To Kill a Kingdom (Hundred Kingdoms)

I was most ecstatic to read Alexandra Christo’s debut To Kill a Kingdom that has a The Little Mermaid flair to it, though this is not your ordinary retelling, more that the fairy tale was a base for this story! This story was truly unique and enthralling! It pretty much held me spellbound throughout because everything is not what you would expect from this story! First off, our heroine, Lira—note that spelling there, look familiar?—is not a mermaid, but a siren. There’s a difference, in most literature and in this world too of course! Lira is the daughter of the Sea Queen, who’s very Ursula like even though she’s a siren too, and she longs for the day that she will take her mother’s place. Every year she takes the heart of some hapless prince who dares to be sailing on her ocean. She’s earned a named for herself as the Princes’ Bane, but when she kills another prince a few weeks earlier—as she is only allowed to take the heart of a “man” once a year, her mother decides to punish her in the worst way possible. Then we have our prince, Elian—starts with the same letter as another familiar prince, eh?—who is anything but princely, though he is in fact a prince. He much prefers the life of piracy! He makes it his mission to scour the seas and try to kill any all sirens that cross his path, he’s looking for the Princes’ Bane of course, for she has killed one of his dear friends. Then as it happens, one day he comes across a maiden just floating in the sea, completely naked. As you can gather, this is our siren, Lira who was punished by her mother with the worst fate imaginable; legs. She is told to take the siren killer’s heart and return to her mother before her birthday arrives or ELSE! It’s not long before Lira’s plans change though, she still plans to kill the prince of course, but she also plans to steal the magical eye that is said to be the other half of the one her mother owns. With it, Lira can control the sirens and take her place as true queen of the sea. This was a most magical story! There’s not a better way of describing it! All along we know what Lira plans and what she is, we know she’s deceiving the prince. But then we also know what the prince is thinking, for this story alternates between both of their points of view. He’s not a hapless sap that falls in love with Lira from the moment he sees her, nor she him. In fact, the two aren’t very fond of one another at all. Neither one trusts the other, and with good reason. I will admit though that the changing points of view threw me a bit. Since they’re both in first person and there’s no identifying header with the chapters, I wasn’t really aware of a narration change until several lines down. This happened every time it would change. It’s perhaps one of my only complaints of the story. Lira and Elian are pretty similar in some ways and they both want the same thing of course, so when there’s a new chapter ahead, it wasn’t always clear who was at the helm. The romance though was pretty awesome! Mostly because it was hardly there. It’s one of the slowest burning romances I’ve ever read and I loved every moment of it! Elian and Lira aren’t very fond of one another when they first meet, but Lira realizes in order to get to the eye that will give her power of the sea and sirens, she will need Elian’s help. And eventually, very, very slowly, a friendship is formed between them that heightens to romance! The tension of the story was spot on! It’s not a fact paced kind of read, but the slow buildup does tend to draw the reader in by giving little bits of action, suspense, thrills, and chills intermingling throughout the story. There’s a good dose of action scenes throughout as Lira and Elian and his crew go on this treacherous journey! It’s a read that has you constantly turning the pages eager to see how they get out of each bind they find themselves in. And of course we have the burgeoning romance between Lira and Elian. I’ve read the original The Little Mermaid and naturally, I’ve seen the Disney movie, so the ending was bound to go in either or the two ways. Needless to say, I was holding my breath in anticipation as things got really intense in the final showdown! I have to say that I was quite pleased with the route Alexandra chose to go! It was very fitting for the story and characters! To Kill a Kingdom is not your ordinary Little Mermaid story, in fact, it pretty much blows the original and Disney one out of the water with its boldness and edginess! It’s a truly beautiful and unique kind of read that all fairy tale fans are going to want to get their fins—er hands—on a copy stat! Overall Rating 4.5/5 stars To Kill a Kingdom releases March 6, 2018

**Originally posted on my blog RemmingtonReads** Okay, first things first, props to YA authors for finally giving us thrilling under the sea/mermaid/siren fantasies! There have been so many good ones in the past year! I just can't get enough of them!! I first heard of To Kill a Kingdom through other bloggers/bookstagrammers and knew I had to read it! A dark Little Mermaid retelling? Count me in! I love retellings and have been on a huge fantasy binge lately so obviously I had to pick it up! While it wasn't as amazing as I was hoping for, I did really enjoy it! The characters were good, but not great. I loved learning about the culture of the sirens and how they interact with humans and mermaids. However, something just felt lack-luster with the characters. The book is told in dual perspective, from the view of both Lira and Elian. I loved Lira but have mixed emotions concerning Elian. Lira was a strong, independent woman (okay, siren-woman?!...) that was so fun to read about! I loved how unpredictable she was and how she wasn't afraid to speak her mind! I can relate to that on multiple levels lol! Elian on the other hand was just okay... He was respectful to Lira and all, but didn't captivate my attention...or make it on my book boyfriend list haha! Lira and Elian's romance wasn't my favorite. Maybe they were better off staying best friends? Reading their banter was seriously so funny being that they are both such head-strong characters! I think their friendship would have been perfect! This is YA afterall, so I guess there has to be a romance *sighs*. Or maybe it was just that the romance finally happened in the last 20 pages of the book when, here I was, waiting FOREVER for it?! Who knows, I just wasn't a huge fan... The plot was pretty well-paced! The beginning started off with a bang! I loved reading about the totally different, yet strangely similar lives led by Lira and Elian and seeing their paths finally cross! The world-building was so illustrative! I could envision each and every piece of the underwater world of the sirens! And again, learning about the lives led by the sirens was freaking awesome! Even so, the plot did seem to slow down towards the middle. I found myself waiting for some big and unexpected event that never really came. The end came and it came fast! The last 30 pages were jam-packed with action! I liked the resolution, but didn't love it. It was quite "they all lived happily ever after" and predictable. It was still good though! I loved how a certain storyline finally made sense *winks*! So creative!! All in all, I enjoyed this book! I think I went into it hearing such great things that it may have been overhyped for me. I loved Lira and learning about the siren's world! Although the plot slowed towards the middle, the beginning and end were such a thrilling ride! If you're a fan of retellings or fantasy in general, this is one you should definitely pick up!

Book look good but I didn't enjoy it really much

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Een heel leuk boek waar je beide perspectief kan zien van de personages.

4,5/5 🧜🏻‍♀️ Pas un coup de coeur, car il m'a manqué un peu quelque chose sur le seconde partie, concernant les rebondissements (j'en espérais quelques uns moins prévisibles ou plus... Prenants), mais ça m'a pas empêché d'adorer cette lecture ! Le personnage de Lira est super intéressant, assez bien construit et j'ai adoré sa relation avec Elian, un personnage qui m'a tout autant plu 🙌 Ça se lit vite et facilement, c'est plein de sarcasme, de légendes, de trahison et de pardon, tout ce que j'aime 👌,

Llegó a tiempo y en perfecto estado. La historia es maravillosa, adoré el libro por completo, sin dudas una de las mejores lecturas del año. Ampliamente recomendado.