To Kill A Kingdom is the perfect dark, twisted story and I loved it from the very start:

"I have a heart for every year I've been alive. There are seventeen hidden n the sand of my bedroom."

Lira is not your average mermaid. She is a Siren, a stabby mermaid who lives to sing men into the sea so she can rip out their still-beating hearts. Lira is my hero.

Lira's mother is the Sea Queen and she runs a tight operation, so when her daughter defies her "one heart a year" rule, she punishes her by taking her voice and giving her legs, challenging her to bring the Prince's heart without her powers. Lira is known as the Princes Bane; she kills only Princes and has a fearsome reputation.

Elian is a Prince who doesn't want to stay on land; he wants to be at sea hunting the Sirens who plague the seas and bring his friends to their watery deaths.

To Kill a Kingdom tells the story of what happens when these two meet. It is written in dual perspectives in alternating chapters. Both voices are very distinctive and their stories compelling.

Lira is determined to prove herself to the Sea Queen as a worthy successor, but is also having doubts about whether she wants to rule the way her mother has. She talks of her mother's tyranny towards those she has cared about and questions the way she herself has thought:

"thinking it would prove something to my kingdom. But what? That I'm the same as her, valuing death and savagery over mercy? That I'll betray anyone, even those who are loyal to me?"

Lira's story, her fears and doubts kept me on the edge of my seat (quite literally at some points as I was reading this on a train). Not all of Elian's crew trust her, and I was never quite sure that I did either. All the time she is helping Elian to search for the second eye of Keto, the stone that will give the wielder control over all the sea people, I wondered what her motives were. Who is she hunting it for? And when she has the chance to rip out her Prince's heart, will she take it?

If you like dark stories, stabby mermaids and conflicted characters, you will love this book.

Thank you to Hot Key Books and Netgalley for sending me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Content warnings: murder/death, gore, parental abuse

Has anyone else noticed there's been a rather large influx of sea-themed books lately? I'm definitely interested in this trend because I love mermaids and sirens and all that good stuff so I saw this and thought hey I'll give it a go. And I was going to meet Alexandra at a signing so I thought I should at least read a book from one of the authors. (She was super lovely by the way)

Lira is the Princess of the sea. Her mother is the feared Sea Queen and Lira is known to all as the Prince's Bane because she kills only princes. But she kills one too many princes against her mother's wishes and so she loses her song and is banished to become a human. Prince Elian is heir to the most powerful kingdom but all he wants is to be on his ship, patrolling the waters looking for vicious sirens. And then he comes upon a girl drowning in the middle of the ocean and she tells him she will help him destroy all sirens, but does he trust a random girl?

I didn't realise going into this that it was kind of a Little Mermaid retelling but with a siren instead of a mermaid. It was pretty cool. I think what I really enjoyed about this novel was that you find yourself beginning to come around to Lira, even though she's a cold-blooded killer. She grows as a character and as she changes you begin to really appreciate her and understand her.

For a debut novel, this really impressed me. I had a few problems but I think those will only be tightened up in time. This was mainly to do with pacing and length. I felt like for a novel this length there was a bit too long spent on the build-up and not enough on the climax. And this could've either been fixed with making it longer or not spending so long on the build-up, but then you would not get to know the characters as well. I mostly just struggled with the climax as it was a big fight scene and I spent about 80% of it confused as to what was happening. I think had thee been more to the story as well we would have seen more of the huge world that Christo has imagined as there seemed to be a lot

I liked that this was a standalone novel as there aren't many standalone fantasy novels. I think Christo can only get better and I'm excited to see where she goes next with her writing. I do think she may come back to this world as it is so vast but it'll be a side characters story maybe.

To Kill a Kingdom was a really enjoyable dark retelling of The Little Mermaid and an impressive debut from Alexandra Christo. Lira is a siren princess, daughter of the Sea Queen she has earned the nickname Prince's Bane because she has killed so many princes and stolen their hearts. She's fierce and bloodthirsty and our introduction to her was one of my favourite opening lines in a book ever:

I have a heart for every year I’ve been alive. There are seventeen hidden in the sand of my bedroom. Every so often, I claw through the shingle, just to check they’re still there. Buried deep and bloody.

Lira's life is turned upside down when she accidentally saves the life of Prince Elian rather than killing him and her mother punishes her by turning her human. Elian isn't your average prince, in fact he is a pirate who has made it his mission in life to rid the world of sirens and who particularly wants to kill the Prince's Bane. He has another great introduction:

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

I already knew only 3 chapters in that I was going to love this story! I really enjoyed the world that Alexandra Christo has created and I loved the depth she gave her characters. Both Lira and Elian have done things that they aren't proud of, Elian with the goal of protecting his people and Lira because she has been damaged by her mother's cruelty. These are two characters who should be on the opposite sides of the ongoing war between their species but they both want to find a way to bring peace and save the people they care about.

