Reviews with content warning for Suicidal thoughts - Voyage of the Damned

I absolutely adored this book. The premise alone was enough to draw me in, but the characters and fun storytelling had me devouring this book! I never want to reread books, but the ending had me immediately flipping to the start to look for the details I didn't pick up the first time around. This is truly a fantastic publishing debut and well worth the effort it took me to get it shipped from the UK!

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neatens's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.0

✨Book Review✨

📚Voyage of the Damned by Frances White📚

The story started when a beloved heir was murdered during the voyage and everyone suddenly became a suspect. It was such an exciting premise but nothing hooked my interest until the last quarter of the book. The plot drags so much and it was predictable. Though I like the subplot romance. It was cute.

This was one of my most anticipated books this January because of the great reviews but I got disappointed. I was about to DNF this because as I said the plot drags so much and nothing was interesting to me. But I gave it a chance and until the last chapters of the book it became good. I guess I read too much mystery/thriller books that this isn’t the one that I usually like.

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vienna_books's review against another edition

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adventurous dark 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

4.5

Spoiler free Review:
This was an amazing ride! If Agatha Christie and Leigh Bardugo co-authored a book - it could look something like this.

The future leaders of 12 provinces go on a 12 day ship voyage together. Every one of them has a unique magical ability- except for our protagonist who only pretends to have one. During their journey people start dying and soon foul play is suspected. The mystery kept me on my toes the whole time and even though I guessed part of the solution, most of it was a surprise to me. I love hard to solve mysteries and this one certainly gave me that. The protagonist was a little bit annoying at times but I still liked him. Not sure about the romance plot, I feel like the story didn’t really need it but it was fine.

All in all I loved the book and will definitely recommend it to friends :)

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farfetched's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective 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

5.0

This book. I've been thinking about it since I started reading it, and it will stick with me for longer. I could have read it all at once, but I'm glad I didn't - it was great to stop and think about it, and think about it I definitely did. The twists caught me unawares but equally made sense - the longer you go on with this book you realise how complicated the characters are. I absolutely loved this book - I really want to go back and reread it, so I can see the foreshadowing. Lots of natural queer, POC, disabled and working class rep, the social themes were excellently handled, and the Blessings were used really well. Would recommend highly.

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lisashelves's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad 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

5.0

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norarenate's review against another edition

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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? It's complicated

Got a proof copy at yalc.
I loved this book from the start. The main character is a bit of a (likeable) loser.

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guybrushtmp's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional 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

5.0

We need more fantasy murder mysteries. This one was great and wasn’t just And then there were none, which I am always on the look out for when publishers put “like Agatha Christie” in the description (seriously it happens a lot). Also it is a diverse murder mystery so A+

I really enjoyed this book. It has really feisty, vivid, unique characters who all feel really well developed and chaotic af. Ganymedes is just an idiot (said in the most loving way possible), a chaotic bisexual, and kind, which I really needed.

The mystery was unique and kept me hooked. I did made some correct guessed (logged with my best friend as per usual), but they were executed in uniquely different ways than I thought which left me laughing and happily intrigued. Well worth the read.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC.

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