The Diabolic is a very stabby book…so OF COURSE I LOVED IT.
I, well ahem, have a small love for all things stabtastic (shh, that’s a word) and I’m sure that’s normal and fine and nothing to be worried about. I loved how The Diabolic promised a vicious, weaponised, anti-hero, non-human protagonist — AND WE ACTUALLY GOT ONE. There will be blood tonight! (Points if you get that reference.) So despite not liking one of the finale plot twists, I really enjoyed this book!
- It’s set in space! I don’t read much sci-fi so this was actually quite exciting for me! STARS AND SPACE STUFF WOOO! I love these futuristic settings where they mix an ancient Imperial court (kind of Roman? Greek?) with modern technology and spaceships. It’s like ANCIENT GOODNESS IN OUTER SPACE. #win
- So much stab. I mean, blood doesn’t fly everywhere, so if you’re squeamy, you’ll be fiiiiine. But it’s actually quite vicious and the characters don’t hold back!
- BECAUSE THAT’S WHAT PEOPLE DO. #goodtimes
- Nemesis is an adorable deadly cinnamon roll. She’s a genetically engineered weapon, made as permanent bodyguard programmed to love and protect her mistress, Donia. All Nemesis wants in life is to PROTECT HER DARLING DONIA. She’s can be quite a robot, with you know, the whole stunted-feelings-and-Vulcan-outlook-on-life….exceeeeeept: she secretly has feelings. Which leads to secretly wanting to be human. WHICH LEADS TO SECRETLY BEING AWESOME. She is equal parts fierce and fiercly loving. I like.
- Ooh, look! Manipulation and mind games. I love mind games. This is full of plot twists, blackmail, political intrigue, plots, conspiracies and mind-manipulation amongst the Emperor and his backstabbing family. YAS.
- We must mention Tyrus, of course. He’s the emperor’s nephew and next in line for the throne and QUITE MAD. But I really loved how clever he was. Plus he wasn’t exactly nice which is brilliant — OH STOP RUNNING AWAY FROM THIS REVIEW. COME BAAAAACK. I SWEAR IT’S NORMAL TO LIKE MEAN CHARACTERS. I may seem to be psychotic sitting here saying “Ooh yay mean characters!” but they were actually “mean” as in “these-are-characters-I-can-root-for-because-they-love-fiercely-and-stab-just-as-fiercely”.
- Also there is a super cute dog! And by “cute” I mean it was an ugly brute and Nemesis, aka “cold hearted and unfeeling”, was an absolute marshmallow to her dog. I LOVE THIS. SO MUCH CUTE.
- It was exciting! I get cautious when books are set in imperial courts because it can tend to end in dull tea-parties and the odd cup of poisoned tea. Never fear. There are plenty of near-death and total-death experiences (AND POISONED TEA) and the occasional nice dance where my OTP threatens to break each other’s necks. Which leads me to…
- YES I SHIP IT. Tyrus and Nemesis are damaged, slightly evil, totally poisonous, and darkly good underneath all that. THESE are the kind of characters I love reading about.
- It did vaguely feel like a huge mash up. Look there’s nothing new out there. But when you’ve read a loooooot of books (aka me) you start to feel rather unsurprised by things. Basically this book has a LIST of things it reminds me of. For instance:
- The Winner’s Curse = Grecian/Roman setting with politics and mind games written in a similar style to The Diabolic
- Spark = genetically modified people designed specifically to protect other people
- Red Rising = Grecian/Roman setting with the stabby aspects, plus the carving/changing of people’s bones and things
- The Hunger Games = Capitol fashion and amusement tastes + dictatorship that benevolently kills the lower class
- Red Queen = backstabbing royal family + sci-fi elements
- I mean, OKAY THAT’S A LOT OF BOOKS IT REMINDED ME OF. And books aren’t ever going to be fully original, right?? But as I was reading I couldn’t help going “Yeah I saw that plot twist in Red Queen” and “Oh that’s exactly what they did in Red Rising”….and it took some of the excitement out of things.
- Let’s talk about the dog. But with spoiler tags to be fair to the populace.
