To Kill a Kingdom by Alexandra Christo
To Kill a Kingdom by Alexandra Christo
Let me use some quotes to paint a picture of this book;
Lira: It’s the princes who hold the allure…and by killing them, I kill the future. Just as my mother taught me.
Elian: Technically, I’m a murderer, but I like to think that’s one of my better qualities.
Yes, this YA novel is that dark and I was pleasantly surprised by this. Granted, the synopsis does explain to you that Lira is tasked with taking Elian’s heart to get back into her mother’s good graces. However, since it is also in the YA romance genre I thought Lira would turn ‘soft’ pretty quickly and make this the typical YA novel. Not that I have anything against YA novels, I actually quite enjoy them. Well, Alexandra Christo did not go that route at all as the two main characters still want to kill each other for the majority of the book. With a siren who kills princes and a prince who kills sirens meeting face to face; what else would you expect?
Well, Lira and Elian are thrown together on a perilous journey to find an old magical relic, thought to be myth, that can defeat the Sea Queen. Again, each wants to kill each other but only Lira is aware of both their true identities. I truly enjoyed the developing relationship and extremely slow burn romance between the two of them through their sarcastic banter. They are both a bit morally questionable and thus understand each other quite well even though it takes them a bit to get there.
I wouldn’t call this a Little Mermaid retelling, maybe a re-imagining or reinventing. There is a prince and mermaids and sure Lira has her siren song taken from her and given human legs, and okay yes there is an Ursula-esque character with tentacles but really those are the only things you can draw as a parallel. I mention this because if you are looking for ‘The Little Mermaid’, this story is not going to give that to you. But, if you’re intrigued for a much darker fairy tale with subtle nods to the Disney classic, this is right up your alley. And it’s one I’d definitely recommend, similar to the darkness in Leigh Bardugo’s The Language of Thorns.
Synopsis: 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?