NetGalley ARC Educator 550974


Representation matters. This book is full of diverse characters and was a refreshing read. Dami does not like who they are and want to change. What can they do when the odds are stacked against them? Love and friendship are core themes as well as redefining ones self. This is part two of the series yet it can be ready as a standalone.

I enjoyed it… but there were some aspects that didn’t quite working for me.

It’s been a while since I read any pirate or sea-setting book, so I really enjoyed the novelty. The characters were great! Silas was insufferable for some parts but it’s also easy to understand where he’s coming from- he was desperate to escape his curse and ended up with a worse curse and alone, at such a young age. I also like how Dami’s appearance reflect their gender fluidity. The banter with the characters were so fun to read, and I love how the three easily connect and drawn towards one another. Sadly, Dami and Marisol honestly didn’t feel as well developed as Silas. Compared to Dami and Silas, Marisol’s story felt so… mundane, which I guess is a good thing considering how bad luck Silas and Dami had. But it’s just sad because she was obviously third-wheeling and not as important to the story, you can swap her with any other characters and it would not be different. I love the casts’ diversity, but I wish Marisol had more significance to the story.

The story and the intrigue were great, I really enjoyed the bits and pieces sprinkled throughout the book and made us readers actively trying to figure out how the pieces fit together. At the same time, the book is waaay too long at 380ish pages. I think some parts could be cut and this book would work better. Like there’s no need for pages upon pages on how suspicious Eve was, the nasty Americans, the Island, and the trials. There’s just too much foils going on, not all of them adding anything to the story (like what does the Americans and the trials doing there, other than establishing how greedy they are and how impossible the task is- which could be done once instead of over and over again). I also think there are pieces that we were hinted at, that relates to Dami, that never paid off in the end. All of the pieces were laid out really well, but the ending just didn’t pay off because of the too meandering way we took.

This book was so much fun! I loved all of the main characters and their personalities. The story follows a genderfluid shapeshifting demon and the poor cursed boy that made a deal with them on their journey to break said curse. On the journey the two end up meeting Marisol, and the three of them decide to work together to reach their goals. I will say, I did not realize this was a sequel to another story until after I finished this and started reading some other reviews. I feel like this book can easily be read as a standalone and be understood. I didn't feel like I was missing any crucial information, but I am excited to go read <i>The Wicked Bargain</i> now. I would love to read more about Dami and el Diablo.

I do wish we could have gotten to know a little more about Marisol. In comparison to Dami and Silas I felt like we knew very little about her overall. She was a great character though. Very smart and helpful for their adventure.

There was very little romance in this book, but I did enjoy what was written. It didn't feel unrealistic or rushed and that was nice.

4.5 stars rounded up

The Diablo's Curse is the second YA novel by author Gabe Cole Novoa, after his novel "The Wicked Bargain". It's essentially a stand-alone sequel to that book, featuring as one of its protagonists Dami, the demonio who was a minor character in that first book, who now seeks to become fully human by revoking all of the magical bargains they tricked humans into making with them. But the last such human, Silas, is cursed with deadly bad luck and the only thing keeping them from dying - permanently at least - is the bargain Dami struck with Silas. And so, to get that last deal done, Dami agrees to help Silas break said family curse by finding a long lost treasure on a magical island

It's a pretty standard YA setup to some extent, albeit one a lot more queer (Dami is NB/genderfluid, Silas is bi (but mostly prefers guys), and third protagonist Marisol is a trans girl) and with a hispanic spanish speaking protagonist in Dami. And it's generally pretty well executed even as it plays to the typical plot beats - like Silas and Dami falling for each other - and the story of each main character fighting to be able to be who they want to be and with the people they want to be with works well even as it does mostly eventually turn into the trio of protags looking for treasure on a dangerous mysterious magical island and falls into some very tropey parts in the book's ending.

Plot Summary:
Dami didn't choose to become a demonio - their mother made a deal with El Diablo to give them up to El Diablo at their birth, and they grew up learning from the devil. But now they are free and El Diablo is dead and they finally are human as they've always dreamed....or so they thought. But when their newfound human senses start fading away, they discover that they are on the path to return to being a demonio....unless they can find every single human with whom they made a deal and can cancel those deals within a single year.

