To Kill a Kingdom is a deliciously dark atmospheric read that will have you captivated from the very first haunting chapter.

Set in a world of sea life, danger, deceit and treachery, this debut novel is sure to capture your attention and give you an unsuspected thrill ride as you dive both below the waters and on land in this tale riddled with both classic lore and a new darker take on sirens, mermaids, and the great unknown.

Riddled with complex characters, witty banter and characters with depth, this is a tale that will surely suck you in and have you wanting to sail the seven seas right along with it.

Unpopular Opinion Alert

This is going to be an incredibly popular book. Between the cover, the summary, the mermaids/sirens and the angst-driven love, this is a book certain to please many, many people.

I am not one of them.

Which was incredibly disappointing, because I was bowled over by the first sentence—and the deliciously dark first chapter. It went downhill from there. That start sputtered into a painfully grinding middle, with a really boring plot and poor world-building. Perhaps it's because I'm tired of Sarah J Maas Syndrome, where authors wring the emotional daylights out of each paragraph, every sentence, every word to heighten the tension, angst and drama. For example:

"It's nothing like the soft and tentative tryst we shared under the stars. It's wild and burning, something newly territorial in it. His lips crash fiercely against mine, hot and soft, and when I feel his tongue slip against mine, every animal part of me comes alive. It's inside of him, too. The predatory impulse. We claim each other, right here on the edge of war.

"Elian drags his hands through my hair and I clutch him, pushing and pulling him closer against me. Even no distance feels like too much. his hand tightens on my jaw, and we're a tangle of fingers and teeth and the world obliterates around us. It's all stardust.

"I bite his lip and he moans into me. We devour each other, gasping desperate breaths until we exhaust the air."

Pretty much every sentence reads something like that passage. Overwrought. Overdone. Stick a fork in me.

Speaking of our two lovebirds, aside from Lira's unique background, they were pretty standard YA heroes. Replace them with, say, Mia and Jules from Unearthed or Guari and Vikram from Crown of Wishes, and you wouldn't notice a thing. And Elian? I'm not certain why he keeps calling himself a pirate, when he isn't very...piratey. He kills sirens, steals treasure of some sort (for a cause?) and wastes other pirates under his king-dad's stamp of approval. That's called...having a letter of marque. Better, even, when you are a freaking crown prince. Less said about the one-dimensional secondary characters, the better.

So let's talk world-building. I know some people gasped and clutched their pearls in outrage. Chill. This is my unpopular opinion. You are more than welcome to enjoy this book. On the one hand, we have an incredibly diverse world split between ocean and land (with Egyptian-inspired main kingdom...despite a prince who wears a dress shirt like European royalty), with 100 kingdoms scattered throughout the world and one ocean kingdom. On the other, while I appreciated the diversity in cultures represented, they posed some rather, um, interesting logical conundrums. Swords vs guns vs knives, for example. We've got all these swords and knives and spear-guns, and then out of nowhere—boom—guns. And SONAR. Say it with me: SONAR and SWORDS and SAILS.

And my final thing about the world building. From what's seen in the universe, communication is pretty quick and thorough. So here's my main problem. This is where belief became unsuspended.
Everyone knows the siren known as the Prince's Bane kills princes. Everyone also knows she only kills during one month out of the year. So why—why do these numbskulls keep sending their princes onto the sea during that month? Oh, btw, there are also airships!! Air. Ships. Ships that literally fly in the air and bypass the ocean filled with prince-killing murderesses So what if they're mechanically faulty—you'd think that with something that vital (protecting your heirs to the throne) in daily peril when traveling overseas, kingdoms would be rushing to get those magical mechanisms. Logical, right?

Okay, long rant over.

I received this ARC from NetGalley for an honest review.

* Review will be posted on 02/26/2018 on Wrensreads and on 02/27/2018 on Goodreads

“<i>I have a heart for every year I’ve been alive.</i>”

<u>Release Date</u>: 03/06/2018

<img src="http://wrensreads.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/IMG_0775-1024x766.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="766" class="alignleft size-large wp-image-3355" />

Hi, my name is Wren and I am a firm believer in mermaids and sirens. How are we to know that mermaids don’t live deep down in the bottom of the Pacific? We haven’t explored 97% of the ocean, so you can’t tell me that I am wrong.