- The plot twist at the end WAS ANNOYING. Arghghgh. It’s grating me to pieces. If I was a piece of cheese, I would be grated so finely you could spread me on your pasta sauce and rename me parmasen sprinkles. Not happy. In fact, I want to spoiler discuss this too:
Despite a few squinty glares, I really did totally enjoy this book!
Sure it wasn’t perfect for me, but mind games??? Stabbing?? Starships??? Conspiracies to take down an empire??? Forbidden romance??? Inhuman characters finding their emotional sides??? (Of which that is my favourite trope, okay.) An ending that leaves me wanting more?? Plus a ship that is totally unstable and dangerous and deadly and lovely??? This just ticks so many “YES YES YES” boxes for me that I am notoriously pleased with this book. Go read it, immediately, I say good sir!
THANK YOU TO SIMON AND SCHUSTER FOR THE REVIEW COPY. The Diabolic by SJ Kincaid was published November, 2016.
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 inside her that is true and pure – more so than that of most humans she encounters. Amidst all the danger, action and intrigue, her humanity just might be the thing that saves her life – and the empire.
\\ click to read reviews //
Dang it. I wanted to figure out what made you so squeamishly squinty about the plot twist but YOU CONVINCED ME TO READ THIS AND NOW I CAN’T READ THE SPOILER.
Well-played.
YOU’RE WELCOME. I AM DEVIOUS LIKE THAT.😇😈
Yes. That, Exactly.
I really know that these days ALL of the books sound same, but really they aren’t. All books are unique. I try to ignore that fact and view that book as a whole. Anyways, I have heard so many great reviews for this one!! I never knew it was set in space. #gome
Also, I have joined an online book club and it is their November pick so maybe I will try to read it? November is coming to an end soon…
We need to appreciate that cover too. How is yours black? I have seen only white ones!😒
(P.S- Have you looked at the Lord Of Shadows cover? What do you think of it? I personally think that Julian must have been a little zoomed instead of all the other things in the cover…)
YESSS SPACE!! I actually didn’t realise it was set in space either until I read it.🙈🙊 So clearly we’re like reading the reviews but…not reading the reviews. GO US WE’RE CLEVER.😂
And yes! I don’t know what’s going on with the covers?? I saw black and white ones in Big W the other day, but I’ve not seen any black covers online. I’M A SPECIAL SNOWFLAKE.
FAJSDKLFADS I LOVE THE LORD OF SHADOWS COVER. THE COLOURS THO. I’m only lowkey mad because Lady Midnight does not match the title theme of Lord of Shadows???? Like ALLLLL The other series have matching titles?? What is going on. It should be Lord Shadows. Or something.😳
Here is another book I did not request that has me kicking myself. It’s a standalone, right? Ugh, I am so stupid. Hopfully the ebook will go in sale after Christmas. Thanks for sharing your review. 🙂
I’m unsure if it’s a standalone or not? Like I thought I heard somewhere that there was a sequel coming but Goodreads says it’s a standalone so far! IT’S VERY GOOD. READ IT.😜 (I nearly skipped it actually, because the “just like the Hunger Games!” tag lines always scare me off.🙈🙊)
Wow, this book sounds so interesting! And political intrigue and backstabbing? A stabby book? Characters that are pretty much mad and deadly?….
Well those are things that I absolutely love in books, so, yeah, I definitely need to check this out!
*hi fives for our similar loves in books* We have excellent priorities when it comes to needing stabbiness in books.
I have had my eye on this one.. I am hoping to get it from the library after christmas.
EXCELLENT LIFE CHOICE. *nods enthusiastically*
I want it!!!! I like androids humanoids Android thingies so yaaaaasssss I also like stabby thngs minus the blood (it is possible okayyy)
THIS BOOK CALLS TO YOU FOR SURE, MOZBIE. *piles copies upon your head until you read it*
I have the book! I was a little apprehensive about reading because of all the mixed reviews but now am definitely gonna pick it up 🙂 😀 And oh my god, the cover is so brilliant!! Great review as always Cait!!
