Kristi Charish

3.5/5 stars. Owl is an archeology grad student turned thief who is hired by a red dragon to recover a supernatural antique. Normally she turns down supernatural jobs, but in this case as part of her payment the dragon is going to take care of the vampires who want her dead. It'd be nice to go home instead of living on the run so Owl agrees to this one job and the dragon negotiates a truce. Except not all the vampires abide by the truce, the antique is way more than Owl's been told it is, and show more the dragon is really, really dangerous and is going to eat her if she doesn't stop mouthing off. This book takes you to various places around the world and into archeological sites, and places modern archeology in the context of a world that's long known about the existence of the supernatural. (I really liked that part. It makes absolute sense that archeologists would have discovered evidence of the supernatural, were there any, and that they are part of a body that covers this sort of thing up.) Owl has great friends who call her on her shit, which is always good. This book was a lot of fun.
[I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.] show less

The problem with cats as side-kicks:
“He feinted back and pulled on the leash in an attempt to break my hold and get back to Charles. Nope, not desensitized. Getting better at manipulation.“

A quick archeological romp through dig sites, casinos and couple of world-class cities. It’s a fun ride and with enough spark to distinguish itself in a genre full of stereotypes. I’ll have to admit; at the beginning I was struck by the resemblance to Indiana Jones. Not because of the amazing show more character charisma; actually, Owl is generally short on people skills. More because the plot sped along with so many entertaining events, I didn’t mind a couple of logic or character derailments and focused on just enjoying the ride.

In brief: Owl has become an archeology thief after being bounced from her graduate program for political reasons. Constantly on the move because of vampires seeking revenge for a job gone bad, she gets an offer she can’t refuse, no matter how much she would like to. Success– she gets paid and the vampires off her trail. Fail–she’ll be eaten by a dragon. She takes the assignment to find and translate a missing scroll, discovering she has competition.

The setting is standard modern urban fantasy: a supernatural world concealed from the normals, with supers living largely intermingled and an international squad designed to keep the magical on the down low. Personally, I’m never troubled by the ins and outs of the secret underworld scenario, and it helps that the supernaturals do not seem so populous as to cause obvious questions. I liked the world building well-enough, and I appreciated the variety of settings. There were a number of “Japanese culture is like this…” and “typical Russian that…” kind of statements, but they largely stood the generalizations on first read–at least, they didn’t appear to be condescending, more cultural generalizations.

“People are real happy to make friends with you when a two-thousand-year-old mummy knocks off half their team, but returning the favor always pisses them off. No one likes to pay up out of the goodness of their heart; that’s why I usually get cash up front.“

Owl is a largely familiar type, an outsider, fractious woman who keeps everyone at arms’ length and focusing on the financial rewards of her work. She reminds me most of Rachel from Kim Harrison’s Hallows series, with all of Rachel’s bravado and lack of reflection. Personally, I ran into a couple of moments where I found myself disliking Owl, but the writing and plotting pulled me through. I think by the end of the story, she experienced some appropriate and logical character growth, and at least she had people that called her out on her decisions. For me, the slight shifts towards reflection made it more rewarding than other UF series such as Morning’s Fever books, where the main character was so consistently unlikeable, I couldn’t get past book one.

The plot moved swiftly and kept me engaged. The archeological sequences were fun, and the setting changed enough to provide variety in what was essentially a series of quest steps. For some people, I suspect a number of deux ex machina solutions will possibly annoy. At critical moments, others prove to have unusual sets of skills that save the day. While it is certainly refreshing not to have a superpower/undiscovered skills–and I have to admit, there are many who do–in this case Owl has more than a little help. Her main trait, and one that most seems to resemble Rachel, is a dogged persistence. I usually end up irritated by the typical head-blind stubbornness. More than once, Owl’s refusal to do some small thing prevents an easy out/rescue/solution. However, it’s also worth noting that this book has a clear ending, while paving the way for future developments.

