I was given
this book for free, well more or less. I traded it for this and a few other
books with someone I know, and I had honestly no idea if I’d like it going into
it. The premise seemed interesting, and I really do need to read more sci-fi, so
let’s see how it holds up. Let’s have a gander at The Diabolic by S.J. Kincaid.
Spoilers ahead.
In this universe, people live in an emperor-ruled society.
Beings known as Diabolics, engineered from human DNA, are being bred by some
organisations to serve one goal: to protect the one they’re bonded to. Our main
character, Nemesis, is a Diabolic, and bonded to Sidonia, the daughter of a
higher-ranked Matriarch. When Sidonia is in danger and summoned to the
Emperor’s court to make up for a mistake her father made, Nemesis goes in her
stead, posing as her bonded one. This leads her into a journey filled with
politics and conspiracies…
I had a great time reading The Diabolic. It had a
quick-paced yet nicely reading writing style that was easy to get into. The
short but sweet introduction to what a Diabolic is and how they are bonded to
their masters was also a nice start for the book. From there things only get
bigger and crazier as we see the world Nemesis traverses in order to protect
Donia.
The characters were what really made the story for me. Okay,
not all of them, but there were quite a few I could really get into. Nemesis
was my obvious favorite. I loved following a Diabolic, a being that by all
accounts shouldn’t have such a thing as emotions or romantic feelings, as they
weren’t engineered to have any. Seeing this world from Nemesis’ point of view
definitely added an interesting layer to everything we saw.
Donia was also a very interesting character. At some points
I did feel a bit hesitant of her relationship with Nemesis, as it was
borderline romantic at times, and her being her Diabolics master… That’s just
uncomfortable. But the book addresses this and keeps a distance from it. I
really liked her bond with Nemesis for the most part and was glad to see that
she survived the first attack.
Neveni was also a great character, well, until she ended up
turning on Nemesis out of jealousy. That’s when I really lost my care for her.
As for the other characters, they weren’t my cup of tea.
Tyrus is a very major player, but I never really thought he was all that
engaging and ultimately didn’t care for his romance with Nemesis.
Talking about that, yeah… I don’t know why, but it is just
kind of weird to have a romance in a book where supposedly the main character
is mentally incapable of having such feelings, at least with said character.
But the thing is, Nemesis does eventually fall for Tyrus. Which is just weird
because everything else keeps hammering in how she isn’t supposed to. This may
be something addressed in the later books in the series, but this one left us
with no clear answer why she suddenly was capable of it.
It was also a bit disappointing to see that Sidonia survived
the first attack on her family, only for her to be axed off later, anyways. I’d
get it if they want to bring her back, but she comes back so briefly that it
felt kind of pointless other than to deliver another blow against Nemesis.
Don’t get me wrong, I liked Donia’s character, and I’m glad she came back, but
only to then have her die anyways some chapters later feels like a bit much…
Despite these flaws, though, I ultimately had a good time
reading The Diabolic. I don’t think I’ll be checking out the sequels as the
story didn’t grip me quite enough for that, but I’m definitely glad I read the
first book. It can kind of stand as a standalone since it was initially
supposed to be one, I think. Just doesn’t offer an answer to one of the main
questions of why Nemesis can suddenly feel love.
Rating: 4/5
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