The last of those deals was with Silas, a boy whose family has long been cursed with deadly bad luck, after an ancestor stole and didn't return the treasure of the legendary Captain Kidd. Dami offered to keep him from permanently dying...but didn't mention that this meant that Silas would still die repeatedly and painfully before resurrecting shortly there afterwards. Silas won't let Dami take back the painful thing that's keeping him alive to see his beloved sister....not unless Dami agrees to help Silas break the family curse.

To achieve that, Dami will need to help Silas to a magically hidden island, find the treasure, and to then bring the treasure all the way to London to return to Captain Kidd's remains all without running out of their rapidly expiring 1 year clock. But time isn't the only foe in Dami's way, as the island is not just magically hidden, but magically deadly and seems determined to keep the treasure and its secrets from ever being found again....

The Diablo's Curse features three major characters- its two main protagonists are Dami and Silas, each of whom has major arcs - Dami wants to cancel their last deal so they can remain human; Silas wants to get rid of his family's curse so that he can return to being by his beloved sister's side. The third main character is Marisol, a trans girl who pops up midway through who is stuck on the magical island and wants simply to get off to get to the side of her Brother in the States who is the only person in the family who accepts her for whom she is. But while she's a very enjoyable character for being who she is, and is a nice calming and rational influence on the more hotheaded and often stupid Dami and Silas, she's very clearly the side piece of the trio, with the other two getting into the adventure together, finishing it together, and of course falling for each other (as one would expect).

But this works pretty well because Dami and Silas are excellent characters and the plot really works to draw them out. Dami's desperation to become human - so they doesn't have to reap souls, so he can have a physical body, and so they can enjoy human tastes and feelings - drives them as does their fear of the fact that they enjoyed the feeling of reaping souls and what that says about them. They want to be thought of as human, not demonio, and so when they journey with Silas, they hate every time Silas refers to them as "Demonio" instead of by name. And yet they also fear losing their magical demonio-based ability to change their body as they feel like it, to move between genders. It's a really strong well balanced and conflicted character can carry this book very well. And Silas isn't quite as well developed, but he's generally excellent as well - as the guy who was so desperate to stay alive despite his curse that he took on a demonic deal to counteract it just for the sake of his sister....the sister who now thinks he's dead and he has to catch glimpses of surreptitiously just to ensure she's doing okay. His desperation and plight - along with his repeatedly bad luck that keeps getting him killed - makes him an easy character to like and his relationship with Dami is extremely well done.

In short, this YA book has some very good characters with strong arcs and works generally pretty well as a plot from beginning to end. That said, this is a far more tropey book than Novoa's The Wicked Bargain it seems, without the benefit of that book's less well known setting (Latin American pirates in the 1800s Caribbean), and so more experienced readers may get a little annoyed at seeing some really common plot elements/tropes show up here and make things feel a little generic. This is especially kind of annoying near the book's end, where it seems like the protagonists have reached what they are looking for, only for the book to throw a tropey obstacle out of nowhere that feels like it was copied from other popular books and only serves to pad things out a bit.*

*Spoilers in ROT13: Gur cebgntbavfgf svther bhg gur cynpr jurer gur gernfher zhfg or na pyvzo qbja n qnatrebhfyl ybat pnir qebc....bayl gb svaq gurl zhfg cnff guerr gevnyf gb trg gur gernfher...juvpu whfg srryf fb fgrerbglcvpny LN (frr sbe rknzcyr, gur svefg Uneel Cbggre obbx), jvgu gur svefg gjb gevnyf - n evqqyr nf gb juvpu tboyrgf ner fnsr gb qevax naq juvpu ner qrnqyl cbvfba & n qhry orgjrra bar cebgnt naq n zbafgre - srryvat yvxr vg pbhyq unir pbzr sebz onfvpnyyl nal LN abiry naq abg ng nyy fcrpvsvp gb guvf bar. Gur guveq gevny ng yrnfg srryf yvxr n cebcre cneg bs guvf obbx, ohg gur svefg gjb ner fb trarevp vg whfg ernqf yvxr cnqqvat naq V qba'g trg jul guvf jnf rira gurer. *

But anyhow, The Diablo's Curse is pretty solid and enjoyable YA, with a very queer set of protagonists, a solid main duo to fall in love, and a plot that is enjoyable to go through. It's not quite as excellent as The Wicked Bargain, but it's a more than solid enough follow up and I would recommend it to YA readers looking for more after that book.

