Reviews

The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo

elenadragon's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad slow-paced

4.5

riellereads's review

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

4.5

phersace's review

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

wheelofparm's review

adventurous dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

criscorreapardo's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

hyuniecrisp's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

cmackenzie's review

dark mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

chibin00b's review

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

chrissycat1115's review

adventurous dark funny mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

evitaveda's review against another edition

4.0

“There is a fine line between a saint and a witch, and I wonder if you are prepared to walk it.” 

Leigh Bardugo never fails to write a compelling story and although this one was wildly different from her other works, I really enjoyed it. 

This story is a historic fantasy set in Madrid during the Spanish Golden Age. There are lots of religious themes and I thought these melded well with the fantasy elements. 

We follow a bunch of different characters throughout this book and I really enjoyed the shifting POVs. Head-hopping is not my favourite narrative style but I thought it mostly worked in The Familiar since it wasn’t too frequent. This very much felt like Luzia’s story and it was as if the other characters were there to put her in many different lights. I found that interesting. 

I won’t say much more since I went in relatively blind and really liked that experience. You should give this a try if you like:

🦂Historical fantasy
🦂Morally grey characters
🦂Religious themes
🦂Tragic love stories
🦂Leigh’s ability to write tragically haunted immortal men

A good quote: 

“There are different kinds of suffering. The kind that takes you by surprise and the kind that you live with so long, you stop noticing it.”