Owl and the Tiger Thieves by Kristi Charish

Owl and the Tiger Thieves (The Owl, #4)

by Kristi Charish

In this fourth Owl novel, Kristi Charish (The Voodoo Killings) melds sparkling fantasy with the grit of urban underbelly—with a detour through the world’s most spectacular cities. This is perfect for fans of Kim Harrison, Jim Butcher, Jennifer Estep, Jenn Bennett, and fantasy lovers everywhere.

Through no fault of her own, Alix has found herself essential to the fate of the world as we know it. She didn’t mean for this to happen—she was quite happy being merely the notorious antiquities thief, and ex-archeologist, known as Owl.

However, years ago, Owl reluctantly entered the secret world of the supernatural. Her goals: complete one job, escape one bounty on her head, continue her thieving in peace.

Fast forward to today. Now, she has become a key player in a brutal paranormal civil war that is rapidly getting out of hand. The leader of one of these factions—a lethal opponent called the Electric Samurai—grows more powerful by the second. To stop him, Owl sets out to find the long-lost, legendary group known as the Tiger Thieves.

But will it be too little too late? One thing Owl misses about “normal” archaeology: there are few emergencies with thousand-year-old relics.

Reviewed by kimbacaffeinate on

4 of 5 stars

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When our story opens, Owl is imprisoned in a haunted pirate prison. Since her boyfriend became trapped in the armor known as the Electric Samurai, she has been on a quest to hunt down the legendary group known as the Tiger Thieves. This group might have the power to save Ryann and stop the Samurai. Gathering ancient relics with clues to their whereabouts brings plenty of action and pushes our protagonist. Everything is going according to plans, well sort of, until Artemis, Rynn's cousin shows up to save her.

As the Electric Samurai becomes more powerful, Owl's hunt for the Tiger Thieves intensifies, and readers are in for an action-packed ride. Owl ends up having Artemis tag along as they jump the globe bringing us such delightful encounters as a rather unpleasant visit with Leonardo da Vinci, yes that DaVinci, a pissed off Gorgon and more. We get updates on principal characters as the author fleshed them out and delivered insight. I enjoyed getting some of Artemis's backstory. Dare I say I am starting to like him? *Gasps* I don't trust him, but yes there is a chink in my armor.

While the rest of the motley crew only had a few scenes together, communications kept us appraised and added suspenseful twists. We encountered some creeptastic supernatural creatures and experienced some terrifying moments thanks to the suits manipulation of the supernatural. I will say, Owl has a knack for pissing them off.  Captain was a bit of a star and scenes had me giggling. He is such a cool cat. Our dragon and snake added demands, but as usual, Owl avoids them.

We see a lot of growth in Owl and most of it was painful. I hated seeing the optimism snuffed from her, but our girl is not a fighter and her "save the world" attitude needed to be balanced with reality. Now that I am listening to the Dresden Files, I think fans of Harry will love our girl Owl.

While I thought the final battle was a little anticlimactic the outcome and an epilogue had my jaw dropping. I am curious to see where this will lead. It was unexpected and certainly has me excited for the next book. This review was originally posted at Caffeinated Reviewer

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  • 8 May, 2018: Reviewed