My sister and I have always had an obsession with mermaids. Whether we are talking about selkies, sirens, water kelpies or mermaids themselves, we have always been team them. When they popped up on the live action Peter Pan (Jeremy Sumpter Sumpter Sumpter) and they were evil, I fell in love with them more. When Pirates of the Caribbean came out with their fourth movie and I heard there were mermaids, you can bet your bottom dollar I was in that theatre.

So it is 102% safe to say, that books with mermaids or sirens or anything involving the creatures of the deep are automatically on my TBR. What is not safe to say is if they are actually going to be good or not. And let me tell you my fellow merlovers, there are some pretty questionable books out there involving our friends of the ocean.

But, <b>To Kill A Kingdom</b> was <u>not</u> one of them. I am half tempted to change my front door to the cover of this book I love it so much. Maybe a banner hanging off my balcony to announce to the world that this book is the bomb dot com would be a better option. Or maybe I will create a fin to the colors of the cover and just have it as an ice breaker with non-book people.

Too much? <b> Or not enough? </b>

Lira is the princess of the sea and goes by the name <b>The Prince’s Bane</b> with those with feet. She is a siren, which is drastically different than a mermaid, and a siren’s job is to take hearts. Lira has a heart for every year she’s been alive, and they <i>are all prince hearts</i>. That’s right folks, this princess has hearts of only princes, and I don’t mean that figuratively.

Lira is such a great, strong and independent protagonist. Or... antagonist depending on how you look at it. It is such a refreshing feeling when you find a… er... main character that is strong besides the abuse that she receives. Her mother, the queen of the sea, is the epitome of an abusive parent, <b>so trigger warning for those of you mermaids who have been through some traumatic and horrible things</b>.

This story touches on family a lot. There is family that wants something different for you, there is family who mistreats you, and then there is family that accepts and supports you. Family does not always have to be blood, and that is important here. Family is filled with the people who love and support you and have your best interest at heart. Sometimes those who are blood-related to you, don’t make the cut.

When Lira gets her prince’s heart too soon (not on her birthday, per usual) the queen is furious with her daughter and means to put her in her place. That situation brings in our next contestant: <b> Elian, the Prince of Midas</b>.

Elian doesn’t want to be landlocked, and takes matters into his own hands. He knows about the terrible creatures called sirens and he knows what they do to people. So, he makes a crew that sole purpose is to sail the ocean and kill sirens. He’s basically Nikolai: a pirate who happens to be a prince (and if you don’t know this reference, go pick up Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo, like, yesterday please). His crew is snarky, crude and right up the alley of wren-obsessed.

When Elain is told there is a way to rid the world of their most hated fiend (sirens), especially that Prince’s Bane, he does not rest until he has done just that. Elain is like a fox: he is smooth, calculating and able to maneuver his way out of any situation without a single scratch (well, almost).

“<i>’Poison?’ I muse. ‘Were you keeping that around for your future wife?’
‘It’s not lethal..and no… unless you were my wife.’</i>”

And yes, the book is full of snarky and sarcastic and witty things.

Then we have our trusted side characters, Kahlia, Madrid, Kye, Torik, and many others, that just helped bring this story to life. I felt as if I was a part of this collective family. Each of these characters brought something new to the story and I will forever hold them close to me.

This book is so magically put together, I don’t believe it even has seams. There is no world-vomit. The world is built beautifully throughout the book as you need to know it. And believe me, the picture that these words created in my head is an image I am keeping for a rainy day. Christo was made to write and create.

The last battle scene was so vivid and beautifully done that I couldn’t have stopped reading if I tried. There is so much to the last scene that it left my actually sitting up in my bed, reading as fast as I could to make sure that my loves were going to be okay.

“<i>Me, My Ship, an da girl with oceans in her eyes.</i>”

To not make this any longer than it already it, this beautiful standalone novel warmed my siren-heart to tears. I absolutely loved the strong female characters, the swoon-worthy male characters, the diversity and the wit of this book. This is something that I will be raving about for the rest of my short-life.

Stay beautiful, sirens.

