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adventurous
emotional
funny
mysterious
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Suicide attempt
adventurous
lighthearted
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Let it be known, I had really high hopes for this novel. Its premise contained so much of what I loved: queer characters, a murder mystery, magic, a fantasy world. And White certainly wrote some fun moments that made the experience overall a solid romp—for instance, I adored Grasshopper and Tendai later on and there was some quirky dialogue that brought a smile to my face. However, the sum of the whole experience, especially after the major plot twist (aka when we found out Ravi was hiding as Wyatt this entire time) , left me wanting more. The characters felt a bit too one-dimensional, such that the later big reveals lacked the emotional punch they were meant to carry. I know that Dee *technically* has character development and learns to love himself, but did I really believe it? Not really—or rather I didn’t really feel it. Did I find his issues solved rather too neatly? Yes, yes I did. In addition, I found it a bit disappointing that many of the characters, who seemed actually interesting with interesting multi-dimensional potential, had to die. The world building felt a bit underdeveloped and at times seemed like a deus ex machina to more quickly resolve the story. And I could not root for the couple that we were supposed to root for. (I was truly disappointed when I found out Ravi was posing to be Wyatt because I found the development of Wyatt rising to support and love Dee a lot more interesting, than Ravi telling us that seeing Dee again somehow magically made him realize the error of his ways. I’m sorry, I don’t buy it. I think Dee forgave him too easily for everything he did—and I typically hate it when main leads drag out being angry at their love interest for no reason.) Overall I enjoyed it enough, but it wouldn’t be something I’d immediately jump at recommending to others.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Suicidal thoughts, Violence
Minor: War
adventurous
dark
funny
hopeful
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
To be scared and giggling in the same paragraph is impressive and makes for a wild ride of a book! Would highly recommend!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, Blood, Murder
Moderate: Bullying, Cursing, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Suicide attempt, Classism
Minor: Fatphobia, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Alcohol
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
slow-paced
“A twitch of a smile. ‘And that’s why you’re wrong. The hero isn’t the dragon. The hero is the fish.’ My arms drop. ‘The fish?’ ‘The fish did not have to share the burden. The fish could have survived without it. But it sacrificed itself because it saw the suffering of others. The world would have been doomed without the fish.’ She holds my gaze, her expression utterly serious. And in that moment, I am, for once, speechless.”
➽ I had a really fun time reading Voyage of the Damned! I was excited about this Fantasy debut and finally got the audiobook from my library. The story follows Ganymedes 'Dee' Piscero, the heir to one of Concordia's twelve provinces, as he embarks on their journey to the Goddess's Mountain. There's only one issue: Dee lied about having a Blessing, a magical talent that each heir inherits from their family. Not only does he have to pretend to be like anyone else, there's also a gruesome string of murders on board and no contact with the outside world before the journey ends!
➽ I liked Dee, as he had a funny, snarky character voice. I feel like not everyone will like Voyage of the Damned, as it's quite slow paced, but for me what matters most is the connection to the protagonist. In this case, I found Dee delightful and relatable. He has to lie to everyone on board because his father had a bunch of affairs, and one of his bastards might have inherited the Blessing. Unfortunately, the last time a bastard tried to usurp the throne, so now extramarital affairs are strictly forbidden. Every province is named after an animal, and Dee's home Fish Province is already considered to be at the bottom of the food chain. Therefore, he can't afford to let his secret out and is determined to make everyone else hate him, so he doesn't have to attend any further events. Dee is intentionally being as unlikable as possible, so no one gets close enough to find out his secret. He only opened up to his crush Ravi who promptly cut him off once he got attention from the higher provinces. I really felt for Dee, as he's considered a troublemaker and seen as worthless by the rest of his peers. Not only does he not fit in with them, Dee often feels like he's good for nothing.
➽ When the murders onboard start happening, it's up to Dee to find out who is responsible, because he might be next. He takes a young girl called Grasshopper under his wing, as she's the youngest Blessed and left terrified by the events. Their relationship was honestly so sweet and immediately endeared me to Dee, as he was so protective of her and became an older brother figure for her. While everyone else is looking down on his 6-year-old girl from a lower province, Dee sees how clever and funny she is. Later on, he's also joined by Wyatt, a sickly Blessed who also has stakes in this investigation and is one of the few people Dee trusts. I really liked how the divide between high and low provinces played into the conflict! Dee has always been called a 'pissfish', a derogatory slur for people of his province that shows how little the wealthier provinces value them!
