Author Name: Alex Lidell
Release date: Jan 10, 2013
Genre: Fantasy
Age Group: Young Adult
Tour organized by: AToMR Tours
Social Media links:
Twitter: @alexlidell
Facebook: http://ow.ly/bbdw9 Goodreads: http://ow.ly/bbb9i
Shelfari: http://ow.ly/bbbaP
Library Thing: http://ow.ly/bbbef
Links to find/buy your book:
Amazon: http://ow.ly/bbb0C
Website www.alexlidell.com
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13549523-the-cadet-of-tildor
Book Description:
Tamora Pierce meets George R. R. Martin in this smart, political, medieval fantasy-thriller.
There is a new king on the throne of Tildor. Currents of political unrest sweep the country as two warring crime families seek power, angling to exploit the young Crown's inexperience. At the Academy of Tildor, the training ground for elite soldiers, Cadet Renee de Winter struggles to keep up with her male peers. But when her mentor, a notorious commander recalled from active duty to teach at the Academy, is kidnapped to fight in illegal gladiator games, Renee and her best friend Alec find themselves thrust into a world rife with crime, sorting through a maze of political intrigue, and struggling to resolve what they want, what is legal, and what is right.
Alex Lidell (www.alexlidell.com)
was a finalist in the 2010 Amazon Breakthrough Novelist Award competition and
lives in New Jersey. This is her first novel.
Review: This novel takes place in a time before guns, bombs, and even ipods. Welcome to the medieval ages fantasy style. Honestly if I truly had to compare this novel to anything, it reminded me a lot of Harry Potter minus the magic wands and Voldemort storming the castle. Although, that would have been cool. The writing styles aren't the same, nor are they on the same level. This is where they are similar. The main character is a girl named Renee de Winter, she is a student at the academy that teaches cadets to be Servants of the Crown and to protect Tildor. Harry Potter was a student at Hogwarts, and was learning to be a wizard. They both thoroughly explore the school life. They both have dead family to avenge. They both talk about epic life changing adventures. They both must find the strength to keep going through the battles, even though they face adversaries with greater skill and strength.
Anywho, moving on...Renee is going against her father's wishes by being at the academy. At the academy her friends are her family. This is the only thing she truly wants out of life. There are two big crime organizations in Tildor. One is call The Family and the other is The Vipers. The Family killed her brother and mother, because her father refused to pay them money. So that is the reason Renee wants to become a cadet and protect other people from that. The problem is she is on probation for her combat skills, and so she has to prove herself this year in order to keep moving on. Someone is going to get cut, and she needs to make sure it isn't her.
Commander Savoy is a commander of a squad. He has just been moved from being a commander to being a teacher of combat at the school. He is not happy about this move. He couldn't care less about teaching children. He wants to be out there fighting in the real world, because it is what he does best. Honestly, this guy didn't impress me at all. All he cares about is himself. It makes me frustrated he always acts like such a spoiled brat.
The secondary characters didn't really make me feel much for them. Although, I thought little Diam was the best. He had such a huge heart, and was always getting into trouble. If only he had adequate supervision.
Overall, I liked the novel. Renee was very realistic in the fact that she's a 16 year old girl, who has only ever seen combat in training. She doesn't master real life combat her first, second, or fifth time. She is learning as time goes on to be better. There is good advice, and wisdom the characters share in this book.
This book is for mature audiences. There are scenes with assault, violence, and crude suggestions and jokes. This is a good book for teenagers and adults alike, but only if they have the mental maturity to understand the seriousness of these situations.
FTC: This book was provided to me for an honest review.
Rating:
out of 5
out of 5
Alex Lidell is a YA fantasy writer and author of ABNA Finalist THE CADET OF TILDOR (Penguin, 2013).
Although English is Alex’s primary language, it wasn’t her first. Coming from Russia, Alex learned english in elementary school and fell in love with reading when the school librarian put Tamora Pierce’s ALANNA into her hands. Years later, in college, it was another book that re-united Alex with russian, which she had shunned in adolescence. The Three Musketeers.* Alex thanks both books, and the writers who created them.
Beyond writing, Alex is also a photographer, a horseback rider, and a paramedic. The latter two go hand in hand more often than one would like. She is trying to self-teach herself and her horse to sword-fight.
Alex would love to see THE CADET OF TILDOR in the classroom and is working
on developing teacher guides for the novel. She enjoys “e-meeting” both
students and educators.
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