<i>The quotes above were taken from an ARC and are subject to change upon publication.</i>

This was an amazing underwater fantasy-adventure that had me holding my breath the entire time. Get it? Underwater. Holding my breath, intense? okay...

This scaley book follows two characters, the first one being Lira who is a siren princess and who basically kills princes for a living. HOW DARK AND COOL IS THAT!? Which then introduces our second character, Prince Elian who is known as a siren hunter. (obviously you can already see the confrontation here..) There is war brewing between the humans and sirens within this world which creates a perfect storm and of course it's up to Lira and Elian to stop this madness..... with their kinda angsty love. BUT IT'S SO GOOD.

This book is nearly 400 pages which in turn gives us a nice chunk of time to spend in this dark whimsical environment. There was a lot of action and revelations and things occurring. The plot was incredibly fascinating. The uniqueness of the characters and world-building scored all of the points for me. Basically this is an excellent book of magical kingdoms, intoxicating backstory darkness, and stakes that fly quite high.

Once upon a time, there was a rebellious, but sweet 16 year old girl who came upon a ship in the middle of the ocean and saw a handsome prince. Little did this girl know that one day she would save his life and learn what it meant to fall in love. Only problem was she wasn’t human, but a mermaid.

Unfortunately, the story above is the sweet Disney version and when reading, “To Kill a Kingdom”, though a retelling of sorts of The Little Mermaid, it isn’t as lovable or cheery.

Christo has a brilliant imagination. She took a very beloved story and made it so so so dark, but also very entertaining. I haven’t read a book ever that the setting in parts was a kingdom at the bottom of the ocean. Her descriptions of these fantastical sea creatures were very vivid and also very gruesome. I liked the adventure and I honestly liked all of the characters! For once in a long while, I didn’t hate the romance!

With the good comes some bad. There were a few things that bugged me. This book essentially is from a duel-perspective. Personally, I thought the book would have been more understandable if she would have had the two characters (Elian and Lira) names at the beginning of each chapter. Several times I was guessing whose perspective I was reading from and it took me about two paragraphs to figure it out sometimes. Lastly, I couldn’t wait for the exciting climax of the story, and I felt sometimes there was a lot of telling and not showing.

But...

The plot was too creative and fun; I can truly say I really enjoyed this!

Thanks to Macmillan Children's Publishing Group for allowing me to review an advanced copy! Buy To Kill a Kingdom when it comes out on March 6, 2018!

This arc was provided to me for free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

4 Stars

Seeing a retelling of The Little Mermaid getting published excited me and terrified me at the same time. But Alexandra Christo did not disappoint! To Kill a Kingdom had an adventure, sirens, mermaids, pirates, and some romance, all of which makes for the perfect book.

To Kill a Kingdom is focused on two individuals Lira, a deadly siren, and Elian, a prince turned pirate. They have a chance meeting which ends in chaos and thus sets up the events for the book. The romance is my favorite kind, a nice steady slow burn which had me dying by the end.

The entire storyline had me wanting to trade my life with a dangerous siren and I don't even like the ocean. It was such a fun and exciting take on the beloved Little Mermaid.

The one downfall of this book is that lack of labeling on the chapters. I wasn't expecting it to switch back and forth between the two characters. It just took me a moment to realize whose I was reading.

A few minor bumps in the road but overall a wonderful novel. I look forward to reading more by Christo and cannot wait to see where the next adventure lies.

Deadly Sirens, murderous pirates, and a forbidden romance. I really enjoyed this book! "To Kill a Kingdom" follows the siren princess, Lira, who is turned into a human as punishment by her mother and tasked with taking the heart of Prince Elias, the notorious siren-killing pirate. There are areas in which I feel that the plot was rushed and character development was sacrificed -- but nothing that overwhelmingly ruined the book for me. The first quarter of the book moved slowly, but the second half of the novel was fast-paced and, to be honest, I couldn't put it down. Lira was not always a likable character, but that's what made her human. Overall, this was an excellent debut by Alexandra Christo and I look forward to reading more of her work in the future. A dark and refreshing new take on sirens and a slow burning romance!

I cannot even begin to put into words the amazingness that is To Kill a Kingdom. Wow. I need more. How is it over. Why is this a standalone. I feel like I have been starting a lot of my reviews this way but y'all 2018 IS ROCKING IT.

