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acaplaamall 's review for:
The Diabolic
by S.J. Kincaid
Mmkay. I read this book last year, but I return periodically to complain about it. I thought I'd make a review, especially because it's a well-rated book and the review I liked disappeared from the front page.
Before I get to my main rage point, here's some other bad things.
- The whole thing is set in space, with some fancy names and whatnot, seemingly because the
author watched some Star Wars and liked the aesthetic. NO. If you set a story in a cool place, I want to SEE you USE the cool place, not just some star-coloured wallpaper
- Sidonia was... not an engaging character. I guess she gets points for being nice?
- The Romance, with a capital R. It felt forced and all love at first sight (despite the fact Nemesis is a KILLING ROBOT and is supposed to be developing emotions THROUGH the novel).
- Everyone dies. Angst, much?
But here's the thing that kept frustrating me.
Nemesis' job is to protect Sidonia, even to the point of killing. She's fiercely loyal, and it's basically her primary motivation - impersonate Sidonia to protect her. So WHY is she so useless at it?
1. She randomly kills a person even BEFORE she's sent to the court, for no reason other than the Rule of Badass
2. She impersonates Sidonia for a few minutes in a Virtual Fancy Party. It goes as well as you'd expect.
3. At the court, she draws massive attention to herself. She fights back when Sidonia wouldn't be able to, she kills stuff left and right, she even saves a slave? animal? (don't remember) despite it being seen as wayy out there
*(I'd let it slide if she was a "good person", but this is literally in the same section as her killing a different Diabolic. I'm not sure where the sudden Moral Justice came from)
5. At one point, she even thinks something along the lines of 'I know what Sidonia would do in this situation. But...' and proceeds to do the exact opposite.
GAL, CAN YOU JUST USE YOUR ROBOT CHIPS FOR A FRACTION OF A SECOND??? I could do a better job of protecting Sidonia than Nemesis. The utter incompetence and sheer disregard for Basic Reasoning makes me want to puke.
Before I get to my main rage point, here's some other bad things.
- The whole thing is set in space, with some fancy names and whatnot, seemingly because the
author watched some Star Wars and liked the aesthetic. NO. If you set a story in a cool place, I want to SEE you USE the cool place, not just some star-coloured wallpaper
- Sidonia was... not an engaging character. I guess she gets points for being nice?
- The Romance, with a capital R. It felt forced and all love at first sight (despite the fact Nemesis is a KILLING ROBOT and is supposed to be developing emotions THROUGH the novel).
- Everyone dies. Angst, much?
But here's the thing that kept frustrating me.
Nemesis' job is to protect Sidonia, even to the point of killing. She's fiercely loyal, and it's basically her primary motivation - impersonate Sidonia to protect her. So WHY is she so useless at it?
1. She randomly kills a person even BEFORE she's sent to the court, for no reason other than the Rule of Badass
2. She impersonates Sidonia for a few minutes in a Virtual Fancy Party. It goes as well as you'd expect.
3. At the court, she draws massive attention to herself. She fights back when Sidonia wouldn't be able to, she kills stuff left and right, she even saves a slave? animal? (don't remember) despite it being seen as wayy out there
*(I'd let it slide if she was a "good person", but this is literally in the same section as her killing a different Diabolic. I'm not sure where the sudden Moral Justice came from)
5. At one point, she even thinks something along the lines of 'I know what Sidonia would do in this situation. But...' and proceeds to do the exact opposite.
GAL, CAN YOU JUST USE YOUR ROBOT CHIPS FOR A FRACTION OF A SECOND??? I could do a better job of protecting Sidonia than Nemesis. The utter incompetence and sheer disregard for Basic Reasoning makes me want to puke.