Bingo 19: Black
Leigh Bardugo’s The Familiar has a cover almost entirely in the proper color.
Mostly, this is a story about people who want things they think they either cannot or should not have. Luiza is part Jewish (dangerous during the Inquisition) and has some minor household magic; her milagritos are things like she can make the bread unburnt. She wants to be something more than the scullery maid; she wants better, more money, more comfort, just more. There’s also her boss Valentina who wants to be more than the wife of lesser nobility who are poor by nobility standards. She wants love, romance, excitement, and maybe some nicer jewels. Santangel is the titular Familiar, and he’s not even sure what he wants for a long while and when he finally figures that out, it’s far enough into the story to be spoilers. There’s a lot of hidden villains and a few not so hidden ones, so part of the interest is finding out whose genuily evil (and there are some) and who is not (some of this too). There’s a hint of romance but that’s not really even the point of anything.
Turns out the king wants a serious magic user so there’s this competition that Luiza gets entered into, she and her other magical competitors all want to win; “magic” isn’t really even the right word. It’s more like magical realism, where there’s a girl who can predict the future because she has an angel who tells her things; there’s the guys who’ve got special luck and music, there’s the gal who’s got beauty and maybe some kind of similar ability to Luiza’s, and so on. Because this is Inquisition era Spain, the Church is in charge, and the magical folks have to be really careful not to look like heretics, Luiza in particular because of her heritage.
In a lot of ways, the world of the story is the star; the magic competition is not an especially interesting plot device but it works to get everyone together and into conflict. Both the historical and cultural context are pretty important to a lot of the main characters in terms of how and why they are the way they are, and the magic big and small adds just a little more interest, particularly when you’ve people trying to keep it, steal it, hide it, and so on.
It’s an interesting and mostly quick read, but it’s kind of slow to start. Which is actually just fine because that’s the part where you get the initial world and character building for some key individuals, mostly Luiza and Valentina’s household. These two women are in a lot of ways similar, though neither of them would probably admit it for a lot of the book, and they are the stars, not Santangel for whom the book is named. That’s also mostly fine, since Luiza and Valentina are the two with the most to gain/lose.