The librarian usually sends out links for each months topic. This month, her links include an article titled something like "what is urban fantasy" that only says it's a marketing category and a list of "where to start" that has more male authors than female authors. I, just, I don't know, ya'll. If I were introducing someone to UF, I'd probably talk about the use of noir tropes in contemporary fantasy settings, broken vs unbroken masquerades, and Carrie Vaughn's theory, "these books are symptomatic of an anxiety about women and power." But, sure, here's a dude saying it's meaningless marketing and a list of mostly dudes to read.

The other big UF reader in the group is going to be out of town for this one, so I'm trying to psych myself up to deal with a room full of guys all talking about Harry Fucking Dresden. 

I'm also bounding myself by recommending in-progress series or stand alone books. A few months back, one of the members asked for recommendations for completed UF series that weren't PNR, and I want to avoid repeats. Okay, he didn't say PNR, he asked for books that weren't all about vampire sex. So at least one person may have some non-Dresden. . . take a deep breathe, Saturdays, you don't want to start another fight in book club.

Whatever. I love this genre. 

Shadowshaper - Daniel José Older. So far this series has 2 novels and 3 novellas and is dynamite. The protagonist is an artist who discovers her legacy includes channeling spirits into physical forms. She makes her graffiti come alive. Yeah, that's right, I talk all that shit and then start off with a book by a man.

Owl and the Japanese Circus - Kristi Charish. Action packed with an unlikable heroine, this series follows an antiquities thief and her vampire hunting cat through endless poor decisions and explosions. I adore that she isn't good with weapons and doesn't have powerful magic abilities. I just recently finished the 4th installment, and the heroine is consistently a train wreck.

Zero Sum Game (Russell's Attic) (Volume 1) - SL Huang. Fast paced, plenty of violence, and her magic power is being really good at math. Do I need to go on? 

Drink, Slay, Love - Sarah Beth Durst. A teenage vampire gets stabbed by a unicorn and finds herself able to go out in daylight. Her family decides to enroll her in high school so she can lure teens back to the rest of the bloodsuckers. This is a lighthearted, almost rom-com book that is exactly as much fun as my first sentence indicates.

Broken Monsters - Lauren Beukes. The protagonists are all human in this not-quite police procedural where strange murders point toward incomprehensible motives.

 And I think I'll stop there. I really want to add about 10 more books. We'll see where the night leads.

Owl (former archeology student Alix), is a well-paid antiquities thief. A year ago, she stumbled into the hidden world of supernatural creatures, accidentally killing a vampire in the process. Now she’s on the run, and it looks like her only way out of the mess is to make a bargain with a powerful dragon. Trusting only her best friend, Nadya, and a man who could break her heart, Ryan, she sets off on a dangerous journey, one that most likely will leave her dead.

Follow review teammate, Una, raves about this unique and interesting urban fantasy series, so I decided to give it a try on audio. Overall, I enjoy the mythology and storyline behind The Adventures of Owl series. I appreciate that Owl is a flawed human and makes mistakes. She is intelligent, but not always smart, which makes her a more realistic heroine. 

However, the very things I like about Owl also caused problems for me. She can be reckless and juvenile at times. Her character is inconsistent: at times smart and others not as much. She doesn’t seem to learn from her missteps. For example, the fact that she doesn’t walk away and hide from an online “friend” makes NO SENSE. She’s super careful, private, and protective, yet keeps going back to him, even though he is stalking her. Also, knowing how concerned she is with privacy, how can she NOT have any security lock on her phone? Again, an inconsistency of character.

The narration by Christy Romano was a mixed bag for me. I enjoyed her narrator voice, which is fitting for the first person heroine. I started listening at 1.25x speed, but upped it to 1.5x after about five chapters. Ms. Romano does well with accents, however, at times they seems to drop. So when the dialogue is quick and clipped, both Nadya and Ryan’s voices sound very much the same. Also, Ryan loses his masculine sound at times, and it sounds like Owl is talking to herself. Overall, I like most voices, but the only voice I'm not fond of is the Red Dragon. It's described as perfect Western with no hints of Japanese. But it's too feminine. It doesn't suit a bad ass dragon.

