Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time
| Log in
  1. Follow us on Facebook
  2. Follow us on Instagram
  3. Follow us on Bluesky
  4. Follow us on Goodreads
  5. RSS Feeds

  • Home
  • About
    • Getting Started in CBR18
    • Rules of Respect
    • Cannon Book Club
    • Diversions
    • Fan Mail
    • Holiday Book Exchange
    • Book Bingo Reading Challenge
    • Participation Badges
    • AlabamaPink
    • About Cannonball Read
  • Our Team
    • The CBR Team
    • Leaderboard
    • Recent Comments
    • Participant Interviews
    • Cannonballer Location Maps
    • Our Volunteers
    • Meet MsWas
  • Categories
    • Review Genres
    • Tags
    • Star Ratings
    • Featured Review Archive
  • Fight Cancer
    • How We Fight Cancer
    • Donate
    • CBR Merchandise
  • FAQ
  • Contact
    • Contact Form
    • 2026 Registration
    • Suggest a Review
    • Newsletter Sign Up
    • Newsletter Archive
    • Social Media

“Writing gives you the power to shape your own world when the real one hurts too much”

The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo

May 14, 2026 by Malin Leave a Comment

Dark Corner Selection: March 2026 In a different version of 16th-century Spain, young Luzia Cortado works grudgingly as a scullery maid for the miserable and petty Doña Valentina. Luzia can use what she calls “small magics” to make her life easier. She can mend seams, multiply the groceries, unburn bread or reassemble broken things. She performs these little spells, learned from generations of her Jewish ancestors, by singing quietly. Luzia is a convert; she dutifully goes to Mass and hides any traces of her Jewish […]

Filed Under: Audiobooks, Fantasy, History, Mystery Tagged With: 16th Century Spain, alternate history, audiobook, cbr18, feminism, historical fantasy, Lauren Fortgang, Leigh Bardugo, LGBTQIA, magic, Malin, religious persecution, the Dark Corner, The Familiar, The Inquisition

Malin's CBR18 Review No:28 · Genres: Audiobooks, Fantasy, History, Mystery · Tags: 16th Century Spain, alternate history, audiobook, cbr18, feminism, historical fantasy, Lauren Fortgang, Leigh Bardugo, LGBTQIA, magic, Malin, religious persecution, the Dark Corner, The Familiar, The Inquisition ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments
The Familiar

Black Cover and Maybe Some Black Hearts or not so Black

The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo

October 20, 2025 by CoffeeShopReader 3 Comments

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 […]

Filed Under: Fantasy, Featured, History, Speculative Fiction Tagged With: cbr17bingo, historical fiction, Inquisition, Leigh Bardugo, magic, Romance, Speculative Fiction, The Familiar

CoffeeShopReader's CBR17 Review No:52 · Genres: Fantasy, Featured, History, Speculative Fiction · Tags: cbr17bingo, historical fiction, Inquisition, Leigh Bardugo, magic, Romance, Speculative Fiction, The Familiar ·
Rating:
· 3 Comments

The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo

The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo

May 5, 2025 by Classic 2 Comments

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 […]

Filed Under: Fantasy, Fiction, History, Religion, Romance Tagged With: Leigh Bardugo, The Familiar

Classic's CBR17 Review No:51 · Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, History, Religion, Romance · Tags: Leigh Bardugo, The Familiar ·
Rating:
· 2 Comments

“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

June 21, 2024 by narfna Leave a Comment

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 […]

Filed Under: Fantasy Tagged With: #fantasy, historical fantasy, Jewish history, Leigh Bardugo, narfna, Spain, The Familiar, The Inquisition

narfna's CBR16 Review No:32 · Genres: Fantasy · Tags: #fantasy, historical fantasy, Jewish history, Leigh Bardugo, narfna, Spain, The Familiar, The Inquisition ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments


Recent Comments

  • esmemoria
    on Painfully Unfunny
    You got that right!
  • BlackRaven
    on Painfully Unfunny
    Sounds like this book was 167 pages too long
  • BlackRaven
    on The Joke’s On You
    Sounds like The Stench was all the title needed
  • esmemoria
    on The Joke’s On You
    Practically every sentence is a joke omg, I recently finished a book like this. Hated it.
  • esmemoria
    on Eat the Rich
    and the recognition that love isn’t going to cure trauma This is a perspective that is unusual to find. Sounds...
See More Recent Comments »

Support Our Mission

  • Support Our Mission, Donate Today!
  • FAQ
  • Shop
  • Volunteers
  • Leaderboard
  • AlabamaPink
  • Contact

Help Our Mission

You can donate to CBR via:

  1. PayPal
  2. Venmo

The reviews and comments posted on this site reflect the opinions of individual posters and do not reflect the views of Cannonball Read.

© 2026 Cannonball Read Inc., a registered 501(c)(3) | Log in