Thank you to Penguin Random House and Frances White for the opportunity to ARC read Voyage of the Damned in exchange for a fair review. This was a fun read for me - I loved the combination of fantasy, mythical and murder mystery. It was weird and whacky setting, but I actually really enjoyed the mix up. A diverse range of characters representing something for everyone reading. A fun, good paced read that I would say is YA than adult with a punchy plot.

Murder mystery Poirot style, murder on a cruise, what more do I need? I adore books set on water and this one did not disappoint. I needed to know who what where why and when at every moment and honestly could not put this down. I am so glad a certain book box has this as a pick as I am so excited! I do agree this would be a more YA book, it just didn't have the adult feel.

Oh, I absolutely fell in love with Voyage of the Damned, and really didn’t want it to end! This is my first 5* read of the year, and it’ll be a book I’ll be recommending to fantasy-lovers all year long. A wonderful mix of fantasy setting and genuinely complex murder mystery, that balances plot progression and wider world-building masterfully well.

Each leader of the 12 provinces of Concordia, known as their province’s ‘Blessed’ leader, is attending a private voyage on the Emperor’s ship, in a celebration intended to draw the provinces together and forge friendships between their leaders. What occurs instead is a classic whodunnit scenario, with the surviving leaders trapped together for the rest of the voyage, knowing a killer is among them. I’ve never been great at solving even the simplest of whodunnits in novels, and it’s safe to say I didn’t stand a chance here – I’d genuinely be amazed if anyone works the whole plot out on their first readthrough!

Ganymedes is a great protagonist for the novel, and he perfectly subverts a common fantasy trope to boot; he has not inherited blessed status, but as Fish province’s only (legally sanctioned) heir, he must pretend that he has for the duration of the voyage. Since Ganymedes is an outcast within the group, we can get to know more about all the suspects seamlessly through his eyes. The process of establishing characters and motives whilst learning who everyone is reminded me a lot of Gideon the Ninth, though I must say I found the character names stuck with me much easier in Voyage of the Damned! Assigning an animal to each province and Blessed leader is clever, as it really helped keep in mind who all the characters are without getting lost. A few of these animals felt a little stereotypical, but for the most part the animals weren’t solely relied upon to develop each character. Similar to the Hunger Games, you mainly hear about Concordia’s different provinces through their ‘blessed’ leaders, and I think there would be lots of potential to explore the world of Concordia further in any future novels.

An angle I didn’t expect the book to explore so extensively (and so well, it must be said) is the topic of depression and low self-esteem. Ganymedes is not the most stable of characters in that respect, but I found Frances White’s approach to showing how these mindsets can manifest themselves to be excellently well crafted. Though trigger warnings must be attached for those who find themselves affected by anxiety and depression, the care with which these triggers were included honestly left me feeling warm inside.

If the Fantasy and Mystery genres were to ever have a lovechild, this would be the result. Voyage of the Damned is one big murder mystery set on a cruise with dodgy politics and gay romance. Oh, and magic. It has a little bit of something for everybody! Nearly all of the action takes place on a boat in the middle of the ocean, so it is technically a big gay locked-room murder mystery cruise. With magic. I mean, come on! What's not to like!

The plot, as mentioned above, it a locked-room (or boat, in this case) mystery, with several twists and unexpected deaths. For all the joking around, it is actually very clever but not in a smarmy, rub-your-nose-in-it kind of way. I think the main reason it is able to pull it off is the main character. Told in the first person POV, Dee is the Blessed of Fish province. He is bubbly, outrageous and completely unblessed. He uses humour to cover his insecurities and is unlucky in love. He is not a very reliable narrator but he does make it fun to read. His compassionate shielding of Grasshopper and their subsequent friendship is sweet. The other characters are outrageously stereotypical according to their province but I think they are meant to be like that. It helps to highlight the snobbery and pretension of the upper classes and provide a little social commentary along the way.

I though this was a very smart and clever book. I loved the genre mash-up and thought it worked really well here. The prose was clean and not too flowery and the plot kept me intrigued to the very end. There were some minor gripes along the way, one being the relationship reveal towards the end of the book. I'm not sure why, but I was a little disappointed with that. I am probably very much on my own there but it is what it is (I need someone who has read it to talk to! So many spoilers!). Other than that, it was an excellent read about social snobbery and the not-so subtle effects of grief. Add that beautiful cover and this is a book I would very much recommend.

An entertaining murder mystery with loveable and real characters.

However, the target audience feels a little confused as this reads very YA despite being marketed as Adult. The worldbuilding could have been expanded to be clearer.

