My opinion of this book would remain the same whether I was 50 pages in or nearing its ending; that is, I was 50 pages in and bowed out early. Somewhere between squinting my eyes at the world-building and attempting to t̶o̶l̶e̶r̶a̶t̶e̶get along with Dee, I’d actually reached my limits. Even the promise of a gay murder mystery wasn’t enough.

However, I am clearly in the minority and I’m glad that many others have a much better time on the cruise ship than I did. This book will find its readers among those who are looking forward to a magical fun time and a cast of diverse personalities. I was just in it for that gays and I got that, alright.

https://lynns-books.com/2024/01/04/voyage-of-the-damned-by-frances-white/#comments
4.5 of 5 stars
My Five Word TL:DR Review : What Can I Say? Briliant

I absolutely loved Voyage of the Damned. I had such a good time reading this, it’s easy to engage with, I loved the MC and it’s one of those books that I just want to give a big hug to. This is a locked room mystery onboard a ship where the body count keeps mysteriously rising. Is anybody safe and will anyone make it to the end of this ill fated journey?

Concordia has lived in peace for over a thousand years. Each of it’s twelve provinces are responsible for providing something either by way of supplies, food and energy, protection and keeping the boundaries safe or the powerful magic of the Emperor who helps to maintain those borders. Each of the regions receives a gift from the Goddess, known as a blessing, only one gift is received to each region (which I guess narrows down on any squabbles between rival blessed) and the gift jumps from the parent to the child – if there’s more than one child there’s no particular way of knowing which child this will pass to which is why our main character is in such bother. His parents had one child only, assuming that kept them safe in the knowledge of who would receive the blessing, however,lets just say the father was something of a lothario and it turns out he had more children than his wife was aware of. This is how the story begins, with the introduction of Ganymedes Piscero, who is about to embark on a journey to the sacred Goddess’s Mountain, absent any form of blessed gift to protect him from the other eleven passengers.

Ganymedes or Dee as he is known, is part of his father’s deception to keep his none Blessed status a secret. Unfortunately the gift Dee expected has clearly jumped to one of his unknown half brothers or sisters. As you may imagine, he’s not thrilled at the prospect of a twelve day journey surrounded by other heirs who he will not only need to con into believing he is similarly gifted, but also putting into place his cunning plan to get the others to have him thrown out of their circle entirely. On top of this, lets just say that not all the provinces share equal status. So, for example, we have the tigers, responsible for protecting the Beloved (the Emperor and his children).

The nature of each province is told through the history of the Goddess and the way her gifts were bestowed so I won’t elaborate on it here. Other than to say that Dee comes from the fish province, one of the lowliest and least respected even though they are effectively responsible for feeding Concordia. I would also mention that the gifts or Blessings differ from generation to generation and their nature is quite fiercely guarded. So, we have a bunch of young people, some acting like entitled a-holes, some trying to curry favour, some really not giving a damn and not caring less about acceptance by their peers and one in particular trying to keep his secret – never quite realising just how many secrets are being kept onboard the Emperor’s vessel. And then the murders begin.

I loved this. The writing is so easy, it’s entertaining, there’s the mystery element and a lot of unusual red herrings bandied around, it’s funny and witty but on top of this the chracters are the key element that really won me over.

Dee is a wonderful character. He has a low self opinion and he’s one of those people who is very self deprecating, he truly doesn’t understand his own worth or see the way others see him. I loved the way he becomes so protective of some of the other passengers, particularly a young girl (6 yo) from the Grasshopper province who is a bundle of energy but also seems to be a target for the murderer, and a boy who is dying from an untreatable disease from the Bear province (who is a source of embarassment to his own family because of his weakness).

I have to hand it to the author. The characters are all well rounded. They all have secrets that haunt them and dictate their behaviour and although some appear to be more well favoured this is a great case for how appearances can be deceptive.

On top of this we have the clever whodunnit element. I was definitely jumping around suspecting the world and his wife with this one and I can’t deny I didn’t see the twist – well twists actually – in the tale. I have to applaud that.

Overall, I’m not going to say much more. I thoroughly enjoyed this. It’s the perfect blend of murder mystery and fantasy and it doesn’t have a tacked on fantasy feel where certain elements have been thrown in simply to garner a particular audience. This book is well grounded, the dialogue is just brilliant, I nearly snorted coffee out of my nostrils at one point (not a pretty thing tbh and possibly tmi), there’s a cosy feel to it (even though the body’s really start to stack up) and I don’t know how the author managed it but it’s also so emotionally satisfying.

