Book Review: To Kill a Kingdom by Alexandra Christo

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Synopsis:

Dark and romantic YA fantasy for fans of Sarah J Maas – about the siren with a taste for royal blood and the prince who has sworn to destroy her.

Princess Lira is siren royalty and the most lethal of them all.

With the hearts of seventeen princes in her collection, she is revered across the sea. Until a twist of fate forces her to kill one of her own. To punish her daughter, the Sea Queen transforms Lira into the one thing they loathe most – a human. Robbed of her song, Lira has until the winter solstice to deliver Prince Elian’s heart to the Sea Queen or remain a human forever.

The ocean is the only place Prince Elian calls home, even though he is heir to the most powerful kingdom in the world. Hunting sirens is more than an unsavoury hobby – it’s his calling. When he rescues a drowning woman in the ocean, she’s more than what she appears. She promises to help him find the key to destroying all of sirenkind for good.

But can he trust her? And just how many deals will Elian have to barter to eliminate mankind’s greatest enemy?

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My Review

“I’ve made a mistake. It started with a prince, as most stories do. Once I felt the thrum of his heart beneath my fingers, I couldn’t forget it.”

I chose to read this for the #magicalreadathon2020 and I’m happy I did. This book isn’t perfect, but I did really enjoy it. To Kill a Kingdom is a dark YA fantasy.

Lira is a siren and the daughter of the Sea Queen. She’s known amongst humans as Princes’ Bane, as she has a taste for Princes’ hearts. After killing one of her own is transformed into a human and is told to deliver the prince’s heart or remain human forever. Prince Elian is a siren killer, he’s drawn to the pirate life and doesn’t want to inherit the throne. His sole mission is to put an end to Princes’ Bane. These are two unlikely companions who are thrown together in strange circumstances.

Lira and Elian’s romance was vibrant, and the classic enemies to lovers but it is a slow-burn so if you are looking for a heavy romance novel this may disappoint you. I loved the banter between the two characters. They bounced off each other really well, and it made their conversations some of my favourite parts of the novel.  I do wish that we saw more of the background characters, I wanted more of Madrid, Kye and Torik. I do believe that this novel has the potential to become more fleshed out and a bigger series.

The story is a dual-narrative, told by Elian and Lira. The writing is vivid, fast-paced and thoroughly enjoyable. Christos created a story that I couldn’t put down. The imagery within this novel was impressive and the final battle was well-written, I could picture what was happening. There are parts of the novel where I felt that it lulled but you could see that there was a clear goal with this plot. This isn’t just a story about a siren falling in love with a prince she was trying to kill. This story also touches on parental abuse and manipulation. It shows how all children want is their parents love but sometimes those who are meant to love you, don’t.

This novel is full of mermaids, pirates and magic. The world-building is fantastic, and I thoroughly enjoyed Christo’s debut novel. This is one of the best debut novels that I have read and I hope to read more of her work.

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