The Fimiliar

 By: Leigh Bardugo

Location: FIC BAR

Genre: Fantasy, Historical Fiction, Spanish Inquisition

Historical fiction meets magical fantasy

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.

As a lover of a good story, I was captivated by this book. I felt the highs and the lows with each of the characters throughout. The writing is masterful. The descriptions were full of life and the characters felt like old friends. It would have been easy to make some of the characters one-dimensional, but we see real depth in everyone.
This book as audiobook format is full of surprises and the pacing was such that I couldn't help but turn the page. At its heart, this is a story about family and Bardugo shows how complicated family can be. Backstabbing, forgiveness and family secrets wrapped up in beautiful words played out in scenes that moved me. As a reader, I found myself thinking about my own family and friends as the story unfolded. The characters in this novel felt like some of the most three dimensional characters I've come across.


They're not "standard archetypes", but they feel like people I've known. They make mistakes - big ones and small ones - and those mistakes have consequences. Of course, sometimes there are happy accidents, too. In the end, I was sad that I had to leave them.

This is a book that will stay with me for a long time to come. I get utterly lost in a good book, but this was a story that made me think long after I had turned the final page and the cover closed. A perfect balance of escape and introspection.
Could not have asked for more. Suzi