To Kill a Kingdom

Had the last few chapters been written better than they are, I would have probably given the book 4/5 stars. I don't usually read stand alone fantasy novels, because I think they are too rushed, the description of the mythical creature is poor, the history behind the plot is not explained cohesively etc. But, I was very surprised with this book. I really enjoyed the little history that was given- I'm not a fan of a complex, in depth history lesson when I'm reading. I like straight forward, black and white, minimal detailed history, because I don't think it's ever all relevant to the plot, and it is usually incredibly boring. The mermaids are described nicely and the plot was a steady pace. I do think it could have been slightly faster, but that does not affect my rating, because I didn't get bored whilst reading. The characters are likeable, especially Lira. I loved her savage, fierce, witty personality. She is so independent. Her confidence level is through the roof and she has high- self esteem. She never once doubted her abilities and what she is capable of, which was very refreshing to read, because often times the male protagonist has to constantly reinforce to the female protagonist that she is good enough, moral enough, talented enough etc. Lira was her own best friend and I loved this. She is very cool, and I have never described a female protagonist using this adjective before. Elijah is not as bad as some of the reviews make him out to be. His character is definitely not as developed as Lira, but he is very established and talented. He has a path, but there is a lot of uncertainty and fear in his life to branch out and ultimately become an outcast. I think to lift his spirits he acts cocky at times. I did not like his arrogance at all, I will admit but I do understand where it was coming from. Also, Lira always simmered him down- she balanced him out. The plot was very easy and coherent to follow. It is a cute, simply story line, with a little depth. It was very refreshing for me, because I was used to very fast- paced, action- packed fantasy novels. Although, this book did have all this, it was much more controlled. The imagery was great, until the last few chapters where everything was a blur in terms of setting and what was happening. I was very confused. The setting was horribly explained, the mermaids were poorly introduced and the events were shady. It was very weird to read. I didn't like this at all. The love story between the two was convenient. I totally believe that they could be friends. They did admire one another, they were very sarcastic to each other and they bounced off each other's personality, but partners, absolutely not! I enjoyed reading their banter and I think that consistency was very grounding, and it kept me engaged. Their love story was very slow paced for the first ...

I hate leaving bad reviews of books, but I am writing this one for any readers who (like me) value good writing first and foremost. For me, any potential enjoyment of the plot or characters was prevented by the fact that it isn't particularly well written and I found the descriptive language so clumsy that half the time I was puzzling out what image the author was trying to convey. I found a number of metaphors odd, and some words just didn't make sense to me where they were used (hair slavering over someone's shoulder? Eh?). I'm an advanced reader with a high level of reading comprehension, and an appreciation for figurative language, but I struggled with this book. I was heartily relieved to be finished with it - and left feeling rather irritated that I had bought it. Just about okay for a self-published effort, but this isn't self published so my expectations (not unreasonably) are higher.