Skip to main content

Blog Tour: Tracing Shadows (Scout #1) by Alex Liddell: A Book Review

Author: Alex Lidell

Narrator: Hayden Daviau

Length: 6 hours and 21 minutes

Serie: Scout Series, Book 1

Publisher: Danger Bearing Press

Released: May 21, 2018

Genre: YA Fantasy

To protect the throne, 17-year-old spy Kali must play a male guardsman trainee by day and royal lady by night.

Orphaned and trained on a spymaster’s remote estate, Kali is a scout who works alone in the shadows. But when a terror group threatens the Dansil throne, the king forces Kali to accept a mission at the palace or forfeit her sister’s life.

Suddenly thrust into the light, Kali must infiltrate high society as the royal Lady Lianna while penetrating the servant ranks as Kal, a male guardsman trainee. It doesn’t help that Trace, the harsh and enigmatic captain of the king’s guard, is soon assigned as both Lady Lianna’s palace escort and Kal’s commanding officer.

As Kali edges closer to the truth behind the violent group’s identity, she uncovers dangerous secrets that could bring her mission to a brutal end. A scout’s job is to observe and report, never to engage...but if it means saving her sister and kingdom, Kali may have no choice.

 Tracing Shadows, by Amazon best-selling author Alex Lidell, is the first novel in the Scout series. Perfect for fans of Tamora Pierce, Leigh Bardugo, and Sarah J. Maas.

 I received this audiobook as part of my participation in a blog tour with Audiobookworm Promotions. The tour is being sponsored by Alex Lidell. The gifting of this audiobook did not affect my opinion of it. 

Kali is a scout. When the king of Dansil has been threatened by terrorists, he assigns Kali to a dangerous mission. If she refuses, her sister will be killed. Kali is to act as his niece Lady Liana at night, and disguise herself as a male trainee during the day. As Kali searches to find out the terrorists identify, she finds herself getting into trouble with Trace, the captain of the royal guards. She learns that Trace may be hiding some important information. Soon, she realizes that Trace may be linked to the terrorists. Kali must fight to protect her sister and her kingdom against these dangerous threats.

   I loved Kali! She is a very feisty character. She acts with instinct and not her brain. Therefore, she is always getting herself into trouble. I loved the fact that she can fight and is very tenacious. There were times that she could be very vulnerable. Those moments were what made her an endearing heroine. Thus, Kali was a witty and engaging heroine, and I rooted for her to vanquish her enemies. 

   I also loved her relationship with Trace. Trace seems cold. However, it turns out that he has a heart of gold. He has a sad background, and I can understand why he can be aloof. The romance between them is very slow, but it is built on mutual experiences. Both of them have tragic backgrounds. Eventually, he becomes Kali’s mentor and protector. I found Trace to be very mysterious, and I found unraveling Trace’s past was one of the best elements in the novel.

   Even though the book was great, the audiobook really made the story come alive. The narrator really captured Kali’s gutsy personality. She also did an stupendous job in making the other characters come alive. She did an excellent job in portraying Trace’s broodiness. Thus, Ms. Daviau is one of the best narrators that I have ever listened to. It was hard to keep from listening! I would not only love to listen to this audiobook again, but I would love to listen more from this narrator!

   Overall, Tracing Shadows is a novel of friendship, family, love, and duty. The novel is very fast-paced and is filled with courtly intrigue, danger, adventure, and mystery! I did wish for the supporting characters to be more developed, and I thought the world-building needed more explanation. Still, these flaws did not take away my enjoyment of the novel. When Tracing Shadows ended in a cliffhanger, I immediately downloaded the sequel and read it in one sitting! Tracing Shadows is a novel you do not want to miss if you love plucky heroines and mysterious love interests! This novel is perfect for fans of Defy, Cage of Deceit, and Flame in the Mist!

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars



 

     Alex Lidell is the author of Amazon best sellers AIR AND ASH and WAR AND WIND (Danger Bearing Press, 2017) and an Amazon Breakout Novel Awards finalist author of THE CADET OF TILDOR (Penguin, 2013). She is an avid horseback rider, a (bad) hockey player, and an ice-cream addict. Born in Russia, Alex learned English in elementary school, where a thoughtful librarian placed a copy of Tamora Pierce’s ALANNA in Alex’s hands. In addition to becoming the first English book Alex read for fun, ALANNA started Alex’s life long love for YA fantasy books.

Website⎮Facebook

Jul. 26th: 

Jul. 27th: 

Jul. 28th: 

Jul. 29th: 

Jul. 30th: 

Jul. 31st: 

Aug. 1st: 
➜Sign up as a host here
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

No Stone Unturned (Lucy Lawrence Mystery #1) by Pam Lecky: A Book Review

No Stone Unturned (Lucy Lawrence Mystery #1) Author:  Pam Lecky Genre: Historical Fiction, Mystery & Suspense  Publisher: Storm Publishing Book Release Date: 2024 Pages: 356 Source: Netgalley/Publisher in exchange for an honest review. Synopsis: Lucy Lawrence stared down at her husband, his once handsome face now a twisted mask of death. She shivered and pulled her shawl tighter around her shoulders. His life had held so many secrets, and now his sins were hers to bear…       England, 1886. In the flickering gaslights of Victorian London, 28-year-old Lucy Lawrence's future hangs in the balance. Her husband's murder has left her reputation in tatters, and the theft of her mother's priceless heirloom pearls has only added to her woes. But when the handsome investigator Phineas Stone enters her life, Lucy finds herself drawn into a web of deceit that leads right back to her marriage and a deadly conspiracy that could undo them all.   ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Interview With Carolyn Marie Wilkins

      Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing, Ms. Carolyn Marie Wilkins. She is the author of the  Psychics and Soul Food Mystery series. Her first novel, The Murder at the Wham Bam Club , features a psychic named Nola Jackson as an amateur sleuth. Her sequel,  Let the Murderer Say Amen , has just recently been released. In this interview, we discussed her inspiration that led her to writing Let the Murderer Say Amen . We also discussed why she decided for Nola to have psychic abilities as well as her love for the mystery genre. Thank you, Ms. Wilkins! (Photo Credit: Sally Cooper) What inspired you to write the Psychics and Soul Food Mystery series? I am a practicing psychic medium.  I talk to the dead, read Tarot cards and attend seances, so this book was a natural for me.   I also love reading and writing about African American history.  And of course, I love Soul Food.  Writing this series gives me the chance to combine several of my ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Guest Post by Aleksey Linetskiy: The Women Behind the Klondike Story

       Today's guest writer is Aleksey Linetskiy. He is the co-author of Finch and Hawk:   The Klondike Letters , which is a unique yearly subscription in which the reader reads a story by mail. In this guest post, he introduces us to a few historical women of the Klondike era. Some of these women are Alice Freeman, Flora Shaw, and Helen Dare. Thank you, Mr. Linetskiy! The Women Behind the Klondike Story        Before we began writing Finch and Hawk: The Klondike Letters , my partner, Alona Umansky, and I spent a great deal of time researching the Klondike Gold Rush. We were interested in finding the stories of people who maybe didn’t become rich and famous but still went through the experience of a great stampede.  As we were reading the newspapers of the time and firsthand accounts, it became very clear to us that we wanted to tell at least part of the story through the women’s eyes. There were so many incredible women who underto...
3 comments
Read more