"Something Strange is Sometimes Great"
Reviewed by Debbie Devita
Posted May 10, 2024
Historical | Fantasy Historical
THE FAMILIAR
This standalone historical fantasy from the creator of the Grishaverse and author of the Ninth House is set during the Spanish Golden Age. The setting is immersive and it reads more like a historical novel with a touch of magic. I think it will be perfect for fans of Addie LaRue.
“Fear men. Fear their ambition and the crimes they commit in its service. But don’t fear magic.”
The story is about Luzia, a kitchen maid who has to hide her ability to create magic so that no one realizes she is special. Her mistress, Valentina discovers her secret and makes her entertain at dinner parties. Soon Luzia thinks she might be able to go elsewhere and make more money and sleep on an actual bed at night instead of the ground. That is until a strange man discovers her secret at one of the parties and she is thrown into a meeting with a very important, rich man in the community. He wants to see her magic and Luzia shows him something great. He then wants his servant, Santangel to train her for the king's competition.
“She would build herself a life of plenty. She would force her world to bloom as she’d made the pomegranate tree grow, and Santángel would help her do it. Even if blood watered the soil.”
Things I loved in the story:
1. The incredible prose that only Bardugo can deliver.
2. Luzia was an underdog at the beginning of the story but you can't help but root for her to receive better than her life so far.
3. The side characters which at times were hard to read because they were so horrible but I think that was the point.
“His belief in her was wine on an empty stomach and it left her light-headed.”
The closer Luiza becomes to Guillon, the more people warn her of his ways. She should not trust him. And yet he seems to be the only one who truly knows her.
“You make the blood flow in my veins. You remind my heart to beat.”
But they are playing a treacherous, deadly game. The novel is set during the political and religious turmoil of 16th-century Spain. So as Luzia’s power grows, so does her danger. Under Catholic rule, Luzia’s magic could be considered either a gift from God or the work of the devil. She is at the mercy of those who rule over her. There is antisemitism in this book that is very frustrating but necessary to show what Luzia was up against.
Inspired by Bardugo’s own history and heritage, The Familiar looks at the weaponization of faith and ways that class and gender came under conflict during this time. I loved this book and found it hard to read something right after as the world stayed with me for many weeks.
SUMMARY
From the #1 New York Times bestselling author Leigh Bardugo comes a spellbinding novel set in 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 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 lines between magic, science, and fraud are 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 Santángel, an embittered immortal familiar whose own secrets could prove deadly for them both.
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