Review: The Diabolic by S.J. Kincaid

Hey all, Dani here.

So I like trying out subscription boxes. In 2016 I found myself subscribing to Novel Tea Club and Lit Cube, and they are both wonderful. Then I saw another literary box from Quarterly Co. Basically Quarterly Co’s YA box is curated by a different YA author each quarter. In the box you’ll receive the author’s newest release with annotations, a couple bookish items, and two other books selected by the author. Because I really wanted to get The Diabolic anyway, I decided to try the Fall 2016 box since author S.J. Kincaid was curating. I really enjoyed the box, but the book was even better than I expected.

Summary

Nemesis is a Diabolic. Created to protect a galactic Senator’s daughter, Sidonia. The girl who has grown up by her side and who is as much as sister as a master. There’s no one Nemesis wouldn’t kill to keep her safe. But when the power-mad Emperor summons Sidonia to the galactic court as a hostage, there is only one way for Nemesis to protect Sidonia.

She must become her.

Now one of the galaxy’s most dangerous weapons is masquerading in a world of corruption and Nemesis has to hide her true abilities or risk everything. As the Empire begins to fracture and rebellion looms closer, Nemesis learns that there is something stronger than her deadly force: the one thing she’s been told she doesn’t have – humanity. And, amidst all the danger, action and intrigue, her humanity might be the only thing that can save her, Sidonia and the entire Empire…

My Thoughts

I so enjoyed this book. The characters and the world were so intriguing to me. I know it is a sci-fi and actually takes place in a planetary system far away from ours, but this easily could have happened in a technologically advanced Earth of the future too. I did like the world though. I’m finding that science fiction is something I enjoy reading more than I used to.

The journey and growth of Nemesis throughout the story was so wonderful and understandable, and the friendships and partnerships and alliances made throughout were interesting and had several layers of political intrigue behind them. This is where the book truly shines, with the development of these characters and the political and societal issues.

I had heard a lot about this book from BookTube and so I wanted to pick it up. Now that I have I am so extremely glad that I got a copy, especially since I got mine from Quarterly Co. Having those Post It Note annotations throughout the book really made the reading process that much more interesting for me. I saw tidbits about the inspiration and writing process of certain scenes, and there were a couple times where S.J. Kincaid apologized for needing to do something destructive to further the development of the plot or of the characters’ story arcs. While I appreciate the apologies, in the context of the world and the plot, I am so glad that she didn’t pull her punches. People were hurt; people died. It made the world that much more realistic and none of it was done without reason.

Seriously, I really loved reading this book, and would definitely recommend it to people who like political machination/intrigue plots. I ended up giving The Diabolic a rating of 5 stars.

Where to Buy

You can pick up this book at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-A-Million, Book Depository, and anywhere books are sold.