To Take a Heart

Thank you, Macmillan, for giving me an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

How strange that instead of taking his heart, I’m hoping he takes mine.

Someone, please give me another book by dear Alexandra Christo because I absolutely enjoyed this one! Next to The Cruel Prince, it’s the most captivating book I have read this year. Anyone who loves fairy tale retellings will devour this book in a day. However, since it’s such a good book, I recommend savoring it for as long as possible!

To Kill a Kingdom is a dark reimagining of The Little Mermaid. Lira, also known as the Prince’s Bane, is a siren infamous for literally stealing the hearts of more than a dozen male royals. After Lira is forced to kill one of her own, the tyrannical Sea Queen turns her into a human and commands her to redeem herself by killing Prince Elian, the heir to the most powerful kingdom in the world. Interestingly, he also happens to be a talented hunter of sirens. Despite their divergent backgrounds and loyalties, Lira and Elian might be the key to ending the war between the land and sea.

Before I requested this book from the publisher, I already had a feeling that I was going to love it. Reviewers whom I trust had given it five stars, so I was all the more excited to delve into the story. To my delight, all of my expectations were met; the characters were compelling, the plot was perfectly fast-paced, and the writing was beautiful in its simplicity. I really wanted to savor this book, but I just couldn’t put it down (even in the workplace).

Lira had excellent character development. Her brutality at the beginning of the novel made it clear that she was a force to be reckoned with and that she deserved her title as the Prince’s Bane. In fact, she was so empowered that her mother, the Sea Queen, unwillingly saw her as a threat. As the story progressed, Lira’s humanity began to show itself. It was fascinating to see her grapple with her conflicting desires. Killing Elian would prove that she was worthy to be queen someday, but it would also mean that she wasn’t any different from her heartless mother. I was so happy that Lira was able to make the right decision in the end by following both her heart and brain. In totality, she more than did justice to Disney’s Ariel.

Prince Elian was similarly fleshed out. In spite of his stereotypical daddy issues, I liked him a lot because he did not allow revenge to overcome his moral compass. He was indeed talented in killing sirens, but he didn’t necessarily enjoy it. And when he discovered Lira’s betrayal, he still had the willingness to love and forgive her. If I were in his shoes, I would be angrier at Lyra for a longer time. Haha. Nevertheless, I admired Elian because it took guts to give a second chance to an ex-murderer.

Like I mentioned before, it was hard for me to take a break from this book. It came to a point that it consumed my breaks at work. Each chapter was relatively short and ended with a cliffhanger, so it took much effort not to neglect my professional responsibilities. It didn’t matter that I already had an idea about how the book would end; I was 100% invested in Lira and Elian’s journey to lasting happiness. The fast pace could be also attributed to the author’s penchant for amusing dialogue. Lira and Elian’s conversations never failed to make me laugh. I couldn’t get enough of their banter!

The world-building was the last thing I liked about this book. I was surprised that the author established a difference between sirens and mermaids. Sirens, like Lira, were powerful stealers of human hearts. Mermaids, on the other hand, were weaker and didn’t always kill humans. I found this dichotomy refreshing and memorable because sirens and mermaids are typically one and the same in books and other forms of media.

Yes, I loved this book enough to give it a high rating. But I would’ve loved it more if it didn’t use the bad parent trope. I hated the Sea Queen as much as the characters did, but I wasn’t happy that she didn’t seem to have any redeeming qualities; she was just a horrible mother. As for Elian’s father, he was a bad parent in that he was a source of pressure and undue stress. In fact, he was one of the reasons why Elian didn’t want to go home to Midas. Can’t we have more good parents in YA, please? xD

All in all, I highly recommend To Kill a Kingdom. You don’t have to doubt the hype because it’s completely justified. Given how great of a retelling it is, I wouldn’t be surprised if it were adapted into a film.