Scan barcode
kiwij96's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
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
The leaders of the country's 12 provinces find themselves on a murder cruise. I mean, what isn't to love about that idea? Characters with their own strong beliefs and concerns, and heavy on the distrust.
100% check your trigger warnings for this one. However, there is so much to love about this story. It is well-paced and the perfect length for the story to be told. Nothing felt wasted or out of place in terms of the pacing,however, I didn't super love the fade to black at the end of the last chapter. That felt really out of place for me.</spoiler
100% check your trigger warnings for this one. However, there is so much to love about this story. It is well-paced and the perfect length for the story to be told. Nothing felt wasted or out of place in terms of the pacing,
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Murder, Body horror, Suicide attempt, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide, Torture, Suicidal thoughts, Xenophobia, Colonisation, Grief, Blood, Death, Classism, and Violence
Moderate: Genocide, Child abuse, and Mental illness
Minor: Drug use, Ableism, and Sexual content
ameliabiblio's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
I am the audience for this book. That’s right. It’s me. Hi, I’m the audience. It’s me. (I’m sorry not sorry. I’m a huge Swiftie.)
I will admit that it took me a few chapters to get my footing and figure out if I would like it. Dee isn’t an immediately likeable character. His humor walks the line of “so cringey it’s funny” and “so cringey it’s bad.” For me, it falls on the funny side. For others, it may not. I think his overall characterization was handled well and he ended up feeling like a very real, understandable person.
When I started this book, I thought it was going to be multiple POV because I hadn’t read the description in ages. At the end of the day, I didn’t mind that you only get Dee’s POV, but I think, if it was done well, having multiple POVs could have really elevated the book. I liked the array of characters and the DIVERSITY! Love love loved it. Also, they all have different hair colors, which is very fun.
I will say that I immediately clocked the Main Big Bad. There were still plenty of other twists and turns that I didn’t see coming, though, including the biggest reveal (imo), so I wouldn’t necessarily call this book predictable. I also didn’t guess the true motivation until much closer to the end, after the book basically already told me. The mystery ended up making complete sense and I didn’t feel like Dee stupidly missed any important details.
Spoilers for the ending incoming!While I totally understand those who feel weirded out by how Ravi was going to partake in a massacre, personally? I don’t care😝 It’s a fictional book! Sometimes characters are bad, but good at heart and you just have to forgive them because they’re so darn lovable! And even though I thought he was Wyatt for most of the book, he was very lovable. Sometimes you’re just reminded how much you love someone and remember that murdering people is bad!
Thank you to Edelweiss and Michael Joseph for the ARC.
I will admit that it took me a few chapters to get my footing and figure out if I would like it. Dee isn’t an immediately likeable character. His humor walks the line of “so cringey it’s funny” and “so cringey it’s bad.” For me, it falls on the funny side. For others, it may not. I think his overall characterization was handled well and he ended up feeling like a very real, understandable person.
When I started this book, I thought it was going to be multiple POV because I hadn’t read the description in ages. At the end of the day, I didn’t mind that you only get Dee’s POV, but I think, if it was done well, having multiple POVs could have really elevated the book. I liked the array of characters and the DIVERSITY! Love love loved it. Also, they all have different hair colors, which is very fun.
I will say that I immediately clocked the Main Big Bad. There were still plenty of other twists and turns that I didn’t see coming, though, including the biggest reveal (imo), so I wouldn’t necessarily call this book predictable. I also didn’t guess the true motivation until much closer to the end, after the book basically already told me. The mystery ended up making complete sense and I didn’t feel like Dee stupidly missed any important details.
Spoilers for the ending incoming!
Thank you to Edelweiss and Michael Joseph for the ARC.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Child abuse, and Murder
lilacverses's review against another edition
dark
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
I would like to preface this review with (1) my great disappointment that I did not enjoy this book and (2) that my own name is Cordelia, and that will become relevant shortly.
This book should be commended for its bold and wide diversity. Truly imaginative and colorful, this book is perhaps the most inclusive in its characters that I’ve read in a while if ever. However, this book also made me think on at least one occasion how important it is that marginalised perspectives be written by the marginalised, which gave me complicated feelings, since I do think all authors should consider and employ diversity in storytelling as often as possible.
I hated the main character. I did not find them or their voice funny, which this book really was trying to be. I found it similar to bad sitcom humor.
