A review by ashley_mrose530
The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

I'm very "meh" about this book. I didn't hate it, but I also didn't love it. I don't even know if I would say I like it.
I thought the idea of it was good. I liked Luzia's magic system which combined multiple languages into one song to make magic. But the world building itself was a little odd. At first I thought she was the only one who had magic, but then it turns out that quite a few people do so how do they all get it? And how do you tell when they actually have magic and when they are faking it? Why is the government looking for people who do have magic just to punish those who wouldn't participate in his little game? I get that it's all religious-based, but if it's really historical Catholicism, then wouldn't they be condemning all people who show magic to death? That's what's they did for the witch trials. It just wasn't really making sense to me. 
Another thing that wasn't making sense to me was the POV. I could not tell what the author was trying to do. It was kind of third-person omniscient but then it got too close to the characters thoughts and feelings but it would jump around to different characters randomly so that I couldn't even keep track anymore. The end result left me feeling like I didn't get to know any of the characters and couldn't distinguish one from the next, especially the more minor ones that we followed for short periods of time. It just didn't work like a usual third-person POV does.
And because I didn't really feel like I got to know the characters, their desires and problems throughout the book just kind of bored me.
I liked the idea and the little bit of romance we got kept me kind of interested, but the overall execution did not work for me unfortunately.