Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Voyage of the Damned by Frances White

10 reviews

laios's review against another edition

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dark 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? Yes

2.5


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thereadingbanshee's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0


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ribbonquest's review against another edition

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

3.5

More brutal violence than I was expecting and incredibly anime feeling. Everyone represents an animal, Fruits Basket zodiac style, and have different rainbow hair colors. The cast is very diverse, which flips back and forth between contrived and just a sign of how screwed up this world/system of governance is.

The youngest passenger is an adorable six-year-old so if "child on murder boat" raises any red flags for you, look into content warnings or just skip this one.

It's engaging but not for me.

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amyvbxx's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5


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rubyredders's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful 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

4.75

This book does NOT go big into details on the magic system or hitting you with the history of the world or even how the weird weather patterns work but you know what I DO NOT CARE - I didnt come here for high fantasy Tolkien level world building. I came here for the murder mystery with fantasy elements and I got that.

It's very locked room murder mystery ala And Then There Were None, with everyone on board the ship being a chosen magic user for their respective area and the deaths start thick and fast. Trying to figure out the murder mystery was fun.
I was watching those dead bodies mount up like which of you are fake dead I know one of you must be because Mrs Christie has my mind always looking for that false lead and I WAS RIGHT


So many of the characters are endearing and the representation is insane. We got queers of every flavour, trans rep, a wheelchair user and a chronic pain sufferer with long term illness. Plus every one of them is some variety of messed up. These people have suffered, are suffering and are causing suffering to each other. 

Our main character Ganymedes (Dee) sometimes comes across a bit younger than he is in the writing, but I can excuse it because, again, all these characters are going through it and clearly living a different life from the average person. He did have some great moments of maturity though
How he describes his meetings with the Crabs and others reactions to them, his care for Grasshopper and the chess match! Dee's biggest strength is how much everyone underestimates him due to his purposely off-putting behaviour


There was a romance subplot that I shan't say more about because spoilers
it was sweet, is all I'll say


The ending wrapped everything up while leaving the future open to interpretation. 

I'll be keeping my eye out for the authors future works because this is a very strong start. 

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inkysplodge's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional funny mysterious fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0


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persephonefoxx's review against another edition

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adventurous funny mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

We can get murdered tomorrow. Tonight, we party.

It’s giving Danganronpa in the best way possible. 

It probably says a lot about me, but I love a fun murder mystery. And God, this book was so fun. An ensemble cast of super powerful teenagers and young adults (and one amazingly insane six-year-old) stuck on a murder cruise? Filled with politics divides, generational disputes, social expectations and pressures, dangerous secrets, and loves worth killing and dying for? A perfect cocktail mystery, magic, and so much murder. 

There were multiple times this book had me screaming. As in book closed, turning to my wife, ‘omg omg omg’ screaming. (Let’s just say a certain scene pertaining to secrets and fingers will go down as one of my top ten favourite scenes of all time.) And while I had a pretty solid idea of who was doing the killing by the time we entered the final quarter (thanks to obsessive autistic pattern recognition and a very quickly diminishing suspect pool), there were twists and turns in the final quarter of this book that had me going feral. 

And I can’t talk about this book without talking about the oodle and oodles of representation. Causal and expansive queer representation in an incredibly well thought out queer normative fantasy setting. Not to mention the additional disabled, plus sized, POC, and chronically ill representation across the cast of multifaceted weirdos. Plus it gets mad props for including the most accurate line about bisexuality I have ever read: “why do I want women to beat me up and men to gently embrace me?” Same Dee. Same.

TL:DR - This book was so much fun. Dripping with representation in an ensemble cast of well-rounded and loveable (and sometimes hate-able) characters. (Nergüi really is ‘that bitch’ and I love them.) It is a rollercoaster of murder, mystery, romance, magic, and friendship. A story of self-discovery, self-worth, and kindness. I loved this book, and I fear my wife will have to listen to me ramble about it for some time to come.

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moonchild_cos's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0


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sarahna's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0


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keya_caivalur's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5


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