Review: To Kill A Kingdom by Alexandra Chrstio

Title: To Kill A Kingdom 

Author:  Alexandra Christo
Publisher: Feiwel and Friends

Publishing Date: March 6th, 2018

Pages: 384
Genre: YA Fantasy 

Series:  Stand Alone
Source:  ARC

 

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?

I discovered this book a little later than others. I started to see early reviews and went and searched for it on NetGalley. Found it, approved for it, started it, was released, on audible, bought the audible, finished it. I just want to say this book totally owns my heart right now. I am not sure I can read another book that will surpass this book. It's gonna probably be one of my favorites this year. I loved loved loved it. Full of dark, gloom, revenge, murder, love, soul searching, pirates, sirens, fight scenes. It was just holy cow awesome. 

There are sirens and there are land people. There are several kingdoms. There was a war. A Goddess was killed and because of that, the sirens need to murder and take hearts of humans. That is the gist of the sirens vs mankind. Lira is the next in line to become the sea witch. Her mother is the sea witch and she is just so evil. Lira kills Princes on the water. She has a heart of a prince for every year. This year she messes up, makes her mother very angry and her mother turns her to human and gives her a week to get the prince, the siren killer, Prince Elian's heart. Of course not that simple. Princes Elian is just as ruthless as Lira. They end up saving each other's lives and head out on a journey to find something special that will benefit them both. Lira knows who he is, Elian does not know who she is. 

This book blew me away. I was twenty percent in the ARC when the book was released and with it an audio version. I bought the audio because I have more time for audio and knew I would get through it faster. The audio was so awesome. The narrators were just perfect.

This book is dark and gloomy. Twisted and full of hate. There are men killing sirens, sirens killing people, sea witch mother beating up sirens and killing her own. There is more than dark and twisted and evil though. It also has hope and love and forgiveness and redemption. So it pretty much evens out in the end. I don't mind the dark. I think many fairytales were originally dark and Disney has done a great job of lightening them up and making them all fluffy and warm. But the originals dark, so I like my retellings dark and this one was... a book of monsters all around.

The setting was just beautiful. Ther are glimpses of ice mountains, the city of gold, under the sea, and more. The author did a great job of painting a grand picture and really putting me into these worlds. I was so immersed in the book guys. I was just listening, not moving, mouth hanging open, and fists clenched.

The setting was beautiful, the tone was perfect, the story just crazy... the characters AMAZING!!!
I loved both Lira and Elian. Lira was headstrong and stubborn and yes a little viscous. She knew who she was and she had accepted it. She was the daughter of the sea queen she would inerit the siren kingdom. She was a murderer. She was also her cousin's protector, loyal to the sirens and her mother. She had some good qualities if you take the viscous out of the picture. She was who she was. I loved that about her.

Elian was also viscous but for a different reason. He was trying to save the world by ridding the sirens and finding a way to end the war for good. He didn't take his actions lightly but he knew someone had to do it. He was also swoony. So swoony. He was intelligent and charming, he was loyal to his land and to his crew. He was a little wild and very adventurous, brave and honorable. Yup, I just loved him.

The romance oh the romance. SO perfect. Slow and well built. The banter was so fantastic. I love banter in my romances and this one had it. Not just banter with the romance but banter with all of Elian's crew. I just loved them all so much. 

The ending guys. One of the most epic and exciting endings to a book I have read in a very long time. Epic fight scene, epic decisions, epic love....oh so so so good. Read this guy just read it. I could gush about it all day... all though may be hard to do without spoilers. So read it. 

So much love... more than I could ever measure. This book owns me. 

Alexandra Christo decided to write books when she was four and her teacher told her she couldn't be a fairy. She has a BA in Creative Writing and works as a copywriter in London, both of which make her sound more grown up than she feels. When she's not busy making up stories, she can be found buying far too many cushions and organizing food crawls all over the city.

Alexandra currently lives in Hertfordshire with an abundance of cacti (because they're the only plants she can keep alive).