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A Stranger in the Citadel
A tale of family bonds, royal power, and the truth that threatens it all, from World Fantasy Award-winner Tobias S. Buckell.
“You shall not suffer a librarian to live.”
Growing up in Ninetha, Lilith has known this law all her life. The city's every need is provided for by a god-machine called the cornucopia, which can produce food, clothing, anything in response to a thought. The gods provided this bounty on one condition: that humanity give up reading and writing.
Then, a librarian, an actual seeker of forbidden written knowledge, walks through the gates of the citadel, his very presence unraveling the life Lilith has known. She learns her father, the Lord Musketeer himself, has been harboring a secret - one that turns Ninetha against Lilith's family.
Forced to flee, forced to throw in her lot with the librarian, Lilith uncovers even greater secrets - about the lie her life has been, and about the very nature of their world.
“You shall not suffer a librarian to live.”
Growing up in Ninetha, Lilith has known this law all her life. The city's every need is provided for by a god-machine called the cornucopia, which can produce food, clothing, anything in response to a thought. The gods provided this bounty on one condition: that humanity give up reading and writing.
Then, a librarian, an actual seeker of forbidden written knowledge, walks through the gates of the citadel, his very presence unraveling the life Lilith has known. She learns her father, the Lord Musketeer himself, has been harboring a secret - one that turns Ninetha against Lilith's family.
Forced to flee, forced to throw in her lot with the librarian, Lilith uncovers even greater secrets - about the lie her life has been, and about the very nature of their world.
7 pages, Audio CD
First published May 27, 2021
15 people are currently reading
2905 people want to read
About the author
Tobias S. Buckell
216 books464 followersBorn in the Caribbean, Tobias S. Buckell is a New York Times Bestselling author. His novels and over 50 short stories have been translated into 17 languages and he has been nominated for the Hugo, Nebula, Prometheus and John W. Campbell Award for Best New Science Fiction Author. He currently lives in Ohio.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 90 reviews
September 19, 2023
2.5 Stars
The premise was such a compelling one but I found myself not enjoying the actual story as much as I hoped. The story was just too simple and juvenile to be enjoyable. It's a shame because this one had potential to be a favourite.
Disclaimer I received a copy of this book from the publisher.
The premise was such a compelling one but I found myself not enjoying the actual story as much as I hoped. The story was just too simple and juvenile to be enjoyable. It's a shame because this one had potential to be a favourite.
Disclaimer I received a copy of this book from the publisher.
June 30, 2023
4.5 stars rounded up
This did not end up going where I expected but I really liked it!
A Stranger in the Citadel is a sci-fantasy novel following a royal young woman whose life is upended when a stranger carrying a secret book shows up in her city. When the rule of the gods is "You shall not suffer a librarian to live", Lillith is playing with fire trying to save the mans life. This is both a coming of age story and a novel about access to information, reading, and writing. With some interesting twists and world-building. It's fast-paced with well-drawn characters I was invested in. Yes Lillith is young, privileged and foolish to start, but she grows through the course of the book. I don't want to spoil anything, but this is an entertaining and intriguing read that also feels timely. And the sci-fi elements are cool. I received a copy of this book for review from the publisher, all opinions are my own.
This did not end up going where I expected but I really liked it!
A Stranger in the Citadel is a sci-fantasy novel following a royal young woman whose life is upended when a stranger carrying a secret book shows up in her city. When the rule of the gods is "You shall not suffer a librarian to live", Lillith is playing with fire trying to save the mans life. This is both a coming of age story and a novel about access to information, reading, and writing. With some interesting twists and world-building. It's fast-paced with well-drawn characters I was invested in. Yes Lillith is young, privileged and foolish to start, but she grows through the course of the book. I don't want to spoil anything, but this is an entertaining and intriguing read that also feels timely. And the sci-fi elements are cool. I received a copy of this book for review from the publisher, all opinions are my own.
October 20, 2023
After a stranger arrives at the gates of Ninetha carrying a bagful of books, Lilith, the daughter of the Lord Musketeer, saves the outcast librarian Ishmael from immediate execution but dooms him to a slow death in the dungeons.
Spending time in secret with Ishmael leaves Lilith more curious about what’s behind a secret door that her siblings guard around the clock. After letting the secret slip to Kira, her father’s second-in-command, Lilith inadvertently begins a rebellion in which she must escape and begin a journey that will change the way she looks at her world forever.
This was originally published as an Audible original and is now in paperback and ebook.
A Stranger in the Citadel has some of the most creative and captivating world-building I’ve read in awhile! It’s a post-apocalyptic setting where the gods have blessed the cities with the Cornucopia, a machine that gives anything the citizens could need or want. The cities are separated from each other by vast wastelands, and Lilith knows nothing beyond her own city.
The lore and mythology are also fascinating! My only issue is that this book is very short, and we’re only able to scratch the surface of how this world has come to be. So even though the worldbuilding and lore are awesome, it raised more questions for me than answers.
This book also has great commentary and discussions about the importance of reading and books, of passing down knowledge and of having a curious mind and always seeking to learn more about the world. Those were my favorite parts of this book!
It’s not clear to me if there will be more books in this series, so if this remains a standalone, I think it would have been a stronger book if these aspects of the plot had been more fleshed out.
Also, as the main character is a young adult, she’s often rash in her actions and decisions. This might be an issue for some readers. She does grow by the end of the novel, but at times this did read more YA than adult.
I’d recommend A Stranger in the Citadel if you enjoy unique post-apocalyptic settings, and love a journey story.
Thank you to NetGalley and Tachyon Publications for the gifted arc. All opinions are my own.
Spending time in secret with Ishmael leaves Lilith more curious about what’s behind a secret door that her siblings guard around the clock. After letting the secret slip to Kira, her father’s second-in-command, Lilith inadvertently begins a rebellion in which she must escape and begin a journey that will change the way she looks at her world forever.
This was originally published as an Audible original and is now in paperback and ebook.
A Stranger in the Citadel has some of the most creative and captivating world-building I’ve read in awhile! It’s a post-apocalyptic setting where the gods have blessed the cities with the Cornucopia, a machine that gives anything the citizens could need or want. The cities are separated from each other by vast wastelands, and Lilith knows nothing beyond her own city.
The lore and mythology are also fascinating! My only issue is that this book is very short, and we’re only able to scratch the surface of how this world has come to be. So even though the worldbuilding and lore are awesome, it raised more questions for me than answers.
This book also has great commentary and discussions about the importance of reading and books, of passing down knowledge and of having a curious mind and always seeking to learn more about the world. Those were my favorite parts of this book!
It’s not clear to me if there will be more books in this series, so if this remains a standalone, I think it would have been a stronger book if these aspects of the plot had been more fleshed out.
Also, as the main character is a young adult, she’s often rash in her actions and decisions. This might be an issue for some readers. She does grow by the end of the novel, but at times this did read more YA than adult.
I’d recommend A Stranger in the Citadel if you enjoy unique post-apocalyptic settings, and love a journey story.
Thank you to NetGalley and Tachyon Publications for the gifted arc. All opinions are my own.
June 9, 2021
I was little skeptical about this one going in. Fierce strong!grrrl! protagonist in a post-apocalyptic society, finds out everything she knew is a lie, gets betrayed, has to go on adventures, dangles a bookburning premise in front of book-loving readers, sounds very boilerplate YA.
But A Stranger in the Citadel is not really YA despite the teen protagonist. It's a sophisticated, grounded SF setting, not a magical handwavey dystopia, though it takes a while for us to get there because we see everything through the eyes of Lilith and her brothers and sisters and companions in the city of Ninetha, where the gods have provided the "Cornucopia," a machine that creates matter out of air, supposedly providing for everyone. All mankind had to do to receive this bounty was forsake reading. "You shall not suffer a librarian to live."
So of course a librarian comes stumbling into Ninetha, and Lilith being the curious child she is, we know she's going to try to save him and find out about this sinful, heretical, awful "reading" thing. At this point I was still thinking, okay, still a basic YA dystopia. She will find out the "gods" don't exist, some terrible thing happened back when and those in power are suppressing literacy to stay in power, etc.
