Book Review: "To Kill A Kingdom" by Alexandra Christo

“You can't win a war. Someone else just loses.”

Genre: Fantasy, YA, Romance

Rating: 4/5

 A retelling of  the little mermaid with vengeful prince who hunts down sirens and a savage siren nicknamed the prince's bane, who tears out the hearts of  one prince on each of her birthday in order to increase her powers. 

Lira, the Princess of the Sea, is nearing her eighteenth birthday but is on hunt for her cousin who didn't get to collect a heart for her 15th birthday. They happens upon the ship of a prince and she couldn't resist and ends up collecting his heart, while sparing the heart of the queen for her cousin. This evokes the anger of the sea queen who not only takes away her new acquisition, but also decrees that she should collect a sailors heart for her next birthday instead of a prince's. Incidentally, we have on the other side Prince Elian of Midas who calls sea his home as he travels its length hunting and killing sirens who pose threat to the human lives whoever ventures into the sea, a sailor and a prince, the best solution for Lira's problem. But at the same time Elian has his eyes set on the siren who killed his friend Prince Christian. 

They are pitted against each other, but they are also the solution for each other's problems. Lira is cursed, turned to a human and is saved by Elian who is also on the search of the Second Eye of Keto, a crystal, which according to the myths holds the power to kill the Sea Queen. Secrets are uncovered, and alliances formed and broken, as the crew of pirates adventures through the land with an enemy in tow. The motivations of the characters are defined early on within the story and it molds and adapts with the secrets they uncover and the new possibilities surface. The plot is intricate yet simple and the characters discovers their choices and the differences it can bring about for the life of their people, and maybe even rewrite fate.

To Kill a Kingdom is a quick fantasy with pirates, sirens, some clashing swords and  stolen hearts in the mix.   

“Everyone is a blank canvas, waiting to be filled with the colour of discovery.”