Review: To Kill a Kingdom by Alexandra Christo

I'm so thrilled to say that I loved this book a whole bunch. It was dark and gorgeous and a bit of romantic too. I enjoyed all of it so much. The writing was gorgeous, the story was incredible. There is so much that I loved about this book. It's told from two point of views, Lira and Elian. With her a siren, and him a human prince.

And oh, I cannot even begin to describe why I loved this book so much. It was simply the best. I adored getting to know Lira. She has the hearts of seventeen princes in her home under the sea, one for every year she grows. She started killing them by herself when she turned twelve. And gosh, this girl is vicious. Loved her.

I haven't read that many books about sirens, but I can say that I wish they were all like this one. Dark and vicious, the characters changing and getting even more awesome. This was everything I wanted from a story about a pirate and a siren. It was amazing. Though I must mention that the summary is a bit wrong, as Lira did not kill one of her own, she killed a mermaid, which they say is way less than a siren. She was not forced to kill the mermaid, she chose to. And that isn't even why her mother punished her either. Hmph. But even so, it was kind of close, and it was so exciting to read about. Lira was such a vicious and fierce siren. A killer. Yet she had a heart too, somewhat. She cared for her younger cousin, and I adored that friendship so much. Was great.

While Lira was amazing as a siren, I think I loved her more when she ended up as a human. Lira is the daughter of the Sea Queen, whom is so like Ursula in the little mermaid. Full of tentacles and all kinds of cruel and awful. I hated how she treated Lira. And everyone else in the sea too. She is the reason for why Lira is killing a human prince once a year. Why every siren kills a human when they grow. So there is kind of a war between the sirens and the humans. Lira is vicious and cruel as a siren, but that is not all she is.

But when her mother turns her human, oh, how I loved reading about all that. Lira does not want to be a human at all. She almost dies, but is rescued by Elian and his ship in the middle of the ocean. I loved how they fought and argued and slowly became friends. It was the best thing. Elian does not trust her, and he really shouldn't. Lira is there to take his heart back to her mother. Only this time as a human and not as a siren. Lira was an amazing character to read about. Dark and full of murder. Yet she change a bunch too.

And I loved that the very much. She doesn't go all soft, but she starts to see things better, like she used to do when she was a child. And oh, it was all the very best to read about. This whole book was just thrilling. I also very much loved Elian. He is a prince, and I loved the small peeks at his royal family. They seemed awesome. But he spends most of his time at sea, with his ship. He hunts down sirens. And so Elian is a killer too. He's pretty dark at times, yet so fun and sweet too, and I adored reading about him. Very much.

There is not all that much romance in this book, but there is a little bit, and it was so stunning. I shipped these two characters so much. Lira and Elian were both awesome and they fit together so well. I mean, yeah, she lied about who she was almost the whole book, but even so. They were perfect together. And I loved reading about them, how they argued and teased each other and eee. It was written so well and it was gorgeous and I loved these two characters the very most. Sigh. I only wanted more kissing, haha.

There is a whole bunch of amazing characters in this book. I'm not going to talk about them all, just going to mention a little of them. Elian has a ship that he is captain of, with a bunch of people who are loyal to him. We get to know a few of them, and they were so much fun. And seemed so awesome. I loved how they protected him and cared for him. This book is all about Lira and Elian, but the side characters were important too, and were written so well. We don't see the sirens a lot, but they seemed so awesome too.

There is so much going on in this book. I'm not going to mention all of it, just talking about it a little. The story is about how Lira is trying to take the heart of Elian, killing him. And how Elian is searching for a weapon to finally kill the Sea Queen, and her daughter. I loved how these two characters started to care for each other. Though Lira does lie to him almost the whole book. But I didn't mind that too much. They were just so cute together. And eee, this story was incredible. I loved every moment of it. And want more.

I'm giving this lovely book five stars. Because I loved it a whole bunch and it was everything I wanted it to be. Eee. The characters were beyond stunning, and the story was so exciting. I mean, sure, there was a few things that bothered me a little bit, like I wish there was a little more of the romance. And I'm curious to know even more about that ending. But I also just loved this book. And I am feeling so happy about it all. Also, the ending was great. A bit rude, yet fully perfect too. I loved it so much. Whole book was great.

I think you should all read this book. Because To Kill a Kingdom was everything that I wanted it to be. Fun and dangerous and so good. The characters were written so well and I loved them to pieces. I wish there would be even more books with all of them, but yeah, this is a stand alone. Aw. But I really wouldn't mind more about them all, one day. Eee. Fingers crossed. Either way, I cannot wait to read more by this author. Thank you so much to the publisher for my copy via Netgalley. Now in a huge need of the print ARC too.

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