Princess Lira is siren royalty and revered across the sea until she is cursed into humanity by the ruthless Sea Queen. Now Lira must deliver the heart of the infamous siren killer or remain a human forever.
–from the back cover of To Kill a Kingdom
Prince Elian is heir to the most powerful kingdom in the world, and captain to a deadly crew of siren hunters. When he rescues a drowning woman from the ocean, she promises to help him destroy sirenkind for good. But he has no way of knowing whether he can trust her…
I remember first seeing To Kill a Kingdom while browsing online around the time of its original release. The title caught my eye as something I might be interested in, and then when I saw it was a story about both pirates (!!) and sirens, I was hooked. (So then, of course, it took me almost three years to actually read it!)
Review
To begin with, the premise of the book and the foundations of the plot are awesome. And the world of the novel’s setting is stunning! The history and complicated politics Christo outlines for her fictional universe are intricate, and they’re introduced in a way that’s organic and not at all reminiscent of a textbook, something I greatly appreciated. Additionally, the overall plot of the book was intriguing and kept me that way for the entirety of the story.
As for the characters, they were brilliant and without a doubt my favorite part of this book. Lira and Elian were both great as protagonists and I enjoyed reading about the different aspects of their individual stories equally. Furthermore, I absolutely loved the parallels between the two of them, and the way in which, although there were so many similarities between them, there were also elements to their characters that were, in a way, opposites to one another.
Of course, the other characters were also amazing, and I especially loved the entire dynamic between Elian and his crew. Even some characters who were painted in a more negative light had aspects that made me genuinely enjoy reading about them.
Honestly, the only problem I had was that there wasn’t more of the book. I would’ve loved to explore certain characters more or to see more of places only mentioned in passing. (Especially Madrid, who was downright awesome. I would sell my soul to see her story told in some type of companion novel.) There were also some scenes and events that I would have enjoyed seeing delved into a little deeper. Though, understandably, books do have to sacrifice detail in some places in the name of maintaining a reasonable length.
TL,DR Recommendation
Overall, I found To Kill a Kingdom to be a genuinely good read. It’s one that lived up to the hopes I had for it when I picked it up. So, if a fantasy story with something of a dark twist is what you’re looking for? Well, then I would definitely recommend taking the time to read this!
Find and get a copy through the publisher’s site here!