Ahhh, thank you, Uma!! I honestly wasn’t going to read it either?!? It sounded kind of “Meh” when I first heard about it, but a bookish twin of mine loved it so I thought “I SHALL TRY THIS” and I’m so so glad I did.😍
I read all the spoilers. I’m a spoiler junkie. I get it from my mom. XD
I especily like spoilers telling about someone dying, because I can get mad and cry then, and when I actually read it I can keep going and find out what happens next, instead of having to put the book down because I can’t concentrate. 🙁
oooooh! I got an idea! I need to make a memorial for all my favorite characters that died! XD
Most crazily, ~Olive
Aww, you cheater. 😉 😂😂 Hehe. Actually my mum is a huge spoiler reader too….BUT I CAN’T DO THAT!! I only read spoilers if I don’t plan to read the book. Although I’m glad they were helpful to you! And omg if I did a memorial for all my favourite characters…THE POST WOULD BE 3 YEARS LONG.😭😭
I’m honestly surprised that you didn’t use the word ‘stabbage’ in this review XD I was fully expecting it.
BUT YO this sounds amazing and I might need it now. I LOVE THE INHUMAN CHARACTERS WHO ARE ACTUALLY VERY HUMAN. helphelphelp I need all of them.
I think I wrote this up before our stabbage conversation but I SHALL USE STABBAGE AT SOME POINT BECAUSE IT’S MY NEW FAVOURITE WORD. Right after stabtastic and stabby and stabbified.
And yesss you need this!! YOU DO!!! TRUST ME!!!
I knew you’d love this book, Cait! It was right up your alley. I kind of agree about the plot twist at the end, but I thought it was somewhat believable because Nemesis herself would have done what she needed to do with no issue, so I could see how she might have though Tyrus would too. Oh, and Kincaid said in the original draft, Tyrus was even eviler – she had to soften him up some. 🙂
I can kiiiind of see that *nods* Except, I mean, why would Nemesis NOT trust the evil empress and then suddenly trust her??? It just boggled my mind argh. But I loved it so much that I can overlook that.😂 AND OMG TYRUS WAS MORE EVIL?!?! I wish she’d left it!! hehe. *tries to hide my dark soul*
*fails*
😂
Haha, do I like stabby books? That would be a huge, resounding, NO. 🙂 I’m a rather mellow little creature and barely ever reads books that are violent.
I know, I know, then WHAT am I doing only your blog? It just so happens that I *really (x10)* like your blogging style, plus I’ve “known” you for nearly forever (as far as your blogging life goes, I mean, right?), and it’s interesting to get to see what books are out there, even if I don’t want to read them. (Your blog is a big part of my education regarding popular books. Although… I must admit that there are some book reviews you write that I simply skim cause of #violence.)
But, oh my lands, really the point of my comment is to ask: Does everyone over in Australia call them parmesan sprinkles?
AWWW, I APPRECIATE THE VISIT, AIDYL!!! Even if you don’t like stabby books.😂 Which is perfectly fine, btw. 😉 And YES I can totally like fill you in on what’s being published and save you reading (hey especially when I add in spoilers, right?! The entire book is basically summarised here, haha.)
And to answer your question: absolutely not. 😂 I don’t think I’ve even heard the phrase “parmesan sprinkles” until I literally typed up this post. SAVE ME FROM MYSELF. MY BRAIN IS A WILD MESS.😂
I don’t usually think all books sound the same. I am always raving about what their about. Like “Game of Thrones meets Outlander!” I watch both of those, I will like this! I also love stabby books! I think my favorites are And I Darken, all Sarah J. Mass books, Oh and Crooked Kingdom. I started Crooked Kingdom last night! It made me smile and it is so good. Kaz is a monster but he never ceases to make me smile. I must be morbid. I have missed Jesper, Wylan, Matthais, Inej, Nina. I just named about everyone. I love them all! Please dance with me about how good Crooked Kingdom is! The pages are red too! Soooooooo PRETTY! Wylan and his illiterate soul makes me cry though *holds book to my heart*. I m like 100 pages in and I want to devour the book, but I have priorities first. Like school, chores, NaNoWriMo, Ugh life. I have not read Diabolic, and I don’t plan to. It has a pretty cover which intrigued me but the summary just didn’t pull me in. So nah. I got other things to read. LIKE CROOKED KINGDOM!