What a lovely and human story! There’s heartbreak, intrigue, romance, magic, grief, humour, and a nice dose of Found Family!!

The plot: Concordia has been able to maintain peace among its provinces for a millennium. To celebrate this remarkable achievement, the emperor's ship sets sail on a twelve-day voyage towards the sacred Goddess's Mountain. On board are the heirs of the twelve provinces of Concordia, each of whom possesses a unique and secret magical ability known as a Blessing, except Ganymedes, who is compelled to deceive everyone about his absent Blessing at the behest of his father.
During the journey, the most powerful heir is murdered and the murderer strikes again and again, leaving everyone a suspect. As the bodies pile up, Ganymedes must step up and become the hero he never thought he could be. Can he identify the killer and their Blessing before he or his friends become the next victim?

Honestly, the worldbuilding, plot, and character development in this book are all top-notch. I can hardly believe that this is a debut novel - it's that good!

If you're looking for an engaging read that will keep you on your toes, you absolutely have to check this one out!

Thank you to Penguin Random House for providing an arc in exchange for a review!

Okay, this was a lot of fun to read. A murder mystery in a fantasy setting where people have magical "blessings" besides from the protaganist Ganymedes. The worldbuilding was decent with the various provinces that the 12 heirs to each province who are on the ship and keep getting killed off.

I'd say it's a solid 4/5 because while it's a fun book which I enjoyed reading, a few bits didn't work for me. I agree with the other reviews that it reads more like a YA than adult fiction and while that's not necessarily a bad thing, I'd rather it was advertised as YA just so I know what to expect.

really enjoyed how the book introduced us to the world and its different provinces, showcasing the class divisions that exist within them. The character Pissfish had me in stitches many times throughout the story. The plot begins with us being on a boat for 14 days, and then a murder mystery unfolds involving the blessed ones who have unique magical gifts. With time running out, we must work together to solve the murders. The beginning of the book is fast-paced, but the middle slows down a bit for character development.

All of the heirs except for one, Dee, have a Blessing. Dee's lack of a Blessing is a secret he must keep from the others. Despite the other heirs having Blessings, they are unable to prevent the subsequent murders. This leaves Dee to wonder about his own chances of survival. However, he soon shows an unforeseen capacity for deductive thinking, which gives him an advantage in solving the mystery. The urgency of the situation gives him a newfound clarity, and he realizes that this is a matter of life and death.

I really enjoyed this book!

Dee and Grasshopper are amazing! The humour was a very nice surprise, there were parts that made me literally laugh out loud.

The mystery was intriguing and kept me hooked throughout. The world building is brilliant, I was completely submerged in the provinces, and the political and personal feelings all the blessed had for each other. I couldn't get enough of learning more about all these characters and where they came from.

This is a perfect standalone, I felt engrossed in the world, connected to the characters and the ending was very satisfying. Of course I want to know more but I like how the author handled it also.

This was a debut! I will be following this author, I look forward to what she brings us next.

Thank you to Netgalley, the author and publisher for an eARC copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

During a twelve-day voyage to a sacred Mountain a murder takes place and everyone on board is a suspect. The only people on board are the heir's to Concordia's 12 provinces, each with a magical blessing. Its the reluctant Ganymedes the slacker of the group who reluctantly tries to solve the mystery and may even save the empire.

I loved this book so much. Ganymedes was such a fun character who had me laughing and crying. The mystery had twists and turns ibhadn't expexted and the magic system was really interesting. With the added sprinkle of a romance blossoming it was almost perfect and had ne up to the early hours as I had to know what happened next! HIGHLY RECOMMEND

This was a very fun read! I went into this with zero expectations but the title and synopsis sounded very intriguing. 'Voyage of the Damned' tells the story of Ganymedes, called Dee by his admittedly very few friends. He's the heir to the ruler of Fish Province, one of twelve provinces of an empire called Concordia and also the most unimportant one. He spends most of the book on a ship with the other eleven heirs, all of whom have not only inherited a title but also the magical powers of their parents, the so-called Blessing. All of them but Dee, that is. When the heirs start dying left and right on their voyage, Dee seems to be the only one interested in finding out what the hell is going on. Murder mystery shenanigans ensue.
Dee is a very fun protagonist who talks to much, is a chubby bisexual boy, is very insecure about his own worth and has very few actual friends and also suicidal tendencies. He's a lot more complex than he seems to be at first, and I really enjoyed following him. The side characters aren't all too fleshed out, but I enjoyed most of them too - especially the adorable grasshopper heir. The plot is engaging, although a little slow-paced in the middle part, and the murder mystery kept me hooked. I got the feeling that anyone could die at any moment, and it kept me on my toes.

