Reviews tagging 'Murder'

Voyage of the Damned by Frances White

35 reviews

julalbert56's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny hopeful 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

3.0

I am so conflicted about this book. On one hand, the characters (especially grasshopper) were so fun to follow and the mystery had me hooked. On the other hand, I was really not vibing with the worldbuilding or the main romance.
Why is Cordelia described as conventionally attractive? Shouldn’t the Dragon blessed be the “pinacle” of beauty? It also rubbed me the wrong way how Dee fell in love with Wyatt literally days after the “love of his life” was murdered. I know the author tried to reason that away with the Ravi shapeshifting twist but it still didn’t sit right with me. I also didn’t love Ravi as a character, the soft, kindhearted version of him from Dee’s childhood just felt so disconnected to the person who could murder/be complicit in the murder of innocents. I’m glad he ultimately gave the power to Dee or I would have really disliked him.
The writing, though entertaining, also took some getting used to with the amount of curse words/sex jokes. I’m not prudish but I have a limit lol. But anyway, despite those issues the book wasn’t boring, and there was a lot of well implemented diversity which I appreciated.

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dubious_little_creature's review

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adventurous emotional 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

4.25


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bookishde's review against another edition

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funny mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5


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styxx's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging lighthearted 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

4.0


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inkysplodge's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional funny mysterious 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


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novel_nibbles's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful 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

4.0

I absolutely loved huge hearted, funny, flamboyant , body positive Dee. While the book came to a satisfactory conclusion I would happy read a whole series headed by him. 

Like all good mysteries, Voyage of the Damned kept me guessing the perpetrator and speculating on how they’d carried out their crimes. 

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madscientistcat's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny 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

5.0

This book was *gripping*, like can’t put it down, thinking about it when I’m not reading sort of adventure. I loved the characters, the world building,  the humor, and the first 85% of the book. I think if I had gone in with the mindset of this being a New Adult rather than Adult book I would have appreciated the end more than I did. Still it was an incredible world and an absolutely wild mystery - and phenomenal writing. Between that and the incredible queer and disabled rep, White is definitely on my must-read author list now.

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cwallace1005's review against another edition

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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 

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persephonefoxx's review against another edition

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adventurous 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 can get murdered tomorrow. Tonight, we party.

It’s giving Danganronpa in the best way possible. 

It probably says a lot about me, but I love a fun murder mystery. And God, this book was so fun. An ensemble cast of super powerful teenagers and young adults (and one amazingly insane six-year-old) stuck on a murder cruise? Filled with politics divides, generational disputes, social expectations and pressures, dangerous secrets, and loves worth killing and dying for? A perfect cocktail mystery, magic, and so much murder. 

There were multiple times this book had me screaming. As in book closed, turning to my wife, ‘omg omg omg’ screaming. (Let’s just say a certain scene pertaining to secrets and fingers will go down as one of my top ten favourite scenes of all time.) And while I had a pretty solid idea of who was doing the killing by the time we entered the final quarter (thanks to obsessive autistic pattern recognition and a very quickly diminishing suspect pool), there were twists and turns in the final quarter of this book that had me going feral. 

And I can’t talk about this book without talking about the oodle and oodles of representation. Causal and expansive queer representation in an incredibly well thought out queer normative fantasy setting. Not to mention the additional disabled, plus sized, POC, and chronically ill representation across the cast of multifaceted weirdos. Plus it gets mad props for including the most accurate line about bisexuality I have ever read: “why do I want women to beat me up and men to gently embrace me?” Same Dee. Same.

TL:DR - This book was so much fun. Dripping with representation in an ensemble cast of well-rounded and loveable (and sometimes hate-able) characters. (Nergüi really is ‘that bitch’ and I love them.) It is a rollercoaster of murder, mystery, romance, magic, and friendship. A story of self-discovery, self-worth, and kindness. I loved this book, and I fear my wife will have to listen to me ramble about it for some time to come.

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cozyreadergurl3's review against another edition

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funny hopeful slow-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? Yes

2.5


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