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brianne_k's review against another edition
3.0
*3/5*
This was a decent paranormal urban fantasy book.
I loved Kristi Charish's Voodoo Killing/Kincade Strange series and I missed her writing so I figured I'd give this series a try.
Owl was an antiquities major when *stuff* happened and she is now an antiquities thief/relic hunter She is contacted by Mr. Kurasawa.. who is a dragon.. to steal an egg artifact and a scroll.
Along the way we meet all sorts of supernatural beings such as vampires, incubus, naga, skinwalkers, and more.
Owl did start to get on my nerves and I would roll my eyes at how she treated people and reacted to situations..
If I have to read "train wreck.. whore.." again, I'll claw my eyes out.
Nadya is her best friend and was great. I also loved Captain, Owl's cat who attacked and hated vampires.
I'll eventually be continuing this series.
This was a decent paranormal urban fantasy book.
I loved Kristi Charish's Voodoo Killing/Kincade Strange series and I missed her writing so I figured I'd give this series a try.
Owl was an antiquities major when *stuff* happened and she is now an antiquities thief/relic hunter She is contacted by Mr. Kurasawa.. who is a dragon.. to steal an egg artifact and a scroll.
Along the way we meet all sorts of supernatural beings such as vampires, incubus, naga, skinwalkers, and more.
Owl did start to get on my nerves and I would roll my eyes at how she treated people and reacted to situations..
If I have to read "train wreck.. whore.." again, I'll claw my eyes out.
Nadya is her best friend and was great. I also loved Captain, Owl's cat who attacked and hated vampires.
I'll eventually be continuing this series.
cheesygiraffe's review against another edition
4.0
Excellent first book. I can't wait for her to continue this series.
mxsallybend's review against another edition
3.0
Fans of urban fantasy who are looking for something a little different, something that injects new life into the genre, will find a lot to enjoy with Owl and the Japanese Circus. On the surface, it contains all the elements we've come to expect - a feisty heroine, exotic locales, danger, and supernatural romance - but Kristi Charish puts a very human spin on it all that makes for a different sort of read.
As the story opens, we learn that Owl is a disgraced archaeological student, on the run from a contingent of Parisian vampires. A dig went bad, supernatural activity had to be covered up, and she was in the right place at the right time to take the blame. As a result, she's been reduced to a life of looting artifacts for the highest bidder, all while trying to stay off the radar. While so many of her genre contemporaries either take the supernatural for granted, or are supernaturally touched themselves, Owl has a massive blind spot for creatures of myth.
While she's just as headstrong and defiant as we've come to expect from women of the genre, she's also incredibly foolish, embarrassingly careless, and next-to-useless in a fight. Owl gets double-crossed, trapped, and captured on a regular basis, and get beaten up on a regular basis. She's a woman who doesn't believe in plans, and who doesn't have the patience to follow through on them anyway. It all makes for a read that's alternately exciting and exasperating, as we're left cringing again and again. Had she been any other heroine, I would have lambasted Charish for being so transparent with some of her clues (especially the online RPG angle in the latter half), but it's perfectly within Owl's character not to make the connections.
As for the supernaturals, I really like what we're offered here. Yes, there are vampires, but they're only one race of monsters. We also get beautiful nymphs (who are way too efficient at disposing of dead bodies), horrific skinwalkers (who, quite literally, wear your flesh as a disguise), succubi and incubi (who show up in the oddest places), snakes (who make for one of the best catacomb escape scenes I've read in years), ghosts (whose existence is both painful and heartbreaking), and a dragon (who has the single greatest lair/horde in contemporary fantasy).
It's a fast paced tale, full of snarky dialogue, and well-choreographed action scenes. We rarely get a moment to catch our breath, but there are plenty of moments of comic relief, often originating with Owl's inability to stop baiting those who can so easily destroy her. There is, of course, a romance involved (where things are never quite what they seem), along with the requisite sidekick (a clever best friend) and animal companion (an anti-vampire cat). While it is predictable in parts, and I constantly wanted to ask Owl how she could be so oblivious, I will say that the final reveal was both well done and genuinely surprising.
