Reviews tagging 'Gore'

To Kill a Kingdom by Alexandra Christo

56 reviews

cherrygray's review against another edition

adventurous dark fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

(4 stars, truly)

ok, basics: i loved this book. It had phenomenal world building, amazing descriptions for everything and everyone, it truly is a great book. but it felt like everything was so dragged out during descriptions or things were raggedy: for example, Lira's memory retellings. Granted, there probably weren't any smooth ways to put in what Lira was forced to do, I feel like where it was inserted was just on a whim.

This is a morbid and bloody twist on my favorite "Disney Princess" from when I was 6, Ariel from the Little Mermaid. (for anyone who cares my favorite today is Tiana (Princess and the Frog)). Definitely not for the faint of heart with everything that goes down and it's descriptiveness it ends up being, but it takes an interesting line of sirens V mermaids, and sirens V humans/pirates and morphs it into something more. It's an action-packed, sword-wielding, heart-clenching, screaming-into-your-pillow type of read.

SPOILERS BELOW (PROCEED WITH CAUTION?)

pros and cons
extra too descriptive with every little thing and sometimes got repetitive

CLEAR CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT!!!!!!!!!

you can see Lira go from killing, purely because she *can* and because she's bloodthirsty to killing because she *has* to. you see her and Elian) grapple with their fates and what they're expected to do, what they were bred and forced into and then you see them fight for themselves and push back against the Sea Queen.

STRONG LEADS!!!

Lira and Elian both have clear goals they're working towards and it's clear what is at stake for them both. Lira is a strong, ruthless, lead and she doesn't back down for anyone. She thinks things through and she plans ahead and she disregards what anyone thinks of her. Christo fought the typical damsel-in-distress feel for her.

fight scenes were all clear and grueling and brutal and descriptive!
Elian's response to the betrayal.

we all knew it was coming but I felt empty after reading the betrayal and the fight from his POV. It could've had so much more depth and him grappling with the truth, with Yukiko, with literally anyone and it didn't. It showed him force Lira out the chamber, it showed him explain his marriage loophole with Yukiko and then--BAM--went straight into Lira's POV and after her POV went back to his POV only for it to be of the fight scene and the action. I wanted to see more how Kye or Madrid felt about the truth of Lira and what she is but we didn't get that until.. i don't know.. ten(???) pages before the book ended? His point of view for that betrayal really felt rushed over and like he didn't even *deal* with it aside from kicking Lira out. I was just disappointed immensely by that. ALSO: THE CASUAL BRUSH OVER SAYING LIRA JUST IS THE SEA QUEEN AND ELIAN IS SHIPPING THE SEAS WHILE HIS SISTER IS RULING THE KINGDOM??????? hello?????? we're just gonna overlook and swing by that???

how did they fall in love????

the romance aspect of this book was so rushed and i felt really weird about it honestly. This book is more adventure than romance, but was advertised (to me at least) as more of a romantic enemies to lovers type of thing. there was very very little romance in that book. it was 30% war, 20% sarcastic banter 3% child/emotional abuse and 45% blood and talking abt ripping hearts out and 2% fancy names and words i skipped over anytime i saw them.

Content Warnings

bonald's review against another edition

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adventurous tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

First off, I absolutely hated Lira’s mom. Almost dropped because of how poorly she treated her daughter. But I pushed on. And overall, it was alright.

I feel like the book should’ve have been longer. Christo spends so long setting up the world and the characters backstory, to then just rush through the rest of the book.

When it was revealed that the pearl was on the top of a mountain, I thought that most of the rest of the story would have been them climbing the mountain. It was described as being almost impossible to climb. The cast of characters spend less than a chapter actually climbing the thing. And most of that chapter was a romantic scene between Lira and Elian. Which I didn’t mind, it was pretty cute.

I also thought that Lira’s cousin would have been featured more. She was the main reason for Lira to question what it means to be a siren, but she was barely there. For someone who was so important for the development of one of the main characters, I expected her to be there more.

I enjoyed the relationship between Lira and Elian, it took work between both of them. Although, it did feel a little rushed.

Overall, a cute story that was rushed. If the author was able to make a longer book, maybe the pace would be better.

Content Warnings

offbrandclubsoda's review against another edition

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adventurous dark 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? It's complicated

3.75

Content Warnings

charhollyx's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

A fun read, a little different in the fantasy genre.
Though it was a little too YA for me in terms of the romance, the gore elements (which I loved) made me feel as though the romance could have been a little more realistic of their ages.

Though I don’t care if characters have sex or not in books, Elian and Lara only kiss and for 20+ year old individuals who are ripping hearts out or slicing throats, a kiss or two felt a little high school drama.

The world was great - though I wish I had a map. With such an extensive world, I would like to have learnt more about it rather than a brief 2/3 kingdoms.
The ending was a little rushed. A great battle and a happy ending which were great,

I didn’t expect them to battle on the mountain, yet I don’t know what I imagined with like 30 pages left.

The romance took a while to get going or begin in general which made it difficult to sink my teeth into. Although it wasn’t an overly “enemies to lovers” and more “strangers to flirting because he doesn’t realise you’re enemies”
All in all, it was good. Not mind-blowing, but good and well written!

Content Warnings

thecasualbooknerd's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Content Warnings

nicole_m's review against another edition

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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.

Content Warnings

seasickkkkk's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Content Warnings

martix220's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.25

Content Warnings

sianbaird's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Content Warnings

imperio's review against another edition

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adventurous dark 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? No

5.0

I’m still new to this app, so my rating my be a bit messed up haha. I rate this story 5/5 stars.

If you’re more into world building, maybe this isn’t the story for you. There’s not much world building happening, and more so focused on the plot and characters. If you’re craving for some Enemies to lovers however, this is your book.

I read this book in just a few days, and it managed to get me out of my reading slump. I was honestly sad when I finished, I want the story to just go on forever. A great standalone, i definitely recommend.

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