And Will seriously grew on me as the book continued. Yeah, he was pretty sure of himself, didn't take no for an answer, and all of that Alpha Male thing we see so often. But he was also failing in self confidence in other ways, and that made him more realistic. (Select the spoiler text to view it.)

As for Mandenauer, I seriously liked him once we got to know him. His life has made him cold and untrusting, but he's managed to still be alive. And a serious bad-ass.

As for the plot, I did kind of know that the bad guys were going to end up being the bad guys. Or rather, I thought, but wasn't sure. It would have been my guess if forced to guess. But that doesn't take away from the book any. It was a very enjoyable read.

Now for the flaw. The premise of the book is that there is this ancient Native American ritual that has to take place between the two moons of the same month. The second moon in a month is called a Blue Moon. But, that's strictly a gregorian calendar thing. Or rather, a calendar that is based on the sun instead of the moon.

The Native belief systems worked on a moon calendar, not a solar one. Ancient Native Americans would have no idea that someday a calendar would show up so that two full moons could happen in a month. The word month derives from moon. As in, a moon cycle. That's the way it worked when the calendar was based on the moon. Back then, a blue moon was impossible. So, to my knowledge, there aren't any ancient Native American rituals around a Blue Moon.

Like I said. A serious flaw. But in spite of that, it was an enjoyable book. I had to suspend belief for that though, and that hurt my enjoyment of it. So, it gets a 7 of 10 instead of an 8 of 10.

Book Rating: 7 of 10






Blue Moon (2004)
Dark Moon (2005)
Hunter's Moon (2005)
Crescent Moon (2006)
Midnight Moon (2006)
Rising Moon (2007)
Hidden Moon (2007)
Thunder Moon (2008)

Any Given Doomsday (Phoenix Chronicles Book 1) by Lori Handeland

This book is due to be released November 4, 2008. I managed to get my hands on an ARC though, and I liked it. Quite a bit.

The premise is a psychic who has had some job troubles because of her gift. Liz was once a cop but is working as a bartender when we meet her.

We learn that she grew up in a foster home, with a wonderful foster mother. When her foster mother is murdered Liz gets thrown into the middle of things and discovers that humans aren't as close to the top of the food chain as she'd believed.

This book has werewolves and vampires and dhampirs and skinwalkers and a whole host of creatures from the bible and various mythologies and even a few fairy tales just for good measure.

Plenty of action and adventure, some violence, some gore, some mystery, some romance, and some sex. I appreciated the characters. And I really enjoyed learning things as Liz learned them. This is a new series, so we're learning the rules of this universe at the same time the main character is learning about things she would really rather not know. I enjoyed watching her learn, since the teaching process here was a good bit different than we've seen in other series.

Series Rating: This is the first book of the series so I can't give it a level yet. The first book had a great plot, and I can see a million different ways for the author to continue on with this series and keep things fresh and new. I look forward to reading the next book in the series.

Book Rating: 8 out of 10 

Books in The Phoenix Chronicles

1. Any Given Doomsday November 2008

2. Doomsday Can Wait   May 2009