A review by sierraclimbs
Citadel by C.M. Alongi

medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

I probably should have DNFd this book… 
The premise of it is very intriguing. It’s essentially How to Train Your Dragon, but with chimera instead of dragons & on an alien planet. 
There is important representation in this book, the main protagonist is a nonverbal autistic woman. I’m happy there are people writing this representation into their stories. But unfortunately it did not really work for me…
It ended up reading really young & there was a change made mid book that made me a little uncomfortable…
Let me start by saying that I do not have autism nor do I have anyone in my closest family & friends with autism, so my opinion should be taken with a grain of salt. But my biggest problem with this book is that they gave the nonverbal autistic protagonist a way to talk, through telepathy. Before she ate the flower to give her telepathic powers she was communicating through her sketchbook & signs. This was much more compelling & I think there could have been so much done with her ability to communicate in unconventional ways to make her connections with the chimera. Rather than just giving her speech… and frankly, it was the chimeras broken speech that made it read so young.

Also, I can’t find anything about this being a first in a series, but the last couple chapters really seemed to set up a sequel. 
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