Audiobook Blog Tour : Air and Ash (TIDES #1) by Alex Lidell
Author: Alex Lidell
Narrator: Kaitlin Bellamy
Length: 6 hours and 57 minutes
Publisher: Danger Bearing Press
Released: Sep. 8, 2017
Genre: YA Fantasy
Master and Commander meets Sarah J Maas in a seafaring adventure of duty, love, magic, and a princess’s quest to protect her kingdom on her own terms.
After a lifetime of training, 17-year-old Princess Nile Greysik, a lieutenant on the prestigious Ashing navy flagship, sails into battle with one vital mission – and fails.
Barred from the sea and facing a political marriage, Nile masquerades as a common sailor on the first ship she can find. With a cowardly captain, incompetent crew, and a cruel, too-handsome first officer intent on making her life a living hell, Nile must hide her identity while trying to turn the sorry frigate battle worthy. Worse, a terrifying and forbidden magic now tingles in Nile’s blood. If anyone catches wind of who Nile is or what she can do, her life is over.
But when disaster threatens the ship, Nile may have no choice but to unleash the truth that will curse her future.
Air and Ash is the thrilling first installment of the TIDES series. Recommended for fans of Sarah J. Maas, Tamora Pierce, and David Weber.
My Review:
5 Out Of 5 Stars
Genre: Another-World, Mystery, Royal-Court, Supernatural, Suspense--
Nile loves being second in command on the Ashling Royal fleet, her job as Princess means learning how to be a sailor first and foremost, and Nile would prefer to be at sea than anywhere else. But after waking in her own bed after an attack, Nile is told she has no new order and needs to remain at home. But when her "gifted" twin brother Clay repeats that she is to be married off to form an alliance, Nile realizes she needs to escape to attempt to find a cure for Clay. Disguising herself, Nile makes her way onto an anonymous vessel to work as a deck hand. But her hasty thrown together plan has so many holes in it that she may not be able to overcome, mainly being her new 2nd in command Dominick and her searing headaches.
I purchased an ebook copy of this book that I stumbled across when it first came out in May and my interest was piqued by the cover as well as the synopsis, but I did not get a chance to read it and I may have inadvertently forgotten it was there. It sat lonely in my ereader until I saw that there was an audiobook tour for the book and I knew that I really wanted to read this story. I am so glad that I got the chance to experience the book, be it audio or not and I am glad I did not put it off again. Ash and Air was such a nice blend of well developed characters and fast, engaging plot. Once I started the book, it was nearly impossible to put it down until I reached the end. I was instantly absorbed by this story, right from the first chapter, lost in the action that comprised most of the book. The synopsis said this was for fans of Sarah J. Maas, which sure that is true, but I feel this would be perfect for Susan Dennard fans especially since this had the adventure magic mix that reminded me of Truthwitch (which is one of my favorite YA fantasy reads).
I really, really enjoyed this audiobook, the narrator was fantastic, probably the best I have listened to recently and I am glad that I got to listen to the story as opposed to just reading (which is usually my favorite- and I am sure the book by itself is fantastic, I am just in love with the performance here). The narrator was able to create so many personalities and accents to go along with the characters, I was so immersed by her storytelling as if I was there right in the middle of the action. I felt everything right along with Nile, be it her anxiety, her growing powers, the confusion over her relationship with Dominic, her desire to help the ship- all signs of a great author as well as the narrator at how caught up I was in this world. I would listen to more audiobooks narrated by Kaitlin in a heartbeat, in fact I have already added a bunch to my audible wishlist.
Then ending of the story was right in the middle of a situation, making this a cliffhanger. I would love to get my hands on the next book as soon as possible, but I think I will wait until December when I read that book 2 will be available as an audiobook because I absolutely loved this experience. I highly recommend this story for anyone who likes strong female characters, adventure, magic and just a hint of romance. I will check out anything written by Alex in the future.
I received this audiobook as part of my participation in a blog tour with Audiobookworm Promotions. The tour is being sponsored by Alex Lidell and gifting of this audiobook did not affect my opinion of it.
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.
Kaitlin Bellamy is a freelance performer and acting coach residing in Central Florida, with a theatrical history spanning more than twenty-five years.Since relocating to Orlando in 2012, she has worked at multiple theme parks and various theatrical venues, in a career style she calls “Buffet Performing:” or, the idea of keeping several jobs active at any given time, so she may pick and choose where to work, and life never gets boring. Her specialties include Shakespeare, Voice Acting, and Puppetry. But above all, she is passionate about the performing arts, and all they stand for.
No comments:
Post a Comment