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A review by lunsbooks
The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
This was a fairly quick book to read, with an interesting premise, where you can tell the author put in a lot of work and research. I truly enjoy Leigh Bardugo's writing and the athmosphere/setting was my favourite part.
Sadly I just couldn't connect to any of the main characters. The protagonist was actually quite unlikable for me, which is not a problem when executed correctly, but in this case it just made me not care about her story or fate at all. I much preferred secondary characters like Valentina,who had the best character arc in the book in my opinion , or even Santángel.
Overall, not a lot happened for the first 70%, and then it felt as if everything was wrapping up too rapidly in the last 100 pages or so. I did enjoy it for the most part, but I just didn't love it, as I feel like it would've perhaps benefitted from being longer, with the action scenes more evenly spaced throughout.
The romance between Luzia and Santángel was a bit too instantaneous for me, it felt as it there was no build up and the characters went from strangers to being madly in love. I just felt there was no chemistry, and in turn it just made me not care for their relationship.
Sadly I just couldn't connect to any of the main characters. The protagonist was actually quite unlikable for me, which is not a problem when executed correctly, but in this case it just made me not care about her story or fate at all. I much preferred secondary characters like Valentina,
Overall, not a lot happened for the first 70%, and then it felt as if everything was wrapping up too rapidly in the last 100 pages or so. I did enjoy it for the most part, but I just didn't love it, as I feel like it would've perhaps benefitted from being longer, with the action scenes more evenly spaced throughout.
Graphic: Torture, Death, and Antisemitism
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury and Confinement
Minor: Infertility, Death of parent, and War