Full Disclosure: This book was read as an e-ARC (Advance Reader Copy) obtained via Netgalley from the publisher in advance of the book's release on February 20, 2024 in exchange for a potential review. I give my word that this did not affect my review in any way - if I felt conflicted in any way, I would simply have declined to review the book.
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 they 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.
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