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lovelymisanthrope's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
"To Kill a Kingdom" follows Princess Lira and Prince Elian. Lira is a siren, and one of the deadliest ones at that. As a punishment for perceived crimes her mother, the Sea Queen, transforms Lira into a human and tasks Lira with collecting Prince Elian's heart. If Lira does not succeed, she will be a human forever. Prince Elian has devoted his life to hunting, capturing, and killing sirens. During one of his trips, he rescues a drowning woman, Lira, and although he feels like there is something off about her, he cannot help but want to trust her, at least a little.
I enjoyed this book more than I thought I would. Sometimes when a book sits on your shelf for too long, it will not live up to the idea you had of it, but this book surpassed my expectations.
This story is very much a reimagining of "The Little Mermaid", but much darker and more sinister. Lira uses her siren's song to lure princes into the ocean, and then she steals their hearts. Elian is not so easily swayed by the enchanting lure of a mermaid's song. Because of this, "To Kill a Kingdom" felt like the perfect mix of classic story reimagined.
I HATED the Sea Queen. She was harsh, unforgiving, and just awful to read about.
Lira is a complicated character, which makes reading from her all the more interesting. Lira brutally and ruthlessly murders men, which can be difficult to read. However, I also felt so much empathy for her because her mother is absolutely awful to her. Lira is just trying to make her's and the other siren's lives better, but that is not easy with such a vindictive ruler.
Elian was not my favorite to read about. He is very standoffish and very much driven by selfish motives, in my opinion. Yes, he is noble for wanting to help the humans be safe from the mermaids once and for all, but he is still very rough around the edges, and he elects to treat Lira like a prisoner without much reason to think she has done anything wrong.
The plot was definitely engaging, and I really enjoyed exploring the sea with the characters. I was a little disappointed with how much of the story is above the water, but I suppose that was more authentic to the retelling.
Overall, this was enjoyable. I had a good time reading it and it is definitely a solid recommendation for anyone looking for a dark take on "The Little Mermaid".
Graphic: Blood, Torture, Murder, Toxic friendship, Stalking, Death, Toxic relationship, and Violence
anastasia_raf's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
To kill a kingdom...more like to kill my time! Because that's what this book felt like. Fun time, a way to kill evening boredom.
I felt nothing towards the characters to actually be scared for them or even care if they would survive or not. Still, I flew through it and I found the writing pleasant.
Honestly, the only reason I probably enjoyed most of it was because it was pirate-sea themed. The fast pace benefited the book and the almost constant action made it easier to follow. I couldn't help but cringe at the Greek used in the book. My first language is Greek, and I was disappointed that it felt like I was reading Google translation sentences sort of pieced together... Coherent enough to be cringy but also bad enough to be...well, cringy. I liked the way she used Greek words for the name of each kingdom. They were actually pretty well used! But the dialogues in Greek were, unfortunately, very poorly written.
I appreciate the effort but wish the author payed a little more attention to the grammar and translation of the dialogues.
Graphic: Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gore, Sexual assault, Injury/Injury detail, and Physical abuse
Moderate: Grief, Murder, Trafficking, Torture, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Slavery, and Vomit
stepnic's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Blood
Moderate: Abandonment, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, and War
Minor: Confinement, Sexual harassment, Cursing, and Torture
leahhmorriss's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
I feel like the enemies to lovers trope was done really well. I read a lot of romance and it just never hits the same way that this did. Their romance progressed as just the right pace and the slow burn did not bore me one bit.
I loved both Lira and Elian so much and the side characters were so fun. Lira’s cousin Khalia was so sweet and I loved the way they both fiercely defended each other. Madrid was an absolute queen and her and Kye are such a good match for each other. The way Elian’s crew eventually accepted Lira and decided to trust her was so cute, especially Madrid and Lira’s friendship.
Overall, I really enjoyed this book. It’s a quick, fun read and I’ll definitely be reading more from Alexandra Christo.
Graphic: Blood, Murder, Death, Gore, and Torture
viireads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Violence
Moderate: Blood, Confinement, and Torture
mpbookreviews's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Moderate: Blood, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Gore, Grief, Torture, Child abuse, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, War, and Violence
dorleness's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Physical abuse, Self harm, Slavery, Torture, Violence, War, and Murder
kateyjay's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
The character development in this book is what kept me reading, particularly that of Lira who’s story was one of self discovery however Elian was a little flat and two dimensional.
The first half of this book was rather slow and I feel there was a lot more world and character building that could have been captured, having a world with 100 kingdoms and only touching on (not even really detailing) 4 of them seems like a missed opportunity and there were so many interesting secondary characters that could have been further explored to add intrigue
After all the hype this book had on booktok it just felt a little bit flat
Moderate: War, Violence, Torture, Gaslighting, and Child abuse
Minor: Death of parent, Genocide, Gun violence, Murder, and Slavery
fujo_cat's review against another edition
Graphic: Blood, Violence, and Murder
Moderate: Gore, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Cursing
Minor: Body horror, Torture, Child abuse, and Death of parent
katanai's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
Graphic: Physical abuse, Violence, Emotional abuse, and Death
Moderate: Blood and Murder
Minor: Classism, Torture, Racism, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail