Reviews with content warning for Fire/Fire injury - The Familiar

Set in Spanish Golden Age, we follow Luzia, a scullion. She tries not to be seen, but she uses scraps of magic to make life a little easier. But when her mistress discovers that Luzia can perform little miracles, she demands that Luzia uses them to better the family’s social position. But what begins as simple amusements for the bored nobility takes a dark turn when disgraced secretary of the Spanish King, Antonio Pérez, and his familiar, Guillén Santángel, sees her and takes a dark interest in her.

Luzia seizes the chance to better her self, but as her notoriety grows, the danger of her Jewish blood grows as, if she gets found out, the Inquisition’s wrath will be unspeakable. She has to stay several steps ahead. But the rules are always changing in the Spanish court and not everyone gets out alive.

I think I have to finally admit to myself that historical fiction and me aren’t going to get along and I need to stop pushing this genre onto my TBR lists.

I struggle with them. This audiobook took me a month to get through. I started it the week of release, but I really struggled to connect with this. Plus, my brain was all over the place So I couldn’t really focus on this. But, when I did sit down and listen, I found myself bored and not connecting with the characters and the story.

The story felt very slow and quite heavy (at times) for me. I like stories to have some pace when it starts, but it felt as if it took an age for the plot to charge forward. If you are a fan of slower burn of a plot where you get to know the characters, this is for you. But I find I like to know characters when they are doing something or when the plot is moving.

While I wasn’t a fan of the story and the characters (they’re flawed characters, but not exactly likeable. I understood why they behaved the way they did, but I found it them frustrated and every time I found an element of them that I liked, something happened and I would be back at square one with this character), I am a fan of Leigh Bardugo’s writing and it fits so nicely with the audiobook’s narrator, Lauren Fortgang. I know she has read several other books by Bardugo, but this partnership works.

But this wasn’t for me. If you are a fan of historical fiction with an edge of magic, you should check it out. But be warned, it is a slow burn of a plot and can be heavy in places.

As for me, like I said earlier, I think I have to admit that historical fiction, while a genre I like dipping my toe in and out of, isn’t the genre for me. I do have some on my TBR but I have heard really positive things about them so going to take the risk, but am going to go into them with low expectations.

Content Warnings

saucy_bookdragon's review against another edition

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dark emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

"Language creates possibility."

The Familiar is a deeply appropriate name given how familiar the book is. This is literally Shadow and Bone with a Spanish instead of Russian world and if Darklina was canon.

A young, poor girl is without family. She's in a shitty service situation until she discovers she has a miraculous power. This power throws her into a game of politics involving royals and a moody, magical, mysterious, dark man who acts as a love interest and teacher. There's a religious figure manipulating royals and acts as an antagonist. Lots of Catholicism, especially saints. The main character becomes a saintly figure due to manipulation, despite her being an outsider to said faith. Not everyone views her as saintly though, leading to religious conflict.

Add that with Leigh Bardugo's writing style, the medieval setting, and some plot twists that make it even more like SaB, and you get the literary equivalent of deja vu. Now if you're keeping count, this is the fourth time Bardugo has recycled elements of SaB. The Nikolai Duology retread a lot of the same plot points just without Alina and Mal, the Alex Stern books recycle some elements, and she was an executive on the SaB show. Now SaB is one of the mediocre YA series I got attached to as a teenager so I do like it, but it's getting tired.

It doesn't help that unlike those other books (and TV series), The Familiar lacks any particularly interesting characters. Luzia is mostly a reactionary character due to her lack of agency, which leaves fewer opportunities for her personality to shine (not that you can't make a reactionary character interesting, Katniss Everdeen for example. But it does seem to be harder to write), though I liked the little bits we got of her, she's funny and at times unhinged, wish we got more of that and more motive driving her. Santangel is a watered down Darkling (but this time his hair is white). The side characters don't standout either.

The Familiar does beat SaB in regards to having something interesting to discuss. Luzia is Jewish living during a time in Spain with rampant antisemitism, leading to the expulsion and deaths of many. I appreciated the cultural details she included and the discussion of how the Church has used antisemitism. That said, the book's attempts at tackling colonialism and misogyny are shallow.

The magic system is really interesting, more unique than SaB's. It's based around miracle-like magic, making it a soft magic system. The Church is basically holding a monopoly on miracles, so anyone who works magic besides someone in league with them is executed. Not only is it a unique soft magic system but its got a solid historical basis. I do think this theme was done better by Katherine Arden's Winternight Trilogy though (which is also the superior Russian-inspired fantasy to SaB)

The writing is also great though familiar. I wrote down a lot of quotes from this and it was beautiful and went down easy, making an enjoyable read for a long car trip. It also saved the romance, though I don't think the characters have a ton of chemistry, the writing was pretty romantic.

Newer readers to Leigh Bardugo and Darklina shippers might enjoy this, but for me, I'm a bit tired. Bardugo is a great writer, but she needs to get more creative with her plots and characters. Though The Familiar was enjoyable and has some really good elements, it lacks strong characters and is far too familiar.

Also, this line:
"It was too late for us before we ever met."
Is basically the same idea as when pop goddess Carly Rae Jepsen said:
"Before you came into my life I missed you so bad."

Content Warnings

jazhandz's review

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated

3.75

From a pure craft standpoint, Leigh Bardugo’s writing is at a peak in this book. It’s sensory and rich and compelling. The character work is lovely. Where this book falls flat for me is the relationships - and not only the central relationship, but the entirety of the relationships, romantic and platonic and familial and antagonistic. None of them will stick with me in a meaningful way. Which is a shame! I think if this book had stronger relationships it would be an easy favorite. As it is, it was fine.

Content Warnings

becalexa's review against another edition

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4.0

very solid 4 stars! the beginning was a little slow but once it got going i was quite interested. not the most intricate plot ms bardugo has ever written but it certainly had Vibes which i personally think was the point of this story.

Content Warnings

edamamebean's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I loved this book so much, I don’t even know what to do with myself. It was perfect from start to finish, genuinely the best I’ve read from Leigh Bardugo. I’ll be hard pressed to read a book that tops this one all year.

Content Warnings

torturedreadersdept's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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