AUTHOR: Alex Lidell
PUBLISHED: January 2013
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Fantasy, adventure
PREMISE: When her commander is kidnapped, struggling cadet Renee and her friend Alec go to free him and get caught up on a complicated political world.
MY REVIEW: I admit, I was skeptical of this one. Mostly because a) I've recently been burned twice by books that promised me great female heroine with Tamora Pierce allusions, and b) it said it was a teen version of Game of Thrones as well and I'm sorry but if you're going to promise me Game of Thrones like stuff you better deliver (and again, another book that promised me that did not deliver). While I don't think this is as good as Game of Thrones or Tamora Pierce, I do think it is a very strong debut.
This one avoided all the traps that Prophecy and Throne of Glass fell into. The author showed instead of told as much as possible, I got a clear idea of the world even if much is still left unexplained (but I'm hoping that's because there's going to be another book), the heroine was not made out to be the only strong female in the world with no flaws, the characters were actually fleshed out and interesting, and there was a plot. Sometimes there were shaky parts to it but overall? Not bad. Especially considering this is the author's first book.
Again, don't really think this is as good as the series it compared itself too (really publishers, don't do this with new authors, you'll have readers automatically judge it by those standards and I'm sorry but most new authors aren't quite up that high yet). But in this new trend of trying to bring back the kick ass fantasy heroine to YA that's starting up this year...I think this one is the strongest so far that I've read.
WHO SHOULD READ: Tamora Pierce fans (who don't expect it to be as good as Pierce), Harry Potter fans, Graceling fans, Throne of Glass fans
MY RATING: Four out of Five girls with swords
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