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.
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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.

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.

I loved "To Kill A Kingdom"! I had been seeing the book all over Booktube and Instagram and I couldn't wait to get my hands on it. I managed to read it in a couple of days and I thoroughly enjoyed it. While there were some aspects that could have been better executed. I found the POVs a bit confusing as they kept changing from chapter to chapter. It took at least a paragraph to figure out who's POV i was reading from. But the story was really original and interesting. I loved the pace of the plot and I found the characters really engaging. Lira and Elian were both likeable enough as characters but also quite realistic in their flawed nature. All in all, I would highly recommend anyone picking up this read.

To Kill A Kingdom was on my list of most anticipated books of 2018 so when I was approved to read an early review copy I was over the moon (thank you BZ, you rock). I find it incredibly hard to believe that this is a debut, it really is that good! Touted as a retelling of The Little Mermaid, I knew then that this was something I had to read as I adore retellings and anything fairy tale esque.

The book is paced well, the characters have some depth and lots of likeable qualities to them, and Christo is a master worldbuilder even in this, her first published book. The story concept is sound and planned out in detail, right down to the slow burn of the romance, and the twists and turns in the plot. I cannot find the words to do justice to the beauty in her writing - I urge you to read it if you enjoy - fantastic settings, masterful storytelling ability, a fun read with dark undertones. This is definitely one of those titles that you appreciate more the less you know about it so with that in mind I will try and keep the important aspects under wraps.

I did know this was a standalone fantasy novel when I acquired it but I can't help but feel sad that this won't continue as a series. It definitely could carry on as from what I have heard from friends they also would have liked it to be extended.

I really loved this, everything comes together and works perfectly for me. I look forward to reading anything Alexandra Christo writes in the future, it can only get better and that is a crazy thought as this is amazing as it is.

I would like to thank Alexandra Christo, Bonnier Zaffre & NetGalley for the opportunity to read an ARC in exchange for an honest and impartial review.

This book is actually incredible! I can't believe it's a debut!

The story was so fast paced and I had to pull myself away because it just kept getting so good and I had to pace myself. The characters were really likeable and I loved Lira's character arc. I loved the storyline and I just wish there was more! I could read about this world all day, the worldbuilding was great and I felt like it was really thought out and worked really well.

Easy 5*'s, I can't wait to see what else the author puts out, and tbh one of the best books I've read so far this year!

Some may say that this is a Little Mermaid re-telling... me, not so much. Although featuring mermaids this story revolves around Sirens, in particular, a Prince killing Siren and a Siren killing Prince, as you can well imagine... drama ensues.
I heard that tagline and expected and insta-love filled 350 pages with mild peril but plenty of lessons to be learnt. I was wrong, bizarrely for me, I loved the slow burn romance that quietly unfolded beneath the surface (pun intended) the underwater setting was a brilliantly refreshing. I loved the action and the plot twists and reveals, of which there were plenty. However, I would have loved to of spent more time in the world and explored the different regions a bit more. For me, this book could have been doubled in size or turned into a duology, but it was so great to actually read a YA fantasy STANDALONE, rather than a series dragged out over years and years. It was a brilliant read and I would recommend to anyone looking for a dark YA fantasy with an incredible setting.

A brutally fast-paced retelling of an alternative Little Mermaid featuring an ongoing war between humans and sirens. The world building is incredible and I loved reading about all the different backgrounds of not only the MCs and the crew but also the individual countries. The action never let up and each plot point was calculated with expert detail. I can;t wait to see what Alexandra writes next!

Quality Rating: Three Stars
Enjoyment Rating: Two Stars

Oh boy, oh boy, am I salty about this one. To Kill a Kingdom has a fantastic concept - and I'm serious about that. The Little Mermaid but the mermaid is a murderer and the prince is a seafaring siren hunter. It sounds amazing. And in practice, it's -almost - amazing. So you have to understand me when I say that I am so very very upset this was written the way it is. Because I nearly put it down about five or six times before completely giving up, and I still only made it 37% of the way through.

