This story is about one of the characters from A Wicked Bargain, but the stories are not at all linked, and you don’t need to read that one to understand this one. I remembered pretty much nothing from the other book.

Dami was the most interesting character in that book though, so I wanted to read their story! A nonbinary (genderfluid?) teenage demon who ended up in this situation because their mother promised her firstborn to a diablo. They tried to be aloof, and they did what they had to to survive, but being a demon never suited them very well.

The other characters were likeable too. Silas was harsh toward Dami at first, but understandably so, since Dami was the demon who sort of trapped him in a messed up situation in which he died like once a week for a whole year but never technically died because he always came back to life. I think he handled his cursed life with a lot more grace and rationality than I would. And although I don’t know that Marisol’s POV was really necessary, she was kind and brave.

The story was more adventurey than I thought it would be, which was fun. Not super action-packed, but there was a treasure hunt, a mysterious island, a curse, and lots of danger. It didn’t capture my attention immediately, but I got more into it as it went on.

Unfortunately, the ending was unsatisfying for me, not because it was bittersweet, but because a really big thing just wasn’t acknowledged. It seemed like either the author didn’t think about it, or he just hoped readers wouldn’t think about it, because the ending was presented as a perfect happy ending, and that made it feel weirdly hollow for me. *SPOILER* The ending seemed like it was implying a cute, happy romance in which both characters got everything they wanted individually as well. But Silas is going to grow old while Dami stays young forever. Obviously being a daywalker is a better option than not being a daywalker, since Dami was already stuck as a demon when they made that choice. It would also be fine if Dami had had a real choice and considered all the pros and cons and still chose demon over human. It’s the fact that this issue just never came up, even when they did consider pros and cons. *END SPOILER*

The audiobook narration by Vico Ortiz was pretty good. They sounded mostly natural enough, but there were times when there was some emotion in the scene or the line that they just didn’t do, just sounded casual or the same as always. Also, the voice they did for Silas was almost sorta cartoony, but it did at least make characters easy to tell apart. A mostly enjoyable audiobook.

Overall, though it took me a bit to get into, I enjoyed this adventurous story and these likeable characters!

*Rating: 3.5 Stars // Read Date: 2024 // Format: Audiobook*