S. J. Kincaid

Nemesis is a Diabolic, a humanoid teenager and the galaxy's most deadly weapon, who masquerades as Sidonia, a senator's daughter, and becomes a hostage of the galactic court.

The Diabolic

“The perfect kind of high-pressure adventure.” —TeenVogue.com A New York Times bestseller! Red Queen meets The Hunger Games in this epic novel about what happens when a senator’s daughter is summoned to the galactic court as a hostage, but she’s really the galaxy’s most dangerous weapon in disguise. 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.

Ally

super cool and interesting world
sometimes I felt like we were forgetting about the overall plot. but, I really enjoyed seeing the relationships although I think they could've grown more

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.

Teeeeeesha

A fresh breath into the genre of romantic sci fi. Excellent world building with a powerful, strong protagonist and a cunning, deceptive and heads over heels love interest. A diabolic and a madman.

Lacy W

Wow. I have just finished this book moments ago and I'm just reeling. REELING! This author...this author is onto something great and I'm super excited to see where this series is going to lead. Nemesis is my on her way to being one of my favorite anti heroes. 

To be honest, the first half of the book or so, I was slightly bored. I was intrigued, certainly. The concept of Diabolics are really cool and I have yet to read anything similar to it. But I felt overwhelmed. There was so much information with names and places that I had a hard time pronouncing. I think the way Nemesis was written didn't help. I think the author forgot that this is the first book. We don't know anything about this world and can only learn about it through the main character. 

The court life was kind of dull as well. I have read more than enough books about King Henry VIII to know how vicious kings and emperors can be and what they will do to stay in power. So that part wasn't really interesting to me. The technology and all the outer space stuff was cool. That I will admit. The religion in this world was okay. Reminded me of ancient Greek religion but with space. 

I think what sold me on this book was Nemesis. There was just something about her. I know now. I know why people love the anti hero. She was not "good" by any stretch of the imagination. She knew what she was and what her job was, which is to protect Sidonia. Her love for Sidonia just made my heart happy. Yes, I know she was programmed to feel that love but I don't know. I think Nemesis' love went beyond her programming. I think Donia's gentle nature and acceptance of Nemesis helped her to love Donia even more. 

I love seeing characters grow and Nemesis has a massive character growth. She went from being this unfeeling monster (beside her love for Donia) to bonding to another human and feeling emotions she has never felt before. I think having this narrative in first person helped. I was able to feel all her emotions even if she was rather stilted. But I think that is the way of the Diabolic. I felt myself getting frustrated with Nemesis but then I would remember that the feelings that she experienced were brand new for her and that it was a learning process for her. 

I am ready for the second book to be released. I am curious to know what it's going to be about. I hope we get to see more of Nemesis and her growth from being a bloodthirsty Diabolic to something more human. I do recommend this book but be warned, it can get a little overwhelming and slightly boring.

S.J. Kincaid

Nydanande sci-fi med universums hårdaste hjältinna En Diabol är hänsynslös. En Diabol är livsfarlig. Inte ett spår av mänsklighet återstår hos dem. Eller Nemesis är en Diabol, en varelse med mänskligt utseende, mänskligt DNA, men manipulerad och programmerad att inte bry sig om något annat än sin ägares välmående. I Nemesis fall är det Sidonia, dottern i en av galaxens högst uppsatta familjer. Flickorna växer upp sida vid sida - den ena människa, den andra livvakt. Men så kräver kejsaren Sidonias närvaro i det kejserliga palatset, som ett sätt att utpressa hennes pappa. Det enda sättet för Nemesis att skydda Sidonia nu, är att ta hennes plats. Omgiven av korrupta politiker och bortskämda rikemansbarn måste hon lära sig att se ut och uppföra sig som en fin dam. En svår uppgift, när man är framavlad för att döda. Men när rymdimperiet hotar att falla sönder upptäcker Nemesis att hon trots allt har en human sida, som vida överträffar den hos personerna hon omges av. Bland intriger, svek och förräderi är kanske hennes förmåga att älska det som kan rädda såväl henne som hela imperiet. Tankeväckande, oförutsägbar och beroendeframkallande Kirkus Reviews Fantastiska karaktärer som läsare kan relatera till och känna för De här protagonisterna och den unika miljön kommer alla YA-fans att älska. School Library Journal

Diabolic

Emelie

Better than i thought, dont know if I Will continue on with The serie though!

jess

This was a really cool sci-fi novel that made me realize I really need to read more sci-fi set in space. The Diabolic had great worldbuilding, good writing, and engaging characters. And of course, SPACE EMPIRE. 

