This book was so much fun. Action packed and full of adventure, To Kill a Kingdom was everything I wanted it to be. This definitely gave me some similar vibes as Daughter of the Pirate King from last year and I love that. Lira is ruthless and deadly and unwavering no matter who confronts her. She is totally badass and I love her. Elian was such a swoon worthy pirate prince who is more honorable than he lets on while still holding onto that cutthroat pirate swagger that comes from being the best at what he does and knowing it. The two of the, together are so sassy and dangerous, there’s no way to not love them. I loved seeing Lira learn about the human world and figuring out how to connect with herself and not just be what her mother wants. Freedom and choice is such a huge theme in this book and it was great to read strong characters who fought to choose the life they want rather than sit back and accept something less. This is definitely something I would recommend, especially for people who love adventure and pirate stories.

Who wouldn't want to read a retelling of "The Little Mermaid," but where the lead players are trained to kill each other? This action-packed novel takes a novel look at mermaids, sirens, and pirate folklore and turns them on their heads in a world that is both beautiful and ugly, with violence just beneath the surface. It's a testament to the author's skill that she can turn such a well-known fairy tale into a heroic, swashbuckling adventure where everyone wants to kill each other (despite some small areas where the dialog feels a bit silly). Pages will be turned,

The little mermaid gone dark and murderess! I really enjoyed reading about this, especially because I haven't seen that many ya fantasy titles that go beyond mermaid to siren. There is great world creation, character development, and a fun banter between characters. Loved.

What would happen if Ariel from the Little Mermaid was psycho murderess siren? Instead of collecting human objects she collected human hearts. Well then the wait is over. "To Kill a Kingdom" answers all those questions.. Princess Lira is a siren and she collects hearts. Her favorite type of heart is a royal heart. When Princess Lira disobeys her mother the consequence is severe, get the heart of Prince Elian (the siren killer) or stay a human forever.Great combination of fantasy and adventure.. .

Creative world building, compelling characters, and high stakes adventure make this a thoroughly enjoyable reading experience.

I adored this book! I loved the main characters and there was SO MUCH BANTER. Christo writes an incredibly fun novel with interesting characters and a slow burn romance. I loved her take on mermaids and sirens! It was wholly unique and different than other books I've encountered. I'd highly recommend reading this one.

This book is amazing!
This is pretty much a retelling of the Hans Christian Anderson version of The Little Mermaid, with a bit of the Disney version thrown in for good measure. As a huge fan of both, this was one of my favorite reads all year. This is a very dark book, and superbly executed. Be prepared for a wild ride!

I've long since stated that there will never be a really good mermaid book. The mythology is somehow both too complex and too vague for anyone to have a universal list of mermaid-like traits/qualities and that, when attempting a mermaid story, there has to be great characterization, story, and writing to suppress the inconsistencies the book might have, because the reader feels the mermaids don't match up to their own ideas.

To Kill a Kingdom is about as perfect a mermaid book can be. Better then perfect actually. This book was brilliant. Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant! A dark, twisted take on the Little Mermaid that, when combined with Christo's twisted writing style, was a joy from start to finish.

Lira is a siren princess, who, under the command of her mother the tentacled Sea Queen, steals the heart of a prince every day on her birthday. Lira made this story, her complete unabashed ruthlessness and brutality was a welcomed departure from other princess who are "strong willed" but still somewhat lacking in agency. Lira was a badass and unapologetic in her actions. The story is told in a dual perspective between her and Elian, a crown prince who wishes to become a siren hunting pirate instead, and Lira's chapters were so calculated in every move she makes that she really felt like the predator she was. Throughout the entire story, she's set in her ways, and even when her resolve falters, it's her own internal motivation and desires that drive her forward and not any outside forces.

As for Prince Elian, he was a great compliment to Lira. Brutal and ruthless just as much as she was, but where Lira relied on raw power and strength, he relied on trickery and cleverness to get what he wanted. Both had something to teach the other, Elian to be more straightforward and Lira to be more tricky, and I liked how their relationship developed over the course of the story.

My one qualm is that I don't think the romance was necessary. the relationship that blossomed between Lira and Elian was genuine and real, but it was friendship. Strong, unshakable friendship. And while I'm not averse to friendship turning into romance, the inclusion of their romance just felt too rushed. They had great banter, great chemistry, but none of it was romantic or sexual in any way and that's where the story kind of fizzled for me. In actuality, if Christo did one more round of edits and just took out the kissing scenes, none of the emotional scenes would change nor would the story. It just felt like it was placed in here to check a box rather then be a necessity to the story as a whole.

