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A review by cinnamonmarti
The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo
adventurous
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
3.0
Bardugo's books are usually a hit or miss for me and this one has just joined the latter category :-/
From the author's note it sounds like the subject matter is near and dear to her heart and she did her homework in terms of historical research, and yet... I can't really find any trace of that depth in the story itself.
I loved the premise and I'm sure this had the potential to be a well-built and immersive historical fantasy, but this felt overly simplistic to me. From beginning to end, the plot and characterisation barely scratch the surface of what it could have been. There wasn't a single chapter that had me fully sink in the atmosphere of 16th century-Spain and that ultimately was the biggest flaw for me. Also, there's an omniscient narrator here and I cannot help but feel a 1st person POV would have worked better, especially since the internal monologues we get from different characters are mostly dull and repetitive.
Luzia, Santángel, Hualit and Valentina are objectively interesting characters, even with all their tropes; nonetheless, I know I'll have forgotten about them by next week. Even if the ending was pretty nice.
From the author's note it sounds like the subject matter is near and dear to her heart and she did her homework in terms of historical research, and yet... I can't really find any trace of that depth in the story itself.
I loved the premise and I'm sure this had the potential to be a well-built and immersive historical fantasy, but this felt overly simplistic to me. From beginning to end, the plot and characterisation barely scratch the surface of what it could have been. There wasn't a single chapter that had me fully sink in the atmosphere of 16th century-Spain and that ultimately was the biggest flaw for me. Also, there's an omniscient narrator here and I cannot help but feel a 1st person POV would have worked better, especially since the internal monologues we get from different characters are mostly dull and repetitive.
Luzia, Santángel, Hualit and Valentina are objectively interesting characters, even with all their tropes; nonetheless, I know I'll have forgotten about them by next week. Even if the ending was pretty nice.