Book Review | To Kill a Kingdom & Into the Crooked Place
Alexandra Christo
358 Pages
3/5 Stars
Princess Lira is siren royalty and revered across the sea until she is cursed into humanity by the ruthless Sea Queen. Now Lira must deliver the heart of the infamous siren killer or remain a human forever.
Prince Elias is heir to the most powerful kingdom in the world, and captain to a deadly crew of siren hunters. When he reduces a drowning woman from the ocean, she promises to help him destroy sirenkind for good. But he has no way of knowing if he can trust her...
“I have a heart for every year I’ve been alive. There are seventeen hidden in the sand of my bedroom. Every so often, I claw through the shingle just to check they’re still there. Buried deep and bloody.”
To Kill a Kingdom is Alexandra Christo's debut novel. I don't know whether Christo aimed for this to be a retelling of The Little Mermaid, but there are certainly aspects that push it into retelling territory. This tale about two royals with questionable morals is told from both Lira and Elian's points of view (first person). It sets itself up as a dark novel with the promise of vengeance and romance and it somewhat delivers.
Lira is the character I liked the most. She starts the novel as a siren who kills human princes until one day she stops a mermaid killing Prince Elian and is forced to leave him alive on the beach. Her mother, the Sea Queen, then turns her into a human and says that she will only go back to being a siren when Lira delivers the heart of Prince Elian. Although she doesn't have a lot of character growth, I think she does end the novel a better person and she does become a better queen than her mother was.
Elian is the character I liked the least. He's quite a generic character; he's a crown prince who's not interested in the crown, he's a siren hunter who falls in love with a siren and he's basically an okay person. I just didn't find him very interesting.
I did feel the 'romance' between Lira and Elian fell a bit flat. Throughout the book, there are moments where they seem to bond, but it largely consists of mutually enigmatic comments and they are never convincing. The bond between them never becomes stronger than the bond Elian has with his crew and for that reason I think they would have a better relationship as friends.
The pacing of this book is a awkward; there are long stretches where nothing really happens and by the time we reached the final battle, I had rather lost interest. Another aspect that other readers might find uncomfortable is the violence which at times is quite graphic. This book does feature emotional and physical abuse, as well as violent death scenes so if this is something that triggers you, this may not be the book for you.
Overall, To Kill a Kingdom is a fun, easy read. I did enjoy Lira and Elian's story. As I said in my wrap up post, it wasn't the best book I've ever read but there were some interesting parts that I enjoyed and for a short, standalone novel, I felt the ending was quite satisfactory.
Into the Crooked Place
Alexandra Christo
470 Pages
2/5 Stars
The streets of Creije are for the deadly and the dreamers. But four crooks know just how much magic they need up their sleeve to survive.
Tavia sells dark charms and potions, until she can escape the city.
Wesley does whatever it takes to further his criminal empire.
Karam makes a deadly name for herself in the fighting rings.
And Saxony plots revenge on the people who destroyed her family.
After a sinister new magic hits the streets, these four outsiders must come together to save their city before it's too late. But with enemies at all sides they can trust nobody. Least of all each other.
Into the Crooked Place is Alexandra Christo's second novel. It is a young adult gangster fantasy story told from the point of view of four main characters; Tavia, Wesley, Karam and Saxony (third person). Gangster fantasies have become quite a popular trope and as with all tropes, recycled elements are bound to pop up. Unfortunately, Into the Crooked Place doesn't really add anything to the genre. It does feel and read like another book.
There isn't much world building in this story and I felt it could have been developed a lot more to make the story more enjoyable. There were parts that just didn't make sense to me; if magic is outlawed in Creije, why do they have an open market dedicated to selling magic? Similarly to To Kill a Kingdom the characters go on a journey to different places, however, it is hard to tell these places apart and a lot is left to the reader's imagination. I think that if the time was taken at the beginning to world build a little more, then it might be a more enjoyable read.
The characters were very generic, they didn't seem to have any depth and I struggled to connect with any of them. Only Wesley really stood out to me and I think I would have enjoyed the book a lot more if it was just from his point of view. I also felt like Tavia and Wesley could have been combined and it wouldn't have made any difference to the plot. I did enjoy the romance between Saxony and Karam, but I felt the tension became a little repetitive and it was never really resolved. I also enjoyed that the book wasn't as romance heavy as other YA books, which was refreshing.