Even though I wasn't super in love with Nemesis' character, I liked seeing her character development and watching her defy the odds of inhumanity expected from the other Diabolics. Tyrus was a fascinating character as well. I think my favourite character was Sidonia, though, because she was so good-hearted and happy and positive. (view spoiler)[AND THEN SHE FUCKING DIED. This was part of the reason why I knocked it down a couple stars because I really loved her. The first time she "died" I was like NOOOO COME ON WHY. (Also, I totally called her crush on Nemesis within the first three pages of her teenage life lmao.) And then she came back, and I was happy, AND THEN SHE FUCKING DIED AGAIN, and this time it was the bury your gays trope and she was like, the light of this book too, so yeah. Uh. Favourite character dying. Twice. Not fun. (hide spoiler)]

The plot was really well-written too and moved at a good speed, even if I did guess correctly pretty much all the major plot points. The level of cunning and backstabbing in this book was really fun and it was a lot more brutal than I thought it would be, honestly. All in all, I really enjoyed this book.

Livia

4.5/5 stars


God. Fucking. Dammit. This book really threw me into a wild rollercoaster ride, especially in the second half. The first half was interesting and we get to see more about the court and Nemesis herself while the plot and the world are being established. And then we're thrust head-long into the action and plotting and scheming and betrayal and back-stabbing and it was FANTASTIC I really do love the book and I'm so mad I have to wait for the audiobook to be available to continue the series.

Julie D.

Never hated a character more than I hate grandma.

Katharina Hoffmann

I started reading this book not knowing what to expect and to be frank, expected nothing. "Game of Thrones meets The Hunger Games in space..."? No, thanks.
And even though it took me quite a few chapters to get into this book I must confess that I was captivated by it.

The synopsis as follows:
Nemesis is a Diabolic. Created to protect a galactic Senator's daughter, Sidonia von Impyrian. The girl is as much sister as a master. There's nothing Nemesis wouldn't do to keep her safe. She was engineered solely for that purpose. 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; hide her true inhuman abilities and pretend to be human. 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.

The beginning was rather slow and it was a bit difficult for me to get into the story for all the new expressions used to name the things and places existing in this future universe.
The story itself is creative and it felt original while the author couldn't resist to include some well-known and boring tropes. I figured out two major plot twists very early on (which made me roll my eyes as soon as they were introduced) but there were some I didn't figure out at all until the very end which were the reason I chose to give 4 stars instead of 3.

To conclude let me say this:
Luckily this story is NOT like The Hunger Games or Game of Thrones but rather original and it does include some diversity regarding sexuality as well (and it's not even subtle). It's a solid read that is able to build suppence and entertain its readers.

Jessica Williamson

4 Stars

This book would have rated higher... but the cover is barfy. And yes, the cover counts in my rating scale so, whatever. It isn't attractive and it has nothing to do with the book. I would not have bought this from the cover so... there's that. 

This story is soooo good. The worldbuilding is fantastic. It's like a futuristic galaxy story but humans are still the only ones around. There are no "aliens" it's all just us, all across the cosmos, messing crap up like we do. 

The elaborateness of how we stop age progression and get dressed and live day to day lives is just amazing. Ok, it's mostly just the rich people that get these things, but it's still so cool to learn about. Those who are planetside still live sort of like we do, though more technological.

It's essentially a galaxy fool of rich idiots whose everyday life depends on technology and science, but in order to keep the masses in line, no one is allowed to learn about technology and science. So they're basically just destroying their own lives and wow. The worldbuilding. It felt very similar to ancient Rome to me. And I loved it.

Now for the characters. In this world of (mostly all) humans, there are diabolics. Creatures who are made from human DNA, but are not human. Nemesis is a diabolic and it is her brain we get to live in during this novel. Which in my opinion makes it so much better. Getting her viewpoint of the things going on around her, you just wouldn't get the same effect from a human and it's just utterly fun.

And all of the other characters are evil masterminds. It's basically a story about who can kill each other the fastest and without getting in trouble. There was SO MUCH DEATH!!!! Oh it was a ride, let me tell you. I read this via audio and it was just a joy (view spoiler)[ except for Donia's second death. That was too much, even for me. (hide spoiler)]

If you like stories with great world building and copious amounts of political/societal issues, THIS IS THE BOOK FOR YOU.

Larisa Maria 

I can honestly say that I adored this book, I finished in one sitting and definitely don’t regret my decision.
It was such an amazing book and I’ll definitely pick up the second book soon. I truly recommend it.

Jelke Lenaerts

original rating 5/5 stars 
freaking loved this 

 REREAD MARCH 2019 
I'm really glad I reread this book. I still remembered the main plot points from this book, so a reread before I read the sequel wasn't really nececary, but I'm still glad I did because I remembered none of the details. Those were also really important. The main thing I remembered from my first time reading this book is that I absolutely loved the romance, and the romance definetly delivered again this time around. I mean, it falls in a lot of tropes I love and they're jusr done very well in this book so yeah, I loved it again. Nemesis is a very interesting character and I really liked following her perspective. She also had a great developement. Tyrus might be one of my favourite characters ever. He's also very interesting but very hard to talk about without spoilers. This world is also very interesting and I really liked the politics explored in this book. I'm really excited to see where that is going to go in the second book. There were some moments that left me a bit uninterested, which is the reason I docked a star but I would still highly recommend this book.

