Alexandra does have a lot in common with her father. What sets her apart from him is that she also has a sense of morality that (so far) won't quite let her go all the way over to ends justifying the means no matter what. And you're right that her friends are a tempering influence on her, and that she's rather inconsistent about listening to them.

There probably was some influence from those stories, though I wasn't consciously thinking of them when I created the Deathly Regiment.