REVIEW: ARC of To Kill a Kingdom

I received an ARC of this book for free from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

To Kill a Kingdom by Alexandra Christo

Page Count: 358 pages

Release Date: March 6, 2018

My Rating: 4/5 stars

Goodreads Synopsis:

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.

The ocean is the only place Prince Elian calls home, even though he is heir to the most powerful kingdom in the world. Hunting sirens is more than an unsavory hobby—it’s his calling. When he rescues a drowning woman in the ocean, she’s more than what she appears. She promises to help him find the key to destroying all of sirenkind for good—But can he trust her? And just how many deals will Elian have to barter to eliminate mankind’s greatest enemy?

My Review:

Let me just sum up this book for you: a siren-hunting prince, a prince-murdering siren princess, a motley crew of pirates, kingdoms and manipulations and murder.

This book was a loose retelling of The Little Mermaid, with more murder and a pirate prince. I loved the overall plot - sirens and princes? YES PLEASE. The writing was gorgeous, and skillfully made the world feel both lush and dangerous at the same time.

I really liked both of the main characters, Lila and Elian, and their burgeoning relationship felt natural and not-forced. The banter they had was A+ ! I felt Lila's voice and plotline was the stronger of the two, while Elian's was slightly weaker - more of a normal, "I don't want to be prince I want to see the world" sort of thing. The secondary characters also seemed slightly weak; although I liked them I didn't feel like I really KNEW any of them. I really wanted to connect with them, but just...didn't. Their past lives were hinted at, and then the story moved on. I would've loved more about them, because who doesn't love a motley crew of pirates? (EVERYONE DOES.)

While the first half of the book was a tiny bit meandering for my taste, the plot really picked up in the second half and by the end I was turning pages like crazy to see what would happen. The ending was very satisfying, so although the book didn't 100% grab me, I still found it very enjoyable! RECAP: SIRENS. PIRATES. PRINCES. POLITICS. KINGDOMS. LOTS OF LUSH DESCRIPTIONS. A QUEST. MURDERS. SWORD FIGHTING. CREEPY MERPEOPLE.