Overall, this was one of the last books I read last year and I could hardly put it down.

I received a copy through Netgalley, courtesy of the publisher, for which my thanks. The above is my own opinion.

VOYAGE OF THE DAMNED is a twisty murder mystery in a fantasy world where twelve heirs who hate each other are sent on a cruise, and things get stabby.

I loved how this book took the tropes of a mystery where the victims are isolated with a murderer somewhere without help (thus bodies pile up and there's nowhere to escape) and brought it into a fantasy setting. Then there's all the political considerations of the fantasy world and the characters' magic. It's a great mash up of the two genres.

It had me guessing the entire time, and I loved the way it ended. It was very satisfying finding out the who and horrifying to discover the why (and then got a bloody fantasy fight at the end rather than a "the suspect is taken away" to further play into the genre mash up.)

Dee is a fabulous hero. He struggles with having any belief in his own self worth, he's the least important of the lot, and he's not a strapping, muscley lad able to hold his own in a fight. He's so relatable for this, and so you're cheering him along his journey (and also his attempts not to die...)

Grasshopper is also adorable. She's a little six year old with a "kill and eat, or love something" mentality. She's bloodthirsty in a very innocent way of not understanding the full consequences of killing something. Plus she's full of love for Dee and you just want to protect her from everything.

In all, a fabulous debut and I look forward to what Frances White writes next.

Voyage of the Damned was a fantastic murder mystery taking place on a cruise. It had interesting characters and the overall plot was intriguing.

Discovering the murderer(s) was fun and the twists were great. Also the worldbuilding was well written, considering it was all portrayed from a ship through Ganymedes narrative and the dynamics between characters. I really enjoyed this with all the plot twists and unique storytelling.

The character work was excellent as each dynamic had something to add to the mystery and murders taking place.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an arc in exchange for an honest review.

Voyage of the Damned is hands down one of the best books I read last year! A huge thank you to Frances for sending me an ARC, I am beyond grateful!
This book is essentially a locked-room mystery with fantasy elements and seriously has everything you could want - magic, mystery, humor, romance, and even delicious found family vibes.

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?

Ganymedes (or Dee, as he likes to be called) is an absolute riot. He's hilarious, chaotic, and a total queer underdog that you can't help but root for.
Every character in the book is hiding a deep, life-changing secret, which makes it nearly impossible to tell whether what you're seeing is related to the murders or not. It's a total trust exercise, and let me tell you, I was sure I knew what was going on until I was proven completely wrong!

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!

A mystery with a main character who is just the best narrator.

I loved the writing and the plot. The characters and back stories unravelled slowly on this cruise ship as the mc's lover is murdered alongside another passenger. Although the plot was cool, the pacing was quite slow. The word pissfish is now permanently engraved in my brain and I quite enjoyed being in the mc's head. The magic system was very interesting and I enjoyed how the story starts off quickly and we get into the nitty gritty bits.

Overall, a fun, niche read with a magical mystery!

Unique Murder Mystery with a twist of Fantasy

I was certainly drawn by the synopsis of this book as well as the beautiful artwork on the cover.

Although I found this novel a little lengthy, I thoroughly enjoyed the fantastical world of Concordia created by the author and the murder mystery voyage aboard a ship that ensued.

I enjoyed the make up of the characters, especially the lead Ganymedes who I came to love the more I read. A great mix of fun, love, relationships, mystery, wit and of course murder.

A very clever debut novel with a hint of magic. Well worth a read.

Thank to the author, publisher and NetGalley for this ARC.

#voyageofthedamned #franceswhite @michaeljbooks @penguinukbooks

To celebrate a thousand years of peace in Concordia, a ship embarks on a journey to the sacred Goddess’s Mountain. Onboard, the heirs of the twelve provinces, each blessed by the Goddess with a unique magical gift. But one of them holds a terrible secret. Ganymedes, the heir of the weakest Fish province, has no power of his own and has spent his life lying. When the Emperor’s heir dies in mysterious circumstances, everyone becomes a suspect...

Voyage of the Damned is an exciting murder mystery with elements of fantasy. As the characters are stuck on the ship, isolated from the outside world and unable to get off, they soon become suspicious of others and slightly paranoid. The story is full of humour, plot twists, secrets, and political intrigues, as Concordia is plagued by internal conflict, not to mention outside enemies. I found all the characters vivid and fascinating. Also, the author did a fantastic job at inclusion, as we have race, gender, trans, plus size, gay, disability and chronic illness representation. On top of that, it did not feel forced in any way, as all the characters were meticulously crafted.

