mosaicheartsxx 's review for:

Voyage of the Damned by Frances White

4.0

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

---

i thought the story started out a little slow actually, but wow, the pace sure picked up quite quickly by the time we got to the

first death

and from there on it was a whole rollercoaster ride.

first off, i must say, this book seems to follow the rules of creating a character to a T. not a bad thing. in fact, it works quite well, especially for the main character dee, and i think this has 100% to do with the author's writing skills. well done, white! i love dee's inner monologue and the way he interacts with the other characters, himself, and his environment. it can be so hilariously horrific and horrifically hilarious at the same time. and to do all this while simultaneously solving gruesome murders? hats off to the author for being able to combine a lighthearted, almost-whimsical fantasy worldview with the dark, grisly reality onboard the ship.

something i did not like about the book was how

dee's love story was portrayed

. don't get me wrong. i love love stories. but i guess this is more of a clash of my personal take on

second chances when it comes to love, as well as the choices one has to make when reaching out to the ones we love or loved

. i was all onboard the whole

dee-and-wyatt ship

, truth be told. i really love their dynamic, and what made it loveable to me was the fact that dee was slowly able to

let go of his love for ravi and open his heart to someone new,

as well as

wyatt eventually realising his feelings for eudora weren't real and that he, too, was beginning to open up his worldview and see dee for who he truly was and accepting that

.

so imagine my utter disappointment when i found out that

wyatt was ravi this whole time.

i mean, okay. there is 

redemption for ravi and i'm glad we got to see that for his character towards the end

. i liked that he realised his

wrongdoings and acknowledged that he isn't the same person he used to be and that he would atone for it

.

but c'mon. the dude

ghosted dee for 5 whole years and then calls him "of no value", sees him in fake divinium and thinks "yeah, i was wrong. i want him back," like WHAT. NO. you don't get to waltz back in just like that

. and what makes this frustrating to me is how dee just

accepts ravi back with just a punch to the face

. it feels like all that character development of letting go and

taking new chances with someone new and different just went down the drain just. like. that.

it feels like a step back basically. and that kinda ruins his entire

romantic outlook as a character

from my perspective. so that was the biggest letdown for me.

and also, okay. this is just my bias after reading some mm romance books throughout the years but i really do wish we'd get a couple where one of them

does not have black hair because god knows they're rampant and everywhere and i'm getting tired of picturing the same character in my head

. this is completely a me thing though. so this point is completely personal. like, we get these vast array of characters with

hair colours of every colour

and of course the one dee is meant to end up with has

black hair

. jokes on me in the end though because i wished we'd finally get an mm couple where one of them has

rainbow-coloured hair

and then we actually did.

like, wow. a moment of silence and respect because the author somehow read my mind in the best way possible HAHAHA. thanks for granting that difficult wish of mine, white.

the murder mystery aspect had me constantly turning the pages and kept me guessing as to who was the actual culprit. i do like the twist we got in this one. can't say i didn't think of it but it was a pleasant surprise all the same because there was one thing i did not account for and when that was revealed it really made me comb through my memories and go "oh, that makes sense now!" and i love that. i felt that the story generally tied up all its loose ends. there were questions i had that thankfully were answered by the end of the story and when i try to think of something that wasn't answered i can't come up with one so bravo on that too, author!

this was an enjoyable read. i've been afraid of picking up books in the 400+ pages category for a while now but this book just washed all that fear away. definitely going to be on the lookout for more projects coming from white.