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 … to the Sea Queen and 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?
more
This was an original book about a siren being cast out of the sea and everything she knows. Don’t worry, it is not Little Mermaid-ish, it’s quite darker than that. She convinces a siren-hunter price to keep her on with a deal that she knows how to kill the Queen Siren (her mother) with the plan of stealing the magical device from him so she can belong with her family and friends again and the sirens can have all the power.
As she lives among humans and sees how they really are her eyes are opened and she changes. She is confused where her loyalty and heart lie.
*There is violence, betrayal, child abuse, murder and death, rape attempt, and kissing along with some sexual remarks and mild language.
Little mermaid but ursula is her mother. (Different character names) I like the thrill of this versions, not everything is cupcake and rainbows.
I’m still reeling myself in… I’m so blown away by how good this book is! So riveting and gripping!
If you peruse through my other reviews, you’d see that 98% of it is contemporary romance… and if I had delve-out of my ordinary, it’s usually about Angels and Demons. Reading this, is so refreshing to me.
Apart from The Little Mermaid, this is the only book I’ve read that’s about sirens, mermaids, pirates and kingdoms… and I’m so proud that I’ve rectified my confinement and now widened my genre, and loving it so much!
To tell you the the truth, I was kinda anxious to start this… Reading outside my norm isn’t really my cup of tea because I’m a creature of habit… but I’ve read reviews, and saw social media posts… and I’m like f**k it! Let’s do this.. and so I did… and didn’t let go. From the first page to the next and until the last, I was captivated sorta’ like a siren’s call…
Through the book, I kept thinking, I wish someone will pick it up and make it into a movie since the movie The Little Mermaid is coming out in August. This one is so much better!
My only complain is that, in the last chapter, I would’ve wanted to read more about Elian and Lira… about the progress of their relationship… if it’s possible for them to start a family… those sorta things… The romantic sap in me wants to read more about that… Well who knows? Maybe in the future… lol
I didn’t have a lot of expectations going into To Kill a Kingdom and was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed it. This is exactly the type of story I enjoy in YA Fantasy. It’s a darker retelling of The Little Mermaid with pirates, swashbuckling adventures, and a star-crossed romance. If any of these tropes appeal to you definitely give To Kill a Kingdom a chance.
Pirates? Check. Sirens? Check. Murderous Sea Queen? Check. A Kingdom at Risk? Check.
It actually took me a couple of months to get through this book. It’s not for a lack of interest, but because other books kept coming up. You know, those ones that have been on your list and are new releases, and you just can’t wait to get your hands on? Yeah.
This book was definitely a good read. I loved the story line and the twist that the author created. If you are a fan of The Little Mermaid, than this book may just be for you. Like I mentioned before, it definitely has an interesting twist to it. One that grasps your attention and keeps you wondering as to what will happen next.
We get to meet Lira – the Princess Bane. The one that has become a legend, because well, she goes after Princes’ hearts – literally. Unfortunately for her, her mother is the Sea Queen and a complete tyrant. She rules with fear and bullies those below her, including her own daughter. She feels like Lira is not good enough to become her heir, and will try the impossible to keep Lira from gaining the throne.
Enter Elian, the Prince and heir to the most powerful kingdom in the world. Except that being a prince isn’t what he wants. All he desires is to roam in his ship the Saad, and protect the royalty. He’s claimed the name of the Siren’s Hunter – because that’s exactly what he does.
What these two go through once they finally meet, is nothing more than extraordinary. I loved their relationship. From being very wary of each other at first, to their quick banter. Their friendship and trust is truly earned. They treat each other as equals.
The journey that they take is one that I thoroughly enjoyed. I liked that the story flowed very well, and was easy to follow. I loved the characters, including the supporting characters and all that they had to do. There was definitely good action in this book, as well as romance. I like that it was light, and the same as with their friendship, it was something that grew and developed slowly.
I certainly can’t wait to read more books by this author!
I liked this a lot more than I ought to have. The cleverness and banter truly left me pleasantly surprised. And wow! Look at this book with love that is actually handled well with characters I actually care about and is amazing as a fantasy standalone! It was a great read.
I’m not going to win any kind of popularity contest by saying this book was a pretty big disappointment for me. There was actually more things in it that I enjoyed than otherwise but the good things were small compared to the disappointing ones so if I purely rated this book by my enjoyment level then it wouldn’t have got even 3 stars. This is not a bad story it just wasn’t for me.
Anyway first the things that I liked. The first sentence is something brilliant, it is bloody and unusually but it instantly pulled me under its magic. That was one of the best first sentences I ever read.
I really loved the idea to show the whole mermaid, siren world in an entirely new light. The possibility to see the brutal and aggression of these usually cutie fairytale creatures were really promising. The execution of it is another question because we get a taste of it in the beginning but later in the story it becomes more of a legend spreading between people and not something that actually shown in the book.
I also loved the back and forth going on between Lira and Elian, it’ not the usual playful banter you encounter in fantasy but rather a crass, blunt, temperamental and spicy rapport going on between them. They are not hiding who they are and what they think about each other and this brutal honesty transforms into something akin to love in the end.
I also found the crew members of Elian’s ship interesting and they create a certain atmosphere that I enjoy in my fantasy. There were also a lot of great ideas regarding how to spin a fairytale into a new light and show the events from a completely different aspect.
Now the things that I didn’t like. First and foremost, the writing style especially in the beginning for me felt really theatrical end even a bit artificial that created a tight and high-strung atmosphere that I really didn’t enjoy at all. As the story progresses it loosens up a bit but when you pretty much lose interest in the book because if the beginning it doesn’t help a lot.
I think that the world building is quite superficial. I mean there are a lot of different kingdoms mentioned but none of them really introduced to detail. I think if the author planned a smaller world and introduced it in more detail then she would have benefited from it.
My third and final negative thought was about the plot. I just didn’t like it that much. In my opinion it was unbalanced and slow. It was almost over 70% when things really started to happen and that was quite strange in my opinion. Also this was the first Little mermaid retelling where the Disney movie actually came to mind quite a bit, I found a lot of similarities and considering that the story was supposed to be a more brutal and aggressive version of it I found it funny. This didn’t really impact my opinion either way I just thought it would be a fun thing to mention.
Over all it’s mostly a case of not getting what I expected and a mix of other little quirks of mine. Probably a lot of people if going to love this book unfortunately I’m not one of those.