There are a few moments that push my boundaries of my personal UF acceptability and push it into PNR; descriptions of applying make-up, although at least here its a deception strategy; a preoccupation with labelled clothing, particularly a fascination with Chanel and Ralph Lauren (which are actually labels for an older age group, not the twenty-year-old too hip to see over my hips); an unholy obsession for Corona beer; an addiction to drinking that includes at least a couple drinks a day while a friend complains she “can’t hold her liquor;” and relationship obstacles based on unrevealed truths. Those tropes bother me, but are likely part of the development of the teen-twenty something demographic that many UFs are aiming for. There’s also some more maturely conceived PNR developments with a potentially blossoming relationship, but without enough of primary focus to move it into full PNR territory.

Very rarely, there is a tiny bit of writing that could be smoothed out–for instance, what convenience store 16 year-old clerk would be surprised at ringing up four bags of chips, diet soda, Corona and cat food? Or saying someone is “hard to read” while complaining, “I still didn’t know where he was from.” Because emotional expression is equivalent to past? One final discordance for me was a chapter that focuses on a gaming sequence. I see where it played an overall role, and perhaps part of a character trait, but I don’t know that it fit with the tone of urgency/chase.

That said, I found the writing to be above average for the genre. Overall, it proved a pleasure, and I was glad of its diversion. I’d recommend to fans of Kim Harrison’s Hollows and Faith Hunter’s Jane Yellowrock. Currently projected to sell at $1.99, it’s a bargain price for a quality book. Here’s hoping that Charish is hard at work on the next installment, because I’ll be sure to give it a read.



Many thanks to NetGalley and Gallery Books for providing me an advance copy to review. Quotes are taken from a galley copy and are subject to change in the published edition. Still, I think it gives a flavor of the writing. show less

This was great! I have had this book for years and I am now realizing that I did myself a disservice by ignoring it for so long. I love the Indiana Jones vibe with a supernatural twist of this series. The characters are great and there is even a thread of humor throughout the novel. I definitely think that is a series not to be missed and I am glad that I finally gave it a shot.

Owl is in trouble once again and I couldn’t wait to see how she would be able to get herself out of this newest show more jam. Someone has stolen some important but cursed artifacts and everyone thinks that it was Owl but this is not a theft that she would even consider. Now to prove her innocence she needs to retrieve those items and find the real thief. Owl is definitely in for a challenge and everything proves to be more complicated than she could have ever imagined. There was more than enough action and excitement to go around in this installment and I often found the book difficult to put down.

I really like the characters in this series. It was fun to watch Owl, her cat Champion, Rynn, Nadya, and Carpe try to get to the bottom of things. I liked how this group of characters was able to work together to achieve the mission and keep everyone safe. It is obvious how much each of these characters cares about each other. The fact that there is a whole group of supernatural characters in the mix adds another layer to keep things interesting. Even the cat had something important to add to this entertaining story.

I would highly recommend this book to fans of urban fantasy. I would recommend reading this series in order since this book is built on the events in the previous installment. I am looking forward to reading about Owl’s next adventure!

I received a digital review copy of this book from Gallery, Threshold, Pocket Books via NetGalley. show less

Oh boy, this was an excellent -- almost classic -- urban fantasy.

Rather surprised me; mostly because it was a random library find in with a bunch of cozy mysteries where I thought it was going to be a cozy mystery.

This one had a feisty heroine neither an idiot or so super-powerful it was almost like reading a deus ex machina story. The worldbuilding kept an internal logic and clearly can develop into future books to make a juicy series.

Kincaid Strange is a "practitioner" -- someone who can show more see ghosts, the other side, and raise zombies. I know, *groan*, how many of those series are there? But, this is no Anita Blake ripoff. Kincaid has a life, friends, and a struggling business since the authorities no longer allow law enforcement to use consultants like her and have outlawed raising zombies (even for court appearances). A chance encounter with a newly raised zombie -- not raised by her -- launches a story that held me start to finish.

I want to read more of this world and these characters. show less