To Kill a Kingdom Review
Photo from Good Reads.
Maya Bell
Imagine the Little Mermaid with a bit of the twist--that is the premise behind To Kill a Kingdom, by Alexandria Christo. The basic plot of the book is that Lira is one of the deadliest sirens in the sea, but when she kills one of her own, the Sea Queen curses her to become a human. The only way for Lira to be restored into a siren is if she takes the heart of a famous prince/pirate/siren hunter, Elian, by the winter solstice.
One of the main strengths of this book is the fun world-building. The world of To Kill a Kingdom is divided among 100 kingdoms and the sea kingdom called Keto, ruled by the brutal sirens. All of the kingdoms have a certain element of their kingdom that makes them unique, each with its own traditions and hierarchies. For example, Midas, the kingdom that Elian is from, is quite literally made of gold; all of the buildings and roads are constructed from it. One of the other kingdoms they travel to, the female queen, can see another person's soul mate. Another kingdom, Pagos, is in the far north where it's so cold that the people have blue lips. With this type of worldbuilding it not only makes the book more enjoyable, but the worldbuilding helps keep the fairytale magic from the original tale while updating it for the story Alexandria Christo wants to tell. While the worldbuilding is interesting, this leaves the reader wanting more from the world. Since this is a journey-based story, the reader gets an interesting glimpse into the world, the nature of the plot means that the reader doesn't have enough time to dwell in the interesting locations.
Along with an interesting world, the author makes the romance between Lira and Elian organic and interesting. One of the major problems that enemy-to-lover type books run into is failing to make the romance engaging to the reader. Sometimes the romance gets rushed, making it seem unrealistic, or it takes up far too much time in the overall plot, making the rest of the story seem shallow. Christo takes time in the book to develop their relationship. In the book Elian and Lira don't start out as friends in the beginning. Both characters see each other as a way to achieve their own goals, which would lead them to wanting to kill each other. As the book goes on, Lira learns to open up her humanity and Elian starts to figure out his purpose and what he truly wants to do with his life. They begin to form a natural relationship connecting over the strange world they live in and their strange histories. This type of development of the two main characters keeps the reader interested in the story and the characters.
While the book is good it wasn't perfect; one thing that the book could have done is expand on the world. "There is so much that can be done with the universe," states one book club member. While the two main characters have a lot of depth to them, that type of character work isn't as developed in the side characters and villains. The main villain, the Sea Queen, acts more like an obstacle than a character. While she does things that are villainous and evil, she doesn't have much depth to her besides her evil actions, this makes her feel more like a final boss in a video game. For some stories this can work, with a good design and a sense of personality, this type of villain can leave a lasting impression on the reader as an iconic force of nature the main character has to stop. While we see the Sea Queen do terrible things to Lira, like taking away her voice, unfortunately the Sea Queen has none of the traits mentioned before; with run of the mill villain dialogue and with hardly any scenes in the book until the very end, the Sea Queen is a largely forgettable villain.
Even with the faults, to Kill a Kingdom is a fun book with two extremely engaging main characters. If you're looking for fun twists on an old tale then you should read this book.
