2013 book 60

Alex Lidell's The Cadet of Tildor
This book comfortably fits in the genre of epic fantasy involving a badass girl caught up in crazy politics and whatnot. Our protagonist here is 16-year-old Renee, the only girl training to be a fighter in some fancy elite royal squadron (there are other girls, but they're training to be lawyers, and we only meet one of them). She's one of those heroines who is annoyingly stubborn and refuses to see the truth of things, but eventually gets it together and is much more likable. There's also a hot young army commander who's the new teacher, but thankfully, romance is very minimal here (though I expect it to pick up in any sequels), her friend who obviously has a crush on her, and a cute little boy and his dog. Comparisons to Tamora Pierce are apt enough, though the writing isn't as strong here (and the book is ridden with typos), but certainly Renee fits the Pierce heroine mold. And there are several plot points that take a little bit too long for the characters to figure out, but Lidell manages the reveals just before I was about to get angry about their stupidity, so I guess that's ok. (And then there's this whole thing where an attempted rapist is kind of redeemed and becomes helpful and like adorable? What? WHAT. It's a very minor plot point but GROSS.) All this rambling is to say that this is a perfectly good girl warrior YA fantasy book with some solid worldbuilding, and though I'm not like SUPER EXCITED about it, I would read a sequel. B/B+.