Reviews

The Night Ship by Jess Kidd

kathedron's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

3.75

booksnake386's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark informative sad tense slow-paced

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

4.25

liz_mcc's review against another edition

5.0

4.5 rounded up. I had never heard of the Batavia and have been obsessively reading about this insane true story since I closed this book last night. I love Mayken and Gil and their stories are so gorgeously interwoven across centuries. Kidd's writing is magical and vivid and playful. I keep describing this book to anyone who will listen as "both delightful and melancholy". I found myself grinning at wholesome moments in the story and at Kidd's way with words throughout, just as I found myself fighting tears during the last lines of the final chapter. I knew this was a book about a shipwreck but I was somehow not prepared for how much this emotionally destroyed me. The back third got so bleak at times (in both storylines) that I worried I'd have to stop reading--it was borderline too much for me, which brought my rating down from a solid 5. I'll be thinking about this one for a long time and it has solidified Kidd as a favorite author of mine.

chandlery's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful reflective 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicide

kiddj2393's review against another edition

fast-paced

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.25

e_moynihan22's review against another edition

adventurous informative mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

3.25

jjsoupsworth's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

4.5

shoutout to this book for reaffirming my love of narratives that mirror each other. where the fresh hell is child services .

sofi0518's review against another edition

2.0

This was such a tedious book to get through. The characters in the dual timeline had no connection aside from location. I felt the story was disjointed and I couldn’t really ever get into it. I kept reading because I was hoping the something at the end would make sense. Alas, it did not. Two stars only because this was based on a true story that I had never heard before.

horsley123's review against another edition

4.0

A dual timeline featuring a young girl on a ship going to find her father in Batavia, and in the 1980's a boy on an Australian island. Both characters were interesting and likeable, but the link between the two was a bit tenuous. They are marooned on the same island, have the same magic stone and are scared of monsters, but I hoped that they would become more intertwined.
I did have to work at the last third, there is a whole lot of not much happening - which would be true of a long distance voyage but I don't necessarily want to live through it myself. Then suddenly the author must have rediscovered her plot notes as in the last 10% action comes thick and fast.
The stories were good, perhaps a little finesse on the editing would have made it great.

lindsaykjones's review against another edition

adventurous dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

2.0

I feel very mixed about this story. I loved the historical fiction part, but I never connected with the characters. I felt that I was reading it, but that the story was never becoming a part of me. I don’t want my review to dissuade others because some loved this book. It just wasn’t for me. 

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