This is the retelling of The Little Mermaid that we needed. I loved it from the start. Lira was the best siren that I've ever seen. I loved how much of a monster she was. It made sure that you knew how different it would be from the original story right from the very beginning.

I also liked watching Lira change. The way she became more human the more time she spent with the crew. For someone that is so feral to begin with, I found it fascinating to watch. I loved Elian and his crew as well. They were exactly what I always want from books of this kind. I loved their humour. I loved their camaraderie.

Though maybe a tiny bit predictable in regards to the romance, it really was a lovely fresh take on The Little Mermaid and a story that I have been needing in my life for so long.

To Kill A Kingdom was marketed as a deliciously dark, gory book that flips the Disney-induced images of mermaids being beautiful and sweet, and certainly the majority of the book does that. Lira is a murderous delight to read from, and both she and Elias are complex and well-developed.

'Technically, I'm a murderer; but I like to think that's one of my better qualities.'

However, I felt I could have enjoyed the ending a little more if it had continued the dark tone it had in the beginning of the book, though that could just be subjective as I know several friends loved the ending.

Trigger warnings for: mentions of self-harm and gore.

Sorry to say that this was a DNF. I tried so hard to get to the end but at 65% I had well and truly had enough. I loved the premise of this book. As a life long fan of The Little Mermaid and all things ocean related the synopsis was screaming out to me as a book I wanted to read. The first 30% of the book reeled me in (excuse the pun) and I enjoyed the chapters from Lira's perspective especially when she was accompanied by her overbearing, not so good (more like evil) Mother. It was interesting to learn about the Sirens and the parts under the ocean were great. As soon as we got our sea legs (sorry) the story totally fell apart. I had no interest whatsoever in the perspectives from Elian (is that right? I can't even remember his name) and I sometimes struggled to work out who was speaking (the perspectives were confusing in places). I had to decide whether it was worth spending any more of my time on...and I'm sad to say it wasn't. It's a shame. I'm still on the lookout for a book that is based at sea that captures my imagination!

"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. "
After reading so many amazing reviews for this book I could not wait to dive into the story. This book was described as a dark The Little Mermaid retelling, so I could not get any more excited.
If my review was based on the first half of this book, this would definitely deserve 4 stars. However the second half did not live up to my expectations. I have been disappointed with YA Fantasy recently, so I might leave them for a while.
What I liked about this book:
- The premise of the story and the plot as a whole sounded like a really good idea. It is quite dark from the start and different to other YA fantasy books in that sense. There is blood and murder, everything you can ask for.
- A cast of very strong female characters. Even if the author doesn’t go into too much details about the supporting cast, all the female characters in this book have strong badass personalities and I was quite happy to read about them.
What I didn’t like:
- No world building. I know this has been quite a big issue for me with all the YA fantasy books I have read recently. I am used to very high fantasy books and chapters upon chapters of descriptions. There is so much that could have been done with this book to make it more interesting in my opinion.
- Forced romance. I am usually a sucker for “enemies to lovers” romance, so this was not executed well here. It seemed to me that the romance came from nowhere, just to be used later in the story
- Underwhelming battle scenes. Same as my first comment, being used to epic battles in high fantasy, the final battle scene here fell a bit flat.

Alexandra Christo’s writing is wonderfully immersive. She describes settings and people and creatures in such vibrant ways that it is really easy to imagine what these places and people look like. She is also good at getting the emotion across. Part of the story involves the main character, Lira, growing into who she really is rather than the person she has been perceived to be, even by herself, and you could really see those moments of indecision and realisation as the book went on.

Christo wrote the book from two points of the view – our siren, Lira, and our prince, Elian. The point of view shifts wasn’t obvious at first since there was no indication before the chapter started nor was there any pattern to it, so you mostly noticed shifts through setting changes, but as the book continued on, the distinct voices of these characters became stronger and telling them apart was a lot easier.

The two points of view really worked in this book as both characters come from two drastically different backgrounds, both having to come to different realisations, that if it had only focused on the mind of one character over the other the story would have been a lot weaker.

The character of Lira was strong, brutal and downright badass at times. Her character development across the book was great as she overcame her prejudices and what she thought she always wanted. It felt real and genuine and in terms of stepping out from her mother’s oppressing shadow, she was quite relatable.

