Review: To Kill A Kingdom by Alexandra Christo

The Cover: To Kill A Kingdom‘s cover immediately drew me in when I first saw it. The water actually looks like part of a Picasso painting and the tentacles really intrigued me. When you think of a siren or mermaid you think of a fish tail and not tentacles so I really wanted to dive into the book and see how they tied in with sirens and I was NOT disappointed.

Basics: To Kill A Kingdom was released on March 6th 2018, published by Feiwel Friends and is 352 pages long. Genre wise To Kill A Kingdom belongs to Young Adult, Fantasy and Romance.

Description: 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 unsavory 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?

Overall thoughts: I read To Kill A Kingdom by Alexandra Christo last year but never got around to writing a review for it, so I thought for my first review of 2019 that I would do a re-read of To Kill A Kingdom and write a review for it. First of all, I won’t beat around the bush…I LOVED this book. I am big a fan of anything (especially book wise) that deals with water, mermaids/sirens or fantasy so the synopsis of To Kill A Kingdom really hooked me.

If you think about mermaids or sirens in this case, I’m sure many of you think of The Little Mermaid which has several versions. If you just think about mermaids/sirens you think how they use their beauty and mesmerizing voice to lure sailors to their deaths. With To Kill A Kingdom it adds a whole another layer to their life and especially luring people to their deaths. Lira is a siren princess who is known throughout the seven seas as one of the deadliest sirens ever, on top of that she is also one of the sirens who has collected the most hearts of her victims. The sirens in To Kill A Kingdom not only lure and kill their victims to the depths of the sea, but they also the hearts of those victims and Lira has seventeen hearts. When a misunderstanding occurs, Lira is forced by her mother (the hateful and cruel Sea Queen) to turn into the creature she hates most, a human.

Going against her mother’s wishes, Lira decides to use being a human and a pirate prince she meets upon becoming a human to her advantage. She sets out to find the way to overthrow her mother once and for all. To Kill A Kingdom had so many wonderful elements to it’s story that I honestly don’t think I could do a blog post that would be able to go through it all. I think just all the changes and lessons both Lira and Prince Elian go through are my favorite because they both have these beliefs and lies that they were told about humans and sirens that turn out to be completely false. It’s a really fascinating Young Adult read that really made me think about the differences between sirens and people, but also just in general.

To Kill A Kingdom is a great Young Adult fantasy read that I couldn’t put down. There was always something that happened within chapter that either had me saying, “wow!” or had me on the edge of my seat. Also, the slow burning of will they? won’t they? / enemies to lovers dynamic between Lira and Elian is AMAZING. They are definitely one of my favorite Young Adult book couples ever! If you love Young Adult, Fantasy books with a darker version of The Little Mermaid, you’ll love To Kill A Kingdom as much as I did!

Couple Chemistry Rating: 5/5 Shells

Favorite Quotes: “In my heart, I’m as wild as the ocean that raised me.” -Lira

“How strange that instead of taking his heart, I’m hoping he takes mine.” -Lira

My Rating: 5/5 Shells

Buy To Kill A Kingdom:
Amazon: https://amzn.to/2FdFk3R
Kindle: https://amzn.to/2syaVGu
Barnes & Nobles: https://bit.ly/2FdkC40
Book Depository: https://bit.ly/2KewnLd
iBooks: https://apple.co/2SFOqdx
Add to Goodreads: https://bit.ly/2skxM8b

About the Author: Alexandra Christo decided to write books when she was four and her teacher told her she couldn’t be a fairy. She has a BA in Creative Writing and works as a copywriter in London, both of which make her sound more grown up than she feels. When she’s not busy making up stories, she can be found buying far too many cushions and organizing food crawls all over the city. Alexandra currently lives in Hertfordshire with an abundance of cacti (because they’re the only plants she can keep alive).