AFJDSKALD I’M SO GLAD YOU’RE ENJOYING CROOKED KINGDOM!!!! That is only one of my top favourite reads of this year, omg. <3 Kaz is precious and totally stabby and I'm actually SO SAD THERE'S ONLY 2 BOOKS. Usually I'm all for duologies but. My babies. I don't want to say goodbye. *sniffles tragically* And also And I Darken was brilliantly stabby. I can't wait till it's closer to book 2 coming out and then I'm going to reread And I Darken and enjoy the stab. :')
(I sound like A PSYCHOTIC FISH. I'M NICE, I SWEAR.)
I’m glad you (mostly) liked this one! I really liked it myself, though I much prefer the author’s previous, very unknown and underhyped, trilogy Insignia. It is so very good and much twistier in a better and in my opinion more clever than this one. There is, however, less stabbing.
I hadn’t even heard of Insignia until this year?!? Like, literally until I read this book and saw someone else mention how underhyped Insignia was. haha. SO I’M GOING TO PUT THAT ON MY TO-DO LIST FOR SURE!! Less stabbing is very sad though. But I shall carry on bravely regardless.
Oh this sounds so good and different than anything I’ve read (granted, I don’t read a lot of scifi), And sorta evil, complex characters are the best!! Now I want to read this.
*piles the book on your head* YOU SHOULD DEFINITELY TRY IT. IT CALLS TO YOU. :’)
Ugh stop doing this too me, I’m spending way too much money and have so little time. *cries and falls on the floor dramatically.*
Ooh I love the stabby books! I haven’t read nearly as many as you, tbh, but I want to!
Also inhuman characters with secret feelings and who are marshmallows to their pets??? Just Yes.
I do find that more and more books are sounding incredibly similar, and I also find that in some cases I don’t mind, and some I do, very much! Depends on the book. In the futuristic/dystopian genre frequently, just based off what I’ve read.
This is a super review Cait! Can’t wait to read it now. 😀
OMG I SHOULD TOTALLY DO A POST WITH A LIST OF GREAT STABBY BOOKS!! Except, I mean, I’ll probably worry some people…but as if I haven’t worried everyone already? Pfft. They’re used to it.😂 ANYWAY. Inhumane characters are precious. <3 Especially when they start having feelings. And omg Nemesis was literally there like "I'm just playing with the dog to keep it healthy not because I have any emotional attachment"...and then she's there cuddling it all night.😂 omg. THE MOST PRECIOUS THING.
Inigo Montoya from The Princess Bride said that! 😀 Do I get points, or perhaps a piece of cake?
I picked this book up last week so I haven’t gotten very far yet, but I love how subtly/not-so-subtly threatening the Diabolic was to the mother. I forget what she said exactly, but it was very “Lady I will take you down in a heart beat for this girl, I don’t care if you are her mother!”
Am I the only one that was subconsciously pronouncing it Diabolique? I don’t know why, but I saw how it was spelled and still thought it the other way in my head multiple times. ^^; D’oh.
YES YOU GET CAKE. YOU GET ALLLLL THE PRINCESS BRIDE THEMED CAKE! (Omg what would a princess Bride themed cake even be like?? Hopefully not poisoned?? Ahem. You’ll never know. *fades into the shadows cackling deviously*) And omg YES I loved Nemesis view on everyone! she was literally like “everyone shall die if they even look at Donia wrong”. So beautiful.😂
And that’s okay, I was subconsciously calling it “The Dominoes” because I can’t read and also I wanted pizza, probably.
Probably, most definitely at least a little bit poisoned. *lol*
Oh, my word I think I need to read this. It sounds so DELIGHTFULLY stabby and dark and *swoon*. I LOVE antihero books…
Thank you so much for visiting Bookwise- your comment MADE MY DAY! Everything I said about you is totally true and I appreciate you so much! We made fudge today and if it wasn’t practically chocolate butter and would melt in an instant, I would steal it from my sisters and send it to you! So *virtual fudge*
😉
Thanks again!!!