We've got a dark and twisty rendition of The Little Mermaid and IT IS TO DIE FOR. I die. I just die. Lira is fierce, brave, strong, and emotionally/mentally/physically abused by her mother. In this take her mother is the sea witch that turns her into a human. There are A LOT of twists on the original tale.

This is not some poor, tricked princess who has to make a prince fall in love with her. It is savagery and deceit. It is finding yourself after someone convinced you you needed to be something else. It is empowerment. It is personal strength and believing in yourself.

I received a ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I may have screamed (just a little) when I seen that my arc request was approved! I've been drooling over the synopsis for months and then the cover!?!? Gorgeous!!

I loved this book, it has all my favorite things! Adventure, banter, sass, love and betrayal! and ya'll the banter! I was grinning so hard throughout the book! It was perfection!

I loved that it has dual povs. Although Lira's "voice" was by far my favorite. She's a siren princess that has killed 17 prince's. She's bloodthirsty, and fierce with a voice that can render you powerless in a note and the strength to rip your heart out of your chest. But in a instant she's changed from siren royalty to weak and human and she doesn't take the change well.

"My fins are gone. My mother has damned me. I want to die."

Having her strengths stripped from her is a rude awakening but doesn't stop her from making threats at every turn. Some are empty while others she follows through with swiftly. She adapts to being human in her own way,

"You can't just kill everyone you don't like."
"I know that," I tell him. "Otherwise you'd be dead already."

Once I started reading, I couldn't put it down. I was a bleary eyed zombie the next day but didn't care, it was worth it! I had to know what happened! The plot flows so beautifully, and between that, the banter, and the secrets hanging over their heads be prepared to become obsessed.

"What do they sing where you're from?"
For some reason, Lira finds this amusing.
"Nothing you would appreciate."

I highlighted so many quotes, it would be impossible for me to choose a favorite. 100 % recommend, I can't wait for this book to be released so I can buy the physical copy. I loved it!

"The truth of what I am has become a nightmare."

Oh my gosh I am about to start gushing because this book SLAYED me. If you are even a little into retellings you have got to pick up To Kill a Kingdom immediately. Do not delay. Do not pause. Go to Amazon and pre-order this gem NOW. This is The Little Mermaid like you've never heard it before. It is absolutely terrifying and fierce and did I already mention terrifying?

Our "little mermaid," if you will, isn't a Mermaid at all but a freaking Siren, created solely to steal the heart of princes. As in, the literal heart. Yes, she pulls their hearts right out of their chests and it is just as gruesome as it sounds.

Our prince is more of a pirate, bent on eradicating sirens from the face of the earth by whatever means necessary.

Our sea witch is actually Lira's (the siren princess) psychotic mother, who banishes her daughter to land after she shows weakness (aka human emotion). Lira has to kill Prince Elian and deliver his heart to her mother if she ever wants to rejoin the other sirens.

Not exactly your classic Disney story, that's for sure.

Lira is a fantastic anti-heroine. She's brutal and willing to do whatever it takes to get what she wants, and in that way her and Elian are the same. Elian may be a prince but he is also ruthless when he needs to be and utterly single-minded in his determination to end the war with sirens once and for all. They're about as star-crossed as two people can be, and when they begin to get all tangled up in each other it gets messy real fast.

I liked the quest aspect of this book a lot, but I would have liked just a smidgeon more of the questing - it was a little too easy for them to get all the pieces together. Honestly, I thought this would have made a great duology, but as it stands now it's still a fabulous standalone.

If you like stabby pirate love stories this is definitely the book for you!

Rating: 5/5 stars

Arc provided by NetGalley!

Lira is a siren, luring people (specifically princes) to their deaths with her voice. Elian happens to be a prince that kills sirens, more pirate than prince. When Lira is cursed with humanity and finds herself traveling with him (and tasked to kill him), will she be able to? Or will she change into something else?

So, this starts off as a sort of Little Mermaid retelling, but it makes so many changes to the original story that it really stands apart. First of all, the characters. This book was told from dual perspectives, switching between Lira and Elian, and usually I’m not a fan of that but it really worked here, elevating both characters and helping to develop their stories, both separate and together from each other. How much these characters develop and change, and how unique their voices are, is a huge draw. Their romance actually feels genuine and earned.

