Blog 3: The familiar

Hi and welcome back! Today I'm reviewing "The familiar" by Leigh Bardugo. I'm so excited and I have a lot to say so let's just get right into it.

First of all I have to just mention how exciting it was to be able to read this book before it had even come out. I wish I could say I had the privilege of an arc (advanced reader copy) but I was just extremely lucky to find it in my bookstore 3 days prior to the release date lol.

But it felt just a little extra special and honorable to read a book with the knowlegde that others were still waiting and anticipating on the book to come out and maybe that made it an even more fun experience to read this book.

But regardless of that, I just simply loved this book from page one till the end and it had me hooked and intrigued from the second I started reading. The pacing was a little weird but not in a bad way, it just starts off very fast-paced but at the same time there are a lot of characters with very similar names and there's quite a lot of information and discovering to do with how the magic works. I think the amount of politics in this book were exactly to my liking, not too much but still some to add to the intensity of the plot and intrigue of the characters and the book. I also liked that the chapters were very short, around 7 pages averagely but at most 10, it made it feel like I just flew through the book and there wasn't a single part that felt boring or slow or dragged out. On the contrary, sometimes I felt like Leigh Bardugo was maybe even rushing it a little bit, I think the book still wouldn't have been too slow or unnecessarily long with an extra 100 or 150 pages. The ending had me absolutely amazed and both heart-warmed and heart-broken but either way I need a sequel. I was stalling all evening yesterday because I had only 70 pages left and I just didn't want it to end. But I was also to obsessed to not continue reading so eventually I read the last part in one sitting and I immediately knew that there was no doubt that this is a 5 star book. I apologize for another 5 star rating, eventually it might get boring for this blog content if I only have perfect books to talk about, but any less than 5 stars simply doesn't do this book justice.

I have to admit that I wasn't even planning on picking this book up so soon, I had added it to my tbr only a few days ago and based off of the cover I thought it would be a thriller or a historical fiction rather than a fantasy book. It is in fact historical but not in any loaded or intimidating manner. I was standing in the bookstore and I just randomly started reading the first chapter because naturally it excited me to see an unreleased book, and the first 15 pages were enough to make it impossible not to buy it and continue reading right away. My only complaint on this book is that I need more and that the ending is too much to accept as a definitive one. I need a whole series honestly. The familiar also convinced me to read Leigh Bardugo's other books, specifically "Ninth house" because I was already planning on reading six of crows. I had already read the full shadow and bone trilogy and even though that is completely different and incomparable to the familiar, I also loved that trilogy. I read shadow and bone, especially the second and third book, expecting to be underwhelmed and not really like it that much. That was mainly because booktok had scared me a little bit by how many people complained about the whole of the series being too long and the second two books being unnecessary and dragged out. For me that has actually caused the opposite expectations of six of crows and I now fear that I might not like that duology as much as everyone else. Either way, I'll definitely pick up more of Leigh Bardugo's works and she's now officially on my list of instany-buy authors. If you like action-packed fantasy books with a romance subplot and not too many politics, or if you simply need a bit of a shorter standalone book in between longer (fantasy) books, I highly recommend the familiar! I also recommend it to anyone who likes books that evolve around magical competitions and games including magic or fantasy elements.

I haven't even gotten to explaining the plot yet, I'll do so without spoilers to this review is safe if you haven't read it yet!

We follow a set of characters but our main character is Luzia. It's set in 16th century Spain and Luzia is a scullion in the household of Valentina and her husband. Luzia has magic but people who have any sort of magical abilities are rare and so she hides her abilities for everyone except her aunt who lives near her mistress's household and whom she visits in secrecy as well because it's unknown to Valentina that Luzia has any relatives. In the very first chapter Luzia accidentally reveals herself or she nearly does by making the burned bread un-burned with a simple spell. Valentina becomes suspicious of her scullion and Luzia is exposed when she fails Valentina's little test. Then Luzia enters a whole lot of trouble because there's a soon-to-be-held competition for the king to find his own personal magician. Luzia is in a posiition where winning might mean freedom so she enters and has to train with Santangel who is mysteriously bonded to the household patriarch (sort of, I'm not sure how to explain the old Spanish ranks) of her aunt. Luzia has a lot of secrets to both keep and unravel and while she does that she also has to deal with some romantic complications of several characters in the book. I can't tell you anything else without inevitably spoilering something so I'll leave you to read the book for the rest of the plot.

The 3 aspects of the book that I loved the most

1. The magic is comparable to that in the night circus or the starless sea by Erin Morgenstern. It's definitely there but in a way that feels very distant and yet very intriguing and mysterious, which leads you to constantly try to hold onto it and search for confirmation that you're not being fooled. I think there's a bit more magic than in the night circus but I also think that the similarities are just proof of how good this book is.

2. I loved reaching the part of the book where the title and the cover suddenly made sense. I always enjoy reaching this part of a book but it was even more fun and grand now because I couldn't make any sense of the cover nor the title before I started reading the actual book. I wonder if I would've put off reading it if I hadn't come across it in the way I now did, simply because the cover made me feel a little intimidated.

3. I also think that the characters were just carrying this story. They were all so full of personality and in such a short book you really grow attached to the characters because of how well Leigh Bardugo has written each of them. Even the side characters and the ones who were barely of any relevance made me feel for them and were interesting enough to read more about them. I think Leigh Bardugo just has a talent for doing a lot in a short amount of pages and making it work so well.

What's next?

Well honestly I have absolutely no idea. I have a very very long tbr on my kindle and also quite some physicial books unread and I'm indecisive as always. I'm mostly drawn to continuing "House of salt and sorrows" or picking up "Starling house". But I'm also very highly anticipating on some of my most recent kindle purchases: "One for my enemy" and "the magician's daughter". I guess you'll find out soon enough :)

I hope you enjoyed this review and let me know your thoughts on The familiar or Leigh Bardugo's other books!