The Diabolic by S.J. Kincaid

Publication Date: November 1, 2016

Series: STANDALONE

Genera(s): Dystopian Sci-fi/Space Opera

Subjects: space colonies, genetic modification, bodyguards, impersonation, royalty

Setting: In space, spaceships and space colonies

POV/Tense: 1^st person, past tense: Nemesis dan Impyrean

Age/Grade Level: Teen

Length: 403 pgs. (In ARC version, at least)

HC/PB: Hardcover

List Price: $17.99

Publisher: Simon & Schuster: BFYR

Summary/ product description: “Red Queen meets The Hunger Games in this epic novel about what happens when the galaxy’s most deadly weapon masquerades as a senator’s daughter and a hostage of the galactic court.

A Diabolic is ruthless. A Diabolic is powerful. A Diabolic has a single task: Kill in order to protect the person you’ve been created for.

Nemesis is a Diabolic, a humanoid teenager created to protect a galactic senator’s daughter, Sidonia. The two have grown up side by side, but are in no way sisters. Nemesis is expected to give her life for Sidonia, and she would do so gladly. She would also take as many lives as necessary to keep Sidonia safe.

When the power-mad Emperor learns Sidonia’s father is participating in a rebellion, he summons Sidonia to the Galactic court. She is to serve as a hostage. Now, there is only one way for Nemesis to protect Sidonia. She must become her. Nemesis travels to the court disguised as Sidonia—a killing machine masquerading in a world of corrupt politicians and two-faced senators’ children. It’s a nest of vipers with threats on every side, but Nemesis must keep her true abilities a secret or risk everything.

As the Empire begins to fracture and rebellion looms closer, Nemesis learns there is something more to her than just deadly force. She finds a humanity truer than what she encounters from most humans. Amidst all the danger, action, and intrigue, her humanity just might be the thing that saves her life—and the empire.”

My Review:  I’ve had the great pleasure of reading an advance copy of this, provided by Anderson’s Bookshop and Bookfair in Naperville, Illinois. They have a pre-pub event August 22 that I had wanted to attend, but have class that night. The author will be there to sign ARCs and there will be food. If you live in Chicagoland and are interested, please contact them and pick up you ARC. Seeing as this book has not yet been released and won’t be until November first, I won’t spoil anything major, but I’ll tell you about it the best I can.

The Diabolic is a sci-fi story that takes place in space. It’s part dystopian, part space opera. Nemesis is a Diabolic, which is a genetically engineered bodyguard that is bonded to one person, and seeks to protect only that person, even if it means harming the people that person care about. Nemesis belongs to Sidonia Impyrean, the daughter of a galactic Senator.

Sidonia is summoned by the Emperor to the Chrysanthemum, the space colony where the royal court is located. Sidonia’s mother decides to have Nemesis go in her steed. Nemesis is taught etiquette and under goes genetic modifications to her appearance and to make her body seem more average in size and strength so she won’t be discovered to be a Diabolic. 

When Nemesis gets to court, she discovers that playing a Senatorial heir might be harder than she thought. She might have to take extreme measure to keep her secret and to protect the Impyrean family. She soons discovers that in the royal court, there’s always some plot, scandal or assassination attempt in the works and it’s best to trust no one.

The Emperor has three of his own Diabolics, even though they were outlawed everywhere else, and knowledge Nemesis’s mere existence could cause the execution of the Impyreans for treason. She thinks his Diabolics might be on to her. On top on that, the emperor’s nephew and heir Tyrus seems to be taking notice of her, and if rumors are true, then he’s insane, but maybe there’s something cleverer about him that she thinks.

The characters of this book are pretty interesting. Nemesis is very different from other YA heroines. She was meant to be a bodyguard and not care about her own well-being. She’s like Rose from Vampire Academy, but with the selflessness of Tris from Divergent. Sidonia is like Lissa from Vampire Academy, then. Tyrus reminds me of Nikolai from the Grisha series, though I won’t tell you why, except for some of the narcissistic and ego-related humor. Some of the characters annoyed me because they talked overly formally, like they’re from Elizabethan times to something. Some were so shallow and back-stabbing.

