aimee (aimeecanread)'s Reviews > The Familiar

Actual rating: 2.5.

I told myself I didn't need to write a full review for this one since I'm sure everyone's going to read this book anyway, but I couldn't stop once I started. So here you go. 😂

✅ This book is so smartly written. You can always tell with Leigh Bardugo that her books are well thought-out. Everything makes sense and nothing seems out of place. The magic system is not really unique, but it fits well with the story and the setting and the characters. There's also just a biiit of mystery (though predictable) to keep us on our toes.

❌ This is one of the slowest fantasy books I've ever read. It took me 3 or 4 days just to get through the first 30% alone. The next 30% - 40% also dragged on for ages, but at least there was some build up there. It wasn't until the last 70% or so where things finally sped up and we got some good action.

❓ I LIKED Luzia, but I didn't necessarily love her. She's a perfect fairytale heroine -- shy and afraid at first, but then grows into a tough cookie. She's intelligent and fierce, and she knows what she wants. I just wanted more emotion from her -- it was hard to form a connection with this MC (and the rest of the characters, really).

❓ I don't know how to feel about Santángel. He's in the story A LOT (obviously), but I felt so disconnected from him. He felt like a ghost most of the time -- he kept randomly disappearing and appearing like some kind of Slenderman-magician hybrid (this is genuinely how I picture him). Don't get me wrong -- we do get bits and pieces of his backstory, and it's definitely interesting. Maybe it's a me problem. 🤷‍♀️

✅ I always complain that side characters are often thrown into the story for no reason... but in The Familiar, we got a glimpse of what's going on in the side characters' minds. I may not have liked them all (I don't think we're supposed to, anyway), but I could at least sympathize with some of them. Each side character had an impact to the story, or at least to the MCs' character growth. Go back to the first bullet point of my review!

❌ This book is romantic, but I didn't really like the romance between the two MCs. I don't know if it's because I picture Santángel to be a walking corpse, or because their scenes together were pretty short, but I gave 0 fucks about the romance. This felt like the flattest part of the story for me.

❓ The ending felt like a cop-out, but it was also so absurdly magical that I couldn't completely hate it. That's all I'm going to say about it bc I don't want to spoil anything!

Overall, this book is not for everyone. If you're okay with slow-but-well-written historical fantasies, you might want to give this one a shot. Just keep in mind that you may just want to take 5 naps in between reading the first 30% or so of the book. 😂
 
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Post-reading:
The ending is making me feel completely ⊹₊✧unhinged✧₊⊹! I may need a moment. Or ten moments. Anyway, Leigh Bardugo's brain will forever amaze me.


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45% Update:
Luzia describing Santangel: He didn’t look very old. Ill and headed to an early grave, but not old.
Santangel desrcibing Luzia: This lump of a servant who hung her head like a donkey but spoke as if she were bantering at the mentidero?

It feels like it's taken me AGES to get this far into the book, and it's only starting to pick up. The first 30% was slow, and now the story's still going on at a... leisurely pace. But we finally have some insanely dark and gritty scenes. Shit's about to go down!

10% Update:

“You think you know hardship, but men have a gift for finding new ways to make women suffer.”

This is giving me strong Cinderella vibes so far, and I’m here for it!

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Pre-read:
LEIGH BARDUGO, DO NOT FAIL ME