Then when everything starts going off the rails and Lilith learns the truth about her father, her brothers and sisters, and the city, it went in a direction with more depth of both worldbuilding and characterization.
Most of the rest of the book is Lilith on the run, though of course she gets her moments to be Little Miss Badass with a musket. This is a humanistic sci-fi fable. Lilith, and even her enemies, are frequently called upon to reflect on their choices, and the moral weight of killing even when they think it's justified, and nobody is really a pure evil, cold-blooded killer. The setting, with details like cities and gods and weapons named after characters we recognize as both historical figures and fictional characters, blended together in a post-apocalyptic far future where no one remembers our world, was reminiscent of a lot of classic post-apocalyptic sci-fi.
I liked this story and would listen to the continuing adventures of Lilith.
But A Stranger in the Citadel is not really YA despite the teen protagonist. It's a sophisticated, grounded SF setting, not a magical handwavey dystopia, though it takes a while for us to get there because we see everything through the eyes of Lilith and her brothers and sisters and companions in the city of Ninetha, where the gods have provided the "Cornucopia," a machine that creates matter out of air, supposedly providing for everyone. All mankind had to do to receive this bounty was forsake reading. "You shall not suffer a librarian to live."
So of course a librarian comes stumbling into Ninetha, and Lilith being the curious child she is, we know she's going to try to save him and find out about this sinful, heretical, awful "reading" thing. At this point I was still thinking, okay, still a basic YA dystopia. She will find out the "gods" don't exist, some terrible thing happened back when and those in power are suppressing literacy to stay in power, etc.
Then when everything starts going off the rails and Lilith learns the truth about her father, her brothers and sisters, and the city, it went in a direction with more depth of both worldbuilding and characterization.
Most of the rest of the book is Lilith on the run, though of course she gets her moments to be Little Miss Badass with a musket. This is a humanistic sci-fi fable. Lilith, and even her enemies, are frequently called upon to reflect on their choices, and the moral weight of killing even when they think it's justified, and nobody is really a pure evil, cold-blooded killer. The setting, with details like cities and gods and weapons named after characters we recognize as both historical figures and fictional characters, blended together in a post-apocalyptic far future where no one remembers our world, was reminiscent of a lot of classic post-apocalyptic sci-fi.
I liked this story and would listen to the continuing adventures of Lilith.
June 2, 2023
A postapocalyptic world where reading and writing is considered a sin? Consider me hooked. This however is very different to the famous book about burning books: Farenheit 451. Still, the topic of literacy and its usefulness is very present.
I will start with the thing that I did not like: it is too YA. This topic and specially the world the author created is incredibly complex and would benefit with a more adult story. I understand the need to bring those issues to younger audiences, for sure. But, like I said, I would have enjoyed the story were it much more adult.
This other point is a yes and no. The book is divided in 3 chapters and I personally need more, but I understand the reason behind it so I did not take that into account. However, this is important for what I'll talk about in this point. Along the whole book there are several conversations about literacy, writing and reading and wether it is important or useful for humanity. But it is in the second chapter that this takes too much protagonism in my opinion. It almost feels like a Plato book with conversations between people about a phylisophical question. I understand it and I liked it, but I was more invested in the world and the action that in those conversations. This for me slowed the story a bit.
The best and strongest thing about this book is the wourldbouilding. There are so many things that I would have loved to explore and learn... I mean, I finished the book with a thousand questions about how does it all work. Did humanity go to another planet or is it the paradise? Do even those gods exist? What was that humanity did for it to go so wrong? Why is writing and reading a sin? And so on. Like I cannot stop thinking about all this and how does it work and what about other cities and what about so many things. This part was a 10 for me, and I would defenetly read more books set in this world.
Overall, it felt to YA for what the worldbouilding could have done. Its a good read, its interesting and it makes you question a lot of topics. Perfect for readers who want something to think about after finishing the book.
-Ele
LINKS TO BE POSTED
I will start with the thing that I did not like: it is too YA. This topic and specially the world the author created is incredibly complex and would benefit with a more adult story. I understand the need to bring those issues to younger audiences, for sure. But, like I said, I would have enjoyed the story were it much more adult.
This other point is a yes and no. The book is divided in 3 chapters and I personally need more, but I understand the reason behind it so I did not take that into account. However, this is important for what I'll talk about in this point. Along the whole book there are several conversations about literacy, writing and reading and wether it is important or useful for humanity. But it is in the second chapter that this takes too much protagonism in my opinion. It almost feels like a Plato book with conversations between people about a phylisophical question. I understand it and I liked it, but I was more invested in the world and the action that in those conversations. This for me slowed the story a bit.
The best and strongest thing about this book is the wourldbouilding. There are so many things that I would have loved to explore and learn... I mean, I finished the book with a thousand questions about how does it all work. Did humanity go to another planet or is it the paradise? Do even those gods exist? What was that humanity did for it to go so wrong? Why is writing and reading a sin? And so on. Like I cannot stop thinking about all this and how does it work and what about other cities and what about so many things. This part was a 10 for me, and I would defenetly read more books set in this world.
Overall, it felt to YA for what the worldbouilding could have done. Its a good read, its interesting and it makes you question a lot of topics. Perfect for readers who want something to think about after finishing the book.
-Ele
LINKS TO BE POSTED
May 27, 2025
As it will with anyone who loves reading books, this piece of science fiction resonated with me in a deep way. In part, because I come from a long line of librarians. The book is short and reads easily, all the while dropping contemporaneous hints related to today’s time and place. I didn’t want to put it down, but needs must, and I was thrilled to pick it up again. One reviewer rightfully suggested that it was inspired by the terrifying Fahrenheit 451, yet this book is even more timely, given today’s political environment.
September 11, 2023
3.5 stars
Thanks to NetGalley and to the Editor. I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review
I have to admit that in the beginning I seriously thought about dropping this one because even if the ideas were intriguing, the writing was not really the right fit for me (and it reminded me a lot of The Four Profound Weaves that was a book that I highly enjoyed on a purely logical level, but that I do not enjoy on a personal level if this makes sense. And not because these books are quite alike, but for the vibes they both gave me) and the development seemed something highly predictable. And up to a point, all these things are true, but I am glad I kept reading, because even if this book is not the proper fit for me, and I didn't enjoy it as much as I was hoping, it was an interesting and highly original reading.
My main problem is that I am a character-driven reader, and I wasn't really invested in any of the characters. Sure, they were complex and fascinating, it's not that they are plain or bidimensional, not at all, but I couldn't really feel for them, and this hindered my enjoyment on a personal level. But the world-building and the plot are really good!
The world-building is original and fascinating, it's not a world in which I would love to live, that's for sure, I mean You shall not suffer the librarian to live sounds pretty ominous right?? But it is fascinating and original.
And the plot goes some unexpected ways, and I really appreciated it!
Thanks to NetGalley and to the Editor. I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review
I have to admit that in the beginning I seriously thought about dropping this one because even if the ideas were intriguing, the writing was not really the right fit for me (and it reminded me a lot of The Four Profound Weaves that was a book that I highly enjoyed on a purely logical level, but that I do not enjoy on a personal level if this makes sense. And not because these books are quite alike, but for the vibes they both gave me) and the development seemed something highly predictable. And up to a point, all these things are true, but I am glad I kept reading, because even if this book is not the proper fit for me, and I didn't enjoy it as much as I was hoping, it was an interesting and highly original reading.
My main problem is that I am a character-driven reader, and I wasn't really invested in any of the characters. Sure, they were complex and fascinating, it's not that they are plain or bidimensional, not at all, but I couldn't really feel for them, and this hindered my enjoyment on a personal level. But the world-building and the plot are really good!
The world-building is original and fascinating, it's not a world in which I would love to live, that's for sure, I mean You shall not suffer the librarian to live sounds pretty ominous right?? But it is fascinating and original.
And the plot goes some unexpected ways, and I really appreciated it!
