Citadel Paperback – June 20, 2023

This book pulled me in immediately. The characters are well developed and the switching perspectives give great insight into them and their bonds. The world building is excellent. I hope to read more soon!

Olivia is a resident of Citadel, but she's considered weird because she looks different, acts differently, and doesn't speak. This story revolves around her life and those around her. In a world where autism is not heard of, how does a high functioning, non-verbal autistic young woman try to solve a centuries long feud?I don't want to give spoilers, so I can't give more of description of the plot. I'm usually picky about my sci-fi choices but the premise made me intrigued. I heard about this book on TikTok (go follow CM there she has amazing content) and the more teasers she gave, the more I wanted to read the book.Her writing is descriptive without going overboard. Her characters are well thought out and relatable.I honestly can't wait for the next book!

I liked how quickly I learned the characters. I sometimes get overwhelmed with new names, and the author paced introductions so well that I knew who each character was.World building was great. I hope she gets into who/ what the Nostrians are in the next book.

I would have finished it quicker if it weren't for that darned pesky job. This really does NOT read like a first novel! The world itself is detailed and unique enough to be considered a character. All of the characters have strong, relevant voices that propel the plot and serve a purpose. The story is exciting and engaging and not just good vs. evil. Nobody is all good or evil and the whole story revolves around the idea that everyone has reasons for what they do. Kinda like real life. The overriding theme of achieving peace, or at least trying to, through communication, gives me hope. I really enjoyed this book and I hope she writes at least a sequel if not a few more!

It is slow at first but leaves you wanting more at the end like any good book please enjoy it

This had me going through an emotional roller coaster. I have ADHD and some of those triggers (metal utensils scaping on plates, for example) made my absolutely cringe! Also!! The plot twists! I want to talk about all the things, but I don't want to give any spoilers away! But I loved the how the characters all felt alive and different. At one point, I nearly shouted "Nooooo!!!!!!".

I have been eagerly awaiting this novel since I read the first novella in CM Alongi 's Blackwing series. I was deeply appreciative of the writing style in this novel, making it feel very natural when I read. The non-verbal main character was written with sensitivity, and depth. A cast amount of diversity was offered among the cast, and all the relationships were very well thought out and felt so real. The world building was woven throughout the entire novel, and didn't feel like stage directions like so many novels do. I love the depth of description we get of the setting, and I could clearly imagine what the flooded forest looked like, and how crowded Citadel itself must be. We see a lot of connections between the cast, but I appreciate that it doesn't veer into romance, leaving us to walk Olivia's grief with her. As a prolific reader, I will be recommending this to people.

Citadel was such an engaging read. The characters, the world building * chefs kiss*. I was really impressed with Olivia. Her bravery, her tenacity, and her quick thinking really made her into the heroine of the story. And even the secondary and tertiary characters were fully fleshed out. The societies, both in Citadel, with the humans, and in the forest, with the chimera, had a real depth, showing of the positives and the negatives of each. I cannot wait for the sequel to come out.

