A review by riththewarluid
The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo

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

3.5

I enjoyed The Familiar quite a bit, but I would not call it Bardugo’s best work. She shines in world building and historical research, which comes through in this book, but for me there was a disjunct between that historical world building and the effect this world had on the main characters. They felt like they were existing in this lush world but not being truly affected by it in any way. I’m think in particular about how religious belief features in the world and is presented as an important facet of the main characters identity but it never seems to really come to any conclusion and even seems to drop off in importance with no explanation. So while I enjoyed it a lot and would recommend it for people interested in a dark alternate history set in the Spanish Inquisition, don’t go into this expecting very much character development from the main two characters; also the romance is extremely rushed and not really fleshed out or explored at all, and that was disappointing. The two main characters are so different and complicated and difficult and I wanted so much more from their relationship. 
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