by Alexandra Christio
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Publication Date: March 6th 2018
Publisher: Feiwel Friends
Pages: 342
ISBN: 9781250112682
Genre: Young Adult | Fantasy | Retelling
Source: Netgalley
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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? (Goodreads)
I have to admit, the first thing that drew me to To Kill a Kingdom by Alexandra Christo was that amazing cover. I don’t think I have ever seen a book cover with tentacles on it, so of course I was intrigued! After reading the summary for the book, and discovering that it was a Little Mermaid retelling with a dark twist, I KNEW I would have to check this book out. And I’m so glad I did!!
I adore a good retelling, especially when they are of some of my favorite stories and movies. I can’t tell you how many times I watched The Little Mermaid when I was growing up, but I know it was enough times that I basically have the movie memorized. Because of that, the storyline felt completely familiar, but it had a dark twist to it as well, which was surprising, and also wonderful! I did not expect the main characters to be so dark and completely different than what we originally know. I did not expect Princess Lira to be a siren that lures unsuspecting humans to their deaths and steals their hearts, and I definitely did not expect Prince Elian to be a professional siren killer. But that’s exactly what you get from these main characters. I love that the story was told from both Lira and Elian’s viewpoints, as getting to see both sides of the story while reading the book was definitely interesting.
As I mentioned above, the storyline for the book is both familiar, yet completely new as well. That’s one of the things I love most about retellings; that an author can take an original story and put their own twist to it. And this book definitely had a twist to it. I did not expect it to be as dark as it was, but that just made it even more interesting and engrossing. I seriously couldn’t get through this story fast enough, and when I had to put it down to do other things, I was constantly pining to get back to it. I’m kind of bummed that it’s a standalone novel, as I would have loved to keep reading the story!!
Overall; yeah, if you can’t tell, I really liked To Kill a Kingdom!! Now that Alexandra Christo is on my radar, I will definitely be keeping my eye out for new books from her, especially if she has more retellings to tell! If you love a good retelling, and are a fan of The Little Mermaid, you will definitely want to check out To Kill a Kingdom!!
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