A review by tbrthatneverends
The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

The premise of this book is so interesting!! It has a unique setting (during the Spanish Golden Age), and a unique and simplistic magic system - both of which I loved. 

I also loved the complexity of the characters. None are simply good or evil, they're all a mix of both. It's very realistic and I enjoyed that very much. As well as the writing style - it reminded me of an old/original fairy tale, and I don't see many authors writing that way now. 

I had two main issues with this book, though: 

1. The pacing in the beginning was kind of really slow. Like up until almost the torneo, it was pretty slow. 

2. this is kind of more of a personal issue, but some of the Spanish words i had issues finding translations for which had me a bit confused on some words. if I had been reading a paperback instead of on my kindle, I probably would've DNF'd.