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wodime 's review for:
The Familiar
by Leigh Bardugo
really and truly Just Okay. i had a decent time, but it's ultimately forgettable. bardugo is a competent writer, but imo, her YA roots really trip her up here: her plot, her characters, and even her prose just aren't sophisticated enough for the familiar's more ambitious themes? she's taking big swings at empire and diaspora and language and religion and faith, but she can't pull any of it off. this isn't a knock on YA, or even on bardugo, really -- she's just not a Themes Writer, and that's fine. still crazy to have a novel set during the spanish inquisition, with a ladino-speaking jewish convert as the protag, be about nothing though.
(i also wonder if bardugo is, like... a big enough name now that she doesn't get edited very much? there are plenty of weirdnesses in here -- insanely long first act, too many POVs, a rushed ending, and for that matter, the lack of real engagement with themes -- that feel like they should've been fixed by a suitably judicious editor. but that's just speculation)
(i also wonder if bardugo is, like... a big enough name now that she doesn't get edited very much? there are plenty of weirdnesses in here -- insanely long first act, too many POVs, a rushed ending, and for that matter, the lack of real engagement with themes -- that feel like they should've been fixed by a suitably judicious editor. but that's just speculation)