Ratings:
Book Rating: ★★★☆☆
If This Book Was a Movie Rating: PG-13
Review:
we all know that Isabelle has zero time to read books and -2831 time to write reviews. However, she is also a lifelong procrastinator and a staunch believer in skipping studying to read about faeries with tails.
no i don’t have issues why do you ask.
ANYWAYS we will now discuss To Kill a Kingdom.
(i have literally no time in my life so here’s the publisher’s plot summary)
“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?”
Let us start with le plot and rattle off some positives: no info-dumping, decent worldbuilding, short chapters, wicked and deadly retelling of the Little Mermaid, dual POVs.
ok but like why were the dual POVs so GOOD.
I guess POVs when they’re both deadly villains just hits different.
Note: this is a journey story, so if you’re not into the “let’s go on a quest after an ancient artifact” trope, I definitely do not recommend.
HOWEVER. While I did enjoy the journey, said journey literally did not even START until like a THIRD of the way through the flippin book! The pacing was so off it was pathetic. See, we get lots of slow familial angst and drama for like the first third of the book, and then the journey gets going in the middle third and the pace gets faster, but it's still boring. And then LIGHTNING BOLT TIME the last third speeds to 200 mph and everything wraps up perfectly and tidily in about ten pages.
Minus two stars because I hate irregular pacing.
*slaps red buzzer emphatically*
But I guess I did like how it finished. In a beautifully triumphant blaze of blood, salt, and glory.
characteeeers.
Lira and Elian. MY BEAUTIFULLY DEADLY COUPLE yes we love <3
Kye, Torik, and Madrid. DEADLY BFFS WHO LITERALLY KILL FOR EACH OTHER.
Kahila. AWWWW DEADLY BABY COUSIN VIBES.
The Sea Queen.
…
go toss yourself in the trash Sea Queen.
Let’s go back to Lira and Elian because these children deserve more screen time.
Lira, the Prince’s Bane, is such an actual strong bad girl. Like authors take note: this right here is how you write a brutally strong leading lady. And Elian, the siren killing pirate prince, is such a deadly cinnamon bun. I loved how they both have to overcome their hate for the other’s race (human and siren respectively) and their specific hate of each other (both are legendary killers of the other’s race).
But enemies to lovers does exist and so Lira and Elian exist too :) honestly these two give me serious Jude X Cardan and Alessandra X Kallias vibes and I was here for every dang second of I-want-to-kill-you-and-I-want-to-kiss-you.
Like check out the fanart and TELL ME to my virtual face they’re not absolutely adorably deadly together.
I love them.
i am normal, i promise ;)
Friend me on Goodreads (yes, you, I wanna be your friend): https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/136268749-isabelle
Recommendations If You Liked This Book:
The Daughter of the Pirate King by Tricia Levenseller
The Shadows Between Us by Tricia Levenseller
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