A review by annmeyer
The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo

dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious 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

5.0

i would HIGHLY recommend the familiar to anyone who enjoys fantasy, romance, and/or historical fiction. it's an adult stand-alone novel based in late 16th-century Madrid. it's fairly dark, especially considering the historical context of the Spanish Inquisition, but also beautiful and oddly optimistic and hopeful. such a pleasant story to spend time unraveling.

it's one of the best books i've read so far this year and i'm already excited to re-read it again someday (maybe even soon tbh). i can also safely say i will enthusiastically continue to read anything leigh bardugo writes as long as i live. her books only get better and better.

  • a beautiful story with beautiful prose. i was hooked by about 50 pages and didn't want to put it down, but i felt increasingly stressed as i started to near the end; the pacing was really well done overall. i came across so many funny lines or phrases that were simply pleasant on the brain, so much so that i want to go back through and mark them to savor them again and again. 
  • witty and compelling dialogue, from banter and advice down to the framing and sentence structure. reading this right after reading a story with a lot of repetitive and convoluted dialogue felt like a breath of fresh air; i had almost forgotten how good it could be.
  • intriguing and loveable (and despicable) characters, including secondary characters. lots of instances in which you begin to feel sympathetic or suspicious toward unexpected people. some very heartbreaking endings as well as some extremely satisfying ones — even in terms of microcharacters whose stories you learn only in the span of a page or two. 
  • excellent world-building (Spanish Inquisition; class, political, gender issues; religion and family)
  • magic, curses, illusions, language. love a series of trials/competitions between fantastically powerful people. 
  • romance that had me gnawing on the bars of my enclosure and giddily punching the air. did not expect it to be as wonderful as it was.  

just sitting here in awe trying to figure out what to do with myself now
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