However, Christo's writing was nothing short of exquisite. Her twisted and horrific descriptions of mermaids and the Sea Queen and the bloodiness of ripping hearts from prince's chest was incredible. Her way with words was absolutely beautiful as was the skillful way she created Lira and Elian's banter. Honestly, if her writing is always this good I can expect to see Christo at the top of my auto-buy list for years to come.

As a small side note, the book is told in alternating perspectives and there is no indication before the chapters who is speaking, so it takes a minutes for the reader to deduce who the narrator is whenever a new chapter starts.

Despite that, To Kill a Kingdom is the best mermaid-ish book I've read in a long, long time and I can't wait to see what other dark and twisted things Christo has up her sleeve for me to enjoy.

Let me start off by saying that if you see my review and think “wow Rachael didn’t like it so maybe I shouldn’t pick this one up” you should definitely not think that because even though I have some complaints the book just plain wasn’t for me!! But it might be for you, so if you want to read it then I think you totally should.

Now that we’re past that I’m going to talk about my opinions and also why I didn’t like this book.

First – this book has some, like, really freaking weird descriptions and similes and crap. Half the time I was sitting there thinking, <i>What sort of My-Immortal-slash-badly-written-fanfiction-crap is this</i> and honestly that turned me off right from the beginning. The main character describes herself like this: <blockquote><i>"My hair snakes down my back, as red as my left eye -- and only my left, of course, because the right eye of every siren is the color of the sea they were born into... [I] have eyelashes born from iceberg shavings and lips painted with the blood of sailors. It's a wonder [I] even need [my] song to steal hearts."</i></blockquote> <blockquote><img src=https://i.imgur.com/PZHBZ2I.gif width="100" height="100" alt="description"/></blockquote>

And I wanted to die.

Another character is described as having <i>”Eyes [that] are green and catlike, lined in wisps of black that lick her temples.”</i> It just made me so uncomfortable. Who wants their eyeliner to “lick” their temples?????? I sure don’t. That’s gross and weird. It’s making me shudder just thinking about it. I need these words to be burned from my mind.

Also this book switched narrators sometimes, but it like,,,,,,,, doesn’t tell you at the beginning of each chapter when it switches. I know it probably makes me look like an idiot when I say that it took me a while to catch on each time the narration changed, but it was confusing and inconsistent and really pulled me away from the story and the writing when I couldn’t figure out who was speaking. I was so annoyed.

<s>Also can someone please explain to me why a siren with red hair is wearing orange clothing and red hair don’t go together how many times do we have to go over this</s>

The dialogue was also choppy and hard to follow, and honestly I love to follow the story in my head and what I was picturing in my head while reading this is a badly written, badly acted sketch comedy skit that you find on youtube and it makes you want to die but you can never stop thinking about it and it’s basically what being in purgatory is like. Goodness. Part of that (okay,,,, a lot of it) was probably just me not having fun but since the writing was super choppy then I don’t think it was all in my head.

And you wanna know what’s disappointing? <i>To Kill a Kingdom</i> is one of my favorite titles for any book ever and I’m so sad that the book didn’t live up to its utterly perfect title. Ugh.

So yeah it just kind of wasn’t for me?? But I would still recommend it if you really like mermaids and mermaid-adjacent creatures. The world building was also pretty awesome and deadly. Will I ever pick up another book by this author? Perhaps. Depends what it’s about. But probably not.

To Kill A Kingdom was so much fun! Five things I enjoyed about this book:

1) These characters are vicious. Lira is a Siren, literally stealing the hearts of princes to fuel her power and her mother’s wishes. In the very beginning of this book we see her in action and it’s brutal and horrifying to behold. Elian is a prince and captain, sailing the seas with his crew killing as many sirens as he can. These two couldn’t be more opposed. So when Lira ends up on Elian’s ship, I couldn't wait to find out what would happen.

2) One of the themes this book explores is Lira's siren nature vs her human one. I loved watching her discover her humanity. Realizing that to feel is not actually a weakness. All the while she’s trying to keep her identity from Elian. It’s a tricky place she straddles and makes the story all the more compelling.

3) One of my favorite things about this book was the romance between Elian and Lira. It is enemies to love and very slow burn. The banter and tension between them was just so good through all of the story. These two start standing on completely opposite sides of a war and slowly realize that they are a lot more similar than they ever imagined. Watching that transformation was so delicious to see.

4) This fantasy world all all the different kingdoms it comprises was so interesting. I loved learning about he different countries in it. But Elian and Lira barely dip their toes into the different places they visit. I’d love to read more stories in this world. I also enjoyed the few characters we got to know on Elian's crew, but only four were mentioned by name. I wish that more of them had been visible.

