Owl and the City of Angels by Kristi Charish

The second adventure of antiquities thief, Owl, is even better than the first!  Kristi Charish and Owl are the newest editions to our must-read list.

Title:  Owl and the City of Angels
Author:  Kristi Charish
Series: The Adventures of Owl Book 02
Publish Date:  October 5, 2015
Genre:  Urban Fantasy
Source: NetGalley

Publisher’s Description: The wild second adventure for unforgettable antiquities thief Owl—a modern-day “Indiana Jane” who reluctantly navigates the hidden supernatural world—from the pen of rising urban fantasy star Kristi Charish. For fans of Kim Harrison, Jim Butcher, Jennifer Estep, Jenn Bennett, and the like.

Alix Hiboux, better known as Owl, international antiquities thief for hire, is settling into her new contract job for Vegas mogul Mr. Kurosawa, a red dragon with a penchant for ancient, supernatural artifacts. And now he has his sights set on some treasures of the mysterious Syrian City of the Dead that are sitting in a recluse’s private collection.

There’s just one wrinkle. To stop the resurrection of an undead army that could wreak havoc on Los Angeles, Owl must break into a heavily guarded archaeological sight in one of the most volatile regions in the world. A detour through Libya and a run-in with Somali pirates sends the clock ticking hastily toward total paranormal disaster.

Meanwhile, Alexander and the Paris vampires have stopped stalking Owl’s apartment, but they have by no means forgotten their death grudge against her. To top everything off, Owl finds out the hard way that there is nothing heavenly about the City of Angels…

Possible spoilers beyond this point.

 

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Nervous Nellie says…

“Planes clipping sand dunes?  Let me cross that off your bucket list for you; doesn’t matter if you’re strapped in, it still hurts like a son of a bitch.”

“As a collective species, isn’t there something better we could come up with? Nope. Over five thousand years, and all we’ve managed are mummies, zombies, and a handful of walking skeletons.”

Zombies, Mummies and Jinn, OH MY!

You know how sometimes sequels are never as good as the original?  Yeah, not in this case.  This story is awesome and I am already begging for Owl #3.  It kept me strapped to my chair and madly page turning until the end and the end wasn’t exactly a cliffhanger, but there is one member of the cast that has been cat napped, I mean, kidnapped and Owl is not a happy girl.

In the first book, I said that Owl had relationship issues.  She takes her friends feelings and totally blows them off.  Now that I’m finished with book #2,  I’m not sure it’s on purpose.  I think she’s just that unaware.  Owl changed a lot for me in this book.  She’s finally approaching the threshold of “getting it”.  Owl has serious self esteem issues and I think she might be on the road to realizing those feeling are not true.  She’s good at what she does, even though it’s thieving.  She knows her artifacts and her history.  She makes archeology exciting.  But then again, being chased by vampires, zombies and mummies would lead to a certain amount of excitement, don’t you think?

Rynn is still a mystery.  He’s been around for a thousand years and he’s taken with a 27 year old human.  Yeah, yeah – old argument, I know.  I’ll forgo my soapbox in lieu of romance.  I like Rynn, but he’s a secret keeper.  He tells Owl he can’t tell, but I’m not so sure.

Carpe Diem.  The elf.  Where do I start on him?  He’s a huge mystery.  He needs a spell book, but doesn’t say why other than life or death.  How come a supernatural needs a human’s help?  Something going on there, but I don’t know what.

World Quest.  How do these guys/gals…..supernaturals….humans ….whatever….know all about dig sites and artifacts and where they are hidden and stuff enough to build a game around?  Hmm?  How do they have all the maps and how are they accurate enough Owl can use them in her heists?  I have all sorts of theories, but I know better than to put them into print.  I’ll just embarrass myself when the real story is revealed.

The author is a writing maniac.  She had my attention from Chapter 1 til Epilogue.  Fast paced and enough twists and turns to give a person whiplash.  THIS is what I call adventure!!

Invested Ivana says…

“You know, sometimes I think the universe sits around waiting for me to say I’ll never do something, then comes up with fun and interesting ways to throw me in that exact situation.  You suck sometimes, universe.  Seriously.”

What a lot of fun!  In the second Adventure of Owl, Owl, Nadya, Rynn, and Captain set out to discover who is removing artifacts from the City of the Dead — items that curse any human who touch them.  Whoever is stealing them is impersonating Owl and everyone is after her — the IAA, the vampires, other supernaturals, and a Big Bad who is as yet unknown.

Throughout the story we learn a lot more about Owl’s troubles as an archaeology student that lead to her becoming an antiquities thief and just how insidious and evil the IAA–the governing body for archaeology worldwide–can be.  We also learn a bit more, though not everything, about Rynn’s nature as an incubus.  Owl seems to be growing as a person — she still does stupid, stupid things, despite her friend’s and employer’s instructions to the contrary; but, she’s learning to admit to her own mistakes and make smarter choices… sometimes. 🙂

And there are several threads left hanging for future books, such as the life-or-death reason Carpe needed the Egyptian spellbook, and just who is behind the way-too-accurate World Quest game. I can’t wait to see what Owl and her friends get up to next!

Other reviews…

• Fantasy Findings
  Hidden In Pages
  So I Read This Book Today

If you like this book…

… you might like the Raine Benares series by Lisa Shearin, the Immortal Vegas series by Jenn Stark, or the Alex Verus series by Benedict Jacka.