The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
**2.5-stars rounded up**
This could be me. It could be. I did pick this up for a Book Club discussion and I definitely wasn’t in the mood for this type of story, but I also feel like this book had issues…
It took me two tries to get through. Initially I picked it up, read to 31%, and put it down. I was retaining nothing, confused by the number of characters in the beginning and truly felt that none of it was sticking in my brain.
Luckily, our Book Club discussion got pushed back like 10-days, so it gave me a little leeway. I was fully expecting to enjoy it once I returned to it in a different frame of mind.
The second time around, I did start again at the beginning and managed to retain a hell of a lot more info. Nevertheless, I still felt bored and admittedly, my mind wandered a lot.
Our main protagonist is Luzia, who works as a scullion in the kitchen of a manor home. Luzia has magical powers, although she’s never been formally trained in how to use them properly, or harness their full potential.
These powers are noticed by her mistress, Valentina, who then comes up with a scheme to use Luzia’s powers to gain prestige, favors and power for herself within Madrid’s upper-class society.
She trots Luzia out in front of her guests and makes her perform parlor tricks. Luzia ends up coming to the attention of a man connected to the King. She then gets invited to compete in a competition that could result in her being employed by the King himself.
From that point, Luzia’s life becomes a whirlwind. She begins magic training and enters the competition, which pits her against individuals with all sorts of different abilities.
There’s a bit of romance, palace intrigue and lots of interpersonal drama. Luzia’s Aunt is involved, and of course her mistress, Valentina, who is the one who got her involved in this whole business in the first place.
For me, the competition, which should have been my favorite aspect of this book, wasn’t developed, or utilized, as much as it could have been. I know there were stakes involved, but they didn’t feel high or present enough.
I also felt like the magic system could have been more clear and developed as well. I would’ve been happy to do away with the forced romance, in order to then spend that time leaning into the darker sides of the magical elements.
I think this missed an opportunity to create an unsettling, or dangerous, atmosphere. If you look at this cover, that’s what you would expect. It looks gothic and creepy, but it lacked that tone.
Finally, I couldn’t picture anything that was happening. For me, it could have been set anywhere historical. It was only in our discussion that I realized exactly where we were and what the time period was supposed to be.
Valentina was the most interesting character, IMO. She was giving Regina Mills from Once Upon a Time vibes and I’ll never look away from that. I wish I could have felt more connected to Luzia though, as it was really her story we were focused on.
At another time, perhaps I could have enjoyed this more. I’m not sure and at this point, we’ll never find out, because I’m certainly not reading it again.
With this being said, I know that Bardugo is an exceptional writer and my opinion certainly is by no means trying to negate that fact. This book just wasn’t a good fit for me. I’ll be back to read more of her books someday.