This isn't dark, it's just abusive. There's no weight to it, no emotional stakes. Just pulled strings for the sake of being edgy, and I think it's dangerous because these characters are going through what, in theory, are really horrific and terrible things. But the emotional backlash is being so glossed over that it's almost romanticsed and I don't think that's at all fair. Maybe if it wasn't marketed as dark and didn't end up going on to be a romance (which, let's be honest, was obvious from the second you heard she kills princes, I mean there isn't even any convincing attempt to suggest otherwise). Dark is when bad things happen and they feed into the story because a person can't possible go through it without it affecting their story. This felt like it was trying to get on the YA bestsellers list by being edgy.

I think that Elian was also of more interest to the author than Lira was. I know she's trying to push a strong female protagonist, but when your male lead has a more interesting story - which you devote about twice as many speaking lines, chapter perspectives, active decisions to and more - you're shooting the woman in the foot. You can still have strong female characters without them being the protagonists, and that's okay if that's the story that needs to be told. But so much of what I read in this book was a specific story that didn't make logical sense as to what the characters believed and how they had acted by until that point. I couldn't engage with the plot because all that I could think was 'this doesn't make sense', 'how does that work?', 'why are they doing that?'

Going back to the unconvincing darkness to further this, I struggled with this book because the people weren't real enough to be believable. An example being that Lira, our protagonist, hates her one-dimensional-force-of-upmost evil mother, but will do whatever she says. Despite thinking of herself as a rebel? And yet says she's fearsome, but doesn't react like a person scared of another person at all. Why? Because she's protecting her friend? Having someone to defend doesn't evaporate your fear, it gives you a reason to push through it. I didn't feel like Lira was having to push through anything. She was just bad-mouthed and volatile to the whims of whatever the plot needed. (There was a moment where I thought she was going to have her voice taken away, like in the original fairytale - I mean they literally say she'll be 'without her voice' - and that we might get a chance for her to actually have to act and grow as a person. But no, we can't possibly have our spunky heroine without the ability to drone on annoyingly for no purpose than her own arrogance.)

Maybe I'm overreacting. I feel like every point I have to make about this isn't dramatic enough for me to rate it as lowly as I have. But at the same time, I just don't feel like I can give it any higher. I know some people are enjoying it, and I'm happy for them, but I just cannot stomach lazy, underdeveloped, contradictory and consequently problematic writing.

The blurb of this book kept begging me to read it, and I was so excited when I finally got around to picking it up. A siren murderess and a prince on one ship? Who doesn't want to read that?! 

I frickin' loved the sirens, to start with. Most of my experience with sirens (hah) comes from Homer and classical mythology, so I loved how they were reworked in this really dark turn of a story. They were ruthless and barbaric, and just absolutely fascinating how they worked. I think the connection they had with the hearts was written really well, how important they were made out to be. 

I just absolutely love it when mythology and world building is done well. Christo's world building was done brilliantly (although I wish there had been a map!), and she really made me believe that this was a world that could exist somewhere. I loved that each country/state had its own kind of trait - like being the centre of invention, or war, or romance. It kind of reminded me of the factions in Divergent a little, but with less fighting between them. 

The war against land and sea has long been one that people have written about, but Christo really put a great turn on it. Also, the Sea Queen was a fantastically murderous character. She was so frickin' ruthless! (And I don't know about anyone else, but I was getting major Disney's The Little Mermaid Ursula vibes.) 

The whole structure of this book was really well put together and Lira and Elian were both such great characters. Where can I find me an Elian? (But seriously, though.) Their romance was done so well that I didn't even realise they were changing towards each other at first! This is enemies-to-lovers done at its best, my friends. 

I feel like the only let down, for me, was the plot. This was a book very much propelled by characters, and although I was of course interested in their quests, I just loved "being" around the characters and reading their conversations and interactions. That's not saying that the plot wasn't good - I think it was, and it featured just about everything I love about plots - but the characters were for me the main focus, and I think that Chriso loved her characters a lot and it kind of showed. The plot was good, but it didn't get me as excited as just reading Elian and Lira and Kye and Madrid banter with each other. 

Overall though this was a great read - the characters were absolutely fantastic, and the idea of the whole book was a brilliant new spin on the Little Mermaid. I never really liked the Disney film as a kid, but I couldn't help but borrow some of the cartoon's imagery to help bring the characters to life in my own head. 

Rating: 4/5