Blog Tour: Excerpt - The Cadet of Tildor by Alex Lidell

Today we are a stop on THE CADET OF TILDOR Tour hosted by AToMR Tours. Below is an excerpt from this debut Young Adult fantasy.

The Cadet of Tildor
by Alex Lidell
Release date: Jan 10, 2013
Publisher: Dial Books for Young Readers
Genre: Fantasy
Age Group: Young Adult

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.

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Servant Commander Korish Savoy tilted his face to relish the pouring rain.It streamed
down his cheeks and neck,washing away dust,sweat,and blood.The horse beneath him pawed
the mud and whinnied into the damp morning air.Savoy petted the stallion ’s quivering shoulder
before nudging him under the shelter of the sprawling trees.
“A victory worthy of minstrels ’ songs,would ye not say,sir?” Cory,a young sergeant,
trotted up on his bay,his grin untroubled by the bandage binding his brow.
Savoy leveled him with his eyes.“If I hear it,I ’ll know whom to hold responsible.” The
latest string of victories was boosting the Seventh ’s confidence to dangerous levels.Pride was
one thing.Invincibility was another.“Anything useful to report?”
The boy ’s grin,of course,didn ’t falter.“Aye,sir.Half the bandits had Viper tattoos,plus
several thousand gold crowns ’ worth of veesi leaf between them.Someone ’s head will fall for
this.”
Savoy nodded.The Vipers ’ Madam was not known for mercy —rumor held that she had
executed her son ’s father for producing an offspring who fell short of her standards.Whichever
Viper lord was in charge of the operation the Seventh had just uprooted was unlikely to survive
the week.And neither would the lord ’s family.
But seeing Vipers this deep into the countryside,and with veesi to boot,bothered Savoy
for other reasons.“Vipers on the Family ’s turf?”
Cory scratched his horse ’s ear.“Maybe the bastards will kill each other off.I ’ll nay cry if
they do.”
“Or they use us to do it for them.” Savoy ran a hand through his hair.The information of
the hoard ’s location came from a birdie,not the Crown ’s own scouts,and snitches had their own
agendas.“What else?”
Cory pushed his soggy bandage behind his ears and pulled a folded square of parchment
from his coat.“Messenger returned from Fort Ellis.I dinna know if they ’re more grateful or
embarrassed for our help,but they ’ll be sending men to collect the prisoners.And a personal
message for ye from the capital.”
Savoy rubbed his temple.Good news from Atham was as likely as raccoons talking.
“We ’ll rest a day here,then move out to drill in the mountains.”He slid a dagger blade under the
envelope ’s seal.“The boys still have most of their blood inside them?”
“Aye.” Cory frowned,then added with some reluctance,“Mag ’s hoping you won ’t notice his limp,but that ’s all.”
“Should I notice his limp?”
Cory shrugged.
“Fort Ellis has a mage Healer.You and Mag will volunteer to help take the prisoners
there.” He held up a hand to ward off protest.“And I will continue thinking that bloody bandages
around sergeants ’ foreheads are a fashion to attract women.” Letting Cory blush in relative
privacy,Savoy unfolded the message.
A wave of nausea gripped him as he read and reread the text.When the words didn ’t
change,he stared at the neat handwriting,watching the raindrops smudge the ink.Someone
played a jest.Savoy had created the Seventh,handpicking and training each man in it.It had to
be a jest.
“Sir?”
Savoy schooled his face and voice.“Belay my previous orders,Sergeant.The Seventh
will go up to Ellis as a group.And stay there.” He refolded his orders before slipping them inside
his jacket.
“How long,sir?” Cory ’s voice was carefully flat.
“Until you get other orders.” He looked up to meet the young sergeant ’s wide eyes and
hardened his own.“I ’ve been reassigned.”

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To follow the tour you can see the full schedule here.

About the Author:

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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