Reviews with content warning for Terminal illness - Voyage of the Damned

12 provinces (if we exclude the 13th exiled beyond the Bandage). 12 heirs blessed with a secret magical ability (but one of them is lying and unblessed). 12 days on a boat journey to pay tribute to the Goddess (and most of them will not make it to their destination).

✓ a rare 50/50 Fantasy Mystery blend!
✓ positive queer, fat & disabled characters
✓ comfy elements: hilarious mc and lovable scooby gang
✓ multiple dead bodies! Woohoo!
✓ thorough world-building and strong mystery plotting

x disappointing romantic twist/reveal
x some 2-d depictions of important characters with little or no on-page appearances

This was such an impressive romp with so many elements I love in both my mysteries AND my fantasies. The murder mystery was a strong A plot, following an immensely likable and hilarious amateur sleuth and unsung hero, Dee of Fish Province. He was strong while being flawed, and I couldn't help but root for him. I'm also a sucker for boat settings, Scooby gang camaraderie, and a high body count where no one is safe! Meanwhile, on the fantasy side, we had a captivating origin story that reminded me a bit of Sky Woman from indigenous tradition, strong world-building, illustrated maps, and important themes about empire, unity, and acceptance. I loved the details added about the separate provinces, their trade and customs, their alliances, and the individual abilities of every province heir.

Elements I was less impressed by include (1) fan fiction/YA-esque humor at times. Don't get me wrong, there were SO many times I was laughing along and charmed by the witty and sharp dialogue, but it also felt overdone sometimes. (2) Two characters were mentioned numerous times through anecdotes and brief flashbacks/memories: Lysander and Ravi. These characters remained 2D to me, and I never felt invested in who they were because I never truly saw them on the page, and when I did, it was so brief/insubstantial. (3) My biggest issue with the narrative was how the author handled the romance between Dee and another character. There was a major reveal/twist in the book that, for me, overall cheapened the entire development of the romance itself. I was really disappointed, and I wish the reveal never happened to be honest. And as it did, Dee needed a stronger, averse reaction to the reveal. The love interest got off way too easy. and it left a bad taste in my mouth.

CW: descriptions of drowning, violence and physical injuries (including severed limbs), dead bodies, self-harm and suicidal ideation

Actual Rating: 3.75 stars
Original Pub Date: 20 August 2024
Reading Format: print + audio

Thank you NetGalley, MIRA and Harlequin Trade Publishing for an E-ARC copy in exchange for this honest review!

Content Warnings

amphibianwitch's review against another edition

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hopeful mysterious tense slow-paced

Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

"Voyage of the Damned", o "ese libro que hizo que me enamorase del protagonista en el capítulo 1". Un narrador con una voz y un carisma increíbles. Una historia con muchos giros, con mucho suspense, asesinatos e intrigas. El worbu es genial y los personajes también. Grasshopper es lo mejor del universo. Ah, y todo es muy queer.

Este libro iba para 5 estrellas, disparado. Y a pesar de que lo sigo recomendando muchísimo y de que sigo adorando a Dee, me he desinflado con una revelación del final. No voy a entrar en detalles porque es un spoiler enorme. Solo diré que la forma en que todos los hilos entre las subtramas se conectan y todo cobra sentido está muy bien ligada, las pistas estaban todas ahí, pero eso no significa que tenga que gustarme. Aun así, un libro buenísimo, 4 estrellazas.

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sunshinemoth's review against another edition

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emotional mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.75

I find it difficult sometimes to differentiate between "bad" or "flawed" writing choices and writing choices I simply don't like, but seeing as I rate my reads on enjoyment rather than objective quality, I'll be quite honest.
For a debut novel, this was not bad. It kept me engaged, consistently twisting my assumptions of what was really going on down to the final chapters. (Excitingly, SPOILERS:

I was partially right in two of my guesses. One of which being that either Eudora, Ravi, or both were alive and in on the murders. The other guess being an alternative to the first; that Cordelia was the murderer, because a "seemingly innocent" frail girl gone mad with grief is an easy call from 300 pages away.)