Moon of Pages

This was a great, surprising read! I adored Nemesis as a character and there were a lot of plottwists I didn’t see coming, overall this was an amazing read and I’m glad I gave this one a shot.

Paige Green

Rating: 5/5

Genre: YA Sci-Fi/Dystopian

Recommended Age: 16+ (violence, gore, death, mentions of rape)

Pages: 416

Author Website

Amazon Link

Summary: 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.

I picked this book up for the butterfly on the cover if I’m going to be completely honest. Which I always am with you guys. You’re probably the only ones I don’t hide anything from. Feel special? Now what if I told you that there was someone out there that was basically made for you, made to protect to you forever and always, and even after your death they would avenge you? Don’t you feel really special now? Well that’s the actual job of a Diabolic. They protect the one they’re bonded to forever and always… and that’s the problem our protagonist faces. This book is amazing to say the least. The character development is fantastic. Even though we are looking through the eyes of the protagonist, we are accurately given descriptions and motives to all of the characters. The storyline and plot are well done as well. The story is a lot of political intrigue and motive, but the action in the book keeps the story moving well. The world building is also well done. While we’re in a very different world than the one we live in, never did I feel confused or frustrated while reading the book.

The only issue I could find with this book is that the pacing is a little fast for me, but by the end I thought the pacing perfectly matched the tone of the book. However, it might not be for everyone.

Verdict: If you’re a sci-fi lover or a newbie to the genre, I highly suggest this book. You won’t regret reading it.

Tayler Park

Hannah

Ciska van Bokhorst

Didnt really felt a click with the characters. Word building alsof didnt confince me....

Hope Lenzen

If you'd said at the start that I would root for a mad man and a killing machine then you know me extremely well. Tyrus and Nemesis are my two favourite people at the moment ❤ so cunning... so stabby.. the perfect combination

Kaele Perkins 

Wow. 
I went in to this not knowing really anything about the plot which I liked. I had no clue what direction this was going. I will say, I had a hard time connecting to the characters and plot for the first 30-40%. After that I couldn’t put it down (besides that little thing we unfortunately need called sleep) So much craziness and plot twists and betrayals. I really enjoyed the ending and will be picking up Empress right away. If you’re a fan of Red Queen, The Lunar Chronicles, or even Illuminae I think you’ll enjoy this!

Wren Hardwick

So, a little warning, there is a rape attempt and victims of rape in this book

WHY OH WHY ISN’T THIS BOOK TALKED ABOUT MORE?

Nemesis: A Diabolic. This is basically a genetically made person who is programmed to protect a chosen person. They are stronger than anyone else, are trained to fight to win, and will die before they let said person ever get hurt. They are programmed to love them and only them.

Sidonia: Nemesis’ protectee; human. She is soft and sweet and sees Nemesis as her best friend more than her protector. She was raised for politics by her father and mother. Books, Art, Science and History are banned in this science-fiction world, yet she was raised on it. 

“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.”

Her father teaching her science and letting her read books is the whole problem in the beginning of the story. The king believes that Sidonia’s father is trying to raise hands against him; so he orders Sidonia to the castle as his ward. Obviously, the senator and his wife see the trap so they devise a plan: send Sidonia’s Diabolic in her place.

See, Diabolics have also been banned. So they were already breaking the law.

Oh, and also, this is also a time where you can make yourself look like anyone or like anything you want with the advanced technology; so this was a plausible solution to protecting their actual daughter and still pleasing the king.

But how can a socially-blind, animalistic human who was only raised to kill and protect pull off being a human? Well, you’ll have to read this book.

Besides, Nemesis isn’t the only actor/actress on the king’s ship.

So, a little warning, there is a rape attempt and victims of rape in this book. I thought it was handled very tastefully (well, as tasteful as such a topic can be). People get what is coming to them, is all I can say. It was a real motivator in this story and I thought it was handled well.

This whole story was just unique and gobble-worthy. The love story had a unique twist to it, the bad guy isn’t the bad guy you are lead to believe, the lesson that just because someone isn’t like, doesn’t’ mean they don’t feel too is very prominent in this book. The narrator was phenomenal too. She did Nemesis’ voice just like I would have done in my head. 

It felt like a stand-alone book; but apparently there is a sequel so.
 
---

This needs to be talked about more. So many things I have to say. RTC.

Kristin Gray

Lots of twists and turns in the plot... very good read, and looking forward to #2.