It's not a perfect book though and there are some things I didn't enjoy. The writing sometimes veers into ridiculous, and one of the first pages has a line about how "walking away from explosions" is undeniably cool (please don't do this, authors. Pretty sure Dee doesn't watch modern action movies) which made me worry that I was reading One Of Those Books. The prose is rather basic and the humour sometimes gets a little too much and thus becomes a bit unfunny. The world building is also not incredibly well done, there's really not that much to Concordia at all. Most of what we do learn we get told by other characters when they inform Dee about what's happening in their province, and it's a little weird that major empire-shifting events are happening without Dee, as part of the ruling class of one of the provinces (even though officially an insignificant one) knowing any of it.
There's also a rather obvious twist that I was kind of hoping wouldn't happen, but I can see some people really loving it. With that twist comes a revelation that, basically (no spoilers), the murders could have been stopped early on but weren't for purely plot reasons that made no sense. The ending is also rather rushed when compared to the slower-paced journey before.

But still! This was a fun and engaging quick read that made me smile a lot. You shouldn't think too hard about what's happening, and you definitely shouldn't expect a real adult fantasy (this VERY much reads like YA in absolutely every way). You probably won't remember the book in a few years but it's the perfect little getaway for a cozy weekend at home. 3,5 stars, gladly rounding up.

3.5

The concept for this book is brilliant and there should definitely be more fantasy/murder mysteries out there. Agatha Christie meets Sarah J Maas is a mashup I never knew I needed. We’re reading this from the viewpoint of Dee, a twenty-something guy from one of the lower provinces who is treated accordingly. A.k.a like crap. His narration is irreverent and funny although it can wander into slightly annoying occasionally. I really warmed up to him though, especially when he took Grasshopper, a six year old blessed who is equally cute and terrifying, under his wing.

The murder mystery plot was really well executed and had some clever twists I didn’t see coming. The diversity of the characters was brilliant and we had LGBTQIA+ rep as well as disability rep.

My main issue was the fact that it was written very YA and I felt the dialogue and world building was very simplistic. It was sold as an adult book but Dee comes across as a teenager most of the time and character interactions very much read Young Adult. This is just personal preference and maybe if I knew it was more YA going into it, I wouldn’t have had a problem.

I still had a lot of fun reading this one though and it contained my absolute favourite trope ‘found family’ or should that be ‘found swarm’?

"Voyage of the Damned" contains some great ideas. Unfortunately, for me, the whole thing (characters, plot, dialogue, setting) just wasn't cohesive enough to make this an enjoyable read. With an extra 100 pages or so, and some gentle tweaking, this could have been a very good book. I've no doubt plenty of others will get a kick out of it though.

My thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley. This review was written voluntarily and is entirely my own, unbiased, opinion.

I enjoyed Voyage of the Damned, even though it was a little outside the books I normally read.

There was great representation of a wide range of people, very diverse in terms of race, gender, sexuality, body shapes, disability etc., and an interesting magical and political world. The story was engaging as long as I could suspend my disbelief and not think about the mechanics of the succession of power too much. I liked the main character and was rooting for him.

I don't think this was an adult fantasy book really, more YA with swearing, but I had a good time.

I quite enjoyed this read! It was so refreshing to read a book not about a special MarySue or fae. It was a mystery read with fantasy woven into it..I can see this being made into a quirky movie since it was so engaging to read!

Absolutely did not expect this to be fun! At the beginning I felt like I'd wandered into such a weird reality, like a Chinese mythology. But this book blew me away with it's characters and the mystery. My suspicious on the murdered were completely wrong but I had fun trying to figure out who dunnit and the motives. Very Agathe Christie-esque murder mystery with a wonderful stage of fantasy at it's base.

Special thanks to Penguin Random House and Netgalley for providing me an advance copy of the ebook in exchange for an honest review!

3.5/5

Great potential, but poorly executed

Personally, I’ve enjoyed many aspects of this debut. The humour, the romance and the found family were my favourite parts. Objectively, there’s some critique to be made:

My main and biggest critique is the fact that this did not feel like an adult book. The plot, the writing, the magic system, all felt very YA. Which is not at all a bad thing, but I feel the book has been mismarketed as adult (the only adult-level things in the book are the gore and the swear words).

The magic system is very simplistic, and I couldn’t take it seriously when the characters called each other after their Province’s animal instead of their names. Dee being referred to as Fish or Ravi as Crow etc read very juvenile and felt more like rivalling high school teams than future rulers of a country. Dee’s POV was pretty funny and enjoyable, but it was overdone in some places.

