To Kill a Kingdom // a great concept that I couldn't get into

To Kill a Kingdom was not a book that grabbed me from the beginning. The concept was great, but for some reason I could not get into it until the final quarter, which I actually really enjoyed.



The idea behind this Little Mermaid retelling was brilliant. It tells the story of the daughter of the Siren Queen, who is turned into a human as punishment for disobeying her mother. The only way Lira can be restored to her former glory is to do what she does best - steal the heart of a prince from his chest. Only this time, she must do it without her siren song.

For the most part the book was a 2 star read for me. I think it's very much an 'it's not you, it's me' situation, because I wanted to like this book and there wasn't anything it was really doing wrong. My problems probably started with the opening chapter which had too much exposition. It stated all the facts but it felt a little robotic, like it was trying to get all the backstory out of the way. The writing got over this within a couple of chapters but by that point I couldn't get into the flow of the story. Normally I can get over a rough start, but this time it just wasn't happening for me.

This disengagement stuck with me for most of the book and I had to work to keep getting through it. I liked the execution of the concept but the plot felt a little slow.

To Kill a Kingdom would have stayed a solid 2 star read for me had it not been for the final chapters. The climax and battle scenes were exciting and I sped through them at twice the speed that I'd read the first 75%. It redeemed a lot of the book for me and made me want to give it an extra star.

All in all this was not a bad book, but the writing did not click with me. If vicious siren princesses and honourable pirate princes are your thing, then I'd still recommend it despite its flaws.

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me an ebook copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

★★★☆☆

 YA Fantasy

 Standalone

Blood, violence, murder, drowing, gore, mention of past slavery

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