November 3, 2023
Many years after an apocalypse, populations of humans live in isolated towns that are surrounded by vast stretches of desert, making travel between almost impossible. Also, there is no communication between towns, with rumour and remnants of knowledge about other places being all everyone knows about other places.
People’s needs for food and very limited technology within the towns are met through gods-granted, centrally-located complicated machines called cornucopia, reminiscent of Star Trek replicators.
In the walled town of Ninetha where the story opens, the militaristic ruler and his children have ready access to the cornucopia; a small number of prominent families are below them in importance, with a large number of commoners, who are last to receive the machine's sustenance and gifts.
The ruler and his family have muskets and gunpowder, cleverly procured from the cornucopia. The youngest of the family, Lilith, and main character, lives a privileged life. She's trained in martial arts and surviving in the desert, by her father’s second-in-command, Kira, who is a true believer in the law that governs humanity: "Thou shall not suffer a librarian to live."
Very, very few in this world know how to read, as the gods outlawed reading. Any deviance from the gods’ rules means death.
Lilith is unaware of the frustrations of Nineth's commoners, and of her older siblings, till the arrival of a literate man carrying books. A librarian.
Needless to say, Ishmael's arrival sets off a series of violent events, as well as Lilith's frantic escape from Ninetha. This results in a breakdown of everything she knows about her family, her town, other settlements, her world, and reading, and forces her to see everything in a new light.
Lilith begins the story as privileged, self-centred, naive, and unquestioning in her own superiority. Over the course of her travels and discussions with Ishmael, she makes several rash judgments and mistakes, but thankfully grows tremendously by the end.
This was an interesting dystopian story, with its harsh wastelands, harsher laws, and quick violence. I had questions about the world, which, due to length, were not answered, though clearly the isolation and separation of various human towns was intentional after whatever terrible disasters occurred in the characters’ pasts. Which leads to the questions the author was posing about the value of literacy, information and knowledge, versus the dangers of rumours and superstitions. And the importance of curiosity and imagination, instead of blind obedience.
Though this was a standalone, I wanted to spend more time exploring this world with Lilith.
Thank you to Netgalley and tomTachyon Publications for this ARC in exchange for my review.
People’s needs for food and very limited technology within the towns are met through gods-granted, centrally-located complicated machines called cornucopia, reminiscent of Star Trek replicators.
In the walled town of Ninetha where the story opens, the militaristic ruler and his children have ready access to the cornucopia; a small number of prominent families are below them in importance, with a large number of commoners, who are last to receive the machine's sustenance and gifts.
The ruler and his family have muskets and gunpowder, cleverly procured from the cornucopia. The youngest of the family, Lilith, and main character, lives a privileged life. She's trained in martial arts and surviving in the desert, by her father’s second-in-command, Kira, who is a true believer in the law that governs humanity: "Thou shall not suffer a librarian to live."
Very, very few in this world know how to read, as the gods outlawed reading. Any deviance from the gods’ rules means death.
Lilith is unaware of the frustrations of Nineth's commoners, and of her older siblings, till the arrival of a literate man carrying books. A librarian.
Needless to say, Ishmael's arrival sets off a series of violent events, as well as Lilith's frantic escape from Ninetha. This results in a breakdown of everything she knows about her family, her town, other settlements, her world, and reading, and forces her to see everything in a new light.
Lilith begins the story as privileged, self-centred, naive, and unquestioning in her own superiority. Over the course of her travels and discussions with Ishmael, she makes several rash judgments and mistakes, but thankfully grows tremendously by the end.
This was an interesting dystopian story, with its harsh wastelands, harsher laws, and quick violence. I had questions about the world, which, due to length, were not answered, though clearly the isolation and separation of various human towns was intentional after whatever terrible disasters occurred in the characters’ pasts. Which leads to the questions the author was posing about the value of literacy, information and knowledge, versus the dangers of rumours and superstitions. And the importance of curiosity and imagination, instead of blind obedience.
Though this was a standalone, I wanted to spend more time exploring this world with Lilith.
Thank you to Netgalley and tomTachyon Publications for this ARC in exchange for my review.
June 14, 2021
A free book on audible. It was ok. Sometimes the main protagonist was super annoying. Some of the parts where it could have been interesting it ended up glossing right past it. Some of the hints of it being a post-apocalypse were good, like Wash'ton as a God of truth and his greatest acts had to do with Cherry trees, and the city of "New Dahsee" later to be revealed as spelled New D.C. and similar things. But even that was only lightly touched on. Some pretty dumb points and some pretty good points made it out as pretty average.
January 13, 2024
A thoughtful and well executed sci-fi-fantasy. Plot wise, I linger more around three stars as portions of the book felt like the dragged just a little bit, but it 100% deserves at least four stars for the world.
Buckell weaves an incredible world here. Somehow the genre of post-post apocalyptic world is simultaneously underserved and over saturated, but this book’s world feels fresh and wonderful. I love the interweaving of religion, magic, and specific focus on literacy - it really helps make this world feel particularly unique. It still follows some of the same tropes as others in its genre, but that’s a common thing that makes them part of the same genre.
Like I said, the plot dragged at points and felt a little too YA sometimes, but was buoyed by Buckell’s writing. The writing is approachable and decently varied in tone, though there were some portions I felt where purposely obscured in a “to be revealed in book two” sort of way. My only complaint is that I would have loved this to feel more like a standalone and less like a series (though, when is book two coming out? Asking for a friend of course…)
Buckell weaves an incredible world here. Somehow the genre of post-post apocalyptic world is simultaneously underserved and over saturated, but this book’s world feels fresh and wonderful. I love the interweaving of religion, magic, and specific focus on literacy - it really helps make this world feel particularly unique. It still follows some of the same tropes as others in its genre, but that’s a common thing that makes them part of the same genre.
Like I said, the plot dragged at points and felt a little too YA sometimes, but was buoyed by Buckell’s writing. The writing is approachable and decently varied in tone, though there were some portions I felt where purposely obscured in a “to be revealed in book two” sort of way. My only complaint is that I would have loved this to feel more like a standalone and less like a series (though, when is book two coming out? Asking for a friend of course…)
January 25, 2024
Intriguing premise, but the worldbuilding remains frustratingly vague and the characters annoyed me too much to feel overly invested in their fates.
October 8, 2024
Really cool setting, good story and fashinating character,refeshing read!
June 17, 2021
Not bad, not bad
January 16, 2024
Such a weird and beautiful story!
September 19, 2025
A very nice sci-fi novel, slightly picking over Bradbury's legacy, but definitively having original elements and story.
November 27, 2023
This book was a bit disappointing, and the reason for that is the sketchy worldbuilding. It's a takeoff of Fahrenheit 451 set in the far future, and a very weird far future at that. It starts out with a fantasy feel, but clues are gradually dropped to make the reader realize that this is a story of humanity separated from its home planet, placed in some sort of dystopian "preserve" where all their needs are taken care of....as long as they give up literacy and reading.
What bugs me about this setup is that it's never fully explained. The reader doesn't know who put humanity there, or what "there" even is....there's a scene where the two protagonists climb up to the "rim of the world," and look over the edge through the clouds at a fist-sized Earth far below. Which almost sounds like some sort of Dyson sphere encircling the planet? Except that would cut off sunlight from Earth, and it would be dead.
I understand the background and worldbuilding is not the focus of this story. This is a tale of what happens to humanity when their stories and knowledge are taken away from them and they are given a life with no needs or struggles (except that humanity, being what it is, starts separating into the have, the have-nots, the privileged rulers and the downtrodden ruled anyway). The second main protagonist, Ishmael (I kept waiting for him to say, "Call me Ishmael," but the author showed a bit of restraint), is the titular "Stranger in the Citadel," the librarian and gatherer of old forgotten knowledge whose existence is forbidden. He is captured and brought to the city of Ninetha, and presented to its ruler, the Lord Musketer. His youngest daughter, Lilith, is the main protagonist and narrator, the person who at first believes wholeheartedly in the gods' orders of "You shall not suffer a librarian to live," but undergoes a painful awakening.