To sum up, I really enjoyed reading this novel.

Can you call a murder mystery 'feel-good'? I'm gonna. Voyage Of The Damned is the kind of fantasy where even the cruellest of characters has redeeming qualities, everybody cares deeply for somebody.

To begin with I thought getting a grip on twelve different provinces and their twelve scions would be a struggle, but after the initial introduction Frances makes it easy to follow the who's, where's and why's. The entire plot takes place on a ship with only the scions onboard and most are referred to by their province rather than actual names.

I adored main character Dee/Ganymedes aka Pissfish. Entering the stage with the sole purpose of annoying everyone around him, he bares all (quite literally on occasion) with zero fucks given to anybodies opinion. Watching the underdog evolve from wanting to slink away from the world to becoming the hero and protector of it was a joy.

Voyage Of The Damned is quite a lengthy book but the mystery was so well written and the characters so intriguing that I didn't notice the time pass. I will say the ending although heartwarming was silly.

I think White struggled to define the audience for this novel; the coloured hair, rainbows, young characters and animal named provinces gave a juvenile vibe but the language and sexual content was more adult, shutting the book outside of either camp.

White pours emotion into the characters and I laughed out loud several times whilst reading (which is uncommon for me), I thoroughly enjoyed this book as a whimsical twist on a murder mystery. You'll be disappointed if you take this seriously- just have fun.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC.

This was a really fun and twisty who-dunnit bottle episode, basically Murder on the Orient Express but with magic. Ganymedes is a great protagonist precisely because he isn't perfect - he gets scared, he gets sad, he gets depressed - but he still manages to do the right thing eventually. I also loved Grasshopper as a character and thw world-building is impressive for a novel that's mostly set on a ship. Very enjoyable, would recommend.

Murder mystery meets fantasy in this unexpectedly somewhat unique story. The twelve heirs of the states of Concordia are travelling by ship to an important ceremony. As the heirs to their respective states they each have their own blessing with the exception of the main character Dee who must keep this hidden at all costs. A closed room murder mystery this book keeps you guessing but also deals with a number of other issues such as class and prejudice. Although marketed to an adult audience this novels for me felt more YA although this didn’t spoil my enjoyment. There was a large cast of characters which did take me sometime to get to grips with.. I ended up writing a list to remind me initially but I soon managed to get everyone sorted. I’ll be interested to see what the author writes next. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC of this book in return for an honest review.

This book exceeded every expectation. Marketing (and the internet) have really focused on the murder mystery side of this but it is a fantasy at its core.

The worldbuilding was simplistic but effective. Essentially there are 12 provinces protected by a barrier y bfrom the monsters outside, with a 13th province as the enemy, who are left to fend for themselves. Each province has a spiritual leader who receives a “blessing” from the goddess to protect their province and these blessings are often kept secret. Our main character is faking being blessed but has to attend a summit with the other blessed on a cruise to a sacred mountain. During the cruise people keep getting murdered and it is up to our protagonist to investigate and discover who is doing it before they end up getting killed themselves…

I liked this. I liked our central protagonist, Dee/Ganymedes, an overweight joker who has to grow to fit the role of being a hero. I felt the secondary characters were well realised as well, especially Grasshopper, who was very realistic at being a 6 year old. I also liked that the book was really unashamedly queer and I rooted for the relationships.

The story seems to be a stand-alone which is refreshing because everything ties up at the end. Sometimes a book doesn’t need to be a series. It was quite a hefty book but it never felt that way because it was quite fast paced.

5/5 I have no complaints.

I had heard about this book as it's going to be featured in an upcoming illumicrate box but for some reason despite everything I had heard I didn't realise that this is a very fantasy heavy mystery. I really thought this was going to be an Agatha Christie sort of story with some mild magic elements but this is definitely a Fantasy Mystery with emphasis on the fantasy! The main character has a strong voice and an endearing (if crude) sense of humour. The plot has plenty of twists and turns but the conclusion makes sense and I was satisfied by the ending. I think fans of Gideon the Ninth will enjoy this one!

I have reviewed Viyage of the Damned by Frances White for book recommendation and selling site LoveReading.co.uk. I’ve chosen the title as both a LoveReading Star Book and Liz Pick of the Month. Please see the link for the full review.

