The Familiar, by Leigh Bardugo
3.0 Stars
10-10-2024

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The library practically forced this on me, by placing it prominently on the "New Reads" shelf and me being bored. It was ... not bad? I've been burned by Bardugo in the past, but this was a slightly more quiet and self contained tale and I appreciated it for that. It reminded me of something that Naomi Novik would write more than anything, along the lines of her Spinning Silver. I think the story also benefits from being set several hundred years in the past, and avoiding some the political/cultural minefields of the present day. So: competently written, a fine historical fairy tale, but also somewhat marred by the standard Bardugo flaws of a pacing that is a bit too slow, situations that seem ~35% too unnecessarily grim, and a magic system that is too loosey-goosey for stats focused scientists like me.