With an almost superhuman protagonist, The Diabolic will sometimes seem like a superhero book, since the protagonist gets to have insane amounts of strength because she’s not quite human, but only a resemblance of one. Diabolics are essentially super humans- they are created using a human based, but then confined and trained until they are powerful fearless defenders who single-mindedly protect the one they were created to protect, who they are essentially forced to like by implanting their image into their brains. A majority of the book revolves around the protagonist, who is a Diabolic named Nemesis, and her journey towards becoming a ‘real person’. After all, to the people in society, Diabolics are abominations, only tools used to protect loved ones, and are not truly human. This is reinforced by how they have a distinctive pale appearance, and are emotionless and fearless. The plot as a whole at times makes little sense: the people use fancy technology for transportation and for many other means, but the government prevents people from learning about this technology or how to repair it or how to create new versions because the religion created after a catastrophe bans it. This seems ridiculous, but the author probably created such a weird situation so that the reader is aligned with the hero and hopes for a deposition of the government, and perhaps even to make a statement about the importance of religion in today’s world. As a whole, The Diabolic is an interesting book- the protagonist will be frustrating at times, but what is to be expected from a character who isn’t truly human?