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A review by saucy_bookdragon
The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
"Language creates possibility."
The Familiar is a deeply appropriate name given how familiar the book is. This is literally Shadow and Bone with a Spanish instead of Russian world and if Darklina was canon.
A young, poor girl is without family. She's in a shitty service situation until she discovers she has a miraculous power. This power throws her into a game of politics involving royals and a moody, magical, mysterious, dark man who acts as a love interest and teacher. There's a religious figure manipulating royals and acts as an antagonist. Lots of Catholicism, especially saints. The main character becomes a saintly figure due to manipulation, despite her being an outsider to said faith. Not everyone views her as saintly though, leading to religious conflict.
Add that with Leigh Bardugo's writing style, the medieval setting, and some plot twists that make it even more like SaB, and you get the literary equivalent of deja vu. Now if you're keeping count, this is the fourth time Bardugo has recycled elements of SaB. The Nikolai Duology retread a lot of the same plot points just without Alina and Mal, the Alex Stern books recycle some elements, and she was an executive on the SaB show. Now SaB is one of the mediocre YA series I got attached to as a teenager so I do like it, but it's getting tired.
It doesn't help that unlike those other books (and TV series), The Familiar lacks any particularly interesting characters. Luzia is mostly a reactionary character due to her lack of agency, which leaves fewer opportunities for her personality to shine (not that you can't make a reactionary character interesting, Katniss Everdeen for example. But it does seem to be harder to write), though I liked the little bits we got of her, she's funny and at times unhinged, wish we got more of that and more motive driving her. Santangel is a watered down Darkling (but this time his hair is white). The side characters don't standout either.
The Familiar does beat SaB in regards to having something interesting to discuss. Luzia is Jewish living during a time in Spain with rampant antisemitism, leading to the expulsion and deaths of many. I appreciated the cultural details she included and the discussion of how the Church has used antisemitism. That said, the book's attempts at tackling colonialism and misogyny are shallow.
The magic system is really interesting, more unique than SaB's. It's based around miracle-like magic, making it a soft magic system. The Church is basically holding a monopoly on miracles, so anyone who works magic besides someone in league with them is executed. Not only is it a unique soft magic system but its got a solid historical basis. I do think this theme was done better by Katherine Arden's Winternight Trilogy though (which is also the superior Russian-inspired fantasy to SaB)
The writing is also great though familiar. I wrote down a lot of quotes from this and it was beautiful and went down easy, making an enjoyable read for a long car trip. It also saved the romance, though I don't think the characters have a ton of chemistry, the writing was pretty romantic.
Newer readers to Leigh Bardugo and Darklina shippers might enjoy this, but for me, I'm a bit tired. Bardugo is a great writer, but she needs to get more creative with her plots and characters. Though The Familiar was enjoyable and has some really good elements, it lacks strong characters and is far too familiar.
Also, this line:
"It was too late for us before we ever met."
Is basically the same idea as when pop goddess Carly Rae Jepsen said:
"Before you came into my life I missed you so bad."
The Familiar is a deeply appropriate name given how familiar the book is. This is literally Shadow and Bone with a Spanish instead of Russian world and if Darklina was canon.
A young, poor girl is without family. She's in a shitty service situation until she discovers she has a miraculous power. This power throws her into a game of politics involving royals and a moody, magical, mysterious, dark man who acts as a love interest and teacher. There's a religious figure manipulating royals and acts as an antagonist. Lots of Catholicism, especially saints. The main character becomes a saintly figure due to manipulation, despite her being an outsider to said faith. Not everyone views her as saintly though, leading to religious conflict.
Add that with Leigh Bardugo's writing style, the medieval setting, and some plot twists that make it even more like SaB, and you get the literary equivalent of deja vu. Now if you're keeping count, this is the fourth time Bardugo has recycled elements of SaB. The Nikolai Duology retread a lot of the same plot points just without Alina and Mal, the Alex Stern books recycle some elements, and she was an executive on the SaB show. Now SaB is one of the mediocre YA series I got attached to as a teenager so I do like it, but it's getting tired.
It doesn't help that unlike those other books (and TV series), The Familiar lacks any particularly interesting characters. Luzia is mostly a reactionary character due to her lack of agency, which leaves fewer opportunities for her personality to shine (not that you can't make a reactionary character interesting, Katniss Everdeen for example. But it does seem to be harder to write), though I liked the little bits we got of her, she's funny and at times unhinged, wish we got more of that and more motive driving her. Santangel is a watered down Darkling (but this time his hair is white). The side characters don't standout either.
The Familiar does beat SaB in regards to having something interesting to discuss. Luzia is Jewish living during a time in Spain with rampant antisemitism, leading to the expulsion and deaths of many. I appreciated the cultural details she included and the discussion of how the Church has used antisemitism. That said, the book's attempts at tackling colonialism and misogyny are shallow.
The magic system is really interesting, more unique than SaB's. It's based around miracle-like magic, making it a soft magic system. The Church is basically holding a monopoly on miracles, so anyone who works magic besides someone in league with them is executed. Not only is it a unique soft magic system but its got a solid historical basis. I do think this theme was done better by Katherine Arden's Winternight Trilogy though (which is also the superior Russian-inspired fantasy to SaB)
The writing is also great though familiar. I wrote down a lot of quotes from this and it was beautiful and went down easy, making an enjoyable read for a long car trip. It also saved the romance, though I don't think the characters have a ton of chemistry, the writing was pretty romantic.
Newer readers to Leigh Bardugo and Darklina shippers might enjoy this, but for me, I'm a bit tired. Bardugo is a great writer, but she needs to get more creative with her plots and characters. Though The Familiar was enjoyable and has some really good elements, it lacks strong characters and is far too familiar.
Also, this line:
"It was too late for us before we ever met."
Is basically the same idea as when pop goddess Carly Rae Jepsen said:
"Before you came into my life I missed you so bad."
Content Warnings
Graphic: Religious bigotry, Torture, Misogyny, Violence, Death, Antisemitism, and Fire/Fire injury