Kathryn
AWWW, I APPRECIATE THE FUDGE STEALING FOR ME. YOU ARE KIND. <3 😂 And you're most welcome! I try to always return comments, although sometimes I don't get there because I get distracted by looking at owl gifs. I KNOW. WHAT IS MY LIFE. Ahem. *pretends is industrious and never distracted by internet things* Aaaaanyway.😂 I'M JUST WAFFLING ON. I hope you find the Diabolic someday and enjoy the anti-hero stabbiness! (I swear, anti-heroes are the best omg.)
I really, really wanted to like this book, but I just…didn’t. It could be because I read it instantly after a whole bunch of really really great books and it dulled in comparison, but I just don’t know.
I’m glad you liked it, though, and we agree on the fact that it was very stabby.
awk, I am sad!! But I do get that…like sometimes reading TONS of good books is actually damaging because it makes our expectations so high.😜😂
I don’t mind stabby books…if the stabs are in moderation. This one does sound cool, but books that are very similar to other books just feel frustrating and annoying sometimes. I read a couple of contemporary romances like that recently 🙁 Nemesis sounds so cool. I love the having to hide your feelings trope, whichever form it takes.
It’s hard for we rabid readers right?? Like after a while it’s all “Oh this book is just a combination of X meets X meets X.” aGH. FACEPALM.😜 But if the writing/characters are good, I can totally forgive a plot I’ve seen before!
Been so looooong since I’ve visited your blog! Email is full of all sorts of blog notifications. Glad to finally have a minute to visit.
Hmm, I don’t really like stabby books, but ancient Rome in space? That sounds damn nice. My whole tragedy about not quite liking YA is that I miss out on awesome settings/premises, such as this one.
I have Red Rising sitting on my (imaginary electronic kindle) shelf though. It seems I won’t miss out on that setting, at least.
How I hate it when they harm animals on books/movies. UNACCEPTABLE.
Now off to read your other posts.
Btw, you have probably rubbed off on me. Last time we talked about your 300 books a year and I was surprised, but lately I’ve been posting reviews every 3 days or so. I read a book so fast I’m wary to write the actual review xD
Awww, thanks, Evelina!! I appreciate any visit! SO CAKE FOR YOU, FIENDISH FRIEND. And I shall even magnanimously forgive you for not loving stabby books (because omgggg how). But wait, you don’t like YA?! You don’t read any? I’m so surprised you read my blog then, haha. 😂 I only shout about YA aaall day. (Although, tbh, I’ve started reading more adult epic fantasy and ajfdksalfd I’m so in love with it I keep losing my mind over the world building. But, well. It’s not like I had much sanity anyway.) RED RISING IS THE BEST THOUGH. I would 100% choose Red Rising over, like, any sci-fi book ever.😂 And it’s adult too! So that would suit you?
But yay and congrats on reading so fast!! 🎉 Are you still reading six (or was it 9?!) books at once? 😜
See, this is the big paradox:
Not loving YA books =/= Not loving YA bloggers
And pretty much the ONLY active group of bookworms/bloggers happens to be the YA group. Other people just don’t.. fangirl/fanboy about it. I think that’s the thing.
So while I don’t particularly love YA books, I love the community. It’s really weird xD
I have read YA books, liked some of them, but most were just too simple for me, I could always predict what would happen and usually I’d roll my eyes very badly about the love stories, cause they’d just be shallow. It might just be the ones I read, to be honest. YA is about the only type of book that has been overused SO BADLY in the past decade. People who should not write AT ALL will begin by writing YA. So really, it’s a slippery road, and I think the ones I read might have just been bad ones.
But rather than YA, I enjoy more literary fiction and scifi. I do read fantasy, but less of it it YA than not. I also love Victorian books.
I do love your blog though 🙂 even if I don’t know some of the books or don’t intend to read them, your blog is very amusing 🙂 it’s just fun to read, so I read it. And some of the books will be ones that are big, so I’ll have heard about them too. Plus, you don’t just blog about YA and nothing else xD you know that. You blog about being a bookworm. That’s a universally translatable thing.
Yeah, I will try Red Rising, although I don’t know about adult, a lot of my friends said it’s basically YA :DDDDD but I did buy it a while ago, it was on a huge discount and I liked the premise.
I guess the deal about me and YA books is that I like thinking, I like books where I have to keep guessing, and I don’t need a lot of action to be going on (YA books tend to have more action). And I also don’t enjoy love stories very much. Or if I do, they have to be subtle.
