I was even more baffled by the fact Elain didn’t figure out Lira was a siren it seemed so obvious to me. But given how fiery they were as individuals, I expected a little more spark in their relationship. They saw a lot of themselves in each other, which helped bring them find common ground. It is also Lira where her relationships, positive and negative, helped her question what she’s always believed in a new perspective.Īs for the romance between Lira and Elian, I’m not sure if I can get behind it. As for Lira’s toxic relationship with her mother, that was more complex than any of the healthier relationships in the book. This mainly applies to Elian’s relationship with his friends and his crew on the ship. The writing made me feel like I was expected to believe such things without having any real evidence to show for it. There was a lot more telling than showing in To Kill a Kingdom. Except they, their romance, and all their other positive relationships did not feel as fleshed-out as they could have been. This made them slightly more interesting as protagonists. Both were misfits in their respective kingdoms, thus they had a certain outlook on their respective societies. While the author did not shy away from the gruesomeness of siren society, all the characters and their relationships felt two-dimensional. The single action that seemed to provide any was Lira accidentally killing a mermaid and being turned into a human. Nor did it feel like the decisions they made had no real consequences. There was no real sense of urgency in any of the disasters. Only, often times, the problems the characters encountered resolved too quickly or too easily. Sometimes, the characters made decisions that led to certain incidents. Things happened and the characters reacted to them. I would describe the story as plot-driven. But it didn’t completely hit the mark, either.
That being said, I was not entirely disappointed by To Kill a Kingdom. As such, I went into this book with slightly high expectations. Mermaids and sirens are some of my favorite mythological creatures. Plus, it is a Little Mermaid retelling, my favorite fairy tale after Beauty and the Beast. It is one of the many novels I wanted to make a priority in 2021. To Kill a Kingdom is a novel I’ve wanted to read since it came out in 2018 and kept putting off for various reasons. After that, she’s given until the solstice to collect a lost artifact, the same one Elain is also searching for.
Their paths cross when, as punishment for killing one of her own, Lira is turned into a human by her vicious mother. Elain is a prince, pirate, and siren killer. Lira is a siren and the daughter of the Sea Queen. To Kill a Kingdom by Alexandra Christo is a darker retelling of The Little Mermaid with sirens. I had to sit on this review for a few days to figure out how I really feel about the book…let’s see if I got my point across.
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