Which is all well and good, and Lilith undergoes a nice character arc. The problem for me is without sufficient worldbuilding to provide context for the story, it kind of fell flat. The "archangel" the characters end up battling at the climax (which sounded like some sort of librarian-hunter android), who has pursued Ishmael and Lilith throughout the book, provides a few clues that only create more frustrating questions. The story is also extremely fast-paced, dialogue-heavy and description-light, which is appropriate for the Audible Original version it was first created as. But I wish that when it was made into a print version, the author had slowed down and expanded the background so the story would make more sense.
As it is, there are glimmers of something interesting, but the story does not go into the depth necessary to bring it out. Which is too bad, as I think that could have made for a better book.
What bugs me about this setup is that it's never fully explained. The reader doesn't know who put humanity there, or what "there" even is....there's a scene where the two protagonists climb up to the "rim of the world," and look over the edge through the clouds at a fist-sized Earth far below. Which almost sounds like some sort of Dyson sphere encircling the planet? Except that would cut off sunlight from Earth, and it would be dead.
I understand the background and worldbuilding is not the focus of this story. This is a tale of what happens to humanity when their stories and knowledge are taken away from them and they are given a life with no needs or struggles (except that humanity, being what it is, starts separating into the have, the have-nots, the privileged rulers and the downtrodden ruled anyway). The second main protagonist, Ishmael (I kept waiting for him to say, "Call me Ishmael," but the author showed a bit of restraint), is the titular "Stranger in the Citadel," the librarian and gatherer of old forgotten knowledge whose existence is forbidden. He is captured and brought to the city of Ninetha, and presented to its ruler, the Lord Musketer. His youngest daughter, Lilith, is the main protagonist and narrator, the person who at first believes wholeheartedly in the gods' orders of "You shall not suffer a librarian to live," but undergoes a painful awakening.
Which is all well and good, and Lilith undergoes a nice character arc. The problem for me is without sufficient worldbuilding to provide context for the story, it kind of fell flat. The "archangel" the characters end up battling at the climax (which sounded like some sort of librarian-hunter android), who has pursued Ishmael and Lilith throughout the book, provides a few clues that only create more frustrating questions. The story is also extremely fast-paced, dialogue-heavy and description-light, which is appropriate for the Audible Original version it was first created as. But I wish that when it was made into a print version, the author had slowed down and expanded the background so the story would make more sense.
As it is, there are glimmers of something interesting, but the story does not go into the depth necessary to bring it out. Which is too bad, as I think that could have made for a better book.
September 25, 2024
In “A Stranger in the Citadel”, Tobias Buckell imagines a world in which 'The gods shall not suffer a librarian to live".' Although in his short, but revelatory afterword he does not mention the book bannings that occupy so much space in current news cycles, they can’t have been far from his thoughts when he was writing this novel. This is at once an action novel, a novel of ideas, a love letter to literature, and a public castigation of dogmatism.
July 13, 2023
In a world where reading is forbidden, a librarian is a hunted man. Ok, so far, so good. But then we add in a very stereotypically sassy teen from the ruling family, stereotypically corrupt rulers, stereotypically fierce warriors, and a bunch of jokes so bad that they ruin the mood of the entire book, and you get this. It's a bit of a mess, really, Is it a serious SFF novel? The aforementioned terrible jokes--through which we're supposed to understand that the earth of the novel is the future of our own earth (actually, the earth of the novel is a part of our earth that broke away or blew up or something and is now a flat chunk of land orbiting what's left of earth. There's a pointless series of flat earth jokes through the whole book. Like I said, messy.)--make it feel silly, like a Pratchett novel without the cleverness. Is it a parable about literacy? Maybe? The people who can and do read are reading books of our earth--Bradbury, Dumas--in an overt gesture from the author that he's writing about the same things that they did, or is borrowing from them. About tech? Maybe? There's a killer robot from outer space. About politics and war? Maybe? There's a lot of "i must kill you" that becomes "I could never kill you" in just moments, not convincingly written. The characters aren't particularly interesting or memorable, and I got really tired of the teen protagonist swearing she'd do one thing and then abandoning it and then swearing to do another thing and abandoning it, so....it was tiresome reading. Thanks to this review, you don't need to do it!
November 13, 2023
This is a story where the first-person narrator is part of a ruling family and blind to the privilege she has and the injustices done in her family's name. The edict against books and reading is so strict that anyone found with a book or the ability to read is immediately killed.
The narrator prevents this from happening immediately to a stranger in the city, and thereby comes to learn some truths about the world and her place in it.
Without spoilers, I'll say that the world as she knows it crumbles and she goes on the run. The people she's with and those she encounters reveal more about the world, and the journey culminates in a revelation about how the world is comprised.
I'm not sure what the author intends with that final revelation. In most fantasies the strangeness is explained at some point, but the origin of the world and certain creatures in it are still very much unknown at the end. Perhaps the author intends a sequel. While the ending is open enough to warrant one, it is not clear that is the intention.
The narrator prevents this from happening immediately to a stranger in the city, and thereby comes to learn some truths about the world and her place in it.
Without spoilers, I'll say that the world as she knows it crumbles and she goes on the run. The people she's with and those she encounters reveal more about the world, and the journey culminates in a revelation about how the world is comprised.
I'm not sure what the author intends with that final revelation. In most fantasies the strangeness is explained at some point, but the origin of the world and certain creatures in it are still very much unknown at the end. Perhaps the author intends a sequel. While the ending is open enough to warrant one, it is not clear that is the intention.
November 26, 2021
I think this works as a YA novel due less to the age of the main character than to the likely experiences of younger readers. As an adult reader, I saw a lot of developments waaaay before the main character, and I found the lengthy (and repeated) debates about the merits/drawbacks to literacy unoriginal and boring.
However, after we leave Ninetha, the story changes dramatically and becomes much more intriguing and original (though the characters still debate literacy).
However, after we leave Ninetha, the story changes dramatically and becomes much more intriguing and original (though the characters still debate literacy).
July 27, 2022
If it was expanded upon, it could have been so much better. Great premise.
September 2, 2023
My thanks to both NetGalley and the publisher Tachyon Publishing for an advanced copy of this science fiction/fantasy/possible future of Florida novel about the fear that people have for ideas contrary to their own and how much easier it is to kill the messenger than have to deal with questions that make one uncomfortable, even if society falls because of it.
One gets jaded in the modern age thinking that fights won are fights that are never going to happen again. People don't understand ignorance, and how the ignorant can always be called on to refight battles over and over again. Give them the rallying cry of patriotism, nostalgia, religion, or that old standby common sense, and ignorant people will take up the banner, call in bomb threats, let children die, and set a nation back 200 years, cause well, they don't know better. And fear. Never forget the fear. The fear of change, the fear of being treated the way they have treated others, women, minorities, the different. Not realizing that the people they support will watch them die from high towers, and complain about the smell of burning corpses. Libraries are the latest in a long war against tyranny, religious freedom for some, even sexuality. A book don't judge. I book only teaches, sometimes right, sometimes wrong, sometimes inciting violence, sometimes insightful for the soul. But that is what makes a book dangerous to people. It might make one question. It might make one learn. Even a book about a formula to keep power is dangerous, because of what it contains, and what it shares. And sometimes even the book burners lose control of their followers, and chaos can follow. A Stranger in the Citadel by Tobias Buckell is a novel about a possible future, maybe not that far away where books are burned, readers and librarians are considered enemies of the status quo, and innocent questions can lead to massive consequences.
Lilith is the youngest daughter of the leader of Ninetha, a citadel town in the middle of vast wastes and also a musketeers guardian of the Cornucopia that provides all that the people need. Well those closest in power at least. Walking with her guards and mentor Kira, Lilith comes across a group of herders dragging a man in chains. As no visitors have come to the city in a generation, Lilith is intrigued, and made even more so, when it is found the man has a book. Books are forbidden, as is the ability to read, the material to be burned, and those who own it are to be killed. Lilith is able to save the man, who turns out to be a librarian, whose body is crisscrossed with tattoos of strange marks and pictures, but in saving him has given him an even worse fate. Starving to death in the dungeons of the Citadel. Lilith takes an interest in the man, who asks to be called Ishmael, who tells her of a world she has no idea about. But in learning about the world outside, Lilith has put her own world at risk.
