Lilith has heard an oblique warning all of her life: "Thou shall not suffer a librarian to live.
The life of the youngest musketress of Ninetha has been one of hard training. But Lilith's days have also contained many pleasures, the royal privileges of her family's guardianship of the Cornucopia, a mystical source of limitless bounty. Lilith has never seen a book, and she never expects to encounter one within in the safety of the citadel.
When Ishmael, an outcast librarian, shows up outside the Afriq Gate, Lilith saves him from immediate execution by her father's second-in-command, the zealot Kira. As Lilith's curiosity draws her to the Ishmael, she lets slip her family's most dangerous secret to Kira, sparking a deadly rebellion and an unexpected journey full of stunning revelations.
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The gods say, 'You shall not suffer a Librarian to live'.- One: The Citadel
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(Tachyon Publications, 17 October 2023, e-galley, 256 pages, ARC from the publisher via NetGalley)
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I wanted to read A Stranger in the Citadel due to it's tagline you shall not suffer a Librarian to live which is clearly the point and does the job. This drew me in. I expected a novel about forbidden knowledge and book burning but I got so much more. I loved the world created in the book, a place where people get everything, they need from something called the cornucopia, a device given to them by gods. There's a small price to pay - they must abandon knowledge and the pursuit of it. Humans are naturally curious, so you know things are not going to end well when a traveller wanders into the city with a book. This is a well-written and engaging read.