I loved Elian character. Maybe it’s the idea of the pirate prince but his personal conflicts were so interesting to read about. There was so much he had to deal with on a personal level in the course of this book that it just made me want things to work out for him, as a pirate, as a prince, as Lira’s future consort. I would definitely want another book just based on Elian’s exploits as a pirate, both before the events of the book and after – especially because this would mean I get to read even more about Kye and Madrid.

As for the relationship between Lira and Elian, it has what every relationship needs – chemistry. They fit so well together in terms of experiences, wants for themselves and having to deal with the weight of other people’s expectations. Their banter was sarcastic and humorous. Neither bowed to the other because they cared about each other, they were aware of their own strengths as well as each other, which is what made them strong enough to defeat the big, bad Siren Queen.

Downfalls of the book are limited – I can only think of two. The fight scene towards the end of the book was quite drawn out, difficult to pinpoint in places, which meant the climactic scene was, at times, layered with confusion. There was also a limited amount of world building in comparison to the amount of history that the story actually hinted at. It was like just the brushing of a surface so you get just enough information, but the teasing hints just make you want to find out more and, since the foundation of a few plot points is this worldbuilding, it would have been nice to read, however, I am aware this could have slowed the book down drastically.

Overall, To Kill A Kingdom was a wildly entertaining book with fantastic characters. I want more of the world and more of the characters. I enjoyed Alexrando Christo’s writing style, and I can’t wait to read her future work!

To Kill a Kingdom is the story of a siren princess who collects royal hearts, and a human prince who sails the seas hunting sirens. Each other’s worst enemy, they are determined to hunt and kill one another. Transformed into a human, Lira finds herself aboard Prince Elian’s pirate ship, her true identity a secret. Loyalties and prejudices are tested as they journey together in search of gem which could end the war between sirens and humans, each seeking the gem for themselves.
The story has a brutal beginning and it took a while to warm to the cold-hearted Lira, but as she spent more time around humans, her complexity was slowly revealed. I loved the chemistry between Lira and Elian, both strong characters faced with huge responsibilities, trying to fight for their place in the world. I also really enjoyed some of the secondary characters such as Elian’s loyal shipmates and royals from other kingdoms.
The world of the story is vividly created and interesting, containing human cities with strong identities. The mythology created around the sirens and their fellow underwater citizens, the mermaids, is very imaginative. I’ve always been fascinated by mermaids, and this story contained a fresh take on underwater beings, with vibrant descriptions of these captivating creatures.
I thought the book was well-paced with plenty of action. The story is told from the alternating first person narration of Lira and Elian. Because it wasn’t always one chapter per narrator, this was occasionally confusing and sometimes took me a few sentences to establish which character was the narrator. However, the two viewpoints was a great way to tell the story of these two contrasting characters.
I really enjoyed this book and would recommend it to anyone who enjoys fantasy stories full of love, betrayal and adventure.

I received this title in exchange for feedback via NetGalley.

WOW. This book, concept, characters were just amazing.

It was like The Little Mermaid turned into a badass Prince killer - it had me, at times, questioning my moral compass because I was supporting who I would usually call the Villain. But it was great to read about a strong female character on the brink of entering womanhood.

When I read the teaser I thought the concept was interesting so wanted to give it a chance but didn't expect anymore than a typical fairytale love story. But I must say I was pleasantly surprised.

As for the writing, Christo does a wonderful job, I am always a fan of a book written from two POV and it is the same with To Kill a Kingdom. I would definitely recommend!

Beautifully written and detailed but I did find myself struggling with the relationships that seemed a bit laboured at times. The author definitely has a way with words and some of the descriptive passages are just gorgeous. From the quotes and testimonials, I was expecting something very special and although this is a glorious YA piratical romp I don't think it's world-changing,

However, for readers who enjoy doomed romances, betrayals, swashbucklers & softly-flawed characters then this will hit the mark. Probably not grimdark enough for me but I would definitely recommend it to fellow readers who would enjoy these themes. Good job.

