Review: The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo

Title: The Familiar
Author: Leigh Bardugo
Publication: April 9, 2024 by Flatiron Books
Genre: Historical Fantasy
Find it on: Amazon | Apple Books | Barnes & Noble | Blackwell’s | Google Play | Kobo | Waterstones
Rating: 4/5★

From the New York Times bestselling author of Ninth House, Hell Bent, and creator of the Grishaverse series comes a highly anticipated historical fantasy set during the Spanish Golden Age

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.

The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo was absolutely my kinda read. A historical fantasy set in 16th century Madrid during the Spanish Golden Age. I felt in my bones that I would enjoy this novel and I’m so glad that I was right. It was a really good read and I would definitely recommend it.

The main character of the story is Luzia Cotado, a scullion working in the kitchen at Casa Ordoño for Don Marius and Doña Valentina. Marius and Valentina are by no means a rich couple but at least Luzia has work, even if she has to sleep on the dirty floor. When Valentina catches Luzia with using a little bit of magic to undo the burning of bread as to not get into trouble, she wants to use the little scullion to rise in society. It isn’t long until word spreads of Luzia’s milagritos (or miracles) and it ends up landing her in a magical tournament under the patronage of Víctor de Paredes and tutored by his enigmatic immortal servant Guillén Santángel. Not only does Luzia have to hide her real magic as miracles, which is connected to her Jewish lineage, she also has to perform and compete with three other competitor’s in the tournament. If she fails, she might meet the wrath of the dreaded Inquisition.

Was this my favorite book by Bardugo? No, Ninth House is still my favorite (it’ll take a lot to knock that one off number one) but I do love how different this book was from her other published work. The setting, the magical tournament, the danger of her milagritos being seen as heretical and the blossoming love between Luzia and Santángel… I loved it all. I must admit that the relationship between Luzia and Santángel was probably my favorite thing out of the whole novel. I was rooting for them so damn much and actually afraid of what would happen to them. They had me in a chokehold, period.

Aside from Luzia and Santángel, I had another favorite character and that was Valentina. This really surprised me because I really disliked her in the beginning. She was a harsh mistress for her servants but as the story goes on she does get a really great character arc, especially towards the end. Speaking of, the ending was beyond perfectly written. The last couple of chapters had me worried, to say the least. I honestly wasn’t sure if it would end up well for certain characters. No spoilers, of course but Leigh Bardugo ended it all in a beautiful way without any loose end, which made me really happy.

About the author:

Leigh Bardugo is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Familiar, Ninth House and the creator of the Grishaverse (now a Netflix original series) which spans the Shadow and Bone trilogy, the Six of Crows duology, the King of Scars duology—and much more.  Her short fiction has appeared in multiple anthologies including The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy. She lives in Los Angeles and is an associate fellow of Pauli Murray College at Yale University. For information on new releases and appearances, sign up for Leigh’s newsletter.

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