However, I have some complaints. One of which being that Ganymedes left me disappointed as a protagonist. I have a strong penchant for "misfit asshole" characters, but as protagonists you also have to either have them grow or at least have their flaws pointed out in the story. Dee's insistence that he was the only one who understood Ravi and being convinced that his attitude toward him was a lie after having not seen him for five years especially irked me, and even worse

that the story proved him right

. He was entertaining at first, but the story became so distracted with the mystery that it forgot to give Dee time to reflect on himself. The most we got were a few moments of him thinking "I guess I don't know this person who I've only spoken to a handful of times in my life as well as I thought I did.", which, yeah, no shit. I empathize with Dee, as anybody who has been made to feel like a lowly outsider would, but ultimately he was mostly just self-centred and was mostly humanized through the six-year-old that was glued to his side for most of the story who

he nearly got killed anyway to literally go commit suicide

.
I promise I'm not normally a cynical reader, but I think it's fair to be put off by every other character spilling their guts to him or telling him that he was a good person when the story spent its first fifth establishing how much they were supposed to hate and distrust him.
Lastly, and this is really more of a personal issue than a writing one (maybe), but the reveal of

Wyatt having been Ravi all along

was not the triumph I think it was supposed to land as. I spent hundreds of pages

falling in love with Wyatt as a character, being happy that Dee stopped clinging to the childhood love he thought he knew, only for him to have been dead all along, with Ravi having lied to Dee, and to the audience the whole time. It devastated me. I was given zero time to mourn the boy who never existed as I was essentially told "oh well, it was Ravi the whole time so the emotions were still real!" as if that was supposed to fix the dissonance between the characters of Ravi and Wyatt in my head. And the fact that I was supposed to forgive Ravi in the last stretch of the book for having been in on the devastation that the plot was centered around felt like an extra slap in the face. Barely any thought was even given to the real Wyatt, only how he died.

Anyways, I know that I've complained a lot in this review, but overall it was a compelling read! The dialogue was well written and the conflict well-paced, if not slow to start. I am a locked tomb fan, and this story has quite a few similarities to it (so many so that I started keeping tally of all the comparisons I could make in my head), so overall I found it entertaining enough to finish in just a few sittings. Unfortunately, the devil is in the details, and the details are where this story falters most, outside of its core murder mystery plot.
(P.S. I want a prequel novella about Leofric and Lysander.)

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the_queer_bibliophile's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny inspiring mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Rating: 4/5 Stars

Thank you NetGalley and Harlequin for the eARC of this book. I ended up reading a physical copy I received at the ALA conference. All thoughts are my own. I gotta say, this book had me on my toes from the very beginning. I loved Dee from the start, his humor being very relatable to my own. I also love Grasshopper and some of the other side characters.

I loved how much they emphasized the importance of mental health in this book. And just the general belief of believing in yourself. This book overall was a good laugh and a good mystery novel. I definitely recommend it to those who enjoy mystery/fantasy themes and LGBTQ+ representation.

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hollowspine's review against another edition

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adventurous funny mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

This is a definite romantasy with an emphasis on the romance. Readers who want something a little spicy (but not too spicy) and who love classic romance tropes, like enemies to lovers, forced proximity/stuck together, and drunken games of 'never have I ever,' will find all that and more here, including a HEA. The other element is the mystery, which is similar to And Then There were None, only on a cruise ship rather than an island. Fans of snarky narrators will enjoy the feisty main character, Ganymedes, who is never without a quip no matter if the situation is a fusty dinner party, or witnessing a murder. The characters, representing the twelve political entities of the fantasy world, are a representation of POC, disabled and LGBTQIA+ folks. This romantasy mystery mashup is for fans of In Other Lands, and would lend itself to YA crossover readers. Fantasy readers who want very detailed world building and magic systems may feel let down. Avid mystery readers may figure out the puzzle early on in the story. While this is marketed for an adult audience the tone and characters are really more in line for YA readers. While this is in no way as good as Six of Crows, that's more what you're getting for character type, and romance spicy level in this book rather than the Magicians or A Marvelous Light. The characters, some of whom are in their late 30's read like teens.