A book that has a lot of plot and a lot of ideas, enough for a trilogy or two, but all told in a very slim story, that while starting a little slow, hits hard and keeps going. While reminiscent of both Fahrenheit 451 and also A Canticle for Leibowitz, this book is its own creature, a shout out to the power of books, the power given them, and the fear that people have, and will use to keep society in line. The world is interesting, sort of a view of tech bros enjoying great technology, the Cornucopia that gives food, medicine, and more, while keeping others in line and ignorant is very topical, and should serve as a warning. The writing is very good, with subtle, and overt hints to what is going, on, and a revel between Lilith and her mentor that is some very powerful writing. Again for such a small book, it really is hard to believe all that Buckell accomplishes.
A really good science fantasy story drawing greatly on events and ideas of right now. This is the first book that I have read by Tobias Buckell but I want to read more. Not many writers are brave enough to go for it in writing, and I am quite impressed by that. A book that makes one think, and angry, and sad, and a whole lot more.
One gets jaded in the modern age thinking that fights won are fights that are never going to happen again. People don't understand ignorance, and how the ignorant can always be called on to refight battles over and over again. Give them the rallying cry of patriotism, nostalgia, religion, or that old standby common sense, and ignorant people will take up the banner, call in bomb threats, let children die, and set a nation back 200 years, cause well, they don't know better. And fear. Never forget the fear. The fear of change, the fear of being treated the way they have treated others, women, minorities, the different. Not realizing that the people they support will watch them die from high towers, and complain about the smell of burning corpses. Libraries are the latest in a long war against tyranny, religious freedom for some, even sexuality. A book don't judge. I book only teaches, sometimes right, sometimes wrong, sometimes inciting violence, sometimes insightful for the soul. But that is what makes a book dangerous to people. It might make one question. It might make one learn. Even a book about a formula to keep power is dangerous, because of what it contains, and what it shares. And sometimes even the book burners lose control of their followers, and chaos can follow. A Stranger in the Citadel by Tobias Buckell is a novel about a possible future, maybe not that far away where books are burned, readers and librarians are considered enemies of the status quo, and innocent questions can lead to massive consequences.
Lilith is the youngest daughter of the leader of Ninetha, a citadel town in the middle of vast wastes and also a musketeers guardian of the Cornucopia that provides all that the people need. Well those closest in power at least. Walking with her guards and mentor Kira, Lilith comes across a group of herders dragging a man in chains. As no visitors have come to the city in a generation, Lilith is intrigued, and made even more so, when it is found the man has a book. Books are forbidden, as is the ability to read, the material to be burned, and those who own it are to be killed. Lilith is able to save the man, who turns out to be a librarian, whose body is crisscrossed with tattoos of strange marks and pictures, but in saving him has given him an even worse fate. Starving to death in the dungeons of the Citadel. Lilith takes an interest in the man, who asks to be called Ishmael, who tells her of a world she has no idea about. But in learning about the world outside, Lilith has put her own world at risk.
A book that has a lot of plot and a lot of ideas, enough for a trilogy or two, but all told in a very slim story, that while starting a little slow, hits hard and keeps going. While reminiscent of both Fahrenheit 451 and also A Canticle for Leibowitz, this book is its own creature, a shout out to the power of books, the power given them, and the fear that people have, and will use to keep society in line. The world is interesting, sort of a view of tech bros enjoying great technology, the Cornucopia that gives food, medicine, and more, while keeping others in line and ignorant is very topical, and should serve as a warning. The writing is very good, with subtle, and overt hints to what is going, on, and a revel between Lilith and her mentor that is some very powerful writing. Again for such a small book, it really is hard to believe all that Buckell accomplishes.
A really good science fantasy story drawing greatly on events and ideas of right now. This is the first book that I have read by Tobias Buckell but I want to read more. Not many writers are brave enough to go for it in writing, and I am quite impressed by that. A book that makes one think, and angry, and sad, and a whole lot more.
January 9, 2024
Rec. by: MCL
Rec. for: Faithful readers
People who hate and fear ideas and independent thought seem to be a much noisier demographic these days, don't they? But they're still working piecemeal, still trying to ban individual books just one or a dozen at a time... which is frightening enough, sure, but ultimately not really very effective.
What if they just got rid of reading altogether, instead? (Ssshhh... don't give 'em any ideas—they hate those!)
That is—in a way—the basis of Tobias S. Buckell's novel A Stranger in the Citadel, whose cover tagline reads,
Right away, I thought of Sarah Gailey's novella Upright Women Wanted, which I read and really liked just last year, and which also features a killer tagline and a young woman in an isolated, seemingly post-apocalyptic desert community, who must leave her comfortable but circumscribed position of privilege behind... but in the end there are more differences than similarities between these two works.
No books are allowed within the walled city of Ninetha, where Lilith, the Lord Musketeer's teenaged daughter (who seems much like Gailey's protagonist Esther Augustus), trains under Kira to someday become one of the city's leaders. The Musketeers guard Ninetha's central cornucopia, a towering and mysterious device that can, if you phrase your request well enough, provide nearly any material good.
But then a stranger comes to town, a strange man openly carrying that most dangerous of weapons—a book—and Lilith's impulse to mercy (something she did not learn from Kira) leads her to interfere with the citadel's swift execution of the librarian.
Lilith's soft-heartedness triggers a cascade of events that could destroy not just Ninetha but her entire world... for that stranger in the citadel can in fact read, and write, and one thing that does not change across time and space and levels of literacy is that knowledge is power...
Buckell's been exploring this sort of theme for many years. The last time I read a full-length novel by Tobias S. Buckell was 'way back in 2009, in fact, and this memorable quote is from my notes on that book:
Buckell does a good job of portraying both the strengths and the weaknesses of a purely oral tradition, as well—the ways in which a motivated society can resist the inevitable distortions that creep in during a generations-long game of "Telephone" (or "Gossip," both terms I prefer to the one featured in that linked Wikipedia article).
Buckell ends A Stranger in the Citadel with several threads still hanging—he's definitely left room for a sequel—but on the whole this book does end well. Lilith doesn't get everything she wants—or even all that much of it—but she does manage some closure. If there is a sequel, I'll probably pick it up!
Rec. for: Faithful readers
People who hate and fear ideas and independent thought seem to be a much noisier demographic these days, don't they? But they're still working piecemeal, still trying to ban individual books just one or a dozen at a time... which is frightening enough, sure, but ultimately not really very effective.
What if they just got rid of reading altogether, instead? (Ssshhh... don't give 'em any ideas—they hate those!)
That is—in a way—the basis of Tobias S. Buckell's novel A Stranger in the Citadel, whose cover tagline reads,
YOU SHALL NOT SUFFER A LIBRARIAN TO LIVE
Right away, I thought of Sarah Gailey's novella Upright Women Wanted, which I read and really liked just last year, and which also features a killer tagline and a young woman in an isolated, seemingly post-apocalyptic desert community, who must leave her comfortable but circumscribed position of privilege behind... but in the end there are more differences than similarities between these two works.
No books are allowed within the walled city of Ninetha, where Lilith, the Lord Musketeer's teenaged daughter (who seems much like Gailey's protagonist Esther Augustus), trains under Kira to someday become one of the city's leaders. The Musketeers guard Ninetha's central cornucopia, a towering and mysterious device that can, if you phrase your request well enough, provide nearly any material good.
But then a stranger comes to town, a strange man openly carrying that most dangerous of weapons—a book—and Lilith's impulse to mercy (something she did not learn from Kira) leads her to interfere with the citadel's swift execution of the librarian.
Lilith's soft-heartedness triggers a cascade of events that could destroy not just Ninetha but her entire world... for that stranger in the citadel can in fact read, and write, and one thing that does not change across time and space and levels of literacy is that knowledge is power...
Buckell's been exploring this sort of theme for many years. The last time I read a full-length novel by Tobias S. Buckell was 'way back in 2009, in fact, and this memorable quote is from my notes on that book:
"Thinking out loud is traitorous now?"
