The Diabolic by S.J. Kincaid was unexpectedly good. I expected it to be kind of good and ended up really enjoying it. It is not mindblowing by any means. It’s not the sort of book that’s going to become the next worldwide thing. But it’s interesting. It’s compelling. I read it in two sittings, and would have done it in one if I hadn’t been deterred by the need to sleep.
The novel is about Nemesis, a girl who was biologically engineered to be a ferocious killer. She is bred for one purpose: to protect Sidonia, the daughter of a galactic senator. Nemesis loves Sidonia and exists to protect her. Her reason for living begins and ends there. When Sidonia is summoned to the Imperial Court, ostensibly as a hostage to combat her father’s dangerous pro-science ideas, Nemesis is sent in her place. From there, Nemesis’ life is taken over both by the need to deceive and the bloody politics of the reigning Domitrian family.
Nemesis is a compelling lead character. She is bred for killing, and believes that she is nothing but a creature; discovering that there is more than that frightens her. The side characters are also interesting. Sidonia, Nemesis’ master, is a kind, innocent girl who loves and believes in Nemesis’ goodness far before Nemesis does. Tyrus, the supposedly mad heir to the empire, is at once charming and terrifying and neither Nemesis nor the reader is ever really sure if he is the answer the empire needs or a tyrant in training. There are a few characters that aren’t as well drawn, like Elantra the awful noble who also courts Tyrus, but for the most part everyone is interesting and multi-dimensional.
Despite a few issues that needed the suspension of disbelief (such as the level of technological dependence in a society that not only distrusts but actively quashes scientific thinking), I liked the world. The politics between the various factions of people (those that are genetically engineered, those that live on planets, and those that are part of the inner circle of the empire) were interesting.
There are lots of twists and turns in the novel, and while admittedly some of them were far from surprising, others—that death—actually blindsided me. As I mentioned before, I also really liked the moral uncertainty that continues to the last page of the novel.
The Diabolic is a well-plotted and well-characterized novel that entertains more ambiguity than I expected. It’s definitely the kind of book that makes me like young adult literature. I’m pretty sure I’ll seek out more of S.J. Kincaid’s work in the future. She impressed me!
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