The use of language remains consistently excellent. For long stretches of the book, nothing happens, and the bond between Elian and Lira never seems stronger than the bond between Elian and the rest of his crew. Elian and Lira bond, although the bond consists of mutually enigmatic comments and is never convincing. Lira tries to keep her siren nature a secret. However, the plot doesn’t match the world building. Hearts are power, and if there’s one thing my kind craves more than the ocean, it’s power. I count each one of them, so I can make sure none were stolen in the night.
Every so often, I claw through the shingle just to check they’re still there.
There are seventeen hidden in the sand of my bedroom. I have a heart for every year I’ve been alive. It’s only ever during the darkest parts of night that the true blue of the Midasan Sea can be seen.Īnd here’s the beginning of the book, in which we meet Lira: Streets and cobbles glow yellow, so that when the sun hits the ocean, it glitters in an unmistakable reflection. The statues scatter on the horizon, and the houses in the lower towns are all painted the same. It’s crafted from pure gold, so that each stone and brick is a gleaming expanse of sunlight. The castle towers above the land, built into the largest pyramid. Of course there’s also the undersea world, which is not described as much visually but which is described in terms of violence, politics, family, and class barriers (sirens can’t stand mermaids). There’s the terrifying land of Kleftes, where thank goodness we do not spend any time – it’s where thieves and slavers take refuge.
There’s Eidyllio, a land dedicated to romance and covered with flowers. There’s Midas, the city of gold, whose golden buildings cast reflections on the water so that even the sea looks golden. The descriptions in the book are amazing and brutal. The two unite in a common quest – to find the Crystal of Keto and destroy the Sea Queen’s power. Prince Elian rescues her (he thinks she’s human) and before you know it Lira is dressed like a pirate and learning how to swordfight and discovering the power of Found Family and Elian is making googly eyes at her. She can speak, but she can’t use her siren song. Princess Lira angers her mother, the Sea Queen, who punishes her by turning her human. Prince Elian is a human prince who sails the seas with his loyal crew, searching for and killing sirens (because of all the murders). She kills a human prince and steals his heart every year on her birthday (hence the heart collection). To Kill a Kingdom is a romance (marketed as general YA) between two killers. Alas, by the end of the book, I just did not care what happened. It has tentacles on the cover and the heroine keeps the hearts of seventeen princes in jars in her room so loving it seemed inevitable. To Kill a Kingdom starts well but the pacing is awkward in the extreme. Genre: Science Fiction/Fantasy, Young Adult
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