Fantastic, give me 14 of them!!! If you’re looking for wicked characters, fun banter, antics and shenanigans, i highly recommend this fun fantasy with no shortage of adventurous mayhem!

Dami is as funny as ever and I enjoyed the reluctant alliance between them and Silas. I got this as an ARC months ago but it took me a while to finish. As an interconnected sequel this was fun but it didn't captivate me as much as The Wicked Bargain. I loved the audiobook for the first book so I may try that for this one as well.

3.75 stars

Thank you to Netgalley for the eARC in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for granting me free access to the advanced digital copy of this book.

This book was a bit unexpected. I somehow missed, or it wasn’t clear, that there were LGBTQ leanings. Definitely not my cup of tea, however, the story was good enough that I was able to ignore the parts I wasn’t interested in. Dami was a very engaging character, a demon who doesn’t really LIKE being a demon and who became one through ultimately no fault of his own. I thought Marisol was a great choice to turn our duo into a trio and really enjoyed at end as they completed the challenges to try and find the treasure. I would’ve liked to see more of Silas’s reunion with his family, especially his sister, since she is the reason he made the deal for his soul to begin with. Overall I have to say this was a REALLY good story and I liked how Juno (a seemingly good Diablo) helped Dami realize what he truly wanted out of life.

Gabe Cole Novoa's The Diablo's Curse is a riveting fantasy novel that skillfully blends dark magic with high-stakes adventure. Novoa's richly imagined world and complex characters create an immersive experience, while the novel’s pulse-pounding action keeps readers hooked from start to finish. This book is a compelling addition to the fantasy genre, showcasing Novoa’s talent for thrilling storytelling.

This book is proof that it doesn't matter what genre Gabe Cole Novoa writes in, I will read it and enjoy it. :) My first book from this author was Most Ardently so I decided to request this one when I saw it on NetGalley. I found out after the fact that it's a sequel, so I'll definitely be going back to read the first but I really enjoyed the writing, the characters and the story. This will absolutely not be my last from this author! :)

Thank you NetGalley and Random House Children's for access to and eARC of this stunning sequel to The Wicked Bargain. (All thoughts and opinions are my own.) Dami doesn't want to be a demon any longer, so they set off on a new adventure to make themselves a human. Small problem: they must cancel all their current deals. One is harder to close than the others because it's the only thing keeping Silas, a charming boy cursed to die young, alive. Silas wants nothing more than to return to his family and jumps at the chance to break the curse. The problem is that the person helping him break the Curse is the demon who made a deal to stop him from dying…which has led to him dying and coming back to life every day. Not uncomfortable at all.The two travel to a dangerous island to retrieve a lost treasure to break the curse. This book is perfect for fans of the first book and newcomers.

5 out of 5 stars

The Diablos Curse was everything I expected and more from the follow-up of The Wicked Bargain. I loved every second of it, possibly even more than the first one. I hope there is another one! I would love to read more stories about these characters from this world.

This was a cool fantasy with wonderful gender queer rep! I'm always looking for books with different types of representation in them so I can have a diverse collection in my young adult catalog. The plot kept me on the edge of my seat.

The Diablo's Curse read like a folktale! It was a super fun adventure that I would not have expected. The main character is a demon who has experienced life as a human and wants to regain their humanity, but to do so, must complete all of the deals that they have made with humans. The end of the story was a little blah, but picked up quickly. An overall fun read!

Thank you to the Publisher for the ARC of this. I do feel bad for getting to this so late seeing as it released back in February.

