Review of The Empress by S.J Kincaid

There is this feeling when you really want to know what is going to happen next in your book but at the same time you really really really don’t want to finish it, and that how I was about 2 chapters in The Empress. I loved every second of it, but it broke my heart over and over and over again.

I will admit I was a bit skeptical about it at first, everything seemed to be happening a lot faster than it had in The Diabolic and I was having a hard time keeping up. However, when I got the hang of the rhythm, I could not put it down. I had chills the entire time. It had been a very long time since a book had me so entertained.

You get to a point when you read a lot where yeah, a book is good and interesting, and you want to finish it and stuff, but you don’t have that much of a problem putting it down. You don’t stay up until three in the morning reading it, you don’t ignore your responsibility for it. You simply enjoy the book when reading it and then put it aside for the rest of the day. I could not put The Empress down. I considered blowing an exam for it. I just needed to know what would happen to Nemesis and Tyrus.

I love Nemesis as a character, she is fresh air. Nemesis is ruthless, human, and cold, but she loves with a passion and she hates with fiery hell, and her forgiveness is just as quick as her anger when it comes to the few people who have gotten into her circle. She spends half the book between wanting to kill Neveni and Glancis and saving their lives. Nemesis is a character I hadn’t seen or experienced in years, she reminded me of Katniss Everdeen.

Tyrus is an idealistic young man who has everything stacked against him and keeps trying to move forward even though he is underwater, and everyone is laughing at him. I loved him the entire book, and how his character was changed through the book by chipping away at him slowly killed me a little.

There was a lot of information dumped on us in this book and although I am not a big fan of such things, the author made it fluent and quick so we could process it and then move on. It was important to the universe, so we needed to understand it to understand to goals and the ending of the book.

The Empress is and isn’t a Love Story. For me, it felt like a prince and his lover fighting against the world but in space, and then it became a tragedy. The central focus of the story is Tyrus and Nemesis’ love, but the real theme of the book is humanity, empathy, and the actions humans take.

The book is about how mercy is important, how stupid elitist can screw up everything for everyone, how religious leaders don’t understand the message given to them, how corruption can destroy even the kindest of intentions, how a survivor of the rebellion isn’t always nice, how love sometimes isn’t going to lead to happiness, how love is selfish, and power is enticing. For me, The Empress was an anthropological study of humanity.

And now I need The Nemesis to arrive, today, but I guess since Amazon can only deliver it on Monday I can wait.