The world building is honestly interesting enough that I almost wish more books could be written in this universe. Perhaps more dark, edge fairy tale retelling could co-exist in the same universe? The writing is exceptional, very lush and vibrant, and surprisingly graphic occasionally. Ariel this ain’t.

The side characters as well are interesting! They really pop off the page, especially Elian’s gang of pirates. They all have distinct stories and personalities that add depth to the story.

My biggest issue would be with the ending: after all the buildup, I thought it felt rushed, with not enough time to explore different responses to different actions (trying to sound vague but the ending even tho it wasn’t really surprising). This book could have been longer (and maybe I just wanted it to be longer).

Can’t wait to see more from author (and hopefully more from this universe)!

Lira is a siren princess, destined to become the Sea Queen after her mother. She has taken the heart of a prince every year on her birthday, earning her the infamous title of Princes' Bane. Elian is the human prince of Midas, who has made it his life's mission to kill as many sirens as possible, especially the Princes' Bane. When the Sea Queen decides to punish her daughter by transforming her into a human and charging her with taking Elian's heart, Lira must play a dangerous game of deception to try and win the trust of Elian and his loyal crew.

To Kill a Kingdom is an engaging, suspenseful tale with echoes of The Little Mermaid and other mythologies woven in throughout. I enjoyed the ever-evolving relationship between Lira and Elian as they each tried to figure the other out and began discovering they had more in common than they realized. One undertone of the book is how our families and responsibilities shape who we are, but also that we can stay true to ourselves in spite of them. Overall a fun read!

Princess Lira is siren royalty and extremely lethal. She is revered across the sea for the collection of seventeen princesses hearts. Until fate forces her to kill one of her own kind. As punishment the sea queen turns her human. Without her song, she has until the winter solstice to deliver prince Elians heart or be human forever.

Prince Elian calls the ocean home. Hunting sirens is his calling. When he rescues a drowning woman, she promises to help him find the key to destroying all of siren kind. But can he trust her?

I fully expect this book to be raved about this year. The cover is gorgeous.There is a bit of the story in the beginning where I feel the author rambles on a bit more than necessary. Such as Lira's internal dialogue.

Other than that the book flows seamlessly. The storyline is intriguing. I love that this book doesn't focus on beautiful sirens and gorgeous mermaids. It shows the ugly sides of both mythological creatures. The author has the amazing ability for world building and description. I could honestly picture all the characters and the backgrounds clearly in my mind.

Holey moley the ending of this book is action packed and absolutely amazing 😍

This book reminded me of where my love of reading began. It began with reading fairy tales at a young age and from then on I was hooked on reading and still love re-reading fairy tales. This book is full of wit, humour, charm, adventure and is simply fantastic! Do not miss this!

Thank you, Macmillan, for giving me an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

"How strange that instead of taking his heart, I'm hoping he takes mine."

Someone please give me another book by dear Alexandra Christo because I absolutely enjoyed this one! Next to The Cruel Prince, it's the most captivating book I have read this year. Anyone who loves fairy tale retellings will devour this book in a day. However, since it's such a good book, I recommend savoring it for as long as possible!

To Kill a Kingdom is a dark reimagining of The Little Mermaid. Lira, also known as the Prince's Bane, is a siren infamous for literally stealing the hearts of more than a dozen male royals. After Lira is forced to kill one of her own, the tyrannical Sea Queen turns her into a human and commands her to redeem herself by killing Prince Elian, the heir to the most powerful kingdom in the world. Interestingly, he also happens to be a talented hunter of sirens. Despite their divergent backgrounds and loyalties, Lira and Elian might be the key to ending the war between the land and sea.

Before I requested this book from the publisher, I already had a feeling that I was going to love it. Reviewers whom I trust had given it five stars, so I was all the more excited to delve into the story. To my delight, all of my expectations were met; the characters were compelling, the plot was perfectly fast-paced, and the writing was beautiful in its simplicity. I really wanted to savor this book, but I just couldn't put it down (even in the workplace).