That being said, I greatly enjoyed the relationship between Grasshopper, Dee and Wyatt. I love everything found family, and the author really nailed this trope. The romance was also very cute and that reveal at the end was a pretty cool way of handling it. I can't say more about it because spoilers, but it really was the highlight of the book for me.


All in all, I would recommend this as a fun, casual read. For a debut it’s very promising, but still needs a lot of work.

I will start by saying I was given an advanced reader copy in return for an honest review

I was drawn to the book for the cover art and hooked by the blurb.

I wanted to know more about Concordia. I especially wanted to know more a about These so called chosen ones or The Blessed and their powers. Who were they ? Why did they have these powers ?

Then I met Ganymedes Piscero . He wants nothing to do with being blessed. He wants nothing to do with anything accept eating and drinking. So when he fails to escape being on the ship bound for the blessed mountain with all the other Blessed he comes up with a cunning plan. Make them all dispise him and see him as incompetent. That done he will be stripped of his position. That done he will be free to live his life....then the murders start.

Now he has to gather his friends and his wits and hope he can survive .

The story is amazing , the history of the world is deep and beautiful. I found in each of the characters something that I could identify with that made them more real for me.

This is a fast paced read with some moments that make you want to cry and some that will make you laugh out loud. This was a perfect read for a raining Saturday afternoon

With its gorgeous blue and gold cover and a tag line like Magical. Gay, Mystery. Cruise. I could not resist requesting an ARC of Voyage of the Damned, the exciting debut from Frances White. Blending elements of a traditional locked room style mystery with the fantastical worked really well, and I think fans of both genres will find something to enjoy in this hybrid.
As part of a ritual celebration the heirs of each of the twelve provinces of the land of Concordia embark on a voyage aboard the Emperor's magical ship, headed for the sacred Goddess's mountain. Each of the heirs has a unique magical "Blessing" except one, our protagonist Ganymedes Piscero , heir of the lowliest "Fish " province, who is desperately hiding the fact that he has not inherited his father's Blessing, fearing that if it becomes public knowledge his family's position will come under threat. The hope is that on the twelve day voyage the heirs will learn to work together despite some long standing animosities between the so called upper and lower provinces. When one of the heirs dies on the first night under suspicious circumstances, the only suspects are the rest of the heirs since they are the only living beings on board the ship. As the body count starts to mount and the number of surviving suspects starts to dwindle , Dee (as Ganymedes prefers to be known) is in a desperate race to find the killer before he becomes the next victim.
This was such a great read, blending the best of both genres with a well plotted mystery that definitely kept me guessing and a wonderfully diverse fantasy world with great world building and even better characters. Admittedly our protagonist, Dee, takes a little warming up to , but as we learn more about his family history and the lowly position that his province occupies in the hierarchy of Concordia. It was great to see him step up and take on the challenge he was faced with, despite not being what many would consider a stereotypical hero figure. My absolute favourite character however was Grasshopper, the youngest heir and a cute but at times terrifying six year old who believes things are either "to kill" or "to love" and who soon becomes Dee's sidekick, sometimes despite his best efforts.
My first read of 2024 has set the bar very high indeed.
I read and reviewed an ARC courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher , all opinions are my own.

Each of the 12 provinces that make up Concordia have played their part in maintaining the peace during a golden era of 1000 years - even if not always contributing, or being perceived to contribute, equally. To celebrate the achievement, the heirs to each of the provinces are invited to participate in a very special journey as the Emperor's ship undertakes a voyage to the Goddess's Mountain.

Unfortunately, that prized era of peace seems about to crash and burn when one of the heirs is murdered on the trip. And so kicks off this locked room mystery on the seas.

All but one of the heirs - the incorrigible Ganymedes aka Dee - has a special magical gift known as a Blessing. Though Dee's lack of one is a dark secret he must keep from the others. Still, their Blessings do not prevent the subsequent murders of other scions on the ship.

So what are Dee's chances? As it turns out, not as bad as you might think because he is about to demonstrate an unforeseen capacity for deductive thinking. After all, it is amazing just how much clarity the imperative to survive can grant a person (particularly without a blessing, thanks to your father's Casanova tendencies meaning it has probably gone to an unknown half sibling!) . And since if ever there was a situation of life and death, this must surely be it...

This is an enjoyable adventure with a murder mystery at its heart and well-developed characters. It is fun to see the reluctant hero forced to step up to the plate, against inclinations he has nurtured all his life. The murders are cleverly delivered, building the reader's curiosity to find out whodunit. And I loved the little Grasshopper girl role. All in all, an entertaining read.