➽ I thought that the ending could have been more satisfactory. The last part of the story lost me a bit as I was waiting for the payoff and didn't quite get what I hoped for. I was expecting a clever twist about the identity of the murderer and a shocking revelation about Concordia. I feel like the story was building up to a great reveal, as we've seen the disputes between the provinces and the dehumanisation of the people of Crab province, who have been shut off since their revolt. I just expected something MORE from the ending.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Terminal illness, Violence, Murder, War
Minor: Suicidal thoughts
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
mysterious
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Suicide attempt, Murder, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Terminal illness, Vomit, Classism
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Blood, Murder, Alcohol
Minor: Body shaming, Bullying, Suicidal thoughts
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
Frances White's debut novel Voyage of the Damned is an ambitiously plotted story that smoothly crosses over across a variety of different genres outside of its main fantasy classification. While definitively a fantasy novel due to its fantastical scale, magical powers and traditional fantasy-realm setting, the story is just as much a whodunit mystery thriller investigation tale (debatably even more than its fantasy-wrapping) as well as a lightly inspired queer romantasy (with asterisks around the romance). Comments summarizing Voyage of the Damned as an Agatha Christie novel dressed up in fantasy outfit is a decent comparison as it definitely gave me faint Murder on the Orient Express vibes, if the Orient Express was a grand and luxurious sailing vessel ala Death on the Nile. However, Voyage of the Damned’s ill-fated events also have compelling political ramifications to the growing body count and a wild last minute plot twist that can either make or break the reading experience depending on the reader’s suspension of disbelief. For me personally, it worked very well, and its ending managed to course-correct and explain nearly every potential plot hole or point of criticism I had while reading the novel. While White’s flavor of character narration occasionally skewed a bit too modern for my taste and the romantic elements often disrupted the overall tone and pacing, I’m more than willing to give them a pass for how solid the mystery thriller murder storyline was crafted and how well most of the other ideas were executed.
Per what’s unfortunately becoming more common in my reviews, let’s address a couple common points of criticism highlighted in many other reviews for this novel. One, the romance is bad and disappointing. While I cover this in more detail later in my review, Voyage of the Damned has a prominent romantasy-esque feel to it and is written in a similar tone to many books in the genre. However, this novel is clearly NOT intended to be a romance-forward fantasy story despite its presence and style. While Dee’s character narration and thirsty eye certainly have a romance flavor, it plays a supportive role in the story and is used primarily for Dee’s character growth and motivations. Second point, the fantasy peninsula kingdom of Concordia and magic system world-building is poor. This is a more complex point of criticism but my response to this is that the world-building is perfectly adequate and does everything it needs to do in order for its mystery thriller storyline and character motivations to work. Unlike traditional fantasy adventure epics, Voyage of the Damned could care less about the time or place of the story as well as the specifics to the Blesseds’ magical powers as these are not relevant to the events and investigation on the Dragon’s Dawn, the Emperor’s ship. What the novel does provide is detailed inter-province politics, the inequality between the upper and lower groups, and magic system details that directly contribute to the culprit’s actions and end goal. These two common points don’t sit well with me as they both seem to criticize the novel for subject areas and priorities it likely wasn’t intended to cover. Additionally, the world-building and continuity details are excellent but require the reader to actually finish the story. Disregard any reviews for this novel that are marked as DNF’s as the last 20% of the book is crucial at tying together all the loose plot threads and themes. On the spoiler-included version of this review on my reading blog, I have an entire section that summarizes my negative impressions felt mid-way through that were fixed or addressed by the end of the book.
With those points aside, Voyage of the Damned has a lot going on, but it’s constantly a refreshing and entertaining ride- erm voyage. While the Kingdom of Concordia is often mentioned, particularly the location and terrain of each province which directly tie in to each other’s political relations, the bulk of the story takes place on a grand, self-sailing, magical ship that makes for a fun and unique setting, not to mention an isolated location cut off from outside help. The ship’s timeless aesthetic has just the right amount of magical qualities that give the story its fantasy vibe while still being appropriately sized for multiple murder scenes. A map is provided for the ship’s various room locations but isn’t really needed due to the simplicity of the story’s plot, though the map of Concordia is very helpful. With magical elements involved, brief spurts of action, and a lot of strategic planning and investigating, there’s a lot to like that will satisfy a huge variety of readers. White’s writing style and tone is also very modern and highly accessible, no doubt explaining why it was popular and trending on booktok.
I briefly touched on this earlier, but one area Voyage of the Damned does particularly well is the way it seamlessly integrates its world-building with the story. With Concordia divided into twelve different provinces (thirteen if you count the area beyond the Bandage border) each represented by a Blessed heir, there’s a lot of material to convey on top of introducing and balancing its huge cast of characters. Remarkably, the story never gets bogged down with world-building and does a consistently great job of introducing relevant details when narratively appropriate. While the main character Ganymedes “Dee” isn’t necessarily ignorant of all of Concordia’s matters, his distaste for the role he is shoved into properly explains his limited knowledge of many traditions and blessed mechanics, allowing the reader to learn along the way with him. The details and clues are presented in a gradual manner, and White does a great job at carefully managing how much the reader is left in the dark at all times without feeling like she’s making up stuff on the fly (compare that to some of my recent reads like Quicksilver or Gideon the Ninth that are far less successful at this).
