Introduced in Gabe Cole Novoa’s The Wicked Bargain, Dami – a shapeshifting nonbinary demon, stars in the standalone novel, The Diablo’s Curse. Novoa sets up a fascinating and tense dynamic between the novel’s main characters, Dami and Silas. Silas’s family has been cursed with deadly bad luck and Silas made a deal with Dami to save his life. In a quest to become human, Dami must forfeit all of the deals they made as a demon, but Silas refuses because without the protection of the deal he will die. Dami agrees to help Silas reunite Captain Kidd with his long missing treasure (thus ending Silas’s family curse) in exchange for ending the deal.

Despite mysterious enemies, hidden treasure, multiple riddles, time running out before Dami reverts to a demon, and a reluctant romance igniting between Dami & Silas – this is a shockingly slow paced read. Stuck on a magically hidden island for most of the book, Dami and Silas aimlessly wander for clues while sniping comments at each other. Side characters are introduced to nudge the plot along, but the relationship between Dami & Silas is why readers will finish the story.

Smoke smartly borders flashback chapters, Spanish phrases are seamlessly integrated into the dialog, and Dami’s ability to shapeshift adds to their gender presentation in a very authentic way (even though it mainly serves as an infinite clothing glitch to make rope from). This novel lacks broad appeal but it has plenty of style that will definitely attract teens who like light historical fantasy, snarky romance, and queer representation. This isn’t a must-buy, but should be added to collections where The Wicked Bargain was well received.

Reviewed by Ivy Burns, Merrill Memorial Library, Yarmouth, ME