To Kill a Kingdom by Alexandra Christo was an amazing standalone! The book had me reading well into the night, I just couldn't but it down. The story had so much action and a subtle love story. However, if you are a person who wants to read a romance novel, this is not the book for you. There are clear connections I could make to link it to My Little Mermaid but the novel was original enough to enjoy a totally new story. The story had great charcter development, especually for Lira, and the world ws very interesting. I one thing I found confusing was the differect chracter POVs. I had to read at least a paragrah to understbd who was speaking but other than that, an amazing book overall. Definatly going to buy a hard copy to have on my bookselves.
Also, a special thank you to the author/ publisher that allowed me to read an arc of this book.
-
Samira H

(I received a copy via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review)

First of all I love this book cover and the actual story is just as good. This book followed two main characters, Lira and Elian. Lira is a siren and Elian is a prince who hunts sirens and we read from both of their perspectives as their worlds inevitably collide.

I was really impressed with this one. After hearing good things about this book I was interested to give it a read myself and straight away I was sucked into the story and read the whole thing in one sitting which I haven’t done in a while. Having been in a bit of a reading slump I was glad that this book was fast paced and well written making it a quick but enjoyable read.

I loved all of the characters in this world and am struggling to pick just one favourite as they are all so complex and well developed. I also liked the interaction between our two main characters who were both witty and unpredictable.

Overall I really enjoyed this book as everything from the characters to the writing and plot were all well done. My only complaint is that I felt the ending was a little rushed and a bit too convenient. This reads as a stand alone but I would definitely read a sequel if one came out and hope to read more from this author too.

This book was nothing short of amazing the way the author put in so much detail and thought in to knitting this story together along with the characters backgrounds and personality's , every part of this book is breath taking I never been one for mermaid / pirate books but this one has changed that for me if your looking for a story built on myths and beauty / action/romance and everything you can hope for in a book then read this one you wont be disappointed

Princess Lira is a siren and the daughter of the tyrannical Sea Queen. She keeps the hearts of princes under her bed, earning her the name of the Princes' Bane. A series of events leads to the Sea Queen punishing Lira by transforming her into a human. Lira must deliver the heart of Prince Elian, a siren killer, to the Sea Queen or stay human forever.
The unwilling heir to a golden kingdom, Prince Elian much prefers to spend his days on his ship with his loyal crew, hunting sirens.
Then one day Elian rescues a young woman from the sea. She claims that she can help Elian in his quest to destroy the sirens for good.
Can Elian trust Lira?
Will Lira be able to deliver the Sea Queen his heart?

Luckily for me, this was one hyped book that didn't disappoint.
I really enjoyed having Lira and Elian as protagonists. They were both heirs to a kingdom, struggling to be what their parents wanted them to be. I loved reading the scenes where they were together. Their banter was witty and made me smile often.
The romance was just right for me- I much prefer a slow burn.
The world was very interesting and I would love to find out more about the different kingdoms.
The plot was interesting and held my attention. Towards the end I read very quickly, eager to find out what would happen.
I definitely got Little Mermaid vibes, but this was a lot darker (than the Disney version anyway) and I liked how brutal the sirens were.
I liked the writing style which was easy to follow. I'm looking forward to reading more by the author.

Overall this was an enjoyable read that I would recommend.

What can I say other than I loved this book!! I was really in the mood to read a standalone fantasy and I know these are few and far between but this is exactly what I wanted and more. As I just said this is a YA fantasy standalone that's also a retelling of The Little Mermaid. I haven't read many books based on mermaids but I will definitely be reading more.

The retelling aspect of this story was fantastic. You could pick out the aspects of The Little Mermaid story and see where the author pulled her inspiration from but there was enough difference to make the story interesting and unique. I was completely hooked throughout and I was totally invested in both the plot and the characters.

The authors writing style was brilliant! The story was easy to read, which meant I flew through it, but also had enough detail to hold my attention. The world building was great, not too heavy but again enough to make it interesting. I really want to see more set in this world.

I also loved the characters. They were all completely individual and had their own personalities. I loved Lira's feisty nature and Elian's determination and loyalty. The growth of both characters throughout the story was great they showed real development and you could see just how they got there. I also liked the romance, and it takes a lot for me to enjoy romance. It was quite a slow burn which I liked and it felt genuine.

