Tracing Shadows

Scout, Book 1

By: Alex Lidell

Narrated by: Hayden Daviau

Length: 6 hrs and 21 mins

Publisher's summary

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.

©2018 Alex Lidell (P)2018 Alex Lidell

Amazing listen!

I LOVED this audio! Fantastic characters and story kept me on the edge of my seat until the end. I can’t wait to listen to the next book! Great narrator too, she put so much emotion into her performance and had unique voices and accents for each character, even the many faces of Callie had their own unique voice. I received a free review copy of this audiobook at my request and I have voluntarily left this review.

Magic, Fantasy and Court Intrigue!

A few months ago I read Ash and Air by Alex and absolutely fell in love with the writing, the world, the character- pretty much everything was spot on to make me seek out more of her books. When I saw that she had a brand new series coming out with a female spy, there was no question that I would read the book, more of just how could I get my hands on it.
Tracing Shadows was a fast paced story full of court intrigue, lies and deception, where you are not sure who to trust and what a person's true intentions are. Oh and don't forget the forbidden magic that runs underneath everything in this world, regardless of the fact they try and deny it. If you like your book full of twists and adventure, then I highly recommend this start to the series. In a world where magic is seen as the enemy and acts of terror take place against those that wield the power, how do you use the power to help people/things/the situation?

Kali's entire life is about lies and pretending to be someone she isn't as a Scout aka a spy, making her a hard character to pin down. Her job, or rather life goal, is to find out as much information as she can in any given situation, be it the enemies to the empire or the Crown itself- after all, loyalty can be bought. She was so fluid as to who she became, be it personality or appearance. I did find it kind of wonderful to have such a transitional character, taking on traits and quirks befitting her new identity- and yes, she could be a convincing court lady with manners and breeding (cough, cough, she technically is a high lady, just not recognized, but whatever) and she could transform into a powerful male in a blink of an eye (and a well bound chest). Her loyalty was flexible as well, except to her sister Leaf, who was her whole reason for pretty much everything. Side note, there is another voice used to narrate the story and that was Violet, a young teen in the court, who was an interesting character but more like a side note to me- there to help the story, but I was happier to get back to Cali and her disasters. (oh an ps, I love Wil!)

The narrator was able to create unique voices for all the characters, making it easy to decipher who was talking. She also gave personality and emotions to each person, really helping the audiobook come to life. I will say sometimes the sound quality of the audiobook was a little off, like with a slight echo when the narrator would speak that was slightly distracting, but it did not occur all the time so it was easy for me to overlook it.

Alex was able to create another really cool, unique world within these pages and I found myself blowing through the book because I had to get to the end and discover more information. I am really excited to see what will happen next, especially with the bombshell dropped and the potential changes coming. Alex yet again made a book that I really enjoyed and I am so glad that I was able to experience it.

What an Adventure!

Tracing Shadows is one heck of an adventure! The story is centered around Kali, a young woman who, in order to protect her sister, goes undercover in the palace as both Lady Lianna, and Kal, a trainee in the king's gaurd. The story is filled with intrigue, action, mystery, and really kind of explores the love of family and what a person might do for that love. The story is written excellently, as usual. Alex Lidell is an amazingly talented author! I have loved everything I've read of hers! The story is narrated by Hayden Daviau who does a respectable job with it. All in all this is an excellent book (I finished it in a single day!) and well worth the read! I was given a free copy of this book, and have chosen to leave this honest review.

An adventurous read!

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

Such an exciting, adventurous read that will leave you anxiously waiting for the next book!

Devoured this in one day! Absolutely fantastic and enjoyable. Throughout this whole book, I was intrigued and interested. So, so good and enjoyable. What a lovely six hours - it was music to my ears.

The narrator was good. A good listen.

A entertaining story.

With a good Narrator that presented the story in a manner that was entertaining this
Audio Book is worth your time.

The plot is well constructed with interesting characters.




This book was given to me for free at my request and I provided this voluntary review.

Amazing story

This was an amazing fantasy read I have to say it felt a little slow but when it it picked up it never put me back down. I have read Alex Liddell’s power of Five series and this is definitely very different but man did I love it. I can not wait to get to the next part of the story.

Another Great Adventure!

Since I've read all of Alex Lidell's other series, I knew I would enjoy this one as well. This book was full of adventure and suspense. The narration was good and kept me entertained. This author does an excellent job with the character builds and plot. I look forward to reading the next book in this series. I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

Mistress of disguise.

Mistress of disguise.
Audio version.
This took me a little time to get into, but then I couldn't stop listening. A great beginning for a series.
I can't wait for more of this, I want to say more about this story but I absolutely hate spoilers, so I won't go into details.
WARNING it is a cliffy, which I also hate.
The narrative was a bit fast, rushed as if she couldn't wait to finish reading.
Reasons I enjoyed this audio book:
Wonderful characters, Page-turner, Great world building, Unpredictable, Original, Easy-to-read/listen, Entertaining, Action-packed.
Bookshelves/tags:
adventure, cliffhanger, mystery, paranormal, series, suspense, young-adult.
This Audio book was given to me at my request from the publisher, author or narrator and I provided this unbiased voluntary review.

Alex Lidell is at the top of my "Must Read" list!

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.

I absolutely LOVED The Power of Five by Alex Lidell, so when I saw the opportunity to review another book by her, I jumped at the chance. I'm so glad I did. Alex Lidell has been firmly placed on my "Must Read Everything Written by This Author" list. I had moderately high expectations for this book and it did not disappoint.

Kali was amazing. That girl can keep her stuff together like nobody's business. I expected her to get confused and accidentally show up to her Kal training sessions dressed like Lady Lianna like Robin Williams did in Mrs. Doubtfire, but nope. Never happens. Sorry for the mild spoiler.

I did have a little bit of trouble in the beginning keeping track of the religious fanatics vs. the "good guys" but once I just let go & listened to the story, it all made sense. The religious fanatics were alarming and I found myself rolling my eyes many times while listening to their parts. Maybe it's because I've been marathoning crime/cult shows on A&E this summer, but I saw through their insane ramblings from the beginning.

The action was awesome and plentiful. I enjoyed the secondary characters, Luca and Leif. Trace definitely had my attention anytime he was mentioned. I knew there was a back story to his character but when it finally came to light, I was mildly surprised but had started to suspect it went down that road.

The narrator was really good too. She enunciated very well and did a great job of creating different voices for the characters. When I first started listening to audiobooks, I didn't realize just how important the narrator was, but I do now. I've started to keep a list of narrators that I like, and Hayden Daviau is definitely being added to the list.

In short, Tracing Shadows was amazing, I need book 2, like, yesterday, Trace is on my radar like whoa, and I'm off to read everything Alex Lidell has ever published. But for real, I need book 2. I need it. I need it! I NEED IT!

Love It!

I really loved this audiobook! Without giving any of the plot away, let me just say that the plot and political machinations are intriguing and the characters are wonderfully complex and endearing. I couldn't help wanting to see Kali and Trace come together and work as a team, but Trace is so pig-headed, insisting on seeing Kali as a woman to be kept out of harm's way, while Kali is stubborn and protective and proud in her own skills. Kali is an incredible and spirited heroine, while Trace is a mysterious and enigmatic hero. Secrets and intrigue abound on all sides, and there is a villain in the shadows. Who is the Messenger? What really caused the drought of children? Who is Trace? There are so many delicious questions! At least one is answered by the end of the audiobook, while the other will have you pining for the next chapter.

The narration is excellent, with distinctive voices and mannerisms given to each unique character.

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.