—Pepper (the protagonist), in Sly Mongoose, p.65
Buckell does a good job of portraying both the strengths and the weaknesses of a purely oral tradition, as well—the ways in which a motivated society can resist the inevitable distortions that creep in during a generations-long game of "Telephone" (or "Gossip," both terms I prefer to the one featured in that linked Wikipedia article).
Buckell ends A Stranger in the Citadel with several threads still hanging—he's definitely left room for a sequel—but on the whole this book does end well. Lilith doesn't get everything she wants—or even all that much of it—but she does manage some closure. If there is a sequel, I'll probably pick it up!
July 4, 2023
Ratings
Cover: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Initial Draw: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Characters: ⭐
Plot and Pacing: ⭐⭐⭐
Last Page Feeling: ⭐⭐⭐
Note: For transparency - I received this book as an eARC from NetGalley. This will not impact my review.
Synopsis
A young royal "musketress", Lilith, lives an isolate life in a citadel with her family controlling an infinite source of resources, created by the gods as well as sole control of muskets/firearms giving them military might over other classes of citizen.
Reading and writing are forbidden acts in this world. "You shall not suffer a librarian to live"; but, one day a librarian shows up at the citadel and Lilith discovers her families secret which changes her perception of her family and the world forever.
Review
Cover
The cover is beautiful and represents the plot well with the frequently chanted slogan "You shall not suffer a librarian to live" emblazoned on the front.
Initial Draw
The initial draw for me was the premise of a fantasy retelling of the true history of book burning and the suppression of knowledge transfer between classes keeping a status quo that keeps the powerful in charge and the poor under their foot.
Characters
The characters were simply... not interesting and not well described. I could not explain to you what anybody looks like or any of their characteristics except the guardians dress in green and the ruling class carry muskets around.
I ultimately didn't care about any of the characters and most of all found Lilith, the focus of the narrative, extremely dull. She had no growth across the entire book and instead just served to pull the plot along.
Plot and Pacing
Firstly be warned it takes until almost exactly the 50% mark for anything to truly progress the plot.
You spend the first half of the book being introduced to Lillith, her teacher/guard captain Kira, and the Librarian. As mentioned in the character section though I don't think the book is any better off character development wise for such a long on ramp. At 50% Lillith finally reveals the big secret to Kira and that is where the plot finally leaves what is already covered in the official synopsis and jumps into new content.
The content from the 50% mark takes a fairly meandering path.
Last Page Feeling
Ultimately it was a quick and enjoyable enough read - I just felt unfulfilled at the end. I assume this is lining up for a sequel as by the end I still didn't know the real answer behind the big questions like why literature/writing/reading is banned
Cover: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Initial Draw: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Characters: ⭐
Plot and Pacing: ⭐⭐⭐
Last Page Feeling: ⭐⭐⭐
Note: For transparency - I received this book as an eARC from NetGalley. This will not impact my review.
Synopsis
A young royal "musketress", Lilith, lives an isolate life in a citadel with her family controlling an infinite source of resources, created by the gods as well as sole control of muskets/firearms giving them military might over other classes of citizen.
Reading and writing are forbidden acts in this world. "You shall not suffer a librarian to live"; but, one day a librarian shows up at the citadel and Lilith discovers her families secret which changes her perception of her family and the world forever.
Review
Cover
The cover is beautiful and represents the plot well with the frequently chanted slogan "You shall not suffer a librarian to live" emblazoned on the front.
Initial Draw
The initial draw for me was the premise of a fantasy retelling of the true history of book burning and the suppression of knowledge transfer between classes keeping a status quo that keeps the powerful in charge and the poor under their foot.
Characters
The characters were simply... not interesting and not well described. I could not explain to you what anybody looks like or any of their characteristics except the guardians dress in green and the ruling class carry muskets around.
I ultimately didn't care about any of the characters and most of all found Lilith, the focus of the narrative, extremely dull. She had no growth across the entire book and instead just served to pull the plot along.
Plot and Pacing
Firstly be warned it takes until almost exactly the 50% mark for anything to truly progress the plot.
You spend the first half of the book being introduced to Lillith, her teacher/guard captain Kira, and the Librarian. As mentioned in the character section though I don't think the book is any better off character development wise for such a long on ramp. At 50% Lillith finally reveals the big secret to Kira and that is where the plot finally leaves what is already covered in the official synopsis and jumps into new content.
The content from the 50% mark takes a fairly meandering path.
Last Page Feeling
Ultimately it was a quick and enjoyable enough read - I just felt unfulfilled at the end. I assume this is lining up for a sequel as by the end I still didn't know the real answer behind the big questions like why literature/writing/reading is banned
June 5, 2024
I read a short story by Buckell in the short story collection The Final Frontier. Buckell's entry in that anthology impressed me; he seemed to have plenty of interesting ideas. So I decided to track down a novel written by him, to see if I found it equally enjoyable. A Stranger in the Citadel was the only book by Buckell carried by our library system, so I checked it out. Just 256 pages long, A Stranger in the Citadel is a quick read, but there is a lot of good storytelling packed into those pages.
Lilith is the youngest of twelve offspring by the Lord Musketeer, who rules the walled city of Ninetha. One day, herders drag into Ninetha a captured person; they accuse him of being a librarian, and one of the edicts of the gods is that "You should not suffer a librarian to live!" There is no doubt that the bedraggled prisoner is guilty, he is carrying a book. The chief guard of Ninetha, a superb warrior named Kira, wants to execute the librarian immediately. But Lilith is intrigued - Ninetha has no visitors, it sits in a barren wasteland where it inhabitants eke out a hardscrabble existence. Indeed, if not for the miraculous cornucopia, Ninetha would certainly be unable to support its inhabitants. Why has this librarian braved the desolate landscape to come to Ninetha, and what can he tell Lilith of the broader world?
Kira wants to administer a swift death, but Lilith overrides her - and since she is part of the ruling family, Lilith's command stands. The prisoner is dragged off to the dungeon while Kira can merely burn the book to ashes. Lilith hopes to be able to talk to the stranger (she learns that his name is Ishmael), to discover what the rest of the wide world is like beyond the empty wastes. But the presence of the librarian triggers a series of events that reveal dangerous secrets that young Lilith was not yet privy to know. Kira leads an uprising against the Lord Musketeer and Lilith's siblings are slain. Lilith finds herself fleeing out into the desert with Ishmael, pursued by a vengeful Kira and a squadron of elite guards.
Buckell does a great job of world building. He gradually reveals the strangeness and wonders of Lilith's world. What starts off seemingly a fantasy novel, turns out to be a science fiction adventure through a world of amazing but forgotten technology, similar in vein to Wolfe's magisterial Book of the New Sun or McAuley's Confluence trilogy. Lilith encounters wonders and hardships, learning much from Ishmael, and both in turn discover much about how their world works. I enjoyed all the ideas Buckell put forth. Buckell has created memorable characters in Lilith and Ishmael, and constructed a plot that keeps the reader engaged. It is too bad our library does not have any other of Buckell's novels.
Lilith is the youngest of twelve offspring by the Lord Musketeer, who rules the walled city of Ninetha. One day, herders drag into Ninetha a captured person; they accuse him of being a librarian, and one of the edicts of the gods is that "You should not suffer a librarian to live!" There is no doubt that the bedraggled prisoner is guilty, he is carrying a book. The chief guard of Ninetha, a superb warrior named Kira, wants to execute the librarian immediately. But Lilith is intrigued - Ninetha has no visitors, it sits in a barren wasteland where it inhabitants eke out a hardscrabble existence. Indeed, if not for the miraculous cornucopia, Ninetha would certainly be unable to support its inhabitants. Why has this librarian braved the desolate landscape to come to Ninetha, and what can he tell Lilith of the broader world?
