A review by emmaisnotavampire
Il famiglio by Leigh Bardugo

adventurous dark tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

When Leigh Bardugo announced this, I really couldn’t wait to read it: historical novels have always fascinated me, and fantasy novels with historical settings even more so. What I especially love is the opportunities history offers for unusual magical systems, built on elements that had different connotations in the past compared to now. Luzia’s powers here, for example, have multiple layers: on a surface level, they explore the contrast, especially vital in 16th Century Spain, between sacred and profane, the claim that only God can be the source of marvels and the terror of being a device of the Devil instead; but deeply, it’s neither of those that magic comes from, it’s a product of cultural segregation and marginalisation, it’s the power of a shared consciousness that, oppressed and repressed, must find another way to manifest itself, enriched by contamination between ethnicities, cultures, experiences. 
I was pleasantly surprised by how mature and complex the main themes of this novel were, portrayed boldly and mercilessly despite a narrative tone and style that are still heavily linked to Bardugo’s young adult production. She was not afraid to talk about servitude, poverty, racism, sexism, ethnical and religious discrimination and many other delicate social issues, without romanticisation nor unrealistic optimism when it comes to success or failure, life or death. Especially death.
Now that I’m done with the smart things I had to say, let me just finish on this note: GOD HOW I LOVE GUILLÈM SANTÁNGEL. I can’t blame Luzia for falling for him, I did too. Their love story was beautiful, tragic, troubled by fate, impossible yet so right, an interesting exploration of love and sacrifice, selflessness, freedom. THE ENDING. I was about to cry, for about fifteen different reasons and fifteen different feelings in the span of two pages.
Fascinating.