I love seeing characters grow and change and we get a lot of that in To Kill a Kingdom, we also get a lot of action and some really fun battles with all kinds of sea creatures. Theres even a hint of romance but I appreciated that it didn't overtake the rest of the story and it was very much a slow build as the characters got to know each other. I really enjoyed this story and I'm definitely going to be keeping an eye on this author in the future, I can't wait to see what she comes up with next.

*I received an e-ARC from the publisher through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

To Kill a Kingdom is a re-imagining, or rather retelling, of The Little Mermaid. Our main character, Lira, is not a mermaid but a siren. Because mermaids are apparently stupid while sirens are badass. She is vicious and fierce and while she tries to impress her mother - the Sea Queen -she is aware that something is wrong, even though she keeps trying to impress her.

Lira is such an interesting character to follow. The Sea Queen transforms her from a siren to a human girl and she is tasked to kill and take the heart of the prince who kills sirens. Lira and Prince Elian forms a bond, after quite a long time hating each other. I actually liked that there wasn't any 'love at first sight'.

I quite enjoyed the story, but for me something was missing. At times it felt rather long and dragged out and other times it went by way too fast. Definitely a great retelling and one I recommend though. I loved the more sinister and dark twist. It's actually quite rare that I read retellings of The Little Mermaid and usually I don't enjoy them, so I finally found one worth reading! It is quite unlike any of the other retellings I've read and I want more!

Why did I pick it?
Firstly I love mermaids, I’m even openly mocked in my office for the sheer amount of mermaid paraphernalia I own. Now I know this technically isn’t about mermaids, it’s about sirens, it did however seem like a pretty cool twist on a story I knew and loved.

What I loved about it
This book was very different from anything I’ve read recently. Lira is a true anti-hero that you just can’t help rooting for throughout the story. I’m a sucker for a flawed main character, especially one this bad ass.

The fact that Lira must capture the princes heart, as in literally take it, in all it’s gory greatness, was fun and did make me giggle. Alexandra’s humour is clearly as twisted as my own!

Some of the secondary characters really stood out for me, especially some of the female characters. The book is jam packed with sassy and strong female characters that I really wish we had chance to know them better, but alas this is a stand alone story.

What I loathed about it
The story is incredible, I can’t help but love it. The only issue I had was sometimes, when the dialogue got going, especially the quick fire quips between Lira and Elian, I really struggled to tell who was speaking. Sometimes I had to stop and reread sections just to work it out, which when you are in a flow and enjoying the put downs was a little distracting.

Thoughts
Although not technically a comedy, well clearly not, it’s pretty dark, what with the heart stealing and all. If you have a dark sense of humour like me you may find yourself giggling along in places which I’ll be honest and say was unexpected. I can’t wait to see what Alexandra delivers next!

SO MUCH YES. I had heard brilliant things about this book before I finally picked it up and it only took a few chapters before I was also totally hooked. I adored the mythology that is laced throughout the book and also that the chapters alternated between Lira, the Siren princess, and Elian, the human Prince and slayer of Sirens. The Sea Queen was rightfully terrifying but I also felt hypnotised into admiring her too? I really liked the dynamics between Lira and Elian and how both of their secrets were slowly revealed to the reader. I don’t think I realised until reading this book just how fascinated I am by mermaids/sirens and its definitely given me a zest to read more books with them in!

Review - To Kill a Kingdom

I received a copy from Netgalley.

I honestly don't quite know what to make of this book. Initially I was absolutely blown away with it, I have a weakness for mermaid themed stories and anti-heroines. Don't recall seeing the two combined before. Even better when it twigged this was dark Little Mermaid retelling.

I loved Lira right from the start - not a mermaid, but a siren. Deadly, fascinating and a total unapologetic bad ass. What's not to love? Known as The Prince's Bane Lira uses her siren gifts to lure unsuspecting Princes on ships to their death - where she rips out and collects their hearts. Her mother is the ruthless and unforgiving Sea Queen. The Sea Queen is a cold nightmare and nothing Lira ever does is good enough, no matter what.

Though despite her front of emotionless bad-assery, Lira has one weakness. Her beloved cousin Kahlia. Which comes in to play several times early on in the novel in Lira's battles with her awful mother. All Lira strives for is to be good enough to be named her mother's Heir. So far...not happening. Despite all the drama and attitude, there's an impression given that there's a lot more to Lira under the surface.

On the other hand, we have Elian, a Prince who has no interest in being a prince, he's an infamous siren hunter/pirate who would rather sail round the oceans with his crew ridding his world of the siren threat. After his first encounter with Lira, something of a disaster for both...it's completely obvious where the romance is going. Problem for me was on reflection, I really just don't like Elian at all. I found him flat and annoying. One thing I really liked was Elian's crew, tie deep camaraderie and friendship, their banter and absolute loyalty.

