To Kill a Kingdom by Alexandra Christo

SYNOPSIS

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?

Synopsis from Goodreads

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PERSONAL REVIEW

Wow, just wow...I absolutely loved this book! It's somewhat a retelling of the "Little Mermaid" fairytale, but really so much more then the "girl changes herself to be what boy wants" Disney story.

We are given a siren who is known as the Prince's Ban because of the number of princes she has killed (!) who is punished by her mother, the Sea Queen, and becomes a human (!!), only to end up on the ship of a prince who is also a pirate and who has a personal goal of killing the Prince's Bane (!!!). The characters, the story, and the plot are all so beautifully created that I couldn't put this book down. 

Personal Thoughts: 
Diverse, Well-Developed, and Strong Characters: 
There is literally no character in this book that I didn't love (or love to hate). Lira is raised to be a ruthless killer and has no qualms with embracing this aspect of herself, even as she slowly starts to realize that there can be more to life then simply gathering hearts. She strong (even in her "weak" human body), she doesn't apologize for her actions, and she goes after what she wants. Basically, she's awesome.

Elian is an AMAZING counterpart to her; this is no prissy prince waiting in the tower for life to hand him a crown. He gets down and dirty in his mission to rid the world of the murderous sirens and their Sea Queen and his relationship with his crew is perfect. They respect him and are loyal to him because they know that he would give his life for theirs as quickly as they would give theirs for him. He matches Lira so perfectly, a fact that she also realizes when she admits that his strength and loyalty to his country and his crew is both surprising and admirable. 

My favourite aspect of this book is that although we have a few very clear "villains" in the book (i.e. the Sean Queen and her mermen), most characters are so much more then strictly being "good" or "bad". Beyond Lira and Elian (and the fact that they are the heroes, but also clearly murderers), Elian's entire crew comes from very diverse backgrounds and are quite clearly pirates, Princess Yukiko's a master manipulator and we hate her even as we can appreciate her ambitions, and the sirens are such an interesting mix of aggressive killers and 

Exciting Storyline and Beautifully Written: 
The storyline fn this book moved so seamlessly and kept me entertained the entire time. I loved that we were reading from both Lira and Elian's POVs; it made the story feel more organic and we were given deeper insight into what was going on. As well, these characters can move within different realms, so it was important that we got to see things from both their perspectives. Each POV had a distinctive voice and they were both perfect for the characters. Aside from the POVs, the plot in general moved smoothly throughout and there was never a moment where I felt like I was stuck or growing bored of what was happening. 

This book really grabbed me and I had such a fun time reading it. I believe this is a stand-a-lone novel, which actually stinks because I'd love to read more about these characters. There was a definite ending to To Kill A Kingdom but there are also a lot more adventures that could be had and I've love to be along for the ride! Maybe Christo will surprise us with another book (or even a novella!) in the future? Keeping my fingers crossed!

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FINAL RATING: 5/5