The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo

 

Summary (from the publisher): 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.

Review: Set in the Spanish Golden Age in the sixteenth century, Luzia Cotado is a scullion for a shabby house on a shabby street. Her mistress Valentina schemes and dreams of rising above her current situation but has little to lure society to her rundown, relatively impoverished home. That is, until she discovers that her maid Luzia can perform little miracles and can wield little bits of magic. While it starts as a way to amuse the nobility, Luzia's skills quickly attract the notice of Antonio Perez, the disgraced secretary to Spain's king. Suddenly, Luzia is plunged into a world of seers and holy man, some legitimate, some pranksters, always with the threat of the Inquisition at her door. And she embraces the help and love of Guillen Santangel, an immortal who has grown weary with his long life. 

I loved the setting of this book in a historical Madrid. The early chapters where Valentina is desperate for social advancement and Luzia is using her magical abilities to entertain first herself and later her mistress's society friends, was intriguing. The threat of imprisonment and execution for heresy for practicing magic during the time period of the great Inquisition felt very real and increased the drama and tension of the novel. 

However, the novel lost a lot of my interest once Luzia moved beyond her household of employment. The plot became increasingly convoluted and unbelievable. The novel went from basically reading like a historical fiction novel with a touch of magic to a full fantasy novel filled with mythical creatures. I also didn't find the connection between Guillen Santangel and Luzia believable or particularly compelling. Perhaps I was not in the right headspace for this book when I picked it up, but I ultimately just did not enjoy this nearly as much as I had hoped.  

I did like the surprise twist of the ending! I appreciated that the author rolled out what happened to the characters after the conclusion of the story. 

Stars: 3