Beneath the Citadel
Destiny Soria
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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.
Beneath the Citadel could be described as a book all about escapes. There are a lot of escape scenes in this book, which can get quite repetitive. However, the group do find new ways to save their skin, but at the back of my mind there was limited risk of them not escaping because they were so good at it. On top of this, there were a few times where the pace slowed right down because they’d been captured, but there was limited action.
In Beneath the Citadel there are multiple magic systems in play. There are the Rooks and Sentients who are born with magic skills. But there are also blood bound people, who are bound to an element to give them magic skills. These systems had their own strengths which we saw through Evander and Vesper, however there’s not a hard line of which one is better or worse in this world. Which I thought was unique in a fantasy novel as often they are pitted against one another.
I really enjoyed how in-depth the characters were. It felt kind-of breakfast club-like at times with how different the characters were, but without them leaning too much into their stereotypes. The cast is diverse as they show POC, bi, gay and ace rep, anxiety and plus-sized characters. Cassa as our main character is your typical brash rebel. She can be both ego-centric and abrasive at times, and our other characters often call her out. Newt is someone I relate to heavily due to low self-esteem that plagues his actions and decisions. Contrasting against Evander who is notably brave and ready to protect the other characters because he loves them so.
Alys stands out as one of the best written characters. She has anxiety attacks during the action of the book, which is written so well but in a way that would make it understandable to those who haven’t experienced it themselves. Alys is also fat and ace, which is woven naturally into the book without it being her entire personality, but to just genuinely give depth to her character.
A good part of the book and its character was that Cassa’s relationships with each of the other 4 main characters differed per person. The different POVs allowed us to have a connection to each of these characters too, and better understand the differences around Cassa. However, each of the four do seem very centred around Cassa, but this is discussed in the book at some length about how it’s not healthy. I didn’t enjoy that the characters had limited experiences away from Cassa at times.
An issue with the book is that our main characters don’t really understand who the real villain is. They’re rebelling against authority in the city and then fall into the plot where they come across the main antagonist, and even then they’re completely unsure what is truly going on. And truly I kept second guessing myself whilst reading it too. This is both good and bad, as it kept me on my toes, but sometimes they felt ‘rebel without a cause’.
This book is a standalone book, but I’m excited to read more from Soria because of it. Whilst this book had its issues, I think the good parts such as the character depth, magic system and world building pulled it back up.
Positives
- Magic System felt unique
- Characters are written in-depth
- World building was well done
Negatives
- Slow pacing at times
- Took time to understand antagonist
I received Beneath the Citadel by Destiny Soria from the publisher via Netgalley. This is an unbiased and honest review