I thought the sci-fi stuff and technology was cool, except for the genetically modified “creatures” or “humanoids.” Nemesis is not considered humor because she was engineered. She’s very strong and fast, but they didn’t give her tear ducts, so she can’t cry. She denies that she feels thing like other people. She can kill without remorse. It’s likely because she was nurtured to kill and not part of her nature like she had believed. There are Exalted, which are hairless innocents grown and cared for during a holiday week only to be sent into a star to die. There are Harmonoids, engineered only to play music. There are Servitors who are only meant to serve and have no free will.

The cool technology includes machines that can change you appearance easily with genetic alteration. You can have any hair color, eye color, skin color, facial feature or even change your sex. There are hair stilts, which can hold you hair in any style you please. There’s also artificial youth so older folks can look young again. There are medbots to heal you.

On the uncool side of things, there are drugs, like opioid rubs, narcotics and inhaled euphorics, and they’re all legal in the empire and they use the med bots to fix any problem that occur from them. There’s also the Helionic religion, in which the worship the Living Cosmos and view any pursuit of science or mathematics as heresy.

I recommend this to those who enjoyed The Jewel by Amy Ewing, Red Queen by Victoria Avyard, any book set in space, or book about a royal court. There is a kind of Capital-esque feel to the court, so I even recommend it to Hunger Games fans.

Cover Art Review: One of the most gorgeous cover’s I’ve seen! I love butterflies. This is one beautiful yet deadly butterfly. It’s very metaphorical. I love that the knives and the title are metallic. This cover is pretty symmetrical and simple, like Red Queen’s cover.

Homecoming by Kass Morgan

Series: The 100 (bk. 3)

Genera(s): Dystopian Sci-fi

Subjects: survival, re-colonization, space colonies, outer space

Setting: 300 years in the future, in a space colony called the Arc, and on the East Cost of what was the United States.

POV/Tense: 3rd person POV, past tense. Rotating between Clarke, Wells, Bellamy and Glass.

Age/Grade Level: Teen

Length: 340 pgs.

HC/PB: Paperback

List Price: $12.00

Publisher: Hachette: Little, Brown

Summary/ product description: “Weeks after landing on Earth, the Hundred have managed to create a sense of order amidst their wild, chaotic surroundings. But their delicate balance comes crashing down with the arrival of new dropships from space.

These new arrivals are the lucky ones - back on the Colony, the oxygen is almost gone - but after making it safely to Earth, GLASS's luck seems to be running out. CLARKE leads a rescue party to the crash site, ready to treat the wounded, but she can't stop thinking about her parents who may still be alive. Meanwhile, WELLS struggles to maintain his authority despite the presence of the Vice Chancellor and his armed guards, and BELLAMY must decide whether to face or flee the crimes he thought he'd left behind.

It's time for the Hundred to come together and fight for the freedom they've found on Earth, or risk losing everything - and everyone - they love.”

My Review:  Homecoming is the action-packed finale to The 100 trilogy (at least it seems to be a finale). The series comes to a satisfying conclusion. The drop ships comes down bringing adult and kids from the Colony. Vice Chancellor Rhodes takes charge and doesn’t keep his promise of letting the 100 be free of their past crimes. Well’s father, the Chancellor is not with them since he was in a coma.

Many of the people from the drop ships are injured and Clarke does her best to treat their wounds. Bellamy is taken as prisoner and is supposed to be executed for almost murdering the Chancellor, who he now discovered is his actual father. In the last book Wells and Bellamy discovered they were half brothers, so that makes Octavia only his half-sister. So now he as technically 2 illegal siblings. Of course, they’re kept this a secret from the Vice Chancellor.

With Bellamy as a prisoner, the Colonist have difficulty hunting and doing other survival things. Wells tries to teach the basics of hunting, fire-making and building. Rhodes is reluctant to accept help from kids, especially criminals. Glass and Luke are planning on escaping the camp since Luke was supposed to be an executer and he does want to kill anyone. The Earthborns from Mount Weather help Clarke, Bellamy and Wells. The other violent Earthborns see the new colonists landing as an act of war.

This series was very fun and exciting are far as dystopians go. It’s go awesome survival stuff, romance, humor, interesting character and a cool setting. The combination of a forest setting and a space colony setting gave it variety. The story also had flashbacks in a san-serif font so you’d know if it took place in the past and prevented confusion.

