Ultimately and unfortunately, The Familiar disappointed me. The writing style Leigh Bardugo uses here is brilliant, the descriptions vividly appearing in my mind. However, the entire book ends up being one giant witch trial.

Set during the golden age in Spain, we follow Luzia, a poor scullion who sleeps in a larder and has to hide her Jew status, as well as her magic abilities. Due to her greedy mistress Dona Valentina, she’s thrown into a contest to become a Holy Champion for King Philip, trained by the mysterious Santángel.

Santángel is centuries old. Luzia’s age is never revealed, but she’s much younger than him. I fear I’m growing quite tired of teenage protagonist x centuries old guy.

The Horrors of the Spanish Catholic Church are in full display here, and yet the last 30% of this book reads like “I saw Goody Putnam consorting at the Devil’s Sacrament.” Leigh based some of this off of her family history, and the depictions of Spain as a whole are beautiful, but I just felt myself dragging through it. While this was a release I highly anticipated, it is not one I enjoyed at the end and I do not plan to return to it.