I wanted to love this, I really did but I just couldn't get into it at all. I didn't connect with the characters and found the monologue of the main character to be a little annoying with the constant swearing every other sentence. It made it feel juvenile, like when a kid knows they shouldn't be swearing at home so they fill any sentence possible with it with friends.

There are however same sex relationships which is nice to see, and a diverse range of characters. I just wish I had been more interested in them!

Voyage of the Damned is a magical murder mystery which takes place at sea. Probably my favourite thing about this novel is the narrator which is incredibly unique and witty. The character of Ganymedes has probably one of the most distinctive voices that I have read for a long time and I really enjoyed it.

On the other hand, there were some aspects of this story that I didn’t 100% love. For example, some of the world building felt clunky and came across a little bit young for an adult story. The colourful hair of the characters and the fact that the provinces are named after animals felt like features of a YA novel rather than for adults as intended. I also felt as if some of the worldbuilding was just big dumps of information told to us by characters. I found this a bit disappointing and thought it could’ve been done in a way that was more interesting.

Despite the fact I thought there were some issues I think this is still a very good debut fantasy novel. I am very excited to see what Frances comes up with in the future.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC.

I really wanted to enjoy this book, but I couldn't get into the characters and I couldn't take the world building seriously.

A fantastic debut from Frances White!

Thank you to Netgalley and Michael Joseph (Penguin Random House) for providing me with an eARC of Voyage of the Damned in exchange for an honest review.

Voyage of the Damned is a quirky and magical murder mystery set aboard a ship. It is a locked-room mystery that is perfect for fans of Agatha Christie, Glass Onion, and those who also love a hint of fantasy. This book is charming, whimsical, and wonderfully gay.

12 heirs of their respective provinces come together on a 12 day journey to the mountain in which their goddess first bestowed her blessings upon them. A trip meant for celebration and honor quickly turns sinister when the body of one of the heirs is discovered. As bodies start piling up, our main character, Ganymedes, is on a mission to find out ‘whodunit’.

With each province having its own associated color, blessing (power), and animal representative, I just HAD to make a murder board to see if I could figure out the culprit along the way. (Note, the main character also makes a murder board and it was hilarious).

The heirs…aka the suspects...all have secrets, political motivations, and deeply seated backgrounds with one another which helped propel the story along. I had the hardest time trying to figure out who I thought the murderer was, which only made me want to read more.

It was so easy to get sucked into the story. It was both ridiculous and addictive and I just had to know what was going to happen next. There were also some lovely heartwarming moments that really tugged at the heartstrings along the way.

Our main character is seen as the lowliest of all the heirs and with secrets of his own, he really had nothing to lose. Watching him team up and make new friends while battling his life-long discrimination and bullying from others was very powerful to read. Throughout, Ganymedes was witty and chaotic and an easy character to both love and understand on a deeper level.

The first 10-20% is filled with a large amount of worldbuilding that I know some will dislike, but I had a great time learning about the world and the provinces. Since I was building my own murder board, the beginning was fantastic for helping me lay out the characteristics of the various heirs and understand the underlying political alliances and tenuous relationships.

Overall, I had a great time with this book. It was immersive, powerful, fun, and intelligent all at the same time. I loved the fantasy elements woven throughout the book and am so excited for others to pick it up when it releases in January (2024). I cannot wait to see what others think of this book because I think it has a good chance of being a top read of the year.

#voyageofthedamned #franceswhite @michaeljbooks @penguinukbooks

This many people getting murdered should not be so much fun! The main character, Dee, is gloriously outrageous, beautifully flawed, and immensely relatable: he made this book an absolute joy to read. And, of course, the nail-biting suspense kept me up at night...

I've seen it compared to Agatha Christie, and well, I guess you could make some plot comparisons with 'And Then There Were None'... but honestly, I'd rather read this any day. Reading Christie is like dissecting a corpse with a scalpel. This is more like sinking into a bubble bath and then finding it's laced with arsenic. I'd compare it more to The Goblin Emperor, or maybe A Taste of Gold and Iron.

Thank you to NetGalley and Michael Joseph, Penguin Random House for the advance reader copy.

I’ll start by saying I enjoyed reading this but don’t think it’s the best book I have read in a while.
It’s a fantasy style Agatha Christie murder mystery which happens on a boat whilst our passengers head for a celebration.

There are a few things I would have liked fleshed out more, such as the world building and the general ‘magic’ system. But otherall the who dunnit does keep you engaged.

Without having spoilers in this review, the conclusion and twist felt a little rushed and there seemed to be little repercussions for certain characters.
Otherwise a fun read.