I hated most of the other characters, mostly because the main character whose whole existence is supposed to foil the eleven others, was just as filled with disdain for them as they were for him. Moments of empathy were only found when the veil of archetype/caricature were briefly lifted, but often almost immediately fell back into place. If you’re going to write an ensemble cast, can I suggest making them people? Perhaps not relying on one-note flags to skip the work of characterising? Especially because I could feel reading how much this book wanted to push for its “everyone matters, everyone is human” sentiments, but time and time again characters crueler actions were brushed off as being motivated by nothing but their lack of qualities aside from cruelty. The book seemed in conflict with itself in that regard.
A great way to have dealt with this would’ve been multiple POV, one for each character, sprinkled through our main POV. I’d have loved to see it, the dramatic irony and consequent tension that could have built, on top of really exercising the reader’s own empathy skills throughout! It would have been delicious!
We shant be discussing the worldbuilding. There isn’t much to speak of, anyway.
Generally, I did not enjoy the plot. This I think is not the fault of the book or author. I hate mysteries in books. I hate the way information is revealed, I hate how so often (while specifics remain unknown) I can call exactly where it’s going. However, there was also a big plot twist that made me want to throw my hands up in the air and toss the book entirely. I wish I could say more but out of respect for the pub date and the future readership, I shall say nothing more than “how fucking convenient.”
Really had a hard time with the prose at times. There was a small handful (I think three) really gorgeous lines, like truly beautiful gems of description. These ultimately made me more frustrated because I could taste however briefly the full potential of the author. Could’ve done with a small handful more! Got it, flaunt it, Frances!!! Mostly, thought the mix of “pain in my backside” washed word choice and “fuck this fuck that fuck you” happening really had me confused and frustrated. Also the sexual humor in a literal locked box murder situation was like … “in front of my salad?” But the salad is a mutilated corpse and the fate of an empire.
Finally, I want to briefly discuss the Cordelia. As a character who is not our main character, she is hated, for various reasons, some valid and some less so. As a person called Cordelia, I cannot hide my bias. I wanted to identify with her. And I did, a little. As a Cordelia who, while brunette, generally also identifies as “skinny” and has been called/likened to a “doll” (as our fictional Cordelia has), I just want to say that villainising a character or generally trying to create a sense of audience dislike for a character shouldn’t mean that character is subject to negative comments about their body. I wanted to think this would be something the main character (who is fat) would understand? Especially as he is subject to body comments throughout the book as well? It was just sort of unfortunate to read a book that was so inclusive and about uplifting others and kindness and empathy and then to have the one female character who is explicitly skinny be called “stick” over and over. Yeah, there are worse things to be called, but I’ve only ever been called “stick” and it’s not a compliment! The opposite actually! There are better words and ways to communicate the size and consequent expectations of ability of someone’s body than words like stick. Which the author demonstrated with other slender male characters who got a more favorable opinion from the MC.
All that said, the book is fine. I don’t think I will recommend it with my personal stamp of approval on it, but it’s still better than Fourth Wing, so if you like goofy fun delightfully queer tales with potentially cringey humor, pick this one up! Please read trigger warnings, though!
Thank you to the publisher for providing an advanced reading copy in exchange for an honest review.
This book should be commended for its bold and wide diversity. Truly imaginative and colorful, this book is perhaps the most inclusive in its characters that I’ve read in a while if ever. However, this book also made me think on at least one occasion how important it is that marginalised perspectives be written by the marginalised, which gave me complicated feelings, since I do think all authors should consider and employ diversity in storytelling as often as possible.
I hated the main character. I did not find them or their voice funny, which this book really was trying to be. I found it similar to bad sitcom humor.
I hated most of the other characters, mostly because the main character whose whole existence is supposed to foil the eleven others, was just as filled with disdain for them as they were for him. Moments of empathy were only found when the veil of archetype/caricature were briefly lifted, but often almost immediately fell back into place. If you’re going to write an ensemble cast, can I suggest making them people? Perhaps not relying on one-note flags to skip the work of characterising? Especially because I could feel reading how much this book wanted to push for its “everyone matters, everyone is human” sentiments, but time and time again characters crueler actions were brushed off as being motivated by nothing but their lack of qualities aside from cruelty. The book seemed in conflict with itself in that regard.
A great way to have dealt with this would’ve been multiple POV, one for each character, sprinkled through our main POV. I’d have loved to see it, the dramatic irony and consequent tension that could have built, on top of really exercising the reader’s own empathy skills throughout! It would have been delicious!
