The Diminished is a fantasy novel by Katlyn Sage Patterson, the first in a series and the author's debut novel. It was first published 2018.
In a World… where almost everyone has a twin, the few who are singleborn are considered special, having been granted the right to rule by the gods and goddesses. People who've lost their twins are "diminished", and considered lesser, particularly if they survive their twin's death.
Bo Trousillion is the great-nephew of Queen Runa of the Alskad Empire, one of the singleborn of his generation, and his great-aunt's chosen heir. But he doesn't feel up to the task of ruling.
Vi Abernathy is a diminished, raised in the temple. She hates the belief the anchorites hold that she will inevitably go mad, and has been searching for a way to escape and live out the rest of her life in peace.
But as they turn sixteen, secrets are discovered that will change both of their lives forever.
Tropes:
- Angsty Surviving Twin: All diminished are believed to be this, to the point of murderous insanity if they survive long enough. It's actually a deception created by the temple via Psycho Serum.
- Arranged Marriage: After being proclaimed Crown Prince, Bo, to his surprise and consternation, is immediately engaged to his cousin Penelope. Only for Penelope to die in a factory explosion that may have been an assassination. It's implied that the engagement was arranged by his mother and the Queen in part to conceal the fact that Bo isn't actually singleborn.
- Corrupt Church: The temple Vi was raised at is run by a pair of very corrupt people who use thugs to enforce their power. They also drug people with a Psycho Serum to make them go on violent rampages so people remain afraid of the diminished.
- Death Faked for You: Vi's twin Prudence never actually died, but was taken away to replace their dead half-brother. Their mother claimed he was dead so no one would know what had really happened.
- Detonation Moon: The moon is cracked in two. According to the main religion, this was done by the goddess Dzallie the Warrior when humanity angered the gods a long time ago.
- The Dividual: The Suzerain, the leaders of the temple. It's a position always held by a pair of twins.
- Embarrassing First Name: Obedience Violette Abernathy. She hates it.
- Family Relationship Switcheroo: Bo discovers evidence that the Queen may be his grandmother instead of his great-aunt, via an entry in his late father's journal, and that she and her sister passed off Bo's father and uncle as her sister's children. This would certainly explain why she's so determined for Bo to succeed her despite the fact that he's technically not eligible due to having a twin.
- Fantastic Racism: Diminished are discriminated against due to a belief that they will inevitably go on a murderous rampage if they don't die after their twin. This is what led Penelope and Claes' father to move to a different country with his wife.
- Fantasy Pantheon: Various gods are worshipped, including Dzallie the Warrior, Rayleane the Builder, Magritte the Educator and Hamil the Seabound.
- Foreshadowing: The fact that Vi and Bo's birthdays come at around the same time is the first hint that they are twins.
- Gender-Blender Name: Contrary to the assumptions of the reader, the temple anchorites and Vi, her "dead" twin Prudence is not female but male.
- Gender Is No Object: There is equality between the genders, and the society seems to be slightly matriarchal.
- Kissing Cousins: Bo is in a relationship with his cousin Claes at the beginning of the book. The relationship ends due to a combination of Bo feeling betrayed when he discovers Claes only got involved with him because he knew Bo's mother and the queen were planning to make him marry Penelope, and Claes' further deathbed betrayal by revealing Bo's discovery that he has a twin sister to the Suzerain.
- Psycho Serum: At the climax, it's revealed that the violent rampages some diminished go on are actually caused by one of these, administered by the Corrupt Church in order to increase its power by claiming this is because people aren't devout enough.
- Royal Bastard: Bo and Vi turn out to be these, the illegitimate children of the Queen's great-nephew and a housemaid.
- Separated at Birth: It turns out that Vi and Bo are twins, Bo being the thought-dead-and-female Prudence. Bo was taken to replace their singleborn half-brother, the original Ambrose, who died when he was a few months old. Their biological mother was advised to pass Vi off as diminished and send her to the temple to avoid an explanation.
- Sketchy Successor: Queen Runa says she considers all of the actual singleborn of Bo's generation this, which is why she's willing to flout tradition to make him her heir.
- Switched at Birth: When he was a few months old, Bo was taken to replace the original Ambrose, a singleborn who died when he was a few months old. This also led to him being separated from his twin sister. This was done because Bo's father and (step)mother had been having fertility issues, with the original Ambrose being their only non-stillborn or miscarried child.
- Theme Twin Naming: Obedience and Prudence Abernathy.
- Two Siblings In One: Amalgams are extremely rare people who are what happens when a pair of twins merges in the womb, similar to real-life chimeras. They often have multi-coloured hair and mismatched eyes.
- Was It All a Lie?: Bo asks this of Claes after finding out that he only got involved with him because he knew that an engagement between Bo and his twin sister Penelope was inevitable, something Bo himself was unaware of. He makes up with Claes when he's on his deathbed after Penelope's sudden death, but is infuriated when he discovers that Claes told the Suzerain some of Bo's secrets, such as his recent discovery he had a twin.
