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arttichokedipp's review against another edition
adventurous
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
1.0
I rate books 1-star for two reasons
1) I wish I weren’t alive by the end of it or
2) I think the book is genuinely dangerous
To Kill A Kingdom, unfortunately, falls into the latter category. It’s a nice story, and I enjoyed it. Would have liked to see more diverse characters in terms of sexuality and disability, but it was overall a fun spin and I liked the distinction between sirens and merpeople and wished the classism was explored there more. But the way this book glorifies self-harm is dangerous. The protagonist is a masochist and the author does not let you forget it for a single chapter. When she is injured she enjoys it, but worse is that she self-harms in potentially fatal ways for stress relief and then gets that relief. That’s a dangerous message to send, and if I had to pick only one trigger warning for this book it would be that.
Tl;dr if you have any history of depression or self-harm, or if you’re under 16 or so, this book is dangerous for you. Don’t read it.
1) I wish I weren’t alive by the end of it or
2) I think the book is genuinely dangerous
To Kill A Kingdom, unfortunately, falls into the latter category. It’s a nice story, and I enjoyed it. Would have liked to see more diverse characters in terms of sexuality and disability, but it was overall a fun spin and I liked the distinction between sirens and merpeople and wished the classism was explored there more. But the way this book glorifies self-harm is dangerous. The protagonist is a masochist and the author does not let you forget it for a single chapter. When she is injured she enjoys it, but worse is that she self-harms in potentially fatal ways for stress relief and then gets that relief. That’s a dangerous message to send, and if I had to pick only one trigger warning for this book it would be that.
Tl;dr if you have any history of depression or self-harm, or if you’re under 16 or so, this book is dangerous for you. Don’t read it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Self harm, Violence, Blood, and Murder
Moderate: Body horror, Genocide, Gore, Torture, and Grief
Minor: Pregnancy
dcinter's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
mysterious
sad
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? It's complicated
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore and Blood
Minor: Alcoholism and Cursing
olivialoveyloo's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- 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
Graphic: Child abuse and Physical abuse
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Gore, and Blood
Minor: Cursing, Death, Gun violence, and Slavery
myrakilloran's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Gore and Murder
eve_reads's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Overall Thoughts:
⁕ As a dual narrative story, Lira’s perspective was much more interesting to me than Elian’s. She has a decent character arc, whereas Elian stays more or less the same throughout the book.
⁕ The dialogue felt choppy and awkward at points. There were big gaps in between characters replying to one another and a few odd turns of phrase that had me re-reading whole sections to figure out what was going on.
⁕ I was intrigued by by Christo’s use of linguistics to show the differences between Lira’s and Elian’s cultures! It only happened like 3 times, but it enhanced the world-building for me.
To read my full review, visit: https://evereads.online/
For regular book-related content, follow my Instagram account: @eve_reads
⁕ As a dual narrative story, Lira’s perspective was much more interesting to me than Elian’s. She has a decent character arc, whereas Elian stays more or less the same throughout the book.
⁕ The dialogue felt choppy and awkward at points. There were big gaps in between characters replying to one another and a few odd turns of phrase that had me re-reading whole sections to figure out what was going on.
⁕ I was intrigued by by Christo’s use of linguistics to show the differences between Lira’s and Elian’s cultures! It only happened like 3 times, but it enhanced the world-building for me.
To read my full review, visit: https://evereads.online/
For regular book-related content, follow my Instagram account: @eve_reads
Content Warnings
Minor: Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, and Slavery
parul's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
medium-paced
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Gore
Minor: Child abuse, Child death, and Genocide