Summary

Leigh Bardugo ’s next book , The Familiar , is soon to collide with bookshelf and plenty of information about the new novel is already float around . Leigh Bardugo is one of the hottest authors around , with a huge pursual on and off BookTok thanks to her groundbreakingShadow & Bonefantasy trilogythat expanded into the Grishaverse , and her newer Alex Stern book serial publication set in the occult arts underbelly of Yale . To date , her book have sell more than 20 million copies around the world . Shadow & Bonewas turned into a Netflix series while Amazon Prime Video is presently developing aNinth Houseshow .

Now the bestselling generator is riposte withThe Familiar , a book that is set to be a stark departure from what has hail before . Bardugo has state a few times that the tale is " inspired by [ her ] own family history , " and that it was the first of her books she write wholly at night . She ’s also described it as the most romantic story she ’s ever penned , which is intriguing consideringthe Grishaverse has a plethora of romantic relationshipsand entanglements and the Alex Stern series has smoulder attractive tension . Here ’s everything that ’s know about Leigh Bardugo’sThe Familiar .

The Release Date For The Familiar Is Confirmed

The Release Date Was Announced In January

Back in September 2023 , Leigh Bardugo announced particular forThe Familiar , including the release date . It was also annunciate the bookwas available for preorder . The release date forThe Familiaris April 9 , 2024.Preorders ofThe Familiarwill be ship out that day , but anyone who need to buy the Word directly from a shop can also grease one’s palms a physical transcript or digital version . Buying directly be faster than waiting for retail merchant to ship it ; the fastest they ’ll arrive would be April 10 , so those who simply ca n’t wait to read it may be good off picking up a copy ofThe Familiardirectly from their favorite local book store .

Buying directly be faster than waiting for retailers to ship it ; the fastest they ’ll arrive would be April 10 , so those who merely ca n’t wait to read it may be good off picking up a copy ofThe Familiardirectly from their favorite local volume store .

On January 22 , Bardugo announced a few sport giveaways with former preorders : her publishers went big for the freeing date and preorder declaration . The first preorders in the U.S. were eligible to meet usance artwork with their orderliness through Flatiron . Preorders from the UK were eligible to advance a feeding bottle of Officina Profumo - Farmaceutica di Santa Maria Novella ’s Melograno fragrance with the spill through Viking . A number of small , sovereign book store are also contribute away endearing carve wooden bookmarks in limited quantities .

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What Is Known About Leigh Bardugo’s The Familiar’s Story

It Takes Place In Spain During The Spanish Golden Age

Bardugo is actuate the military action to a make - fresh scope and time time period , this time during the Spanish Golden Age in Madrid . A few context clue can avail narrow down just when it takes shoes . The Spanish Golden Age broadly stretched from 1492 , the class Columbus sailed for the New World , to 1659 , around the end of the Franco - Spanish War . However , the precis mentions " England ’s heretic pansy , " which narrow it down to the reign of Elizabeth I , whom Catholics considered to be a heretic , which ran from 1558 - 1603 . During that metre , the late 1580s - late 1590s saw the Spanish Armada suffer several devastating release , so the case ofThe Familiar ’s story almost certainly unfold in that span of years .

That official synopsis reads

In a shabby menage , on a shabby street , in the Modern capital of Madrid , Luzia Cotado utilize scraps of trick to get through her days of interminable labour as a scullion . But when her scheming schoolma’am discovers the gawk of a servant fawn in the kitchen is really hiding a talent for little miracles , she demand Luzia practice those gifts to better the family ’s social lieu .

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What begins as simple amusement for the bored grandeur takes a perilous turn when Luzia garners the observation of Antonio Pérez , the disgraced secretarial assistant to Spain ’s king . Still swag from the frustration of his armada , the Martin Luther King Jr. is desperate for any vantage in the war against England ’s heretic queer — and Pérez will block at nothing to recover the king ’s favor .

As Bardugo said , The Familiaris arguably her most wild-eyed story , so it will be interesting to see how it plays out . It ’s a mix of fantasy and diachronic fabrication , so it will contain real chronicle into the story , particularly as the Spanish royals are part of the story . The love story will stretch out against that historical backdrop . Considering the context of the narrative – Luzia being Jewish , Santángel being curse , the terror of the Spanish Inquisition , and the fact various promo videos on Instagram have all hinted it ’s not a felicitous story – expectThe Familiarto volunteer up more than a fleck of heartache .

Is The Familiar Part Of Shadow & Bone’s Grishaverse?

It’s Set In Its Own Universe

For those who did n’t already gather from the synopsis , The Familiarwill not be part of the Grishaverse . It also will not in any style be touch base in any way to Leigh Bardugo ’s Alex Stern serial . or else , The Familiarwill be its own thing , the first wholly standalone book for Bardugo not impound to any previously existing universe .

The Familiarwill be its own thing , the first wholly standalone Holy Writ for Bardugo not attached to any previously existing creation .

As for the Grishaverse , it appears that that book series has amount to an official close withRule of Hugo Wolf ' release in 2021 . specially now that theShadow & BoneTV adaptation was unceremoniously delete by Netflix , the cosmos of the Grishaverse has come to a rude end . That ’s not to say that Leigh Bardugo may not refund to the Grishaverse some time in the hereafter , but for the prison term being , she seem to be centre on other projects likeThe Familiar .

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How Many Books Will Be In The Familiar Series

It’s A New Kind Of Book For Leigh Bardugo

Though it ’s not connected to any of Bardugo ’s exist universes , there was some early hypothesis among readers that it might be the start of a new series . If not a new series , the possibility that it might be the first Bible of one of the duologies Bardugo favors was bounced around . reader were enough emotional : if the Grishaverse is indeed done , then a new series might be just the thing to supervene upon that hole in the readership ’s corporate heart . It ’s since been confirmedThe Familiarwill be a self - contained novel , however .

That ’s not wholly a surprise . Bardugo has bring up in various spots on the internet and in interviews that the research for her books is painstaking and fourth dimension - have . While the Grishaverse is loosely inspire by res publica in our own man , it ’s completely a fantasy construction . Meanwhile , the Alex Stern series is set in our world , albeit the underbelly of Yale . WithThe Familiarbeing her first novel set in a tangible historic era , it likely involve month , if not years , of research to get the historical timeline , historic figure , and details right . At a solid 400 page , however , The Familiarhas more than enough space to tell a consummate tarradiddle .

Crop of the cover of Leigh Bardugo’s The Familiar

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A crop of the Grishaverse book covers

Author Leigh Bardugo sits among a pile of books