Kira wants to administer a swift death, but Lilith overrides her - and since she is part of the ruling family, Lilith's command stands. The prisoner is dragged off to the dungeon while Kira can merely burn the book to ashes. Lilith hopes to be able to talk to the stranger (she learns that his name is Ishmael), to discover what the rest of the wide world is like beyond the empty wastes. But the presence of the librarian triggers a series of events that reveal dangerous secrets that young Lilith was not yet privy to know. Kira leads an uprising against the Lord Musketeer and Lilith's siblings are slain. Lilith finds herself fleeing out into the desert with Ishmael, pursued by a vengeful Kira and a squadron of elite guards.
Buckell does a great job of world building. He gradually reveals the strangeness and wonders of Lilith's world. What starts off seemingly a fantasy novel, turns out to be a science fiction adventure through a world of amazing but forgotten technology, similar in vein to Wolfe's magisterial Book of the New Sun or McAuley's Confluence trilogy. Lilith encounters wonders and hardships, learning much from Ishmael, and both in turn discover much about how their world works. I enjoyed all the ideas Buckell put forth. Buckell has created memorable characters in Lilith and Ishmael, and constructed a plot that keeps the reader engaged. It is too bad our library does not have any other of Buckell's novels.
August 17, 2023
A great number of reviews of Tobias Buckell's latest book, A STRANGER IN THE CITADEL, start out with the following tag line, the one that is meant to draw the reader in:
“You shall not suffer a librarian to live.”
I will admit that it drew me in. Forbidden knowledge, citadels, book banning and burning - I mean, it sure reads like a summary of modern day life, doesn't it? But as I said, the line is meant to draw in the reader, for the book is about much more than that and really something other than that. Of course it is.
Lilith lives in the walled city of Ninetha. She is a musketress of the citadel, and she and her 12 siblings are charged with protection of the city. The people of Ninetha are provided for by the cornucopia, a device left to them by the gods who demand that in exchange for the cornucopia the people abandon knowledge and the pursuit of it. Thus, books are banned, and anyone who
is in possession of a book is condemned to die. Life is simple under this rule, and things are peaceful - until a traveler from outside the city wanders in with a book in his possession. Lilith's trainer, Kira, wants the "librarian" put to death on the spot. Lilith, being curious by nature, wants to learn more about the man. Kira tries to dissuade Lilith, but as Lilith's father is the leader of the city and she is in line for his position (should it ever get to that - she is the youngest of the 13), she pulls rank and has the man imprisoned instead.
I've mentioned that Lilith is curious. She is too curious for her own good, as it turns out. She wonders what her other siblings are guarding in a room deep within the citadel, and manages to discover that they are guarding, of all things, a book. She begins to question how things are being done by her father, and what other lies he might be keeping from her. Lilith makes the mistake of confiding in Kira about the book. That single act sets in motion the rest of the story, as the city descends into chaos when the discovery is made public. And while her siblings had plans for this eventuality, and indeed saw it coming sooner or later, things did not go as planned, and Lilith's life was forever changed. Lilith vows to assemble an army and take her city back, but that is a daunting task.
The rest of the novel, then, is spent outside the city, as Lilith and librarian (whose name is Ishmael, we come to learn), wander from town to town, looking for help and shelter, and trying to figure out where to go next. There was much talk of going to New Alexandria - and this is one of the reader's hints that this world is not all as it appears to be. As the novel unfolds, Ishmael and Lilith discover much, much more about the truth of their land, and why they're in the situation they are.
The novel starts out as a fantasy, with a gift given by the gods providing for the people of the land, but as it progresses we learn that it really isn't a fantasy. There is no magic, and there is rudimentary science, but the big reveal of the novel makes me feel like this is a small part of a much bigger story, a story that I'd really be interested in reading. A STRANGER IN THE
CITADEL can be read as YA, and that wouldn't be incorrect, given the protagonist and how she and the story progress. But it's clear there's much more to tell, and that's the story I want to read. Maybe Buckell didn't want or intend to tell that other story, but that story is the one that sets the table for this one, which in my mind is a story within the story, and I want that larger story.
That's not to say that the book wasn't enjoyable. It certainly was. The characters are terrific, the situation reminds the reader of what we are living through today, and family, whether by biology or choice, plays a large part. And really, who doesn't love a story about forbidden knowledge?
“You shall not suffer a librarian to live.”
I will admit that it drew me in. Forbidden knowledge, citadels, book banning and burning - I mean, it sure reads like a summary of modern day life, doesn't it? But as I said, the line is meant to draw in the reader, for the book is about much more than that and really something other than that. Of course it is.
Lilith lives in the walled city of Ninetha. She is a musketress of the citadel, and she and her 12 siblings are charged with protection of the city. The people of Ninetha are provided for by the cornucopia, a device left to them by the gods who demand that in exchange for the cornucopia the people abandon knowledge and the pursuit of it. Thus, books are banned, and anyone who
is in possession of a book is condemned to die. Life is simple under this rule, and things are peaceful - until a traveler from outside the city wanders in with a book in his possession. Lilith's trainer, Kira, wants the "librarian" put to death on the spot. Lilith, being curious by nature, wants to learn more about the man. Kira tries to dissuade Lilith, but as Lilith's father is the leader of the city and she is in line for his position (should it ever get to that - she is the youngest of the 13), she pulls rank and has the man imprisoned instead.
I've mentioned that Lilith is curious. She is too curious for her own good, as it turns out. She wonders what her other siblings are guarding in a room deep within the citadel, and manages to discover that they are guarding, of all things, a book. She begins to question how things are being done by her father, and what other lies he might be keeping from her. Lilith makes the mistake of confiding in Kira about the book. That single act sets in motion the rest of the story, as the city descends into chaos when the discovery is made public. And while her siblings had plans for this eventuality, and indeed saw it coming sooner or later, things did not go as planned, and Lilith's life was forever changed. Lilith vows to assemble an army and take her city back, but that is a daunting task.
The rest of the novel, then, is spent outside the city, as Lilith and librarian (whose name is Ishmael, we come to learn), wander from town to town, looking for help and shelter, and trying to figure out where to go next. There was much talk of going to New Alexandria - and this is one of the reader's hints that this world is not all as it appears to be. As the novel unfolds, Ishmael and Lilith discover much, much more about the truth of their land, and why they're in the situation they are.
The novel starts out as a fantasy, with a gift given by the gods providing for the people of the land, but as it progresses we learn that it really isn't a fantasy. There is no magic, and there is rudimentary science, but the big reveal of the novel makes me feel like this is a small part of a much bigger story, a story that I'd really be interested in reading. A STRANGER IN THE
CITADEL can be read as YA, and that wouldn't be incorrect, given the protagonist and how she and the story progress. But it's clear there's much more to tell, and that's the story I want to read. Maybe Buckell didn't want or intend to tell that other story, but that story is the one that sets the table for this one, which in my mind is a story within the story, and I want that larger story.
That's not to say that the book wasn't enjoyable. It certainly was. The characters are terrific, the situation reminds the reader of what we are living through today, and family, whether by biology or choice, plays a large part. And really, who doesn't love a story about forbidden knowledge?
December 30, 2021
Wow. That was a hell of a better book than I was expecting. Audible Original “A Stranger in the Citadel” is set in a post-apocalytic earth.
The whole story is an allegory.
The people of this world have regressed to almost a medieval state. The people have been convinced by the authorities that there are gods (there aren’t) and that they have gifted the Cornucopia (which is just a machine controlled by AI and machine learning, though that isn’t explicitly stated) that provides for all their needs.
The thing the gods (that don’t exist) ask for in return is to give up the search for knowledge. Books are outlawed. Science, as a set of processes, to arrive at a conclusion… is a foreign concept to the people subjugated to a belief in deities that would smite them dead for learning things.
Classic information disinformation.
The irony is the cities are named after “wizards and sorcerers that served ancient gods”… though not entirely. The Citadel is the the city of Ninetha… think the ancient Biblical city of Ninevah. Gilgamesh named after the ancient city in Mesopotamia. DC, it was said, meant Decrashun, who’s people served the god Washtun. New Alexandria was the city of knowledge that bucked the gods ban on information. Obviously.
The allegory and parallels to today (the audiobook was released in 2021) was a clear reference to current authoritarianism and… QAnon.
