To Kill a Kingdom by Alexandra Christo

Synopsis:

 

Princess Lira is siren royalty and the most lethal of them all. With the hearts of seventeen princes in her collection, she is revered across the sea. Until a twist of fate forces her to kill one of her own. To punish her daughter, the Sea Queen transforms Lira into the one thing they loathe most—a human. Robbed of her song, Lira has until the winter solstice to deliver Prince Elian’s heart to the Sea Queen or remain a human forever.

The ocean is the only place Prince Elian calls home, even though he is heir to the most powerful kingdom in the world. Hunting sirens is more than an unsavory hobby—it’s his calling. When he rescues a drowning woman in the ocean, she’s more than what she appears. She promises to help him find the key to destroying all of sirenkind for good—But can he trust her? And just how many deals will Elian have to barter to eliminate mankind’s greatest enemy?

Rating: 🌟🌟

Really mixed feelings on this one. Objectively, this is a good YA fantasy. It doesn't bring anything new to the table, but the world-building has thought behind it and the characters have some meat to them. But un-objectively, this book is boring as hell.

It started off promising, but took so long to build up to the events in the synopsis that I knew pacing was going to be an issue before Lira and Elian even met. This is a 342 page stand-alone fantasy. It shouldn't take nearly 100 pages to begin what was promised in the synopsis - there simply isn't enough length for that. As a result, the plot and pacing suffered. The final 50 pages were rushed and the writing only got clumsier and clumsier as it climbed toward the happy ending.

Yup, you heard me. This book that promises brutality and betrayal? Ends on a happy ending. It's not satisfying. It's a cop-out.

Both Lira and Elian's characters started out, just like the premise, promising. Lira was set up to be the brutal, cold-hearted killer princess she should've been. Elian was to be the charming, quick-witted trickster prince. Both of them are character tropes, yes, but character tropes I adore when done well. Instead, they just ended up rather bland. Their banter wasn't as clever as the author would like you to believe, and certainly not amusing. It's like this book was afraid of itself - too scared to embrace the brutality it promised.

It was fine. It was forgettable. Maybe I'm just not cut out for YA retellings - they always seem to disappoint me.