Clearly, we've just scratched the surface of Owl's career here, with plenty of seeds planted for future installments. Charish has managed to do something impressive with Owl and the Japanese Circus, reigniting my excitement for a genre that had become tiresome and repetitive. So long as Owl retains her feisty independence, the archaeology remains central to the story, and the supernatural angle is kept fresh and exciting, I'd definitely be interested in further adventures.
Originally reviewed at Beauty in Ruins
As the story opens, we learn that Owl is a disgraced archaeological student, on the run from a contingent of Parisian vampires. A dig went bad, supernatural activity had to be covered up, and she was in the right place at the right time to take the blame. As a result, she's been reduced to a life of looting artifacts for the highest bidder, all while trying to stay off the radar. While so many of her genre contemporaries either take the supernatural for granted, or are supernaturally touched themselves, Owl has a massive blind spot for creatures of myth.
While she's just as headstrong and defiant as we've come to expect from women of the genre, she's also incredibly foolish, embarrassingly careless, and next-to-useless in a fight. Owl gets double-crossed, trapped, and captured on a regular basis, and get beaten up on a regular basis. She's a woman who doesn't believe in plans, and who doesn't have the patience to follow through on them anyway. It all makes for a read that's alternately exciting and exasperating, as we're left cringing again and again. Had she been any other heroine, I would have lambasted Charish for being so transparent with some of her clues (especially the online RPG angle in the latter half), but it's perfectly within Owl's character not to make the connections.
As for the supernaturals, I really like what we're offered here. Yes, there are vampires, but they're only one race of monsters. We also get beautiful nymphs (who are way too efficient at disposing of dead bodies), horrific skinwalkers (who, quite literally, wear your flesh as a disguise), succubi and incubi (who show up in the oddest places), snakes (who make for one of the best catacomb escape scenes I've read in years), ghosts (whose existence is both painful and heartbreaking), and a dragon (who has the single greatest lair/horde in contemporary fantasy).
It's a fast paced tale, full of snarky dialogue, and well-choreographed action scenes. We rarely get a moment to catch our breath, but there are plenty of moments of comic relief, often originating with Owl's inability to stop baiting those who can so easily destroy her. There is, of course, a romance involved (where things are never quite what they seem), along with the requisite sidekick (a clever best friend) and animal companion (an anti-vampire cat). While it is predictable in parts, and I constantly wanted to ask Owl how she could be so oblivious, I will say that the final reveal was both well done and genuinely surprising.
Clearly, we've just scratched the surface of Owl's career here, with plenty of seeds planted for future installments. Charish has managed to do something impressive with Owl and the Japanese Circus, reigniting my excitement for a genre that had become tiresome and repetitive. So long as Owl retains her feisty independence, the archaeology remains central to the story, and the supernatural angle is kept fresh and exciting, I'd definitely be interested in further adventures.
Originally reviewed at Beauty in Ruins
colorfulleo92's review against another edition
4.0
A fun urban fantasy adventure with a plot that made me stay interested all way through. Can't wait for more
blodeuedd's review against another edition
4.0
Now there is the whole should I review this differently cos it was an audio book thing...
Let's do that, first up story:
Alix got screwed over and now she hunts for treasures for other people. I am not that happy about that, but I liked her too much to stay mad. If I were to dislike a fault it is the fact that she never listens and rushes in, she is too headstrong and wants to save everyone.
Vampires after after her because of a botched job. A dragon hires her for another. And she does not even likes supernaturals (but it seems that when you dig for treasures you will come across them and your world will never be the same.)
She has a cat for a sidekick, yay.
She has some feelings for this guy.....can't say more.
She has a friend in Japan, and she totally needs good friends because she is trouble.