Elian learns of a mysterious crystal that will give him the power to rid the sea of the Sea Queen, there's a prophecy/curse to defeat. Problem is - the crystal is damn near impossible to find. Lira finds her path crossing with Elian, and when she finds out about the crystal, she wants it for her own purposes. They rub each other the wrong way - they are antagonistic as hell and bitching at each other for the first moment they meet. Lira is not happy finding herself with legs surrounded by humans. Who are naturally very suspicious of her - she has retained a few of her Siren talents - and uses them to her own advantage.

It's still obvious where the romance is going, but its so so slow while Elian and Lira figure each other out. Their characters both develop as the plot does, the search for the crystal and the means to find it. There's deals to be made with dangerous kingdoms, several unseemly and villainous characters come in with a role to play. There's twists and turns.

The world building is fascinating and very well written. The problem I found was after half way through I was getting more and more bored and it was taking longer and longer to get around to finishing it.

I'm not sure what to make of the end either. It concludes pretty well, though before then it got a bit messy in my opinion. I liked it, and would definitely read something by this author again, but I'm not as blown away by this book as I initially thought I was.

Thank you to Netgalley and Hot Key Books for approving my request to view the title.

Growing up my favorite Disney movie by far was The Little Mermaid. Then I got my hands on the original Andersen fairytale and I was even more in love with the story and the myth of mermaids. After vampires and werewolves, mermaids are my favorite mythical creatures, so whenever a novel that has at its center these magnificent creatures, I get excited and slightly scared because I have high expectations. I can't describe how high my expectations were when I started reading this book, but let me tell you this book managed to exceed them very very easily.

To Kill A Kingdom is basically a Little Mermaid retelling, a combination of both the animated movie and the original fairytale that I really loved, with a lot of darker tones than I thought possible. The mythology of the world created by Christo is very unique and fresh to me, and I really enjoyed discovering it.

To Kill A Kingdom is about Lira and Elian, two unlikely heroes in their own way, on their quest to end the war between humans and sirens. Lira, also known as the Princes' Bane, is a morally ambiguous siren, punished by her mother, the Sea Queen, to live as a human. I didn't know what to make of Lira at first. She goes from being a feared prince-hunter to weak human to worthy heroine as the story progresses and I really loved they way she grew with the plot. I was certain she was going to be a villain until the end, but I'm glad she wasn't. She definitely surprised me in a good way. She had the street-smarts that Ariel lacked, and I loved Lira because of it. She was very strong, very resourceful, very snarky and very unintentionally funny. She amused me a lot and I'm sure she wasn't even trying to be funny most of the time but I did find her funny. Then as the story goes on and her backstory is revealed and she herself remembers it, I discovered this new layer about her and this new side of her that I didn't expect. Lira herself is reminded about that side of hers only after her mother decides to punish her, so it's kind of ironic in a way, that her punishment served to help her discover her humanity, instead of getting rid of it like her mother was hoping.

Elian is definitely my favorite YA hero so far. He is the firstborn son of a king, which means that he is the first in line to become king, yet he doesn't want to be one. I think if he could have it his way, he wouldn't even be a prince. He definitely loves being a pirate and a siren killer a lot more than he likes being a prince. This dichotomy is seen all throughout the book, because there are situations in which his royal status comes in handy in getting him and his crew in and out of certain places and situations. But despite that, the members of his crew treat him like an equal and they are loyal to him because of what he does for them and because he protects and loves each and every one of them, not because he has status over them. He doesn't flaunt the fact that he comes from a royal family and I loved that about him. In fact on more than one occasion he tries to make everyone forget that he is royalty.

Aside from sirens, mermaids and magic, there's a really interesting theme of ones true identity in this book. There's Lira, with her questioning whether she's evil or good, there's Elian struggling between his royal status and his desire to be a pirate and be free of the confines and limitations that living on land has, and there's also the age-old good vs evil battle. I liked that about the book, and I welcomed every instance in which the identity of the players was put to question or was explored.

The plot is pretty evenly paced, and there's no such thing as insta-love in this book, which made me very very happy. The story is told from both Elian and Lira's POVs, so we get to see the story unfolding from both the siren-hunter and the prince-killer perspectives. I enjoyed that a lot. I was also surprised by how well this book works as a standalone. I wasn't expecting that, but there's so much detail, so much depth, so much complexity in this one book, that it is almost more detailed and more powerful than a trilogy or a duology or a series. I wouldn't be myself if I didn't say that I wanted a sequel. Maybe not with Lira and Elian at the center, maybe they could be secondary characters, and I definitely have a few ideas on who might be the main characters for a sequel, so I'll keep wishing and crossing my fingers that a sequel will be a thing.

