Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

To Kill a Kingdom by Alexandra Christo

4 reviews

anastasia_raf's review

adventurous dark funny lighthearted fast-paced

• 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

"Lira, a famous siren, must prove herself by stealing the heart of the man, a prince, threatening their race."

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.

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Content Warnings

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

nicole_m's review

adventurous dark hopeful inspiring tense slow-paced

• 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

4.75

I loved this book. <Spoiler> The enemies to lovers between Lira and Elian is great and the betrayal Lira put him through was better but the fact that he couldn’t kill her after is even better. The story line includes adventure, theft, lying, etc which is my cup of tea

. I gave this book 4.75  because I enjoyed it but the ending felt a little anticlimactic to me. Overall, great book and you should give it a try. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Murder, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, and War

Moderate: Blood and Outing

Minor: Alcohol, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Genocide, Medical content, and Torture

If the warnings above trigger you than I don’t recommend this book. If not then give it a try if you like and enjoy!

boredomandwordsofbooks's review

adventurous dark emotional reflective tense slow-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Violence, Xenophobia, Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, Death, and Child abuse

Minor: Self harm and Child death

ednam0dewannabe's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny lighthearted mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• 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

5.0

Finally, a book in which not only do they mention killer mermaids, but you also read how they murder sailors and princes! And let's not forget the romance, how I love well-constructed enemies to lovers! I need to get it on my physical shelf NOW.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Child death, Violence, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic relationship, and Medical content

Minor: Genocide, War, Trafficking, and Slavery