Though it takes some time to get there, Voyage of the Damned hits its stride once the beloved and powerful heir to the emperor is found dead, her body dramatically crashing down from the elegant ballroom’s ceiling. The murder mystery thriller storyline and investigation are easily the best and most impressive element of the novel for me. Unlike many other murder mysteries, the deaths have seemingly conflicting details/MO’s, and the story also immediately eliminates the possibility of an outside culprit early-on which only intensifies the stakes. One important thing to note is unlike a traditional mystery thriller, the focus isn’t so much as how the killer murdered each heir but why they were targeted. With every heir having some sort of magical power that may or may not be widely known, each new death ups the ante on the culprit’s motivation and goals, and not about the manner of death. As an experienced mystery thriller genre reader, I found this focus fascinating and a nice change of pace. Dee’s investigation is a slow burn that will reward patient readers when the culprit and timeline of events is revealed, along with a crazy plot twist. My suspicions about the culprit were mostly right as well as guessing the mechanism of how the big plot twist is achieved, but I was pleasantly surprised by twist itself and the ending.
Another positive area of the novel is its handling of the large cast of characters. Featuring twelve heirs of each province, White does a great job of making each one memorable and distinctive with varying personalities, backgrounds, but most importantly, aspirational goals and political motivations. Though, at the beginning of the book many of the provinces seem shallowly written (ie. the ermines being cold abrasive people of the tundra, the tortoises being scholastic brainiacs, the bunnerflies being kind of hippie monks), the inter-province politics relations quickly become far more developed as the story progresses. The way each province handles the treatment and honor of their representative Blessed is hugely varied and even some of the characters that have less screen time have well-written backstories. Additionally, the Voyage of the Damned has excellent Queer representation that hits every letter of LGBTQ+ and almost everyone is at least a little bit bi (the Agatha Christie comparison missed the opportunity of “And Then There were Gays”). Avoiding stereotypical portrayals and featuring a spectrum of different ethnicities (one character is wheelchair-bound and has a stylish head wrap), this is a great example of how to showcase a diverse cast of characters. A common shortcoming of survival, murder mystery stories is the difficulty of balancing so many characters and more importantly, getting the reader to care about each one for their inevitable deaths to have impact. White does a great job with that, somehow even achieving that with the emperor’s heir who is barely alive for three chapters before being found dead. Across the board all the characters are memorable and more often than not, quite likable. And coming in at almost 500 hundred pages, the novel doesn’t rush its story and has plenty of time for the reader to become familiar with its colorful cast.
Quirky, comedic, and entirely self-aware of how flamboyantly lackadaisy he is, Dee’s character makes for a unique and refreshing character voice that is very accessible, particularly for readers who normally would find the murder mystery premise grim or too tense to read. Masquerading his lack of self-worth under the guise of arrogance and humor, his character is well-balanced by an extensive and unfortunate backstory. There’s a notable recurring theme about his self-worth and his lack of wanting to live that comes full circle, both in connection with the Blessed heirs’ voyage, as well as the murder investigation.
The great expanse of blackness, chipping at my consciousness, stripping parts of Ganymedes away, until there was no difference between me and it. The utter nothingness of it. The sweet oblivion. I didn’t go into the water to drown. But when I was drowning, I was grateful. It was a gift. An opening and an ending. The end of living with this coral version of my mother, cutting me with her sharp edges. The end of the knowledge of what I was—not strong enough. Not worthy enough to bear the Goddess’s Blessing.
His history with Ravi, as well as his camaraderie turned something more with Wyatt are both well done (though there’s an important note on that, see the spoiler version of this review). And while I was less enthusiastic about his teamwork with Grasshopper, I understand what White was trying to do with her character despite it not necessarily appealing to me personally. Additionally for representation, though it’s handled a bit clunky (Dee being pudgy and round vaguely implied due to his obsession with eating good food might be off putting for the most sensitive readers), I found it very refreshing that the main character and potential love interest were far from being traditionally attractive, fit, or the ever popular and tiring “large, tall, broad with abs of days” type of character. Wyatt, in particular is notable as I can’t remember the last time I read a romance-leaning book where the love interest is skeletally skinny, physically frail, and far from the traditional romance novel character role (outside of stories where they’re supposed to be ill like The Fault in Our Stars). As a teenager who was perpetually skin and bones and had low self-esteem, this would've been amazing to read growing up and the recent increasing representation trends are always great to see.