Lira had excellent character development. Her brutality at the beginning of the novel made it clear that she was a force to be reckoned with and that she deserved her title as the Prince's Bane. In fact, she was so empowered that her mother, the Sea Queen, unwillingly saw her as a threat. As the story progressed, Lira's humanity began to show itself. It was fascinating to see her grapple with her conflicting desires. Killing Elian would prove that she was worthy to be queen someday, but it would also mean that she wasn't any different from her heartless mother. I was so happy that Lira was able to make the right decision in the end by following both her heart and brain. In totality, she more than did justice to Disney's Ariel.

Prince Elian was similarly fleshed out. In spite of his stereotypical daddy issues, I liked him a lot because he did not allow revenge to overcome his moral compass. He was indeed talented in killing sirens, but he didn't necessarily enjoy it. And when he discovered Lira's betrayal, he still had the willingness to love and forgive her. If I were in his shoes, I probably would've been angrier at Lyra for a longer time. Haha. Nevertheless, I admired Elian because it took guts to give a second chance to an ex-murderer.

Like I mentioned before, it was hard for me to take a break from this book. It came to a point that it consumed my breaks at work. Each chapter was relatively short and ended with a cliffhanger, so it took much effort not to neglect my professional responsibilities. It didn't matter that I already had an idea about how the book would end; I was 100% invested in Lira and Elian's journey to lasting happiness. The fast pace could be also attributed to the author's penchant for amusing dialogue. Lira and Elian's conversations never failed to make me laugh. I couldn't get enough of their banter!

The world-building was the last thing I liked about this book. I was surprised that the author established a difference between sirens and mermaids. Sirens, like Lira, were powerful stealers of human hearts. Mermaids, on the other hand, were weaker and didn't always kill humans. I found this dichotomy refreshing and memorable because sirens and mermaids are typically one and the same in books and other forms of media.

Yes, I loved this book enough to give it a high rating. But I would've loved it more if it didn't use the bad parent trope. I hated the Sea Queen as much as the characters did, but I wasn't happy that she didn't seem to have any redeeming qualities; she was just a horrible mother. As for Elian's father, he was a bad parent in that he was a source of pressure and undue stress. In fact, he was one of the reasons why Elian didn't want to go home to Midas. Can't we have more good parents in YA, please? xD

All in all, I highly recommend To Kill a Kingdom. You don't have to doubt the hype because it's completely justified. Given how great of a retelling it is, I wouldn't be surprised if it were adapted into a film someday.

Not going to lie, I don't like this cover at all. Still, when I got an email about a new mermaid book from NetGalley, I couldn’t help checking it out.The writing is descriptive in all the right ways and the dialogue brought a smile to my face every time. I loved how it was a twist on The Little Mermaid, and I just can’t get over how great the ending was. Thanks NetGalley for giving me this ARC! I wouldn’t have read it otherwise.

(Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC!)

Where do I begin??? This book was fabulous! I am almost a little sad that this isn't going to be a series, but I think it worked really well! There were a few slow moments, but the pacing overall was really great. I especially loved Lira, able to come into her own self-awareness after years of abuse at the hands of her mother. Her inner monologue was amazing. You could really feel the conflict going on inside of her. Love love love. Read this book!!

It took me a long time to start enjoying this book. I like the idea of the story, but I felt it was choppily executed. I kept reading because I hate not finishing a book. And because it was sirens. Ok?

First, the descriptions were really, really bizarre. It was hard to picture everything being described, the mermaids, the sirens, the mermen. Mixes of jelly-legged creatures, slack jaws, siren beauty. While I never was quite able to picture the mermaids, I did figure out they were supposed to be ugly.
Also, mermaids ugly??? That was weird.

TROPES GALORE.

So many, many different tropes. Hate-to-love relationships, treasure hunts, pirate crews, human heart vs sirens lack of hearts.
Some of the tropes worked, ok? Some of them didn't. If I'm rolling my eyes, that's not exactly a good sign.

I liked the build-up to the ending, but then it just ended. And I felt like there was a bunch more to explore [especially as Lira and Elian's sister as queen. We just know she's the queen, and that's it? Please more??? Another chapter or two would have been nice.

The best thing going for this book? It's a stand alone. It's harder and harder to find stand alones in fantasy these days and I'm pleased this book ended