It’s told from a first person perspective as someone who goes from the gods to seeking knowledge in a world where, “You shall not suffer a librarian to live” is the mantra
This book was way better than I expected. ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️
And that’s 40 for 2021. 50 for 2022.
The whole story is an allegory.
The people of this world have regressed to almost a medieval state. The people have been convinced by the authorities that there are gods (there aren’t) and that they have gifted the Cornucopia (which is just a machine controlled by AI and machine learning, though that isn’t explicitly stated) that provides for all their needs.
The thing the gods (that don’t exist) ask for in return is to give up the search for knowledge. Books are outlawed. Science, as a set of processes, to arrive at a conclusion… is a foreign concept to the people subjugated to a belief in deities that would smite them dead for learning things.
Classic information disinformation.
The irony is the cities are named after “wizards and sorcerers that served ancient gods”… though not entirely. The Citadel is the the city of Ninetha… think the ancient Biblical city of Ninevah. Gilgamesh named after the ancient city in Mesopotamia. DC, it was said, meant Decrashun, who’s people served the god Washtun. New Alexandria was the city of knowledge that bucked the gods ban on information. Obviously.
The allegory and parallels to today (the audiobook was released in 2021) was a clear reference to current authoritarianism and… QAnon.
It’s told from a first person perspective as someone who goes from the gods to seeking knowledge in a world where, “You shall not suffer a librarian to live” is the mantra
This book was way better than I expected. ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️
And that’s 40 for 2021. 50 for 2022.
February 18, 2024
A Stranger in the Citadel is set in a post-apocalyptic world where librarians are punished and literacy is outlawed. When a young girl of royalty, a certain Lilith, meets a librarian, she is about to embark on the adventure of a lifetime. Her beliefs, sense of identity, and way of life will be challenged.
While some reviewers say the story is juvenile, a juvenile tone isn’t necessarily a bad thing. While many plot points were predictable, it’s a very enjoyable read for those looking for a light and easy read.
Lilith is the main character. She is entitled with a certain attitude that comes with being a kid. While she isn’t excessively flawed, her character growth is endearing.
Likewise, Ishmael is a pretty good character. He comes off as an intellectual know it all, and his flaws are blindness and stubbornness. Neither characters have the depth some readers may look for in their fantasy.
My only problem with the story was the execution of the ending. I don’t think Ishmael and Lilith needed to have symmetrical background stories - there is a certain asymmetry to life - and I don’t think the story should’ve ended in such an ambiguous manner. Also, the author’s execution of subverting expectations was overly idealistic.
But I liked the tone, the mood, and the mysterious desert setting. A world trapped between science, magic, and religion; a world that doesn’t know what it is with isolated cities dotting the landscape, few and far between.
Another theme seemed to be humans can figure out their problems without the help of Gods.
Anyways, despite my misgivings, I like the lightness and mysteriousness of the book. I would certainly read a sequel.
While some reviewers say the story is juvenile, a juvenile tone isn’t necessarily a bad thing. While many plot points were predictable, it’s a very enjoyable read for those looking for a light and easy read.
Lilith is the main character. She is entitled with a certain attitude that comes with being a kid. While she isn’t excessively flawed, her character growth is endearing.
Likewise, Ishmael is a pretty good character. He comes off as an intellectual know it all, and his flaws are blindness and stubbornness. Neither characters have the depth some readers may look for in their fantasy.
My only problem with the story was the execution of the ending. I don’t think Ishmael and Lilith needed to have symmetrical background stories - there is a certain asymmetry to life - and I don’t think the story should’ve ended in such an ambiguous manner. Also, the author’s execution of subverting expectations was overly idealistic.
But I liked the tone, the mood, and the mysterious desert setting. A world trapped between science, magic, and religion; a world that doesn’t know what it is with isolated cities dotting the landscape, few and far between.
Another theme seemed to be humans can figure out their problems without the help of Gods.
Anyways, despite my misgivings, I like the lightness and mysteriousness of the book. I would certainly read a sequel.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 30, 2023
As the youngest musketress and royal in Ninetha, Lilith has always been warned "Thou shalt not suffer a librarian to live." But when a wandering traveler is dragged through Ninetha's gates, in possession of a book, she speaks out against his immediate execution. When he is tortured and imprisoned instead, Lilith finds herself drawn to speak with him, to understand why writing and literacy are so important to him and why they are so dangerous. What she doesn't expect is for his presence to undermine her entire world.
This tight novella provides a compelling view of a potential post-apocalyptic world in which cities are decimated and isolated from each other, reverting to almost medieval conditions and worldviews. In this world, knowledge of anything but the most basic information needed for survival is considered too dangerous for humans to handle, but of course there's always someone whose curiosity pushes against that kind of stricture. Lilith comes across as initially naive, her beliefs molded into the limited shape demanded by her society, but as she talks with the librarian and looks for answers, she quickly discovers that the knowledge that has been kept from her blows her world wide open. It's difficult to read this and not make parallels to today's society and the way limited access to information and education (or limited acceptance of those things) creates a rigid mindset that leaves no room for other views.
Thank you, Tachyon Publications and NetGalley, for providing an eARC of this book. Opinions expressed here are solely my own.
This tight novella provides a compelling view of a potential post-apocalyptic world in which cities are decimated and isolated from each other, reverting to almost medieval conditions and worldviews. In this world, knowledge of anything but the most basic information needed for survival is considered too dangerous for humans to handle, but of course there's always someone whose curiosity pushes against that kind of stricture. Lilith comes across as initially naive, her beliefs molded into the limited shape demanded by her society, but as she talks with the librarian and looks for answers, she quickly discovers that the knowledge that has been kept from her blows her world wide open. It's difficult to read this and not make parallels to today's society and the way limited access to information and education (or limited acceptance of those things) creates a rigid mindset that leaves no room for other views.
Thank you, Tachyon Publications and NetGalley, for providing an eARC of this book. Opinions expressed here are solely my own.
October 2, 2023
I’m not going to lie to you, the pitch on this sounds familiar. A fantasy or SF world where books are banned or in this case, a sin to have. Those who carry them are killed as Librarians and the world is hard and dark. And boiled down that is the premise of this story - but there is a lot more to this that really surprised and delighted me.
We follow Lilith, who was raised in the city of Ninetha her entire life. She trains to become a Musketress, who defends her family and the city from those outside and inside the walls. In her world stories reign supreme and paper is banned. It is a sin to be near a book, let alone even be able to read it. Then one day a Librarian is captured, Ishmael. She begins to ask him questions but as she does so she accidently causes her home to become her enemy and she’s sent on a journey of discovery.
There is a lot of tension in this book. That’s not normally my jam, but in this it made sense and also it was believable. Our characters struggled with their feelings for one another but never strayed from their core objectives or traits. I loved that. I also loved how we slowly begin to see the world for what it really is, and it’s not what you expect. I promise you that. I would pick up more in this world in a heartbeat if Tobias S. Buckell ever did anymore. Either more of Lilith’s journey or the making of this world.
For a surprising twist on the post-apocalyptic book about books, I have got to recommend this one. It will surprise you.
4 Out of 5 Terrifying and Dented Angels
We follow Lilith, who was raised in the city of Ninetha her entire life. She trains to become a Musketress, who defends her family and the city from those outside and inside the walls. In her world stories reign supreme and paper is banned. It is a sin to be near a book, let alone even be able to read it. Then one day a Librarian is captured, Ishmael. She begins to ask him questions but as she does so she accidently causes her home to become her enemy and she’s sent on a journey of discovery.
There is a lot of tension in this book. That’s not normally my jam, but in this it made sense and also it was believable. Our characters struggled with their feelings for one another but never strayed from their core objectives or traits. I loved that. I also loved how we slowly begin to see the world for what it really is, and it’s not what you expect. I promise you that. I would pick up more in this world in a heartbeat if Tobias S. Buckell ever did anymore. Either more of Lilith’s journey or the making of this world.
For a surprising twist on the post-apocalyptic book about books, I have got to recommend this one. It will surprise you.
4 Out of 5 Terrifying and Dented Angels
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