While Voyage of the Damned handles the vast majority of its elements well, there were a few notable nitpicks that held it back from being a perfect hit for me. As mentioned above, the novel is written in a fairly modern contemporary style and Dee’s character voice is quite tongue-in-cheek snarky. While the character itself worked for me most of the time, there were many instances where Dee’s character narration and dialogue disrupted the momentum and intensity of the mystery thriller angle. Part of that may be by design to make the story more accessible, but I frequently found myself wishing Dee would crack less poorly timed jokes which started to get repetitive and tiring. A lot of 1-star reviews criticize Dee’s character narration as a deal-breaker and I can sympathize with it to a point, mainly because I know part of that off-putting impression is by purposeful design. This is meant to establish where the character is internally and how he uses humor as a defense mechanism, walling off everyone after certain notable events in his childhood occur. However, it is nonetheless excessive and clunky in places.
The other notable issue I had with the novel has to do with the romance element of the story. While I liked the intent and direction White was going with the romantic developments, the manner in which it is integrated more often than not came off as being cringy and out of place. Invoking an overly casual tone on-brand with many romantasy novels, Dee’s thirsty wandering eye narration would consistently break the story’s great thriller sections and cheapen the novel as a whole. Particularly in the middle of the story when Dee and Wyatt partner up and start to develop mutual feelings, the romance elements would veer into juvenile and cringy territory, at odds with the rest of the book’s quality. The most offensive example is notably at the end of the story when the fantasy side of the story is resolved, and the book’s traditional falling action section has Dee getting stripped naked and groped by a character who shall not be named for spoilers (on top of a freezing alpine mountain I might add) for utterly no reason except for trashy romantic fanservice. The scene is entirely clean and is considered a closed-door romance, but the decision to include it at that point in the book (or frankly at all) is downright baffling at best, off-putting and a poor lasting impression at worst. And that’s quite tragic as the rest of the book has so much ambition and class. Even worse, Dee’s entire childhood relationship and sort-of-not-really boyfriend history with Ravi is handled with such care and nuance. I read it and made a note “seriously, why? Just why Frances White? If you’re going to commit to this horrible decision, at least let them go all the way.” Even a terrible Michael Bay-style make out session as the credits roll would’ve been a classier way to go.
While there are some elements that weren’t quite my cup of tea, overwhelmingly Voyage of the Damned gets far more of them right. Great on its own if judged as a mystery thriller, as a crossover fantasy and romance novel featuring excellent representation, it's even more noteworthy considering how much can go wrong with such a busy premise. The fact that this is also Frances White’s debut novel and a fully self-contained standalone story as opposed to the more common fantasy series setup is incredibly impressive. Accessibly written, refreshingly creative, and most importantly well plotted, Voyage of the Damned is great and a rare booktok recommendation that I actually enjoyed!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Bullying, Cursing, Death, Violence, Murder
Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Alcohol
adventurous
challenging
dark
funny
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Xenophobia, Suicide attempt, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail, Classism
Moderate: Alcoholism, Body shaming, Bullying, Chronic illness, Violence, Grief, Alcohol
Minor: Ableism, Deportation
adventurous
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I read this book because I love queer fantasies. While this book is a queer fantasy, I’d put it more in the murder mystery genre. There are elements of fantasy, but the plot surrounds solving a series of murders where characters die off one by one, a la Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None.
That being said, this book was a decent read about love, loss, and justice. There is a satisfying ending that leaves room for a sequel. It was long, but not tedious, since people are constantly dying off so there’s endless plot exposition.
Nathan Foad is a wonderful narrator and really brought all the characters to life - I hope he narrates more audiobooks soon.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Suicide attempt, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism
adventurous
emotional
funny
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Here’s a refined version of your review with improved flow, grammar, and clarity while keeping your original thoughts intact:
Voyage of the Damned, a fantasy novel by Frances White, stands out among the many fantasy books gaining popularity today. The world-building is refreshingly accessible, a welcome change from the often overly complex settings found in the genre. However, despite its ease, the depth of the world remains intact. White masterfully crafts an immersive setting where the magic, characters, and environments feel vivid and real.
One of the novel’s most ambitious aspects is its large cast—twelve characters in total—which could easily become overwhelming. Yet, White distributes their character development with remarkable skill, making each individual distinct and memorable. The diversity in this book is also a major strength; characters vary in body type, gender identity, sexual orientation, and ethnicity, ensuring broad representation across marginalized groups.
The murder mystery at the heart of the story is gripping. As I read, I found myself constantly second-guessing my suspicions, only to be completely surprised by the final reveal. The suspense builds masterfully, keeping the reader engaged and questioning every clue.
If I had any critiques, it would be that some plot points felt slightly rushed—though not to the point of confusion. Additionally, the narrator occasionally came across as a bit childish or cringeworthy, but this ultimately serves a purpose and adds a unique charm to the book.
For a debut novel, White has absolutely hit it out of the park! Voyage of the Damned is a fantastic read that blends strong world-building, compelling characters, and an unpredictable mystery into a truly enjoyable experience.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Xenophobia