A Lazy Reader's Review of "The Familiar" by Leigh Bardugo

 Synopsis

    In a shabby house, on a shabby street, in the new capital of Madrid, Luzia Cotado uses scraps of magic to get through her days of endless toil as a scullion. But when her scheming mistress discovers the lump of a servant cowering in the kitchen is actually hiding a talent for little miracles, she demands Luzia use those gifts to better the family's social position.

    What begins as simple amusement for the bored nobility takes a perilous turn when Luzia garners the notice of Antonio Pérez, the disgraced secretary to Spain's king. Still reeling from the defeat of his armada, the king is desperate for any advantage in the war against England's heretic queen – and Pérez will stop at nothing to regain the king's favor. 

    Determined to seize this one chance to better her fortunes, Luzia plunges into a world of seers and alchemists, holy men and hucksters, where the line between magic, science, and fraud is never certain. But as her notoriety grows, so does the danger that her Jewish blood will doom her to the Inquisition's wrath. She will have to use every bit of her wit and will to survive – even if that means enlisting the help of Guillén Santangel, an embittered immortal familiar whose own secrets could prove deadly for them both.

Review

    I have a lot of mixed feelings about this book. I'll start with what I liked. I really enjoyed the relatively accurate historical context that is in the book. Specifically the tension that revolved around the forceful conversion of Spanish Jews. It was very true that many Christians still viewed former Jews as frauds with tainted blood. But to be honest, the moments that I enjoyed stop there.

    I think that this book just felt so very generic. Generic storyline, characters, writing, and ending. It was a typical romantasy book about an underdog female character with abilities that make her special and a brooding morally grey man. Lowkey reminded me of Alina Starkov and The Darkling from the Shadow and Bone trilogy, but I digress. 

    I thought that this book also had very cartoonishly evil characters. Almost every male character that we are introduced to are comically misogynistic and unlikable. There are only like two or three male characters that the audience is supposed to life, one of them being the male love interest. And on the other hand, there are several female characters that are unbearably annoying. I also wish that this book leaned more into the topic of imperialism, which was brought up like once and I think it would have made the book just a little bit more compelling to me.

    I'll say this, if The Familiar was a debut novel written by an unknown up-and-coming author, I would have thought that it was a incredibly strong start to their career. But, for it to be written Leigh Bardugo, an absolute literary beast, is incredibly underwhelming. Bardugo, who is capable of witty dialogue, extensive world building, compelling characters, and multi-layered villains, this book was subpar when compared to her other works.

    I really wanted to enjoy this book, I truly did. But I just couldn't. I was neither bored not captivated while reading this book. And I think that's worse than not liking it at all.

Oct. 10, 2024 – Oct. 11, 2024

★★☆☆☆

Favorite Quote: "Language creates possibility. Sometimes by being used. Sometimes by being kept secret."