I do like children’s books though 🙂 they’re usually differen’t. Even teen books I’ll sometimes like, because teen does not always mean YA. Although it falls under the category of what the abbreviation means, YA is so very specific that writing for teens, you don’t always end up writing quite the thing I think of as YA.
I did really enjoy Blood Red Road though, so there’s that 🙂 (not the sequels xDDD)… And you have blogged about Deathless, which is like the most perfect book ever (I don’t think it’s YA at all, do you?), so we do have things in common xD
And yeah, I was reading like.. 11 xD I have finished up almost all of those, which is why I’ve been posting reviews like every 3 days xD it’s like an avalanche. Now I’ve got two books I just finished and I don’t even want to write reviews anymore, cause gaaaaah. But I will.
Anyway, since I mentioned 11, here’s some entertainment for you, which you might not have seen before. It’s very funny xD
Well I’m honoured that you still like my blog! Although we’ll have to agree to disagree that most YA books are predictable and shallow. 🙂 I think it might be a lot of the ones you picked up then? I mean, I find awful ones all the time, but I also find ones that are so stunning and poignant and stay with me for years after. <3 So it's subjective! And it's perfectly fine that not everyone likes them, although that doesn't have to mean the book is bad. 🙂
Oh I wouldn't have called Deathless YA at all?! I think that's solidly adult! 😜 I loved it too hehe.
And YES. Middle-grade/children's books are sooo different. The tone and style, too, right?! I like them, but not as much as YA haha.🙈🙊 BLOOD RED ROAD IS MY DARLING AND I'M PRETENDING THE SEQUELS DIDN'T EXIST TOO.😭😭
Hhahah to that elevator skit!
Oh no, I’m not saying YA books are shallow 🙂 I”m saying most of the ones I unluckilly picked up were totally shallow 😀 YA books tend to have a bad percentage of shallow ones (meaning, you have to KNOW YOUR STUFF to find good ones…. which is probably why bloggers exist?), because so many people want to cash in on YA that a lot of crappy ones result. I think the same goes for romance books, although in that genre it might actually be worse. Way worse.
Yeah, Deathless is so good. I’m glad you wouldn’t call it YA because I had these terrible doubts when I wrote that xD Deathless is more like the kind of book I go for. It’s got all the same fantasy magic, but less of the actual teen love stuff that I don’t tolerate in books. It’s not very relevant anymore when you’re nearing 30 xD haha. Although a lot of 30 year olds still love YA, I’ve found.
Blood Red Road was brilliant indeed. Seriously, if all YA is like that, I would actually READ YA. Would you recommend anything that felt like that book specifically? Maybe I should give YA another chance xD I could make it my New Year’s Resolution. There. I try.
Very true!! I think there are duds in every genre, right?!😂 Although it’s still all subjective, I mean, even with books I think are rubbish, I know there are people who love them and publishers who support them. SO YEAH.😂
And omg noooo, Deathless is far too adult. I mean, she starts off as 12?? But like Game of Thrones also features 12 year old characters and it’s DEFINITELY not YA.😂 And yes! I follow plenty of 30+ year olds who love YA. It’s really nice, I think. I think YA is very relatable because we’ve all been teens and gone through many of the same emotions. *nods*
OKAY OMG I LOVE BLOOD RED ROAD SOOO MUCH. The most similar thing I can think of is The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness? It’s dystopian/sci-fi and written in slang/style very similar to BRR. I’d also say The Hunger Games? But I’m not sure if you’ve read/liked that already?
OMIGOD I just found these replies. I think I need a new mailbox for my blog notifications cause they get so helplessly lost in my ever-expanding mailbox.
I haven’t read the Hunger Games yet, but I don’t know if I should. I’ve seen the movie (sort of accidentally xD mom was watching), so no point to read now, because I doubt its value, compared to some new book I could read. And I doubt the value of Hunger Games on its own because it’s from the time when EVERYONEEEEE was writing books like that. Although I guess it is fair to say in its advance that I think Hunger Games did it first.