Overall this was a really enjoyable story with great world building and great characters. I don't know what more to say other than I highly recommend you go out and buy it. I know I will be!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed this so much more than I expected! I had heard some hype around the book and saw it on NetGalley so decided to give it a go- expecting to not really like it. I’m so glad I did though!

Mermaid/ Siren stories are not really a genre I dip into, literally ever, but this was a great way to start reading in the area.

I really enjoyed the dark representation of the underwater creatures and seeing their different languages and traditions. As I said, I’ve never really read mermaids before and automatically think they’ll be sweet and loving creatures- but this was so so much better than that.

Secret identity tropes are always some of my favourites so of course I was loving that element! The world was pretty well explained and developed but I really would have appreciated a map to look at (although final versions may have that detail, I don’t know?)

Overall, I’m so so glad that I read this book as it opened a whole new genre for that I had no idea I would ever like!

This was a dark and twisted re-telling of The Little Mermaid. I loved how it focused on sirens and the hunting of Prince Elian's heart and him hunting the sirens in an act of revenge. The way that Christo told the story was really interesting and she made the characters come alive. I loved the dynamic between Lira's and Elian and how Lira dealt with the way her mother treated her.

This is a fun quick read that is a very brutal and dark retelling of the little mermaid. The plot and characters we well developed and the plot progression was steady and flowed well. I really liked the hate to love romance and I think it was done well but unfortunately it wasn’t my favourite retelling. I Found this book to be fun but I wasn’t my cup of tea.

Ever be excited about having the chance to read a book, just for your hopes to be crushed slightly? Yep. Thought so. I sort of feel like this with the book. I was excited to read it, the hype for it was there, the reasons why it was good are there. To begin with, I was there with them people but by the end? No. The last 15/20% was just… Well. Disappointingly rushed. I can sadly say that I’m ever so glad this is a standalone story.
So, the characters. I loved the thought of pirates, sirens, and royalty. I liked Lira and Elian. I liked Elian’s crew, the banter between them was a relief to the seriousness at times. Lira was witty in her human form, sadly I didn’t really like siren Lira. Maybe that was the point though? To get us to really dislike her in her natural form, thinking she would be a better human? Elian. I liked Elian. He felt like a safe character, he was witty, strong, fearsome, some would even say invincible.
The writing was spectacular at the beginning of the book. It flowed really well, it was beautifully descriptive. I just don’t know what happened. It just all went downhill and I was so disappointed. The writing just made it feel rushed, and made me want to just get it over with. I can pinpoint the exact moment things went downhill for me as well, and that is when they got to The Cloud Mountain. It was like the last 10-15% of the book wasn’t worth the effort anymore, we got to our destination, no need for the beautifulness of the previous 80%. The world building wasn’t spectacular either. I liked the idea of each Kingdom having their thing, like inventions or love as mentioned in the book, but it again promised so much for it to not deliver.
I really wanted to really love this book, I was hoping for the magnificent read that it seems a majority of people have read. I’m afraid it just do hit magnificent for me. While I enjoyed some aspects of the story, there were more disappointing bits for me. I’ve given this book a 3/5.

*I received this book free from netgalley for an honest review*

So I was sceptical about To Kill a Kingdom by Alexandra Christo. It comes across as just another standard fantasy retelling. But everyone knows I’m a sucker for retellings and to be honest, I loved it!

This book was just fun from start to finish and was the perfect way to end the uni exam season. It was a fast paced romp through a fantasy world where Sirens exist and they steal one heart every year to mark their birthdays, Lira only steals royal hearts being the princess of the sea herself. When her mother, the Sea Queen, reprimands her for taking a heart before her birthday she claims she must steal the heart of a sailor and tarnish her reputation as the Princes’ Bane. But Prince Elian just happens to be a siren killing royal pirate out for revenge.

I had so much fun reading this and I’m not sure how much of it was just relief at not having to do uni reading but even then I’d definitely recommend it as a fun, light read for any YA fantasy fans. It was fast paced, the romance was enjoyable and believable, and the take on the little mermaid story was fresh and interesting.

My favourite thing about this though was ugly monsters!!! Ugly mermaids, ugly mermen, the sirens were supposedly like horribly beautiful and that’s what I want more of! We need more ugly monster girls. I totally understand that not everyone will read the sirens as being monstrous but that was definitely my reading of it and I love it.