5) I thought this was the start of a series for some reason, but it reads like a standalone. I'm definitely excited about more fantasy standalones, or even companions.

From the gorgeous cover, all the way through, I had the best time reading To Kill A Kingdom. I can't wait to see what Allie writes next!

Love Triangle Factor: None
Cliffhanger Scale: Standalone? (Would love to read a companion story from world!)

(I will post this review on my blog http://www.loveisnotatriangle.com, but for now it is on Goodreads)

I really enjoyed this book! Rife with witty banter, vicious sirens, rich world building, dead pirates, and the ultimate forbidden romance, "To Kill a Kingdom" follows the siren princess, Lira, who is turned into a human as punishment by her mother and tasked with taking the heart of Prince Elias, the notorious siren-killing pirate. Great for fans of Daughter of the Pirate King, I highly recommend this read. A dark and refreshing new take on sirens and a slow burning romance!

Lira is the Prince's Bane, a powerful and bloodthirsty siren that hunts the hearts of Princes and brings kingdoms down in the process. Lira is the daughter of the Sea Queen, the all-powerful Queen that all sirens and mermaids report to. When Lira does something that her mother disapproves of, she must deal with the consequences. Along the way, she encounters Prince Elian -- next in line for the throne in Midas, and a infamous siren-killing pirate. When their paths cross, they are drawn to one another for all the reasons they are alike instead of the reasons they are different. As the book progresses, it becomes clear that Lira and Elian need other for lots of reasons, but the world might need them more than ever.

There were many things to love about this book! I adored the chemistry between the two main characters, and I think that Christo does an excellent job of navigating the relationship between Lira and Elian for majority of the book. Their relationship -- in all its' stages -- are what brings the book to life, and I think that Christo could do well to add more dialogue between the two characters in the final edition. The beginning is slow, but if you make that hurdle, the rest of the book is action-packed and emotionally driven, where you're not sure who you're rooting for anymore. I loved the witty dialogue between all the characters, and I think that Christo was at home when she was writing it -- it is by far the strongest part of the book. There are areas in which I feel that the plot was rushed and character development was sacrificed -- but nothing that overwhelmingly ruined the book for me. Overall, the I thought this was an excellent debut by Alexandra Christo and I look forward to reading more of her work in the future.

I received an advanced copy of this book through Netgalley. All opinions are my own.
As a student, I always loved reading about mythological creatures. As an adult who now teaches students, this story was right up my alley. I found this novel to be a real page-turner. The first quarter of the book moved slowly, but the second half of the novel was fast-paced and, to be honest, I couldn't put it down. Lira was not always a likeable character, but that's what made her human. I enjoyed the flirtatious banter between her and Elian, the prince who chose a life of piracy. The battle at the end of the book was exceptionally well-written. I can't wait to read the author's next book!

I adored this! I am a huge fan of fairy tale retellings, especially those that aren't afraid to go dark. I love Disney just as much as the next girl, but I'm super drawn to the dark and twisty. The world-building was fantastic, and I adored that the relationship seemed organic- I really can't stand insta-love. I wish I could read this for the first time again.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for sending me a digital ARC of "To Kill a Kingdom" by Alexandra Christo. I have not had much luck with mermaid or siren stories so I was a bit skeptical about this story but I am happy to say this book exceeded my expectations. The world is brutal and edgy and beautiful. The world building caught my attention immediately and the writing is perfectly gritty. I will be purchasing a copy for my library and happy to share it with my students. This story is perfect for fans of Sarah J. Maas.

A murderous modern spin on the little mermaid story. This book feels like the author is both paying homage to classic tropes and thumbing her nose at them at the same time. It’s a good balance that makes the story feel contemporary despite its cliche themes.
As far as the story itself - the overall pacing is pretty good and the characters are fleshed out nicely. Details make the difference and you can tell the author gave a lot of thought to the people she created. The writing is on point and the author seems to enjoy playing with language which makes for a pleasurable and easy read. She has a knack for delivering a lot of informations with a few well chosen words. Her descriptions are beautifully phrased, the dialogue feels natural, and there’s both a charm and an edge to her wit and humor. On the downside, the story’s predictable and there are parts that feel really rough. A few scenes are painfully overworked while others are jarringly underdeveloped. I would have preferred to see this written as a trilogy and more care given to plot development and world building. The ending is a bit tidy for my tastes, but ultimately satisfying. All in all a good read and I look forward to her next book.

I really like mermaid/siren books, but when I started this one I was getting the sense that this was a poor rip off of the Little Mermaid. I kept reading for lack of other reading material at the time and I ended up loving this book!