Book completed
Jun. 11th, 2025 11:51 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
eve_primeThe Familiar, by Leigh Bardugo. I had procrastinated reading this because I thought it was going to be stressful, but once I had properly started it, I found it captivating and relaxing, and I finished it in two days. It’s the 1590s in Madrid – after the failure of the Armada but Philip II is still alive. Luzia, a scullery maid, is caught doing little magical tricks. (Are they Christian miracles or works of the devil? Neither, they’re small magics from her hidden Jewish heritage). Her unhappy employer, Valentina, decides to use these talents to improve her own social life. Soon Luzia is in a competition to become the king’s new miracle worker, although the person best qualified to help her is… unusual. I enjoyed the book very much; it had a satisfying ending. I especially liked Valentina’s story arc.
After I finished, I looked online and found that people either loved the story or found it off-putting. The reasons for the latter were two-fold. Fans of her previous work didn’t think this was much like it (not an issue for me, since this is the first I’ve read by her, but I guess she’s new to historical fiction). The other issue was the language she used for her spells. I was delighted to realize that it was probably Ladino, and she explained that it was in the notes at the end, but I recognize that I’m unusual in that regard; most Americans have heard of Yiddish but have no idea about Ladino. Latino/a readers were especially annoyed with what looked to them like funky, misspelled Spanish. Maybe she could have explained better in the text that the Jews of Spain had their own language.
After I finished, I looked online and found that people either loved the story or found it off-putting. The reasons for the latter were two-fold. Fans of her previous work didn’t think this was much like it (not an issue for me, since this is the first I’ve read by her, but I guess she’s new to historical fiction). The other issue was the language she used for her spells. I was delighted to realize that it was probably Ladino, and she explained that it was in the notes at the end, but I recognize that I’m unusual in that regard; most Americans have heard of Yiddish but have no idea about Ladino. Latino/a readers were especially annoyed with what looked to them like funky, misspelled Spanish. Maybe she could have explained better in the text that the Jews of Spain had their own language.
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Date: 2025-06-12 09:18 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-06-12 09:53 am (UTC)