The Empress (The Diabolic #2) — S.J. Kincaid

“Tell me, if I replace one neuron – a single cell of your brain – with a mechanized duplicate, are you still you?”

Synopsis:

It’s a new day in the Empire. Tyrus has ascended to the throne with Nemesis by his side and now they can find a new way forward—one where they don’t have to hide or scheme or kill. One where creatures like Nemesis will be given worth and recognition, where science and information can be shared with everyone and not just the elite.

But having power isn’t the same thing as keeping it, and change isn’t always welcome. The ruling class, the Grandiloquy, has held control over planets and systems for centuries—and they are plotting to stop this teenage Emperor and Nemesis, who is considered nothing more than a creature and certainly not worthy of being Empress.

Nemesis will protect Tyrus at any cost. He is the love of her life, and they are partners in this new beginning. But she cannot protect him by being the killing machine she once was. She will have to prove the humanity that she’s found inside herself to the whole Empire—or she and Tyrus may lose more than just the throne. But if proving her humanity means that she and Tyrus must do inhuman things, is the fight worth the cost of winning it?

Opinion:

The vocabulary in English (for a Spanish native speaker) is a little bit complicated. I think that the end of the last book was a perfect end, this book was not necessary and to be honest it was not good enough. 

It contains one of the big concerns regarding humans and the future we might need to face. The part that I really liked was there are two possible paths: machines or chemistry. To be honest, I think we are going more for the machine one, but maybe my thoughts are influenced by my career.

The books discussed the possibility of stops being humans. But to be honest, I think that nowadays, the word “human” is no longer attached to the biology term. Being human is the simplest word to describe someone that cares for other people, that tries to live the best he can without hurting another one, is to live a decent life. Moral should not be attached to our biology, but to our beliefs.

Quotes:

“—Tell me, if replace one neuron – a single cell of your brain – with a mechanized duplicate, are you still you?

—Obviously, you are.

—Ah, then if you replace five? Ten? A hundred? A thousand? One million? If you take every bit of your brain and you duplicate it electronically and replace yourself with that duplicate… Tell me, at what point are you no longer you? At what point are you something else entirely?”

Score (3/5)