Overall, I liked Owl and the Japanese Circus and the premise behind the series enough that I want to listen to the second book. I’m hoping Owl will begin to mature and develop into a more solid character, which seemed to be lacking in this first title.

My Rating: C+

Narration: B-

I liked it. A lot. 

Owl is a retriever of old artifacts or if you would like, a thief of cultural heritage. While this is a not-so-save line of business at the best of times Owl's work gets complicated by supernatural things like vampires, nagas, ghosts and now she's working for a dragon to retrieve some dangerous scroll. 

Owl was a very likable character, it has been a while since I read one of those. Although she has symptoms of being the special snowflake we've all come to hate and despite her self proclaimed (and okay, I'll have to agree with her) less than desirable social skills she was a lot of fun to read. Not in the least because she's the reason why the side characters, who are equally fun and mysterious, are together in the first place. My personal favorite: Captain the cat, who's able to smell vampires and obviously runs the whole operation...

When Owl is hunting scrolls and other artifacts she's playing an online game together with another very interesting character, Carpe. Exactly who he is isn't clear at this point but I read that he will properly introduced (as a real character) in the next book. Something I'm already looking forward to.

Which brings me to the story, which was entertaining, but not as good as the characters. There were perhaps a bit too many people hunting Owl down for too many reasons, and the love subplot I could have done without (as usual). However, I was very pleasantly surprised by this novel and will certainly read the sequel. Someday, when I have the time.

Owl and the Japanese Circus is the first of The Adventures of Owl. The second book, Owl and the City of Angels has recently been published. 

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review! 

Owl and the Japanese Circus is a wild romp through mythology and pop culture, featuring a relic hunter who makes a habit of getting in over her head. Hey, what relic hunter doesn’t? The book has it all: vampires, naga, shapeshifting CEO dragons and MMORPGs. It’s even got a cat! Actually, the cat has kind of a major role in the book. It’s Indiana Jane meets Shadowrun meets True Blood meets… well, you get the idea. This is the kind of book where you need popcorn!

In her debut novel Kristi Charish takes the readers to the secret world of the antiquities procurement and theft:

 Owl is an ex-archaeology grad student but don't let the ex part full you, she has turned her skills into one of the best international antiquities thief in the world. She never meets with her clients face to face, she always gets money up front and she absolutely will not work with paranormal creatures. After completing a job her current higher wants a meeting face to face, and she is not in any position to say no. She also learns that not only has she learned that the jobs she was doing for Mr. Kurosawa, were for a paranormal creature, she learns she has been working for a Dragon and this Dragon is about to make an offer that Owl cannot refuse, it could lead to her having a normal life again. Owl heads around the world in search of ancient scrolls that have the ability to change the world.

For me this was just an okay debut novel, I mean there is a Dragon in it and if there is a Dragon in UF for some reason I am drawn to read the book. I think maybe this is due to them being an under used creature in the UF setting that makes me hope that this UF/paranormal read will be something unique and different. It was nice to also see vampires in this book (and they were not all the beautiful ect kind) but it was nice that they took a back seat to some of the other creature that are not as common and some I have never heard of before, which I am always on the search for.

I'm not 100% sure about the world that Charish created. It is mainly about keeping the paranormal/fantasy creatures a secret from human society, and it appears that those humans who discover them, mainly through archeology sites, are basically told you know nothing and by the way we are going to ruin your career as well. I mean if they wanted to keep these people silent, I can think of a few better ways to achieve this. And the over seeing body of all this is the International Archaeology Association (IAA) is supposed to be this powerful association. Granted we do not have any interaction with the IAA in this novel other than Owl telling something about her past experiences, but I personally just find it hard to believe.

My favourite thing in the book is Captain. Yep Owl's cat lol. He had his own personality and who doesn't love a cat that can take down a Vampire by himself. Seems like a cat I would like to have, you know just in case.

This was an okay debut novel for me and I felt like Charish really wrapped up the book in the end so there was not much of a cliffhanger that makes me desperate to read the next book in the series. It is one of those reads that if I move onto the next book good, if not I don't think I will be overall disappointment as to not knowing where Owl goes from here, and I guess that in itself sums up my feelings about this book.

Enjoy!!!