Reviews tagging 'Violence'

The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo

63 reviews

persephonefoxx's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious 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? Yes

5.0

But let it be my ambition and not my fear that seals my fate

I knew this was going to be 5 stars from the first paragraph and it did not waver once.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Antisemitism, Torture, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Violence, Death, Death of parent, Physical abuse, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Sexual assault, Infertility, and War

sillyhumantricks's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Antisemitism, Sexual violence, Emotional abuse, Racism, Mental illness, Slavery, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Torture and Violence

cesca_natalia's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Misogyny, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Violence, Torture, and Slavery

stephhaigreads's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence, Sexism, and Torture

midnightrose_reads's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

The Familiar is a beautifully told dark historical fantasy set in the Spanish Golden Age. Leigh Bardugo is a remarkable storyteller who proves with every release why she’s not only one of my favorite authors, but an auto-buy author as well!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Religious bigotry, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Blood, Murder, Physical abuse, Torture, Vomit, Antisemitism, Death, and Grief

Moderate: Sexual content and Cursing

Minor: War

ehmannky's review against another edition

challenging dark hopeful medium-paced

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

4.75

A beautiful, moody historical fiction romance set in 16th-century Spain. Luzia can manifest magic with Ladino phrases and songs, and with the help of the essentially immortal Santangel (the titular familiar), tries to better her station and avoid the snare of the Inquisition. I'm not particularly doing this justice in the description, because it's such a character-driven novel and I'm not capturing how much I loved the characters, romance, and prose. It's a book about desire, and not just sexual. It's about how a life without desire is safe, but stifling, and explores the ways that the "sin" of wanting and living as yourself can be hindered by the world around you and how people carve it from the world anyways. 

Also, I know a lot of people on this review have put this down as a "slow" book, but I didn't feel like it dragged or was particularly slow-paced at all. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry, Death, Violence, Antisemitism, and Torture

torturedreadersdept's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Classism, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Blood, Body shaming, Cursing, Gaslighting, Violence, Confinement, Murder, Physical abuse, Toxic friendship, Vomit, Antisemitism, Body horror, Hate crime, Torture, Dysphoria, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Infidelity, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Abandonment, and Bullying

ljp817's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Physical abuse, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Blood, Death, and Death of parent

Minor: War, Excrement, and Vomit

tonib's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

4.0

“Do you know any real magic? Grand magic? The kind in stories?”
He took her hand, pressed his lips to her knuckles, then he rested their clasped palms against his heart.
“Only this,” he said as morning drew near. “Only this.”

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Death of parent, and Torture

Minor: Antisemitism and Fire/Fire injury

quiet_reader's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Murder, Violence, Religious bigotry, Toxic relationship, Blood, Classism, Gore, Sexism, Antisemitism, and Torture

Moderate: Confinement, Bullying, Alcohol, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Genocide, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Colonisation, Ableism, Mental illness, Islamophobia, Animal cruelty, and Animal death