I had heard SO MUCH HYPE surrounding this book so as soon as I saw that it was available to request off NetGalley, I jumped at the chance. I didn’t start reading it til a few months later though because well… That TBR was CRAZY OUT OF CONTROL.

In the city of Eldra, people are ruled by ancient prophecies. For centuries, the high council has stayed in power by virtue of the prophecies of the elder seers. After the last infallible prophecy came to pass, growing unrest led to murders and an eventual rebellion that raged for more than a decade.
 


In the present day, Cassa, the orphaned daughter of rebels, is determined to fight back against the high council, which governs Eldra from behind the walls of the citadel. Her only allies are no-nonsense Alys, easygoing Evander, and perpetually underestimated Newt, and Cassa struggles to come to terms with the legacy of rebellion her dead parents have left her — and the fear that she may be inadequate to shoulder the burden. But by the time Cassa and her friends uncover the mystery of the final infallible prophecy, it may be too late to save the city — or themselves.

I read this book within a few days and one of the things that really helped me get through this novel was that I can do chaperone my sister to a concert, so I just stayed outside all night reading.

 

“Evander hated the dark. He wasn’t scared of it, exactly. He just hated the uncertainty it brought. the fumbling blindness. The chaos of his other senses trying to compensate.”

– Destiny Soria, Beneath the Citadel

 

The beginning of the novel didn’t really capture my attention which was a shame. I was so ready for an action packed story from beginning to end. However, after you get the whole walking-and-talking to get from A to B part out of the way, the story starts to pick up it’s pace and you also start learning more about the characters and their relationships with each other.

The characters were one of the things that I loved the most about this book. There was so much diversity AND I WAS SO HERE FOR IT! One of our main protagonists was Cassa, who was a woman of colour, Alys was plus-sized and suffered from sever anxiety, Evander was bisexual and Newt was gay. I can go only talk about how the representation of the anxiety and being plus-sized was portrayed, and I have to say, Soria conveyed this reps in such a great way. It didn’t feel like she was just giving character labels to say ‘oh hey, look me at including diverse characters.’ It didn’t feel forced. The characters felt so natural, and they weren’t their labels. Those elements of their person were just there. They didn’t define them at all. I just loved it. And from the other reviews that I’ve read, the representation for the other characters are really good as well.

 

“Nightmares were the mind’s way of exploring subconscious fears.”

– Destiny Soria, Beneath the Citadel

 

I think that another element of this book that I really enjoyed was that ONLY SOME PEOPLE were born with magical abilities, To be bloodhound to an element, you had to undergo a transformation with surgery. Having this mix of being born with power and being able to gain a power through transformation made a refreshing change from the norm that you would see in fantasy. From what I can remember as well, there wasn’t any disagreements between people who had natural power and those who had the artificial power.

A few other extra positives of this novel were that the world-building was fantastic. The way that Soria explained the streets and alleyways of the citadel were so clear that I could see them in my mind.

I think one of the elements of the novel that worked really well was not knowing who was a villain. I mean, of course there were some characters who you knew were evil, but there were a handful where you were like ‘ok… so what’s their deal…?’ which made the reading experience very interesting and definitely kept you on your toes.

Overall, Beneath the Citadel was a slow-starting book that definitely packed its punches in the right places.

Disclaimer: this book was sent to me by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Trigger warnings: panic attacks/anxiety, PTSD, death of parents.

 

 

 

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