About the Book

Fans of Kim Harrison, Jim Butcher, and Linda Hamilton will flock to the kick-ass world of Owl, a modern-day “Indiana Jane” who reluctantly navigates the hidden supernatural world.

Ex-archaeology grad student turned international antiquities thief, Alix—better known now as Owl—has one rule. No supernatural jobs. Ever. Until she crosses paths with Mr. Kurosawa, a red dragon who owns and runs the Japanese Circus Casino in Las Vegas. He insists Owl retrieve an artifact stolen three thousand years ago, and makes her an offer she can’t refuse: he’ll get rid of a pack of vampires that want her dead. A dragon is about the only entity on the planet that can deliver on Owl’s vampire problem – and let’s face it, dragons are known to eat the odd thief.

Owl retraces the steps of Mr. Kurosawa’s ancient thief from Japan to Bali with the help of her best friend, Nadya, and an attractive mercenary. As it turns out though, finding the scroll is the least of her worries. When she figures out one of Mr. Kurosawa’s trusted advisors is orchestrating a plan to use a weapon powerful enough to wipe out a city, things go to hell in a hand basket fast…and Owl has to pick sides.

432 pages (paperback)
Published on January 13, 2015
Author’s website
Buy the book

This book was sent for me to review by the publisher.

—

Owl and the Japanese Circus is one of those books I had absolutely no intention of ever reading. I’m not really that into urban fantasy, but I tend to devour it when I have health issues. For some reason it’s the genre that gives my brain a mental “pause” when I need it. I’ve had some health drama recently, and it’s made it really hard for me to read anything incredibly weighty. I ran across this book, and decided to give it a go. I was in the mood, and I went with it.

“Owl” a nickname given to our protagonist, is delightfully different than most protagonists I run across in these type of books. She’s got a real Indian Jones vibe, and her history with archeology and her obvious knowledge regarding ancient artifacts backs it up. She can hold her own, and has an obsession with online RPGs that plenty of people will relate to. Furthermore, she’s not perfect. She’s trigger-happy, and often reacts without thinking. She doesn’t want to wait for things to happen, she just wants them to happen, which causes her to act rashly on occasion.

She’s quirky and unique, but most importantly, she’s real.

The supernatural creatures are just as unique as Owl is. While they do have the charisma, mystery, and the sexual appeal that readers will expect, they are different in many ways. Vampires do play in the plot, but their politics are quite interesting, and their mannerisms are different than I expected. There are nyphs, succubi, incubi, skinwalkers, and just about anything else. All of them are one-of-a-kind, with qualities that you will only find in this book. Owl works companionably with dragons – yes, actual dragons – masquerading in human form. There are plenty of other supernatural creatures that pepper the book, some more obviously than others, and all of them have that telltale unique quality that seems to be standard for what Charish writes.

The world is sprawling, and the history is rich. It’s obvious that Charish loves the topic she’s writing about, and she’s done her research. The fact that a lot of this book deals with nonwestern countries and cultures either directly or indirectly is incredibly refreshing. There is room for Charish to add some layers and depth to her world, but the world itself and the supernatural qualities of it are absolutely addicting, and leave me anxious to read more of what she writes.

The plot is pretty fast paced. In fact, there is rarely a moment where Owl isn’t in the middle of something, or working toward something. There is a surprising amount of tension that keeps getting ramped up as the plot progresses, and there are mysteries within mysteries. While some of these are predictable and can be a touch obvious, they all work together to form a cohesive and gripping plot that will entertain readers as well as keep them guessing.

Owl and the Japanese Circus is a nice balance between fun and tense. It reads almost like a homage to Indian Jones without actually being Indian Jones, and has enough unique qualities to keep just about anyone entertained. Owl is a strong protagonist with believable flaws, readers won’t be able to keep from loving her. There is some very vague sexual tension, which could develop into more in future books, but as with everything else in this novel, the author doesn’t hit readers over the head with it. The ending is well done, and ties all the ends together in a surprising way while planting the seeds for future novels.

In the end, Owl and the Japanese Circus is a book that surprised me and delighted me, and caused me to renew some faith in a genre that I typically don’t take as seriously as I should. Gems like this show me how wrong I am for that.

4/5 stars