Character 3.5| Plot 3| Setting 4| Writing 3.5| Enjoyability 5

Overall Rating 3.8

I want to start this review out by that I didn't know this was a sequel to The Wicked Bargain(which is also on my TBR before getting this ARC) This did bump up my interest in reading Wicked Bargain. I do think TDC is able to be read alone, I can tell their is snippets that ellude to TWB. But I was fine reading this and there wasn't much context I needed from TWB.

That said, I loved Novoa's writing it was so easy to fall and just keep reading. I loved Dami, and felt they were so tragic. Silas was back and forth on.

My main gripe with the characters is that I felt of the main three Dami and Silas were written well, but Marisol felt not taken with as much care as Dami and Silas. She just felt like an afterthought.

The overall plot and end twist, I kind of thought was a little obvious. Silas was kind of oblivious haha.
It was a fun read and had a good rep of lgbt characters I liked that they didn't feel tortured or had to think about the trauma they have just for being trans or for being gay. There was a little bit with Silas, but Novoa didn't focus too much on it. I appreciate that, because sometimes it gets sobering. I am queer so I just like seeing that.

DNF. i could not feel any connection towards the characters. thus, i wasn't able to go through with the story.

Before he was born, Dami’s mom made a bargain with El Diablo to give up her son to him. Now a demonio, his childhood was awful living with El Diablo. With El Diablo’s death, gender-fluid Dami now has the chance to escape being a demonio and live life among the humans and their wonderful food. To do so, however, Dami must undo the 127 deals that were struck with humans. All seems to go well until they find Silas. His agreement with Dami prevented his untimely death from a family curse. Believing the key to breaking Silas’ family curse is finding Captain Kidd’s treasure, the two travel to an invisible island. There, they team up with a shipwrecked smart, funny, transgender girl named Marisol. Together the three must face the dangers of the island and solve the puzzles to find the hidden treasure. Will they succeed?

The plot is well written, but slow paced. The characters are likable and authentic. The world building continues form the prequel, The Wicket Bargain. The character dynamics are underwhelming and Marisol feels like an afterthought. Characters are diverse. Overall, fans of LGBTQ+ novels, Indiana Jones type novels, and high stakes fantasy adventures will like reading this book. Recommended for library collection where LGBTQ+ adventure novels are popular.

Please Note: A copy of this book was given in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed are my own. No other compensation was received.

Great sequel to The Wicked Bargain! I loved Dami in book one and was thrilled to find out they were the protagonist of this story.. The Diablo's Curse entirely lived up to my expectations. Silas, with his curse, was a great foil for Dami as well as an excellent friend and love interest. Marisol was brilliant and the perfect person to round out the trio. The story was constantly moving, with obstacles at every turn. A classic treasure-hunt quest with characters whose well-being you genuinely cared about. Dami's arc and the final resolution of their journey was gripping, poignant, and beautiful. I'd happily read more in this world, but I'm also fully satisfied with the endings for all my beloved characters.

I apologize for how long this review took. The arc disappeared off my account before I could finish it. I noticed that it was a common thing that happened to other people also. It took a bit for me to be able to get a copy to finish reading it. I was super excited to read this book, because I enjoyed the first book from this universe, a wicked bargain. I love the author's writing style and the representation plus acceptance in the books. Gender fluid representation is not common so I was happy to see it in the Diablo curse. I definitely prefer the protagonist from the first book because they were more relatable to me personally, but Dami made for a very interesting main character. Dami as a character really grew on me after Marisol showed up and really tied the group together. I'm glad they got a happy ending in the end. It was a very enjoyable read I definitely recommend it.

This follow up novel stands very well on it's own, following Dami and their quest to be human again. Their last obstacle is Silas, who cannot die because of the deal he made with Dami. They must work together to break the curse on Silas so he will end his bargain with Dami, allowing them freedom.

The story had a bit of a slow start, but once it's going, it really goes! With an old fashioned treasure hunt, slow burn romance, and a mysterious curse, this ended up being such a fun read! The characters are strong and well developed, which helped the plot feel important and not drag.