I’m definitely reading GoT one day xD still haven’t read or seen the show. Not exposed yet xD
As for YA beng relatable, I think partly why it isn’t relatable for me was because my teen years were the nightmare in my life. I would never return to them, so I do not want to return to them even through reading. And YA stories lie a lot of the time – nerdy girls suddenly get “saved” by popular guys and all that. That’s the theme I hate the most. I hate it with a passion. Because that is not how real life works! And somebody should tell that to the girls who read it. Because they will end up very broken-hearted when they realize it’s not true. That’s why half those books make me roll my eyes. Yes, I was a nerdy girl. I was bullied very badly. And what came out of it? No, I do not stand on a heap of my enemies with a bright banner. No, I am not the president of the world or a superhero. No, the world did not magically turn around to save me. No, it is not important that I’m “special” – special is a lie the Y generation grew up with and is suffering the consequences. None of these messages are good, and that’s probably mostly why I dread YA so much. A lot of it is based on this stuff. It does not teach you to see life the way it is or to see yourself the way you are. Or to even accept yourself, a lot of the time. Real girls need to learn that they will not become heroes just because they’re outcasts. They need to learn to accept themselves, that it’s OKAY to be an outcast. So they would not blame themselves for not being heroes when they grow up (been there).
Sorry for the fiery rant xD but it’s something very close to my heart.
That is to say, there was no YA when I was growing up (not the way it is today, I mean), so I did not get cheated by these messages through reading it. But there were other means. That’s why it sometimes makes me so angry to think that other girls will be making those mistakes. It’s not right.
It’s fair to feel anyway you like about YA and have any opinion…but I do think you’re lumping it together after probably being exposed to a few bad ones. Like we agreed earlier (I think?!) that there’s good and bad in every genre. Anyway I rarely read books were nerdy girls get saved by boys. And none of us are actually superheroes or presidents, so not sure where you’re going with that?? It is fiction after all…I mean, much of the stuff that happens in adult books is also fiction and doesn’t happen to us.
So yeah! We’re going to have to disagree on the quality and content of YA.
Yep, we did agree 🙂 either way, there are trends. The whole saving trend might be gone now for all I know. Like the vampire trend.
SO UM. I spent like 5 minutes repeating ‘There will be blood tonight!’ in a ridiculous accent because IT TURNED A LIGHTBULB ON but I have memory issues so I couldn’t figure out why it needed an accent. On the 500th time I figured it out (TO MY GREAT RELIEF)
IN OTHER NEWS. This book has to be the epitome of all that I hold dear AND I NEED IT. SAD FACE because my TBR has taken on a life of its own and I don’t know how to stop it. I have started panicking that LIFE IS SHORT AND HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO READ ALL THE BOOKS AAAAAHHHHH. So basically that’s what’s going on with me.
BUUUUT I have heard lovely things about this book and I AM APPROVE.
I’M VERY GLAD YOU FIGURED IT OUT, INIGO MONTOYA, OR ELSE I WOULD’VE BEEN VERY CONCERNED. IT IS A GLORIOUS PHRASE AND ONE I UTTER OFTEN. Actually I basically quote The Princess Bride 98% of the time, tbh. It’s s much fun to say, when my sister leaves for school, “HAVE FUN STORMING THE CASTLE!” :’)
And dude, your TBR and mine both. I’ve just given up. I literally read 1 book and then 5 more appear. How does this even happen???? What is life??? But definitely add The Diabolic to yours because you need it. Trust me now. *nods sagely*
I am so glad too! It would have haunted me otherwise. I CALL MY BF FARMBOY ALL THE TIME. He doesn’t get it sadly because he has never seen it. Such a tragedy. IT TOOK ME 3 YEARS TO EVEN GET HIM TO WATCH THE EMPEROR’S NEW GROOVE. My life idls hard.
Too right. WHAT IS LIFE?? WGo can know? It’s on my TBR now which started at like 3 books this year before I decided to rediscover my passions 😅
I actually quite enjoyed The Diabolic as well! It surprised me just how much I liked it, since I was a bit unsure about how I would feel going into it. I think I just really enjoyed Nemesis as a character, and I found the story really gripping!