Overall, Into the Crooked Place is an okay read. It's written quite well, but lacks any real originality in a heavily saturated market. I was consistently bored by the story line and the twist at the end was one I could smell a mile off, so even that didn't throw me. I am quite disappointed because I thought that this would be as enjoyable as To Kill a Kingdom, but ultimately, this is a story I won't be reading again.
Have you read To Kill a Kingdom or Into the Crooked Place? Tell me what you thought of these stories in the comments below. As always thanks for reading, and I'll see you in the next post.
Lira is the character I liked the most. She starts the novel as a siren who kills human princes until one day she stops a mermaid killing Prince Elian and is forced to leave him alive on the beach. Her mother, the Sea Queen, then turns her into a human and says that she will only go back to being a siren when Lira delivers the heart of Prince Elian. Although she doesn't have a lot of character growth, I think she does end the novel a better person and she does become a better queen than her mother was.
Elian is the character I liked the least. He's quite a generic character; he's a crown prince who's not interested in the crown, he's a siren hunter who falls in love with a siren and he's basically an okay person. I just didn't find him very interesting.
I did feel the 'romance' between Lira and Elian fell a bit flat. Throughout the book, there are moments where they seem to bond, but it largely consists of mutually enigmatic comments and they are never convincing. The bond between them never becomes stronger than the bond Elian has with his crew and for that reason I think they would have a better relationship as friends.
The pacing of this book is a awkward; there are long stretches where nothing really happens and by the time we reached the final battle, I had rather lost interest. Another aspect that other readers might find uncomfortable is the violence which at times is quite graphic. This book does feature emotional and physical abuse, as well as violent death scenes so if this is something that triggers you, this may not be the book for you.
Overall, To Kill a Kingdom is a fun, easy read. I did enjoy Lira and Elian's story. As I said in my wrap up post, it wasn't the best book I've ever read but there were some interesting parts that I enjoyed and for a short, standalone novel, I felt the ending was quite satisfactory.
Alexandra Christo
470 Pages
2/5 Stars
The streets of Creije are for the deadly and the dreamers. But four crooks know just how much magic they need up their sleeve to survive.
Tavia sells dark charms and potions, until she can escape the city.
Wesley does whatever it takes to further his criminal empire.
Karam makes a deadly name for herself in the fighting rings.
And Saxony plots revenge on the people who destroyed her family.
After a sinister new magic hits the streets, these four outsiders must come together to save their city before it's too late. But with enemies at all sides they can trust nobody. Least of all each other.
"It was the only way to survive in a realm hungry enough to swallow the weak whole. Trust no-one, betray everyone. Kill or be killed, always."
Into the Crooked Place is Alexandra Christo's second novel. It is a young adult gangster fantasy story told from the point of view of four main characters; Tavia, Wesley, Karam and Saxony (third person). Gangster fantasies have become quite a popular trope and as with all tropes, recycled elements are bound to pop up. Unfortunately, Into the Crooked Place doesn't really add anything to the genre. It does feel and read like another book.
There isn't much world building in this story and I felt it could have been developed a lot more to make the story more enjoyable. There were parts that just didn't make sense to me; if magic is outlawed in Creije, why do they have an open market dedicated to selling magic? Similarly to To Kill a Kingdom the characters go on a journey to different places, however, it is hard to tell these places apart and a lot is left to the reader's imagination. I think that if the time was taken at the beginning to world build a little more, then it might be a more enjoyable read.
The characters were very generic, they didn't seem to have any depth and I struggled to connect with any of them. Only Wesley really stood out to me and I think I would have enjoyed the book a lot more if it was just from his point of view. I also felt like Tavia and Wesley could have been combined and it wouldn't have made any difference to the plot. I did enjoy the romance between Saxony and Karam, but I felt the tension became a little repetitive and it was never really resolved. I also enjoyed that the book wasn't as romance heavy as other YA books, which was refreshing.
Overall, Into the Crooked Place is an okay read. It's written quite well, but lacks any real originality in a heavily saturated market. I was consistently bored by the story line and the twist at the end was one I could smell a mile off, so even that didn't throw me. I am quite disappointed because I thought that this would be as enjoyable as To Kill a Kingdom, but ultimately, this is a story I won't be reading again.
Have you read To Kill a Kingdom or Into the Crooked Place? Tell me what you thought of these stories in the comments below. As always thanks for reading, and I'll see you in the next post.
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