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Hazel (1853 KP) rated To Kill a Kingdom in Books
Apr 9, 2018
Lira is a siren princess who is nearing her eighteenth birthday. In order to celebrate the life of their goddess Keto and get revenge for her death at the hands of the humans, each siren must kill and remove the heart of a human victim. Lira has always targeted princes and aims to steal the heart of Prince Elian of Midasan, however, her mother, the sea queen, has different ideas.
As punishment for disobeying her orders, the evil queen temporarily turns Lira into a human, stripping her of her siren power. In order to return, she must kill Prince Elian and return to the sea with his heart. However, things get complicated when Prince Elian saves Lira from drowning and takes her aboard his ship.
Elian is a prince-cum-pirate who has no wish to be the heir of the golden kingdom of Midasan. He spends his days as the captain of his ship, hunting and killing sirens. Not realising Lira is the siren he most wishes to destroy, he gradually gets used to her presence and believes she will be useful to him on his quest to find a crystal that will destroy the sea queen forever. Lira agrees to help, however, she has an ulterior motive – perhaps she can help Elian find the crystal then kill him and destroy her mother …
It takes a while for this dark, romantic young adult novel to get going; there is a lot of introduction to characters and the way their fantasy world operates. With different customs to get familiar with, particularly in the case of the sirens, it is a little monotonous for the first few chapters. However, once Lira and Elian meet, events become far more interesting.
The banter and insults hurled between Elian, Lira and the rest of the crew is a humorous addition to the storyline and makes the prince and princesses growing relationship all the more exciting. With the sea queen lurking in the shadows, the story builds up to a fateful conclusion, however, maybe Lira can steal the prince’s heart a different way.
Once the story is well underway it becomes an engrossing piece of literature that is difficult to put down. With romance, danger and a cataclysmic ending, it has everything that a young adult fantasy fan wishes for. To Kill a Kingdom is Christo’s debut and it is exciting to find out what she will write next.
Hazel (1853 KP) rated To Kill a Kingdom in Books
Dec 7, 2018
A princess must have her prince but perhaps not in the usual happy-ever-after fairytale way. With sirens, princes, pirates, mermaids and magic, <i>To Kill a Kingdom</i> by Alexandra Christo is a dark fantasy novel perfect for those who grew up with <i>Peter Pan</i> and The Little Mermaid. But, as with most traditional fairy tales, this book is riddled with trickery and lies, making it a heart-stopping adventure.
Lira is a siren princess who is nearing her eighteenth birthday. In order to celebrate the life of their goddess Keto and get revenge for her death at the hands of the humans, each siren must kill and remove the heart of a human victim. Lira has always targeted princes and aims to steal the heart of Prince Elian of Midasan, however, her mother, the sea queen, has different ideas.
As punishment for disobeying her orders, the evil queen temporarily turns Lira into a human, stripping her of her siren power. In order to return, she must kill Prince Elian and return to the sea with his heart. However, things get complicated when Prince Elian saves Lira from drowning and takes her aboard his ship.
Elian is a prince-cum-pirate who has no wish to be the heir of the golden kingdom of Midasan. He spends his days as the captain of his ship, hunting and killing sirens. Not realising Lira is the siren he most wishes to destroy, he gradually gets used to her presence and believes she will be useful to him on his quest to find a crystal that will destroy the sea queen forever. Lira agrees to help, however, she has an ulterior motive – perhaps she can help Elian find the crystal then kill him and destroy her mother …
It takes a while for this dark, romantic young adult novel to get going; there is a lot of introduction to characters and the way their fantasy world operates. With different customs to get familiar with, particularly in the case of the sirens, it is a little monotonous for the first few chapters. However, once Lira and Elian meet, events become far more interesting.
The banter and insults hurled between Elian, Lira and the rest of the crew is a humorous addition to the storyline and makes the prince and princesses growing relationship all the more exciting. With the sea queen lurking in the shadows, the story builds up to a fateful conclusion, however, maybe Lira can steal the prince’s heart a different way.
Once the story is well underway it becomes an engrossing piece of literature that is difficult to put down. With romance, danger and a cataclysmic ending, it has everything that a young adult fantasy fan wishes for. To Kill a Kingdom is Christo’s debut and it is exciting to find out what she will write next.
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