SPOILER FREE REVIEW:Citadel is a fantastic story showcasing the problems with religious extremism, the issues with trying to eradicate history and hiding it from public knowledge, and the struggles of people who are different from the social norms, or those who dare to rebel against the tyrannic hold of government and a belief system they do not agree with. You will fall in love with so many of the characters, as well as despise a few. Both of which make you keep turning the page to find out what happens next, hoping for those rare few moments of good and redemption, and those moments of pure worry and heartbreak that you just cannot help but not put the book down.This story made me cry several times that it forced me to take a break to collect myself and come back fresh. It had me on the edge of my seat just wanting more and more, I cannot wait for book 2 in the series.**BOOK SPOILERS AHEAD, DO NOT READ IF YOU WANT TO GO IN BLIND**C.M.Alongi does an absolutely phenomenal job at portraying a non-verbal autistic person as the main character, made even better by making it a woman since women and autism get little to no representation within media, or within modern day society as it goes largely undiagnosed. This is again emphasized by the society within Citadel being ableist and sexist, making it even harder for Olivia within her day to day life. So many people see her as a "freak" and try to force her to be "normal" by trying to get her to speak, instead of writing in her sketchbooks for communication.  The world building within Citadel is absolutely IN CRED I BLE! As someone that struggles to paint an image within their head of what something is meant to look like, and is largely a visual person, she did a brilliant job of painting the world; it was so descriptive that I was able to picture what everything looked like. This made me feel so immersed within the story and like I was right there with Olivia, swinging from branch to branch within the forest. The descriptions for the Chimera were also just amazing, I really felt like I was seeing what Olivia was seeing when she came into contact with them.I cried multiple times throughout the story, twice within the first three chapters, the first at Olivia's first love letter to her now dead boyfriend, Elias, and again in chapter 3 with the death of her mother, Sarai. The love notes from Olivia to Elias had me sobbing, especially her last letter after chapter 61, I had to take a 5 minute breather before finishing the last chapter of the book, it really hit me hard. This is not a mark down on the book whatsoever, and honestly made it better for me; hitting me in the feels like this is not easy to do whatsoever, so the fact it made me cry is just *chefs kiss*.The character development we see is also top notch. Originally I thought I was going to hate Ormus, upon meeting him in chapter 3 I thought he was he one who set up Sarai to be executed, so he could get custody of Olivia; I was prepared to hate him, but by the end of the book I was in love with his character, his willingness to take the flower and help Olivia in the end, to try and end the war was fantastic. The fact he did not even have to think twice about giving the Chimera, Gabrielle, at the end really showed how much he wanted to support Olivia and her cause in ending the conflict.I loved seeing Riley's development by standing up to his father and doing what was going to make HIM happy, and not what would make Augustus happy. I really grew to like Riley and got really worried near the end when he was exposed for being a Dove. I cannot even express my relief when he was let free as there was no evidence on him.I do not have much to say on Augustus honestly, there is nothing to like about him. He is a straight up See You Next Tuesday. He does not care what anybody has to say about those being convicted, or the evidence showing they are innocent, if he finds you guilty, that is all that matters to him and he will convict you to be executed, the only way he spares you is if you give up other people, but he will keep you locked in jail, while executing them.**NEGATIVES BUT LIKE...NOT REALLY?**Now onto my "negatives" for Citadel. While it being made longer could turn some people off, it would have been nice to have a few chapters on each of the different packs of Chimera to really flesh them out. Getting a real sense of each pack, their dynamic and where each of them resides, along with each pack's conflict with the people of Citadel. Maybe even a map of the city and the forest so we can get a better layout of the world, especially for those of us who are more visual.It would be nice to have, either at the front or the back of the book, a list of words and names that the Chimera uses and the characters, to help when reading. Without seeing a comment from C.M.Alongi on one of her TikToks, I would not have known Asiya was pronounced A-SIGH-A. While this is not going to be a problem with the audio book, the physical version does suffer from not having the pronunciations laid out somewhere.While I do enjoy that a lot of the chapters were 3-5 pages long, so it feels like you were making real progress, especially when there were a lot in a row, I do feel that it maybe made the book feel like it dragged on just a bit. I feel like if they were combined more into a few chapters together, being broken up by the flower that would appear on some pages to split up the text, would have helped the pacing of the chapters a bit more.   - When I was half way through the book, with 31 more chapters left and only 179 pages, compared to the 232 I had just read, it made the second half feel a bit rushed. It ended up pacing out well by the end, but it did feel like it was picking up the pace just a bit too much, to where it was feeling rushed to get to the ending.Another issue I had, and this is not really a negative of the book, more just a me thing that might affect some others, is the break in some of the chapters. Chapter 21 for example being broken up with 22 and 23 before the continuation of 24, really took me out of the story. While it is there to keep you reading as it leaves you wanting to find out what happens next, I was reading a few chapters before bed. By the time I was done with the following 16 pages and could find out what happens in chapter 24, I was exhausted and needed sleep, which killed the excitement for me for what was happening. Again, this is not really a negative of the book itself, more of a me thing, but I felt it was something worth noting.

I was recommended this story by a British twitch streamer who's autistic, like myself. I was going to buy the paperback but ended up getting the ebook. I will get the paperback at some point.Just going to say this. This story was superb. Hands down will read again. I felt the struggles Olivia went through. I loved learning about the chimera. I look forward to the sequel. ^_^

I had no doubts that this book would be good after reading C. M. Alongi's Blackwing novels, but it's been truely wonderful to see that the sensitivity that she brought to the diversity of her characters gender and sexual expression has been wonderfully carried across to neurological diversity as well.The world building had me hooked, never feeling like exposition, but instead being discovered through the characters actions and experiences.The last page made me groan out loud at the fact I'd have to wait to discovered what happened next.Brilliant!

This book was both thought provoking and a great read. It certainly evoked the fulllll range of emotions. There are a few characters I’d gladly stab. There are others I just want to give a hug. It was really fascinating to see so much of the story from Olivia’s perspective. I loved it and I really really want the sequel asap!!!

I had a wonderful time reading this book. The world was interesting and the characters are very engaging. I would recommend this book to any fan of this genre.