Beneath the Citadel by Destiny Soria

Four friends —Alys, Evander, Newt, and protagonist Cassa—find themselves facing off with the sinister High Council who have been ruling the city of Eldra for centuries. But a rebellion has been playing out for more than a decade, and Cass, the daughter of rebels, is determined to follow in her parents’ footstep, despite her fear that it might be more than she is capable of. Mysterious prophecies, a fight against oppressive leaders, and a city on the brink of destruction—this book is every bit as dark and magical as that oh so creepy cover would imply!

There were a lot of strengths to this book - the plot, the emotions, the damn ENDING, the representation and characters... But there were also some glaring issues which I could not ignore. For one, the characters, as interesting as they were, felt haphazard because the book jumped around. I mean jumped around A LOT, which made things not flow as well as I usually hope. All in all I did enjoy this book, especially as a fantasy lover who appreciates good representation for what its worth.

I...did not like this book. Honestly, I'm not certain why I finished it - other than the fact that I said I would and I don't like not doing something I say I will.

Anyway, pretty much every problem I had with this book is because I did not like the writing style. It's very... description and dialogue light and heavy on the internal musings. (Also, apparently we need to know things like how certain characters first met, as that gets their own, interrupting, chapter. Also, flashbacks to what happened five minutes ago.)

There so little major world building and yet, every minutia that even tangentially affects our ‘heroes' is described way more than need be. And yet, I don't know anything about the greater workings. I don't even know if the Citadel's township is a city-state, part of a larger country, the only town in existence, ect. (Is it said? After a certain point I started skimming because I had to return this book to the library and with how bored I was, I would have never made it in time if I had to read page after page of text blocks. There is a reason it's said people seldom skip dialogue.)

I thought, after the first chapter - which was an external pov and was so fun - that the book was going to be awesome. The characters all seemed quirky and unique, even their first chapters made it seem like they were going to be a fun bunch. They're not quirky and unique, they're boring and...really, rely on their diversity to fake building personality. (Seriously, one of them seems like their whole personality is panic attacks.) (Also, on the author's page here it says something about ‘an excess of witty banter'. ... Yeah, there's none of that here.)

What makes it worse for me, is that these are supposed to be friends. I only felt it a little - which could have been helped by witty banter. You know, the way friends are.

The other reason I didn't like the book was Cassa. She's just...a terrible person and a horrid friend. So having her as their leader was lots of fun. (‘I've lost everyone, I have nothing left.' Carefully doesn't look into the eyes of her ‘friends'.)

Finally, I did like Evander. He had a little more liveliness to him than the rest and was at least closest to what I thought he was at the introduction.

Final note: Also, this book was a lot darker than I thought it would be, so... Yeah. If you're wanting a fun, lighthearted fantasy romp, don't look here.