We shant be discussing the worldbuilding. There isn’t much to speak of, anyway.
Generally, I did not enjoy the plot. This I think is not the fault of the book or author. I hate mysteries in books. I hate the way information is revealed, I hate how so often (while specifics remain unknown) I can call exactly where it’s going. However, there was also a big plot twist that made me want to throw my hands up in the air and toss the book entirely. I wish I could say more but out of respect for the pub date and the future readership, I shall say nothing more than “how fucking convenient.”
Really had a hard time with the prose at times. There was a small handful (I think three) really gorgeous lines, like truly beautiful gems of description. These ultimately made me more frustrated because I could taste however briefly the full potential of the author. Could’ve done with a small handful more! Got it, flaunt it, Frances!!! Mostly, thought the mix of “pain in my backside” washed word choice and “fuck this fuck that fuck you” happening really had me confused and frustrated. Also the sexual humor in a literal locked box murder situation was like … “in front of my salad?” But the salad is a mutilated corpse and the fate of an empire.
Finally, I want to briefly discuss the Cordelia. As a character who is not our main character, she is hated, for various reasons, some valid and some less so. As a person called Cordelia, I cannot hide my bias. I wanted to identify with her. And I did, a little. As a Cordelia who, while brunette, generally also identifies as “skinny” and has been called/likened to a “doll” (as our fictional Cordelia has), I just want to say that villainising a character or generally trying to create a sense of audience dislike for a character shouldn’t mean that character is subject to negative comments about their body. I wanted to think this would be something the main character (who is fat) would understand? Especially as he is subject to body comments throughout the book as well? It was just sort of unfortunate to read a book that was so inclusive and about uplifting others and kindness and empathy and then to have the one female character who is explicitly skinny be called “stick” over and over. Yeah, there are worse things to be called, but I’ve only ever been called “stick” and it’s not a compliment! The opposite actually! There are better words and ways to communicate the size and consequent expectations of ability of someone’s body than words like stick. Which the author demonstrated with other slender male characters who got a more favorable opinion from the MC.
All that said, the book is fine. I don’t think I will recommend it with my personal stamp of approval on it, but it’s still better than Fourth Wing, so if you like goofy fun delightfully queer tales with potentially cringey humor, pick this one up! Please read trigger warnings, though!
Thank you to the publisher for providing an advanced reading copy in exchange for an honest review.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt
Moderate: Body shaming, Ableism, Blood, Bullying, and Violence
Minor: Grief, Injury/Injury detail, and Outing
slinkmalink's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Really fun mystery, big And Then There Were None vibes but fantasy and on a boat. I loved him gradually getting to know the other characters and finding out they were not what he thought (but still not necessarily liking eachother anyway). Honestly the first two deaths really took me by surprise but Ravi coming back also did tbh I was not anticipating that and honestly I didn't trust him right till the end after he did come back
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death and Violence
bibliomania_express's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Today was the May long weekend here in Canada, and the weather has been warm and sunny. I went to a nearby park to read and enjoy the sunshine, and ended up reading my whole book.
Voyage of the Damned by Frances White is a sharp, quick-paced murder mystery that was everything I hoped it would be. Twelve Blesseds, each representing a province of the United Empire of Concordia, are on a voyage to the sacred mountain. Except Dee isn't Blessed - he's hiding his lack of power to protect his province. Then Dee has bigger things to worry about as one by one the Blesseds are murdered. Dee will have to figure out who the murderer is and what's going on before he ends up dead.
I had such a great time with this book. It has some great character work, a twisty mystery, an interesting magic system, and fantastic representation of different races, sexualities, body types, and disabilities. It also deals with classism, xenophobia, prejudice, religious bigotry, self-esteem, and the economics of control. Along with grief, love, family, found family, and corruption. Just a whole lot of stuff packed into an isolated, closed circle murder mystery on a boat.
Dee was a great protagonist and it was fun to follow him through his resentment and self-loathing at the lie foisted upon him to finding his true self and working his way through the clues. Dee is loud, proud of his big body, funny while using humour as deflection, and in many ways his idgaf nature is what saves the day. There's also a romance element in this book, which went some unexpected ways a few times.
I liked how the Blessings were tied into the plot, and how the story unravelled by revealing bits about each character and their pasts. It did get a bit confusing that characters had names but were also called their province's animal name.