The only things I would complain about is that the world building felt a little lax to me. The characters spent a majority of their time sailing or in docks, and when they were on land visiting various kingdoms I felt like there wasn’t enough attention paid to the different cultures for me to find it believable. That might just be a side effect of the first person narrative though.

My one other problem was just that the ending felt rushed, I wanted more! I wanted to see how these worlds began to merge but there wasn’t enough explanation for me. I suppose it’s telling that my only problems with this book is that there wasn’t more of it!

To Kill a Kingdom took me back to my days of reading the Ingo series and obsessively watching every Pirates of the Caribbean film, I had so much fun reading it and it was the perfect palate cleanser to get me away from uni reading.

This was such a nice surprise!

I was given an e-arc of this novel on Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review, and I'm pleasantly surprised that I absolutely loved this book! I'm surprised because, I'm not usually a fan of retellings, especially of fairy tales. 

A lot of what retellings do is make cute fairy tales more deadly, bloody, and violent. But what these retellings forget is that Disney films are already retellings, and most fairy tales are already pretty dark and brutal. So, while I haven't read The Little Mermaid or watched The Little Mermaid, I thought that might be an advantage. I had an idea of how the story goes, but it wouldn't be glaringly obvious if the story went in a different direction, because I don't know the original. 

But I feel like I should read the original tale because this was great!

I'm a lover of anti-heroines, we all know this, and since I've seen snippets of The Little Mermaid, I know Ariel is not the type of character that comes to mind when I think anti-heroine, but Lira is, for most of the book, a complete anti-heroine, and I love my bloodthirsty siren daughter. I loved the similarities between the lives of Lira and Elian and how they worked to defeat the evils of their own lives while still being morally grey characters. 

I loved the setting, both in the ocean and on land, especially each 'kingdom' and how creative each were. Some were clearly modelled of real societies, but there was one that valued love and affection and it looked like a giant Valentine's Day card - which was sometimes hard to picture, but I still enjoyed it! 

I'm also just so thankful that this wasn't instalove, or even just had passages that were jarring. Budding YA romances love to have sentences that clearly indicate feelings really obviously like 'we were arguing but I was staring at his big, burly muscles' when they barely each other! So I liked that this book wasn't solely built on two main characters falling in love, but still had room to make it more authentic.

To Kill A Kingdom is a standalone, which I was surprised about, but it still ended beautifully. I think if this isn't a standalone, then that might cause a few problems - this story definitely ended on the last page of this book.

“They celebrate love as though it's power, even though it has killed far more humans than I ever have.”

First of all, we have Lira, the Prince's Bane - our bloodthirsty badass princess, who may not be as rotten to the core as she presents herself to be (she's all mush on the inside). Then there's Elian - the prince with the heart of a pirate that has no desire for the throne he's destined to inherit. Of course, we can't forget the evil siren Queen, because we need a villain. And, last but definitely not least, the trusty pirate crew that is willing to lay their lives out for our dear prince.

Do you see where this is going? Sigh. I liked the characters. I liked Lira - she had a decent attempt at a backstory. I liked Elian - he had a purpose and an actual personality. I liked the crew though, out of the 100, we only got to know three. I disliked the Sea Queen just as I was meant to do. But I didn't care enough to be particularly bothered if any of them died - maybe that's just my apathy speaking, I don't know.

“I knew you were weak,” she says. “But I never realized the extent of it. The heir to the sea kingdom of Keto, who I had to beat into brutality. Who would sooner see a young prince drown than rip out his heart while it still beat. Who cried while she murdered my sister.”

What I know is that the romance mildly annoyed me. It was supposed to be gradual, a slow burn if you will. But I didn't really get that vibe. I just can't get behind being a soulless killer one moment and turning into a heart eyes fool who would sooner die than hurt their second half the second. Love is always the answer, love heals all wounds, love will pay your bills and wash your dishes. Sorry to break it to you, but life just doesn't work that way.

“I could have killed her, but I didn’t, because she’s a wonder.”

Was To Kill a Kingdom a bad book? No, not at all. An enjoyable read? Definitely. Worth reading? By all means. Worthy of my favorites shelf? Nope.