Reviews

Voyage of the Damned by Frances White

paschal's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny lighthearted mysterious 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

4.75

book. It’s supernatural crossed with Agatha Christy mystery and the result is a beautiful child (book). I think I accused almost every character in the book before the finish. There’s a nice little romance thrown in for good measure. True that it soon has a murder…..then more murders but I did not feel like the characters were damned, more like in a bad place at a bad time. The characters are well developed and some are more lovable than others but that’s what makes a good book. No obvious villain and plenty of twists. I enjoyed it tremendously and recommend it without reservation. 

I appreciate the Advanced Copy to Review from Harlequin and this is my honest opinion.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Moderate: Cursing, Murder, and Emotional abuse

Sexual diversity is a minor theme

han_hug's review against another edition

dark 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

3.5

nico_liest's review against another edition

adventurous dark lighthearted slow-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

Some lengths and plotholes, bitte overall entertaining and surprising at times.

blurringpages's review against another edition

4.0

I adored this book. It was cheesy, fun and wholesome and I closed this book with such a satisfied smile on my face.

The setting and characters are kind of cute/childish. The Provinces are named after animals and people from those provinces are identified by their coloured hair.
The MC is such a dork. Ganymedes doesn't take himself seriously, he's like the kid at school who was the class clown. But as you follow him trying to solve the murders that are happening on this boat, you start to discover there is so much to him.

I was taking notes the whole time to try and work out this murder mystery. I don't usually read mysteries and this genre blend makes me want to dive into more mysteries.

jessica_inprogress's review against another edition

3.5

Was more middle grade/ young YA. It was a really fun read, but the world building was a bit of a mess and there were many places where things could have been tightened up. 

claireedevlin's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful mysterious 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

actrs02's review against another edition

adventurous funny mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.25

Really enjoyed this one. Dee was an interesting and lovable character, and his personal growth was good to see. It was a VERY twisty and convoluted story, and the ending did surprise me. 
I loved Grasshopper, She was so cute and funny. 
The magic system and world building was interesting. A ruling class based on an inherited "Blessing", and associated magic power was fun to explore.
I wish they had delved more into the outside world, but they did a decent job of explaining each segregated region and how they interacted. The majority of the book takes place on the dragon ship, in a locked door isolated setting - so tensions were constantly high. 
I would be interested to see how a second book would go. It would be a fun world to explore and see how Dee handles himself in his current position. 

naharobed's review against another edition

3.0

Ok, I was convinced by this book’s comparisons to Fruits Basket and Agatha Christie, and it does deliver on those fronts. I thought it had a unique premise and it made me want more fantasy murder mysteries. That being said, the world-building is so simplistic. The whole story was very surface-level and we never really got deeper in terms of the characters or the plot. The main character has a self-deprecating sense of humor that was funny at first, but just became kind of sad later on. It was quite apparent to me that this was a debut novel, but I saw a lot of potential in the story and it just needed some work on the execution. Overall I did enjoy it though and I’d be interested in reading more from this author and even more within this world if it were expanded.

leannecroft's review against another edition

3.0

I'm really sad that it didn't wreck me, honestly. Sure, it read kind of YA but the author was doing so well and then it went down hill after about 70% of the way through. It could have been wonderful - It felt like it was going to wreck me in the best way - and then after everything that happened, we just put a little bow on it at the end there and wrap it up all nice. NO! NO NO NO NO! There was also some stereotyping in there that made me feel a bit uncomfy. 3 stars for having an amazing build up that could have been 5 stars but taking away 2 for that final 30ish%

what_courtreads's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

5.0