A review by lucybbookstuff
The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo

adventurous dark mysterious slow-paced

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

4.0

I was hoping for a solid 4 stars, not really expecting better than that, and I'm glad to say that it delivered! It fluctuated a bit throughout, but I definitely landed on 4.

I think Leigh's prose is very beautiful. It was very atmospheric, which doesn't always make for a fun reading experience for me, but it definitely helped my imagination along.

I also really liked the themes in this. Particularly about women helping each other and saving themselves and not depending on men (who can't really be trusted), and the absolute hypocrisy of Catholicism/Christianity/religion, and those who use it for their own ends.

Aaaand I was definitely into the romance. The banter was fantastic and their personalities were so fun together.

The magic was also cool, if mysterious and maybe a bit underdeveloped.

My main complaint is a big one, and it's just that the storytelling was flawed. The pacing was off a lot of the time. Things often weren't explained in a way that I understood. The whole plot of the tournament, while not being as annoying and copy-pasted as other tournament plots, felt pretty flimsy and unnecessary. A lot of the time, the history wrapped up in the story didn't add any substance, at least not for me. This story didn't quite work as a standalone, but I also can't see it being expanded into a series either.

So... yeah. A good book, not a great one. Still love Leigh!