TO KILL A KINGDOM - ALEXANDRA CHRISTO
I’ve always been curious about sirens and this is the first book I’ve read personally that heavily features them over mermaids. The story is based on the little mermaid but it’s a a lot more bad ass. Lira has a very clear character arc across the story and is easily my favourite character as she fights what she has been made into versus who she really is.
The book is in first person be switches between the points of view of Lira and Elian, for me this meant a greater understanding of the 2 main characters stories. I used to hate switching between different character perspectives but after reading several books that do this I have come to find it is one of my favourite features. I love learning what different characters think.
Lira and Elian are similar as they are both royalty and yet incredibly different. They are both royalty, Lira is a siren and is know as the princes bane because she only kills princes after all “a princess must have her prince,” Elian is a prince/pirate/siren killer this should put them at odds but after a rough start they begin working together to bring down the sea queen (Lira’s mother and the Ursula of the story) after she takes Lira’s tail and singing voice but she still maintains speech which is incredibly important as she speaks the siren language that is forbidden in all the 100 kingdoms. So is an area of mistrust between the heroes.
The development of the two characters together is definite, they build off of each other. Lira’s inner conflict is clear throughout the book as she is tasked with stealing Elian’s heart and ripping it from his chest. Elian’s conflict is more surface level, he belongs on the sea as a pirate but his family wants him to be king, I feel as though he should have a more in depth conflict however I could just be missing something.
Overall, I 100% adore this book and could read it repeatedly and can’t wait to start over and star the journey again.
Rating: 9/10 pirate ships