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A review by tanaz_masaba
To Kill a Kingdom by Alexandra Christo
3.0
To Kill A Kingdom by Alexandra Christo starts off quite strong. An incredibly imaginative and action-packed YA fantasy about a siren and a pirate prince, To Kill A Kingdom draws parallels from the classic Little Mermaid but with dark twists.
The plot was very intriguing, and the first few chapters will have you hooked. I loved the world-building and the development of our main characters--Elian and Lira. The way these two grow and transform throughout the course of their adventures together was something that I absolutely loved, and the insane chemistry between them would melt even the most cynical hearts.
Unfortunately, although the story starts off strong, somewhere during the latter half of the book, the novel starts to falter.
The first issue that I noticed was how weak the development of side characters was, even the ones like Madrid who had the most potential to play a key role in the plot. Not only do they not contribute much to the story, but it becomes quite hard to connect with them, despite their tragic backstories, because there was too much of "tell not show". We are told about Madrid's painful history, and that too from Elian's perspective. We are told about Kye's backstory, and again from Elian's perspective. Because there's a third person that's telling the narrative, it is hard to feel much for either of them.
My second issue with this book was the pacing. The first half is quite fast-paced and intriguing but the later half of the story slows down too suddenly, making it difficult to get through. This is especially disappointing because the later half is supposed to be the most thrilling and dangerous part of their quest--but again, the stakes are not raised high enough, and we are mostly told rather than shown how difficult their journey is.
And finally, my biggest let down was the romance. I love me some swoon=worthy, electrifying enemies-to-lovers romance. It's not the most original, but originality lies in how cleverly you can make a cliche feel like a new story. And this is where To Kill A Kingdom couldn't really keep up. Elian and Lira were still in the phase where they were just learning to respect each other and relate to one another--it felt too soon for them to be so hopelessly in love at that point.
But that's just my opinion.
All things considered, To Kill A Kingdom was entertaining, but the later half of this book was so hard to get through that I cannot give more than 3 stars.
The plot was very intriguing, and the first few chapters will have you hooked. I loved the world-building and the development of our main characters--Elian and Lira. The way these two grow and transform throughout the course of their adventures together was something that I absolutely loved, and the insane chemistry between them would melt even the most cynical hearts.
Unfortunately, although the story starts off strong, somewhere during the latter half of the book, the novel starts to falter.
The first issue that I noticed was how weak the development of side characters was, even the ones like Madrid who had the most potential to play a key role in the plot. Not only do they not contribute much to the story, but it becomes quite hard to connect with them, despite their tragic backstories, because there was too much of "tell not show". We are told about Madrid's painful history, and that too from Elian's perspective. We are told about Kye's backstory, and again from Elian's perspective. Because there's a third person that's telling the narrative, it is hard to feel much for either of them.
My second issue with this book was the pacing. The first half is quite fast-paced and intriguing but the later half of the story slows down too suddenly, making it difficult to get through. This is especially disappointing because the later half is supposed to be the most thrilling and dangerous part of their quest--but again, the stakes are not raised high enough, and we are mostly told rather than shown how difficult their journey is.
And finally, my biggest let down was the romance. I love me some swoon=worthy, electrifying enemies-to-lovers romance. It's not the most original, but originality lies in how cleverly you can make a cliche feel like a new story. And this is where To Kill A Kingdom couldn't really keep up. Elian and Lira were still in the phase where they were just learning to respect each other and relate to one another--it felt too soon for them to be so hopelessly in love at that point.
But that's just my opinion.
All things considered, To Kill A Kingdom was entertaining, but the later half of this book was so hard to get through that I cannot give more than 3 stars.