All in all, I definitely enjoyed this book and I fell in love with Christo's writing style. I definitely recommend this book to anyone who loves fantasy and mermaids.

o Kill a Kingdom is so good that I made a stranger I had known for one day buy it and get it signed by Alexandra Christo at YALC. I am not even kidding. I loved it so much. It’s a super dark retelling that has sirens, and mermaids and mermen. It has the sea queen who’s all tentacled up. Plus a prince pirate who’s just as bad-ass as the siren who’s story is being told.

The book instantly gripped me from the opening as it explains the differences between mermaids and sirens. Those beautiful creatures you think you know are actually sirens and are deadly. The mermaids on the other hand are ugly decaying things that are also quite deadly. This is a tale used to make you beware the waters.

Throughout the book we venture both above and below the waterline, and visit many kingdoms along the way. Each place has it’s own culture, personality and descriptions. All of which are wonderfully written and pull you straight into this universe. There is backstories and histories for each place, which are interwoven to the story perfectly. Plus there’s always a sense of wonder as you’re visiting these new places.

Literally the only negative I could possibly think of was that Lira was sometimes overdramatic and annoying. But because all of the characters are written so well it’s pulled off and was not off-putting at all. Each character has their very own distinct personality, plus a whole load of backstory. This includes the supporting characters and not just the main ones as well which is always a bonus.

POSITIVES
+ Wonderful opening

+ Great characters

+ World Building

NEGATIVES
– Overdramatic Lira

I just want to personally thank NetGalley for giving me the chance to read an advance copy of this book, I apologize that the review is late.

Being a fantasy lover I found that I really enjoyed this book and its characters. To put my review simply I had heard it was a darker retelling of the Little Mermaid and that alone had me hook and wanting to read this book.

The authors writing I thought was amazing and had me wanting to read more and never put the book down, my only negative thought is why couldn't there have been more?! I would have loved if there was another book after this one!

This was a surprising read...I went in expected a dark story and ended up with a romance. This is a slightly darker retelling of the Little Mermaid story, but without changing the ending too much. You work out around the 30% mark where this is going and from there the book becomes predictable and loses the mystique that is created at the start of the book. We then sit and wait for the ending to tie everything together in a neat bow and for the characters' arcs to be completed, which end exactly where you expect them to.

Despite this, I was not that disappointed with the book. Once I got over the change of direction, I really enjoyed the characters (although they take a bit of getting used to), it was relatively easy to spot the jumps between perspective as both voices are different and have their own qualities. I loved all of the secondary characters, although I wish we could have had more information about the Sea Queen before she took over the trident as I think that would be a really interesting story. I think Alexandra created some really complex and intriguing characters that I would love to hear more about.

As I say, great characters that were well written, however, I do wish that the story had turned out differently as I think the stronger plot takes place before Lira turns human and the love story begins. Otherwise an enjoyable read.

Many thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for a fair review. I would also like to apologise for the delay in getting this review out as my device was misplaced.

I have only really recently started reading fantasy books and I quite enjoyed reading this one. Loved the plot and the characters and the world the author has created is great...

With so much hype around this book I was so happy when netgalley and the publisher granted my request for an arc!

My first thought after finishing this is "why is this a standalone" I need more from this world and characters and would pick up anything else the author published in it.

This is a take on the little mermaid but much darker and with a few added twists that keep you reading until the last page.

Lira is the kind of character I live for, a strong and brave female lead who overcomes being emotionally and physically abused by her mother. She is such a great character and you bond with her easily which makes you more invested in her outcome.

Overall a great read I would highly recommend!

An incredibly sweeping tale which I really adored. There was so much to love about it, and the dialogue was perfect

'You can't win a war... someone else just loses '

Genuinely, this may be the best fantasy debut I've ever read? I don't think I could have loved it more.

Everything about this is brilliant, the plot is constantly moving and interesting, the two POVs are excellent (I love them both so much), the writing style is brilliant, it's funny, it has a genuinely believable hate to love romance (I usually hate this trope so much so for me to love it says a lot) and the banter between all of the characters is right up my street.

I would die for Lira and Elian. I adore both of them independently and together. They're both well woven, complex characters. I loved their narration and their banter. Their relationship really blossoms through this and it's a lovely thing to see, especially in fantasy where romance is often intensely cheesy.

The Sea Queen is a brilliant villain, she's sinister and awful without falling into the trap of just being evil. She does horrendous things and totally misunderstands her daughter along with the world in general.

What an absolutely amazing debut, I only wish my stupid slump hadn't stopped me getting to it sooner/reading it faster after I started.

I did not manage to download this book before this book was archived so will not be able to review this title

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.

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!