This book was recently listed as a finalist for the Minnesota Book Award in Genre Fiction, to be given to a Minnesota author on May 7th by the Friends of the Saint Paul Library. Two other books previously reviewed here are also nominated: Liberty’s Daughter by Naomi Kritzer’s and Ink Blood Sister Scribe by Emma Torzs. Congratulations!

Citadel is the “first full-length novel” written by C. M. Alongi, whose publisher apparently doesn’t count her earlier fantasy novella series. (The publisher also doesn’t mention her very popular YouTube channel.) The book reminds me of some of Sharon Shinn’s works, where a story that seems initially to be fantasy turns into science fiction as the plot is revealed.

The protagonist is a young woman named Olivia who lives in an isolated city called Citadel, walled against extreme tidal flooding and incursions by a hostile species known as “demons.” She is somewhere around nineteen years old, but seems older since she is mourning her fiancee, killed a year ago in a battle against the demons. She has not been diagnosed with autism, since the diagnosis is unknown in Citadel, but she has many signs of it, along with a discomfort with communicating verbally. She is never without her notebook in which she answers conversation, makes copious notes on natural history, and writes eloquent letters to her dead fiancee.

However, Citadel is becoming a dangerous place to live, particularly for anyone who is in any way different. People who disagree with the current government, which has established a religion around exterminating the demons, are being put to death. It is a very bad time for a young woman, already harassed for her differences, to learn that said demons are sentient. Leaving the city and living in the hostile environment around it might actually be less dangerous for Olivia than remaining at home.

This is a fine SF read, with interesting world-building and a modern female protagonist whose confidence is unburdened by her repressive upbringing and is well up to the adventures ahead of her.