Erica

What a unique historical fiction tale!

The Fair Fight is a story centered around pugilism, the science of boxing. Set in Bristol, England in the 1790s, it weaves the story through the lives of three people whose lives are all touched by the boxing obsessed Mr. Dryer; Ruth, a girl born in a brothel and trained to be a lady boxer from youth; George Bowden, a gentleman who is unable to turn from a wager; and Charlotte Sinclair, the youngest daughter of a.landed gentleman left scarred by smallpox.

The story moves through these three characters point-of-views, often telling the story of the same events through different perspectives. I never felt like things were being tiredly rehashed in these retellings. Rather, it revealed something new i hadn't known or seen, and showed a deeper layer to the storyin a way that started making me eager to see what the next character's view of one central event would be.

The audiobook was extremely well read, with three actors taking the lead characters' parts and reading the chapters told from their perspectives. It really helped sell the shifting narrative when a new voice would start in my ear.

I really wasn't sure where the story was going in the first couple of sections, but by the time I was first introduced to the third narrators chapters, I was hooked. There is a lot of described violence, as would be expected in a book about boxing.

YA, but in the best, glowing sense of YA. I love a girl fueled by righteous anger and a triangle of power.

The part i love about Leigh Bardugo's books is inevitably the world. I was absolutely fascinated by Ravka and the Grisha in Shadow and Bone, even when i found the plot and characters to be rather generic. In the Ninth House, the secret world of magic and mystery behind Yale University was utterly spellbinding, even as Alex Stern and Daniel Arlington started to feel like other characters she'd written.

And the lack of worldbuilding in The Familiar is why i can't give much love to the book. We are dropped into 1590s Spain with little orientation and given the protagonist of Luzia Cotado, a normal, ignorable girl who is drawn into the spotlight by her ability to work miracles (a familiar trope for Leigh Bardugo). Theres also a dangerous immortal love who trains Luzia in her magic and maybe develops feelings but also wants to use her for his own ends (sound familiar?). There are other half-developed characters who cross over with Luzia, using her for their advantage as she figures out what she wants for her own life.

Overall, i was just left unimpressed. Its all the generic characters of an LB novel without the impressive settings to draw me in.