Yes yes! My thoughts exactly! Like I didn’t even request it until really late (haha, I’m lucky I got a copy🙈🙊) because it seemed like it would be a bit of an average book…but just SO WELL DONE OMG.
If you haven’t read them already, you should think about checking out hKincaid’s Insignia trilogy.
I have heard of them now, but nope, haven’t read anything else by this author. Is it high on my priority to-read list now? HECK YES. 🎉
Fantabuluous review as always Cait! (and I love your comparison to Nemesis as a cinnamon roll). I can definitely see where you’re coming from with this book reminding you of others – though the amount of action and twists definitely made this a stand-out. I really liked the complexity of Nemesis’ character as well – plus the whole ‘mad emperor’ guise for Tyrus played well. Thanks for sharing your thoughts 🙂
Aww, thanks, Eugenia!! And YES Nemesis was such a complex and interesting character. I often find these “emotionaless kickass heroines” are kind of dull t oread about…but omg NO SHE WAS SO EPIC. And it perfectly balanced her coldness with her love of puppies and things. <3 Tyrus' mad scheme was glorious.😂
I loved this book! I felt the end was abrupt and off as well, but I totally love Tyrus and Nemesis 🙂 Great review, as usual.
Agreed!! Do you know if there’s going to be a sequel?! I KIND OF HOPE THERE IS I NEED MORE CLOSURE.😂
OHHHH I NEVER CONSIDERED THAT!! YES PLEASE 🙂
Knew you would like this!!! And you gave it more stars than me even though you seem MUCH angrier than I was 😉
(but then again, I have killed off a dog before…I’m sorry please say we can still be friends)
I’M ALWAYS ANGERY OVER DOGS, OMG. I LOVE DOGS SO MUCH AND AUTHORS ARE HORRIBLE. I have literally sworn to myself never to kill a dog. Although I do have a pet monkey scheduled to die, but vengeance is wreaked, so at least that’s okay.
I’ll probably come after you for killing your fictional dog though. HOW COULD YOU, EMILY. WHERE IS YOUR SOUL.
I’ve been seeing this around but never really looked into it and now I’m like ‘WHY NOT?!” I think it was the butterfly cover (because I didn’t realise until now it’s made of weapons). I need to get my hands on it though because violent characters in sci fi setting is something I need in my life
I KNOW RIGHT?! THAT WAS ME TOO!! I kind of thought it just sounded like a cliche, see-in-before sort of story. BUT IT WAS ACTUALLY SO FANTASTIC OMG.
I’ve been hesitant to pick this one up. I am not too sure why the reviews have been picked. I just have this feeling that I might not like it. I might pick it up soon, maybe. Thanks for the review!
I was hesitant too!! It sounded kind of cliche?! BUT IT WAS ACTUALLY AWESOME.
OMG! I want this book <3 I want it so much *.*
That's your review's fault, of course XD
But my wallet need to rest, so I will not buy it as soon as I can. Basically, this is pain.
MY REVIEW TAKES FULL BLAME AND IS NOT SORRY.😂 hehe, but seriously I hope you do get to try it someday!
OMG I JUST FINISHED THE DIABOLIC LAST NIGHT AND ARGH. it was so good! Okay but *spoilers ahead* I believe the grandmother at the end…sort of. I mean, it made sense! And after Red Queen, I trust no one.
Anyways, I adored this book.
AHHH I’M GLAD YOU LIKED IT TOO!! I twas just so stabbily fantastic right?! And the dog…*weeps* I absolutely loved that mongrel dog. But haha, I mean, the grandmother had NEVER said anything helpful/trustworthy until then? Why would she suddenly start? 😂 #suspicious 😂
I read this review on Goodreads and felt bad because I didn’t finish this one. I loved the idea of it but my attention kept drifting. So I put it aside. I didn’t get to the dog. And I didn’t click on your spoiler, but I have a very bad feeling about what is under there …. glad I DNF’d it if I am correct.
I’m pretty positive you’ll have figured out why I’m angry about the dog! AUTHORS ARE SO MEAN, ARGH. *goes to sob alone in a corner* I mean, I still don’t think this book was the most original thing?! But it was entertaining and I did enjoy it by the end. But no use wasting time on books that don’t grab you! 🙂