Oh and she plays way too much Warquest (I forgot the name of the made up game, was it this), but that was actually fun to hear about.
I liked her, I enjoyed the story.
Now to the narration.
Hmm, what to say. Well the narrator did an excellent job. They really make it or break it for me. She was great and I enjoyed listening to her voice. Sometimes the accents were a bit..hmm, but overall amazing job.
And now I do not know what else to say about the narration...it did make me want to listen to book 2 like this too. But then reading is fun and goes faster ;)
A great start to this series.
Let's do that, first up story:
Alix got screwed over and now she hunts for treasures for other people. I am not that happy about that, but I liked her too much to stay mad. If I were to dislike a fault it is the fact that she never listens and rushes in, she is too headstrong and wants to save everyone.
Vampires after after her because of a botched job. A dragon hires her for another. And she does not even likes supernaturals (but it seems that when you dig for treasures you will come across them and your world will never be the same.)
She has a cat for a sidekick, yay.
She has some feelings for this guy.....can't say more.
She has a friend in Japan, and she totally needs good friends because she is trouble.
Oh and she plays way too much Warquest (I forgot the name of the made up game, was it this), but that was actually fun to hear about.
I liked her, I enjoyed the story.
Now to the narration.
Hmm, what to say. Well the narrator did an excellent job. They really make it or break it for me. She was great and I enjoyed listening to her voice. Sometimes the accents were a bit..hmm, but overall amazing job.
And now I do not know what else to say about the narration...it did make me want to listen to book 2 like this too. But then reading is fun and goes faster ;)
A great start to this series.
carlylarsson's review against another edition
4.0
Finally finished this book between all my school work. It was a great escape into a world that I would describe as a cross between Indiana Jones and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The book was a great fun escape, and even after accidentally reading the third book in this series first I was still surprised by its plot twists. The only flaw, the character development left a something to be desired.
ashkitty93's review against another edition
4.0
3.5 stars, rounded up because I'm nice like that.
I really had a good time with this book -- Owl knows her shit but she's not perfect by any means, in fact a lot of things that happen in the book are because she screwed something or other up. She deals with supernatural creatures ranging from dragons to nagas to vampires to nymphs, all while trying to figure out an ancient puzzle (and some intense gaming on the side when she hits a roadblock). She has a sassy cat and even sassier best friend, and a love interest I was actually on board with (score one for urban fantasies). Some of the misdirection may have been a tad predictable, but I enjoyed the hell out of this book.
The one thing I didn't like was the (sometimes copious) amount of spelling and grammatical errors. They seemed to pick up somewhere around the halfway point or so, and ranged from a letter missing to a completely different word in place of the word that should have been used -- I would cite examples but it's 10:30 at night and I'm tired and lazy and don't want to nitpick about stupid little things that got on my nerves.
Regardless of the mistakes (which really ought to be chalked up to an editor who was asleep on the job), I'm definitely looking forward to picking up the second book!
I really had a good time with this book -- Owl knows her shit but she's not perfect by any means, in fact a lot of things that happen in the book are because she screwed something or other up. She deals with supernatural creatures ranging from dragons to nagas to vampires to nymphs, all while trying to figure out an ancient puzzle (and some intense gaming on the side when she hits a roadblock). She has a sassy cat and even sassier best friend, and a love interest I was actually on board with (score one for urban fantasies). Some of the misdirection may have been a tad predictable, but I enjoyed the hell out of this book.
The one thing I didn't like was the (sometimes copious) amount of spelling and grammatical errors. They seemed to pick up somewhere around the halfway point or so, and ranged from a letter missing to a completely different word in place of the word that should have been used -- I would cite examples but it's 10:30 at night and I'm tired and lazy and don't want to nitpick about stupid little things that got on my nerves.
Regardless of the mistakes (which really ought to be chalked up to an editor who was asleep on the job), I'm definitely looking forward to picking up the second book!