This was a book full of everything. So much real history, most of it bad. A most amazing main girl. A stunning romance. Great side characters to read about. Fantastic writing. But it was also a little too much at times for me, so it is a four star. But I really enjoyed it. And I liked the ending too, felt like it was very fitting and good.
It is going to be difficult to describe this book for me. So I do not think my review will end up being that long this time. Though I'm going to try my best, of course. But my mind is a bit empty at the moment. This story was gorgeous. And interesting plus exciting. But also pretty sad and hopeless at times. Yet I adored most of it.
This book changes a bit between several point of views. But only small peeks at other people. As the story is all about Luzia. She is around twenty years old. She is a scullion, working for a family with more money than her. Her parents are dead and Luzia has just one living relative, her aunt. She meets her sometimes, but she does not really help her at all. I honestly did not like Hualit at all. She seemed to care for Luzia, yet not enough. And that truly bothered me. She could have taken her in, kept her from having to be a scullion and working for someone else. Hmph. Her life was kind of interesting to read about. Luzia had a small and not that great life. She did everything in the house she worked at, working for Valentina. I must say that at first I didn't like this woman at all. But she grew on me. And I ended up loving her greatly.
Luzia was such a great main character. I adored her so. She seems quiet at first, okay with her life as a servant. But she turns out to be all kinds of fierce and always wanting more. I loved that about her. And she is no ordinary girl either. She has a small magic. She uses it to heal burnt bread. Get more of small things. And she is living in hiding, also because of her being a Jew. I loved getting to know a little about her family history. How she knows a bit of her family language, a mix of Spanish and others. I loved it so.
Because Luzia is not living in a great time. I loved that it was part of real history, set during the Spanish Golden Age. I must admit to not knowing anything about it, haha. But now I know more, and I am curious about this time. It seemed awful to live during this time. Especially as a woman. And if you were different. If you were a Jew as well. And especially if you had a bit of small magic, like Luzia. Was either a gift from God. Or something from the devil. In which case they would torture you then burn you. Yeah. Not great.
I did like reading about this time period. But it was also a bit too much for me, as I grew a bit bored about all the history things. I did not care about much of it, to be honest. But still. The story was amazing and I liked reading about all the characters. I so adored Luzia. She gets caught doing her magic by Valentina. And she has her perform for her guests. So she can have a little better life. As Valentina did not have a great life at all. Her husband was a jerk. She was too, at first. Then she changed. I loved her very much.
Since Luzia begins using her magic more, claiming it as a gift from God, she is noticed by more powerful people. And she has to enter a tournament of sorts, where the winner will end up working for the king with their talents. This is how she meets Santangel. Whom does not seem like a normal man at all. He looks a little like death. I loved that, haha. I loved how he changed in this book too. Became better. He was a man of secrets. Also a servant. Tasked with teaching Luzia more about her small miracles, making her better.
I loved how they slowly became friends. I so adored reading about them together. Especially when they finally became more than friends. It took a while, but I loved it. And their romance was great. Sigh. A little doomed. Which I loved, ha. We get to know much about him too. He is kind of eternal. Have lived such a long life. With many stories to tell. I loved that. I hated what life was for him for so very long. And still was. I wanted him free. Which was no easy thing to get done. But I so loved that they tried to free him, at least.
There were other great characters in this book too. Not going to mention more of them, except for Teoda, the Holy Child. She claimed to have an angel whisper the future in her ear. And I adored her, ha. She was also a real miracle, in a way. I very much liked how Teoda and Luzia became friends, despite competing together. Honestly, Teoda was a joy to read about. I also enjoyed how Luzia and Valentina slowly became closer as well. Once a servant and master, now closer to friends. But I also wanted them together more.
There are still things I could say about this. But I'm not going to. It was a story about Luzia being part of a tournament. How that ended up going wrong. How she ended up having to fight for her life. And how all of that ended. I liked the ending. The Familiar ended up being such a stunning book for me. I enjoyed it very much. I did not fully love it, but I loved parts of it, and that's enough for me. The story was exciting to read about. A little sad, a little hopeful at times. A tiny bit of magical. Can't wait for even more books by Leigh.
Goodreads - Blackwells - Amazon US - Amazon UK