This was not my cup of tea, I was really in it for the people dying on a cruise ship thing, but that wasn't the focus of the story. The more I thought about it the more I felt like I was reading a fanfiction about something I'd like, but where the author and I had very different ideas about situations to put the characters in. While I was interested in who would die next, and whodunit, this was much more a romance story than a mystery. Many pages were dedicated to developing a romance, which I was not on board with (see the pun!) at first, but eventually came around to, but then the twist happened and nothing made sense.

I had just accepted the fact that I was reading a romantasy with a slight murder mystery subplot and was if not loving the heavy use of romance tropes, I was at least agreeing to stay on the ride. Through the chapters dedicated to having the characters need to go to the baths (together because murderer is out there!), deciding they needed a break from investigating all the murders to get drunk and play never have I ever together (totally not going to get murdered when we're passed out!) and then smooch under a willow tree in a scene that was not not inspired by the little mermaid. I was still on the ride. I liked the two characters (enough) and wanted to see how it all panned out (also I was still really hopeful that the first character who died would come back because she seemed like she'd be really cool).

Then the author revealed a twist, that for me made all of those scenes very very weird. And not in a good way. The author also pretty much treated the twist like it made sense and the characters accepted it pretty much within a paragraph and were able to move forward with a this new/old/other romantic thing that just made absolutely no sense to me at all. I mean, it also solved the mystery, but in a really stupid way - basically Ganymedes the MC who has been playing detective this whole time, just has the murderers explain everything to him. It was kinda like the scene where the detective gathers everyone in the study for the big reveal, only it's the murderer revealing it to the detective.

Also, there is no justice in the story. The MC ends up with someone I would say is a psycho and he's like, "you complete me." It's bonkers. Lastly, way too much telling, and very little showing.

Content Warnings

katie_helf96's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

5.0

Fantastic fantasy novel! Join the twelve blessed of Concordia as they make the pilgrimage to the sacred mountain. The problem is that as soon as their vessel sets sail, bodies begin to pile up. As the twelve day voyage progresses, more and more blessed die. Ganymedes (our main character and underdog) attempts to solve the mystery and find out who or what is killing the blessed.

The only thing that I found a little too trite was the ending and how nearly the author wraps things up. I don’t think the ending would actually go down the way the author wrote it. However, I truly enjoyed all of the plot twists and this was a wonderful mystery/fantasy novel.

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bibliomania_express's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Today was the May long weekend here in Canada, and the weather has been warm and sunny. I went to a nearby park to read and enjoy the sunshine, and ended up reading my whole book.

Voyage of the Damned by Frances White is a sharp, quick-paced murder mystery that was everything I hoped it would be. Twelve Blesseds, each representing a province of the United Empire of Concordia, are on a voyage to the sacred mountain. Except Dee isn't Blessed - he's hiding his lack of power to protect his province. Then Dee has bigger things to worry about as one by one the Blesseds are murdered. Dee will have to figure out who the murderer is and what's going on before he ends up dead.

I had such a great time with this book. It has some great character work, a twisty mystery, an interesting magic system, and fantastic representation of different races, sexualities, body types, and disabilities. It also deals with classism, xenophobia, prejudice, religious bigotry, self-esteem, and the economics of control. Along with grief, love, family, found family, and corruption. Just a whole lot of stuff packed into an isolated, closed circle murder mystery on a boat.

Dee was a great protagonist and it was fun to follow him through his resentment and self-loathing at the lie foisted upon him to finding his true self and working his way through the clues. Dee is loud, proud of his big body, funny while using humour as deflection, and in many ways his idgaf nature is what saves the day. There's also a romance element in this book, which went some unexpected ways a few times.

I liked how the Blessings were tied into the plot, and how the story unravelled by revealing bits about each character and their pasts. It did get a bit confusing that characters had names but were also called their province's animal name.

I did guess some elements of the solution, but not all of it. I'm not sure if I would class this as a fair play mystery since some of the clues come rather late and deal a lot with the politics and secrets there wouldn't be a way of knowing.

I'd have more to say, but it would all be spoilers, so I'll leave it there.

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