I did guess some elements of the solution, but not all of it. I'm not sure if I would class this as a fair play mystery since some of the clues come rather late and deal a lot with the politics and secrets there wouldn't be a way of knowing.
I'd have more to say, but it would all be spoilers, so I'll leave it there.
Voyage of the Damned by Frances White is a sharp, quick-paced murder mystery that was everything I hoped it would be. Twelve Blesseds, each representing a province of the United Empire of Concordia, are on a voyage to the sacred mountain. Except Dee isn't Blessed - he's hiding his lack of power to protect his province. Then Dee has bigger things to worry about as one by one the Blesseds are murdered. Dee will have to figure out who the murderer is and what's going on before he ends up dead.
I had such a great time with this book. It has some great character work, a twisty mystery, an interesting magic system, and fantastic representation of different races, sexualities, body types, and disabilities. It also deals with classism, xenophobia, prejudice, religious bigotry, self-esteem, and the economics of control. Along with grief, love, family, found family, and corruption. Just a whole lot of stuff packed into an isolated, closed circle murder mystery on a boat.
Dee was a great protagonist and it was fun to follow him through his resentment and self-loathing at the lie foisted upon him to finding his true self and working his way through the clues. Dee is loud, proud of his big body, funny while using humour as deflection, and in many ways his idgaf nature is what saves the day. There's also a romance element in this book, which went some unexpected ways a few times.
I liked how the Blessings were tied into the plot, and how the story unravelled by revealing bits about each character and their pasts. It did get a bit confusing that characters had names but were also called their province's animal name.
I did guess some elements of the solution, but not all of it. I'm not sure if I would class this as a fair play mystery since some of the clues come rather late and deal a lot with the politics and secrets there wouldn't be a way of knowing.
I'd have more to say, but it would all be spoilers, so I'll leave it there.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, Xenophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Death, Classism, and Colonisation
Moderate: Grief, Blood, and Bullying
Minor: Child death, Fatphobia, Suicide, Ableism, and Terminal illness
beckisnotonfire's review against another edition
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? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Terminal illness, Murder, Death, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Violence, and Grief
emmaggedon's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.5
Squealing and kicking my feet at this fantasy murder mystery that had It All!
✅ Magic
✅ A protagonist who just wins you over instantly
✅ Brutal scenes but sparingly
✅ Important messages told well
✅ BUCKETS OF SEXUAL TENSION
Just, WONDERFUL. I haven’t done a “one more chapter, won’t do anything else until the book is finished” in a WHILE!!! More Cross Genre PLEASE I’m FREAKING OUT!! For something that could easily have been YA, I think it works so beautifully as an adult novel, and it does not shy away from being one.
✅ Magic
✅ A protagonist who just wins you over instantly
✅ Brutal scenes but sparingly
✅ Important messages told well
✅ BUCKETS OF SEXUAL TENSION
Just, WONDERFUL. I haven’t done a “one more chapter, won’t do anything else until the book is finished” in a WHILE!!! More Cross Genre PLEASE I’m FREAKING OUT!! For something that could easily have been YA, I think it works so beautifully as an adult novel, and it does not shy away from being one.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Classism, Death, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Physical abuse, Violence, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt
Moderate: Medical content
Minor: Abandonment and Sexual content
jane_kelsey's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
reflective
medium-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
5.0
Content Warnings
Minor: Suicide attempt and Violence
hailstorm3812's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
This book is so bonkers. It feels like a rollercoaster but has the same amount of fun. I really liked Dee. He's such a fun protagonist and I liked living in his head. The side characters were all really interesting. It's overwhelming in the beginning but as it goes on a lot of them get a chance to shine. I do have problems with the "and then there were none" style mysteries when all the characters I like start dropping like flies. This book also gives rights to the homoerotic childhood friendship which I can never condone but I think they pulled it out in the end.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death and Death
Moderate: Toxic relationship, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, and Toxic friendship
cwallace1005's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
You know what... Yeah. I'll give it four stars. It was really fun! I do agree with other reviewers that it was YA, despite the protagonist being 22. I was actually expecting more blood and gore. There was some, but it wasn't out of control or uber graphic. The writing and execution of the plot were pretty simple. I think I liked reading this book so much because it's one I would have LOVED in high school. Snarky main character, murder mystery, charming relationships. It wasn't perfect, but it was really fun! And the cover is GORGEOUS
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing, Murder, Violence, and Suicidal thoughts
Moderate: Suicide attempt, Sexual content, and War