Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Black Cover and Maybe Some Black Hearts or not so Black

The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo

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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 […]

The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo

The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo

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This took a little bit to get going, but once it did, I was not able to put it down until I finished it. I loved this book from beginning to end and I just didn’t want it to end. I thought Bardugo’s writing and just lyricism with certain words was fantastic. And this book did a great job of blending history, fantasy, and religion together. “The Familiar” follows Luzia Cotado, a scullion living in Madrid during Spain’s “Golden Age.” Luzia has dreams though she […]

Continuing the Grishaverse

Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo

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I enjoyed both of these books, especially Crooked Kingdom, though I didn’t think they were a drastic improvement over the Shadow and Bone trilogy, which surprised me a bit since so many people seem to prefer this duology. I think they’re almost equally good, with the duology slightly edging out the trilogy. In Six of Crows, we meet Kaz Brekker, who essentially runs a crew called the Dregs. He gets the opportunity of a lifetime when Jan Van Eck offers a lot of money for […]

“She would build herself a life of plenty. She would force her world to bloom as she’d made the pomegranate tree grow, and Santángel would help her do it. Even if blood watered the soil.”

The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo

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The Familiar is an atmospheric historical fantasy set in the late 1500s Spain, when the Inquisition was up and running at full power. Our heroine is Luzia Cotado, a scullion in the house of a poor noble family who uses small ancestral magics taught to her by her secretly Jewish family to get through the day: unburning burnt bread, multiplying the potatoes when there wasn’t enough coin at market, heating water, fixing a seam. The plot kicks off when Luzia’s mistress, Doña Valentina, catches her at […]

Intro to the Grishaverse

Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo

Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo

Ruin and Rising by Leigh Bardugo

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I’ve been wanting to read the Six of Crows duology and decided to start with the Shadow and Bone trilogy so I’d be more familiar with the Grisha and could enjoy references to past events. I was a little hesitant because a lot of people don’t seem to like the trilogy, but I enjoyed it. It wasn’t fantastic, but it was fun. I thought the pacing was pretty good throughout, and I appreciated the mix of plot-focused and character-driven story. In Shadow and Bone, we […]

“Let it be my ambition and not my fear that seals my fate”

The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo

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I’ve had a bit of mixed experience with Leigh Bardugo’s books. I thought the Shadow & Bone trilogy was generic and bland but loved the follow up duology set in the same universe, consisting of Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom. I loved Ninth House, but felt somewhat let down by the sequel, Hell Bent. I’m currently in the middle of reading several long series and wanted a bit of a palette cleanser (without starting another series), so I started reading Bardugo’s latest release, The […]



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