I think I enjoy these books more than the TV shows. The TV show confuses me a lot and I don’t understand how they could have been on the Arc for 97 years only and already the Earthborns have a new language, odd animal mutations, and weird weather. In the book’s it’s only 300 years and the Earthborn speak English and are more like farmers. Also the character inconstancies on the show are weird. Wells was black and is dead on the show, and yet his father survived. Clarke’s mother was on the ship, not on Earth, in the show. It’s completely different.

The 100 (season 3) returns Thursday, January 21, 2016 at 9 eastern/8 central.

Cover Art Review: This cover is terrible. They look dirty and I kind of hate that it has characters from the show on it.

Day 21 by Kass Morgan

Series: The Hundred (bk. 2)

Genera(s): Dystopian Sci-fi

Subjects: survival, re-colonization, space colonies, outer space

Setting: 300 years in the future, in a space colony called the Arc, and on the East Cost of what was the United States.

POV/Tense: 3rd person POV, past tense. Rotating between Clarke, Wells, Bellamy and Glass.

Age/Grade Level: Teen

Length: 311 pgs.

HC/PB: Hardcover

List Price: $17.99

Publisher: Hachette: Little, Brown

Summary/ product description: “No one has set foot on Earth in centuries -- until now.

It's been 21 days since the hundred landed on Earth. They're the only humans to set foot on the planet in centuries...or so they thought. Facing an unknown enemy, Wells attempts to keep the group together. Clarke strikes out for Mount Weather, in search of other Colonists, while Bellamy is determined to rescue his sister, no matter the cost. And back on the ship, Glass faces an unthinkable choice between the love of her life and life itself.

In this pulse-pounding sequel to Kass Morgan's The 100, secrets are revealed, beliefs are challenged, and relationships are tested. And the hundred will struggle to survive the only way they can -- together.

My Review:  Day 21 is the epic sequel to The 100. It’s full of action and survival and every bit as awesome as the CW TV show, though different. Many of the events that occurred in the book have not occurred on the show and can’t occur on the show. The books are exciting and fast paced where as the show drags some things out. In Day 21 the 100 just learned that there are other people on Earth still. They call them Earthborns (not Grounders). These people have been surviving underground and other surfaced decades ago. The 100 capture an Earthborn who’s a teenage girl. She claims to have not taken part in killing their friend, Asher.

Romance continues to develop between Clarke and Bellamy. I really prefer Bellamy in the book because he’s seems so much nicer, even if cocky. He’s got good, pure intentions. He just wants to protect and save Octavia and help the other by hunting for food. He’s got a bit of a temper, but he’s not manipulative like he seemed on the show. Clarke is a pretty confident character with her own issues. She’s keeping a secret from Bellamy. Wells develops a new relationship. Glass is still in the colony and dealing with the issues up there. The story also contains flashbacks. We get to see the characters’ pasts. There are also some interesting twist and secrets that we discover.

I can go on and on about the differences between the show and the books. Clarke’s mother on the show was still on the ship when she left, but in the book Clarke’s parents were “floated” already. Glass is not in the show at all. Wells is African-American on the show. Octavia is older on the show. There is no “Finn” character in the book like there is on the TV show. Compared to the changes from the Vampires books to TV show, the changes on the 100 are very minor. In my opinion, Finn and Clarke’s mom are the most plot wrecking changes. Kass Morgan has written a great dystopian series and it just had to be picked up before she even finished writing it. I love the books and it’s best to keep the storylines separate.

I recommend this series not only to those who like the TV show, or the Hunger Games, but if you liked books like: The Young World by Chris Weitz, All These Broken Stars by Amie Kaufman, or Under The Never Sky by Veronica Rossi.

Cover Art Review: They decided to make the cover like the TV show. The falling people look too much like people falling on 9-11. I like the landscape though.

Here’s my review for the first book, The 100: http://breathlessbookreviews.blogspot.com/2014/02/the-100-by-kass-morgan.html

The 100 is on Wednesday nights a 8:00PM CST (9 eastern) on the CW (WGN Channel 9 for people in the Chicagoland area)