The Wicked Bargain

What a ride! Pirates, magic, demons, high stakes, and a very satisfactory ending. Loved the characters and the journey. I would definitely read another book about this crew. Excellent audio production!

On Mar León-de la Rosa's 16th birthday, el Diablo comes calling. Mar is a transmasculine nonbinary teen pirate hiding a magical ability to manipulate fire and ice. But their magic isn't enough to reverse a wicked bargain made by their father, and now el Diablo has come to collect his payment: the soul of Mar's father and the entire crew of their ship.

When Mar is miraculously rescued by the sole remaining pirate crew in the Caribbean, el Diablo returns to give them a choice: give up their soul to save their father by the Harvest Moon or never see him again. The task is impossible–Mar refuses to make a bargain, and there's no way their magic is any match for el Diablo. Then, Mar finds the most unlikely allies: Bas, an infuriatingly arrogant and handsome pirate – and the captain's son; and Dami, a genderfluid demonio whose motives are never quite clear. For the first time in their life, Mar may have the courage to use their magic. It could be their only redemption – or it could mean certain death.

The MC is Mar, a transmasculine non-binary pirate who is a crew member on their father's pirate ship. I enjoyed that there was no transphobia or homophobia in the book, and Mar was treated with dignity throughout the book. The writing was amazing, and once I started reading, I tore through the book in a couple of days. Overall I enjoyed this book a lot, and I rated it 5 stars.

Thank you to Random House Children's and Turn the Page Tours for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Such a good story! Took me about 5 chapters to get into, but then I didn't want to stop. There is a romance, but it is suuuuuper lowkey and way in the background.

Highly recommend and I'm looking forward to reading more by this author in the future.

[3.5] i know i am not the target audience (YA is not my standard fare by a long shot), but a transmasc nonbinary latinx pirate possessing magia PLUS that gorgeous cover? i couldn't resist requesting this literal pirates of the caribbean story.

my favorite aspect of the book: Mar is the perfect vehicle for proper lgbtqia+ representation. i love that in this world, no one bats an eye at people's gender identity or sexuality. Mar still has to confront their feelings of body dysmorphia, but it's depicted in a sensitive manner that i believe any reader in a similar boat can relate to and feel seen. this is coupled with their arduous process of coming to terms with their magia as a power for good and not evil during their quest to save the people they love.

the story is very much plot-driven - some developments a bit cliché at times and the grand finale predictable, but one that i imagine a younger me would have had fun with. my biggest niggle comes with the dialogue. occasionally stilted, it made getting a nuanced feel for the characters beyond a broad overview challenging, such as the love interest Bas. he's a supportive, happy-go-lucky guy with a talent for maps but that's everything i could glean from the text. i think i was hoping for him amongst other characters to have been fleshed out more. but that being said, i'm also a sucker for found family and unlikely allies, so it was most exciting for me to find that both featured prominently. those tropes truly reign supreme!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing a copy of the book - this is my honest review :)