Reviews tagging 'Xenophobia'

The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo

28 reviews

narsere's review against another edition

mysterious medium-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Torture, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Sexual content and Death of parent

Minor: Religious bigotry

sarahholliday's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

Part of what makes Bardugo's works so entertaining and enthralling is her belief in the intelligence of her readers. She doesn't over-explain or worry over the details of her world-building, and yet all of her characters and settings feel fully fleshed out and realized. I loved all of the side characters in this story, and the way we see everyone—from kings to servants—tangled and trapped by the specter of empire and zealotry.

As a historian, I appreciated the nuance Bardugo brought to discussions of miracles and witchcraft. It was all very historically accurate, and captured the constant state of peril that those on the margins lived in under the Inquisition.

The frequent and extensive metaphors became a bit tedious, and the third act felt a bit rushed compared to the pace of the beginning, but overall I think The Familiar is an extremely well-crafted story that drew me in and made me fall in love with its cast of beautifully flawed characters.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Antisemitism, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, and Classism

Moderate: Confinement and Dementia

danaaliyalevinson's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

I’m Jewish and have Sephardi ancestors who fled Portugal thanks to the Inquisition. So immediately this book was right up my alley. I felt that the prose had a certain ineffable Jewishness to it. There was a poeticism and this feeling of the weight of history, and worlds being destroyed and created, that seeped through every line.

The magic system. The way language and connection to heritage was used to control the world around Luzia was so beautiful.

I also found the characters incredibly compelling. And the chemistry between Luzia and Santángel was beautiful and also poetic. I felt the book in its entirety did a very good job of balancing really wonderful character development with more plot driven storytelling.

My only criticism is that it felt

that Luzia’s connection to her Jewishness was a dangling character thread that was never fully resolved. I kept expecting her to eventually come to identify with her Jewishness in the way that her Aunt Hualit did. Or at the very least, when she transported herself and Santángel toward the end, that she would transport them to Salonika, or even Ottoman Israel-Palestine, to live among Jews. There was some implication of this with the oranges, but it wasn’t explicit.

If that character thread had been better wrapped up, this would’ve been a 5 star read for me. But it was still wonderful.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Genocide, Hate crime, Infidelity, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Antisemitism, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

ashstrong172's review against another edition

emotional mysterious fast-paced

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

4.75

This book blends the political intrigue and cultural insights of a historical fiction with the excitement of a fantasy. It also features a compelling love story, which I did not expect from the description.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture

Moderate: Mental illness, Racial slurs, Sexism, Sexual content, Xenophobia, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, and Murder

spookylettuce's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

Overall I enjoyed The Familiar with the characters, magic system, intrigue, and ending being highlights for me. I think the most similar reading experience I’ve had was with Nettle and Bone by T. Kingfisher which I also enjoyed a lot (they’re still both very different).
I found Luzia as a character and her character development compelling, circumstances allowing her to be more herself outwards and gain confidence in her abilities. Additionally the development of some other characters and the dynamics between characters leading up to and from the competition onwards.
I don’t always go for such a neat ending, but I did like how full-circle and tied-up the ending was here.
I’ve seen others critique the competition portion and how later on it felt as if it didn’t serve a purpose. But I disagree. I think it allowed for a lot of characterization and narrative tension. Tension of Luzia needing to pass for catholic, pass her abilities as divine, and the underlying intrigue/political tension amongst other things that would be spoilers. It also further defined Luzia’s abilities and how unique/impressive they were. Maybe I also just like that as a setting as a result of a lot of books I’ve read/liked having that element too though.
I also liked how several classic fairytale elements like diverging to be the third person omniscient, small subplot becoming more relevant and full circle (

the playwright

), etc.
I would have liked to see more information about the magic and its history in Luzia’s family in addition to the bits with her parents.

How did her aunt learn everything she taught Luzia? If she wasn’t as magically gifted was it just family oral history being passed down? Was any more of that family oral history shared then? Etc.

I cannot speak to the accuracy of the inquisition or elements of Jewish culture depicted, but it did provide a narrative tension and was interesting.
Additionally, I feel like even with the dire consequences of misusing magic displayed, that had no lasting consequences

other than a man losing his life but even that didn’t feel like it had much gravitas

. Also figuring out how to adapt how Luzia invoked magic nonverbally was just a bit too fast/neat/hand-wavy. Otherwise, I liked the way Luzia worked her magic and the patchwork of language that went into it.
If you liked Nettle and Bone or other slightly darker fairytale element-leaning stories that don’t necessarily have completely happy endings and have strong character dynamics you may enjoy The Familiar.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Torture, Religious bigotry, and Classism

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Xenophobia, and Antisemitism

Minor: War

mynameisrebecca's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Confinement, Death, Physical abuse, Racism, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, and War

Moderate: Miscarriage, Misogyny, and Classism

skillyillian's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

4.5

The only thing I didn't love was how insta-lovey it felt, but considering the situations that they were in when they met, well. It makes sense they'd cling to any form of escape. I did enjoy the ending, and the redemption of someone who starts the book off as a shitty miserable person was very good. I fucking loved this book and if you have the chance then you NEED to go for the audiobook, the narrator did such a wildly phenomenal job. Without a doubt the best audiobook I've ever heard

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Hate crime, Infertility, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Antisemitism, Islamophobia, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

gremlingorl's review against another edition

adventurous dark medium-paced

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

3.75

Takes a little bit to get going, but once you reach the Casilla it’s a fast-paced ride to the end.

This didn’t quite have the historical depth I was hoping for when I first heard about the book. It seemed to be more concerned with dropping real-world accurate names and dates than making the world of Inquisition era Spain feel alive within the story.

Overall, a good, quick read once you get past the first act, but not  the great story I had been expecting.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Torture, Antisemitism, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Xenophobia, Islamophobia, Fire/Fire injury, and Colonisation

During torture sequence

graphic description of waterboarding

bluerskies's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry and Classism

Moderate: Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Antisemitism, Murder, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Minor: Death, Sexual violence, Xenophobia, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury

boutofbibliophilia's review against another edition

dark emotional medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Xenophobia, Antisemitism, and Religious bigotry