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A review by hobackbookclub
Voyage of the Damned by Frances White
3.0
I have.... so many thoughts about this book. First, this was advertised as an adult fantasy?!?! ADULT? It read VERY very YA. And that's not necessarily a bad thing! It was just so.. unserious, even though there were serious themes throughout, it was far from adult.
Next, it has nothing really to do with the book at all but I was annoyed that so many people were rating this book poorly because of the narrative tone being humorous and not at all serious. Personally, at the start, I found that really refreshing. Especially because most of these other readers are totally down to read Brandon Sanderson describe in detail that the king is shitting corn down the latrine, but they freak out when White's narrator mentions poutine and hot dogs. Like that's the extent of your suspension of disbelief.
Anywayyyy. With that being said I have my own issues with this book that are totally valid.
First, if this book was everything BUT the romantic storyline, I would have likely given it 5 stars. I have yet to read a queer love story that isn't written like a middle school romance. If anyone has any that aren't so infantile... I'll take recs.
I don't know.. I also just had a hard time relating to the main character because of how much he literally LOATHED himself. I understand self-loathing can play an important part in a character arc but it got really, really, really old and then ALL THE SUDDEN at the end, he's confident enough to literally change the world within about 2 paragraphs. Speaking of not being able to relate though, has this author never heard a 6 year old speak? She writes this 6 year old girl as if she's a feral toddler banging her fists on doors and using like 2 word sentences ("Gimme sweets!"). She could have been such a useful character had she actually behaved like a 6 year old.
and one last thing but this is like.. a semi-spoiler so DON'T READ PAST HERE IF YOU CARE:
But this whole time Dee's personality has been that he doesn't have a gift. And then all in the span of a couple paragraphs, he gets his gift of breathing under water?! And he's like all the sudden like "oh I was scared of water but also didn't care if I died by drowning but now I ~*care*~ so I got my blessing" and then it is literally mentioned once more and never again. In my opinion it's the most pointless blessing he could have gotten because what would he do with it? Swim under water and ask the fish to come out nicely? Also, it would have been WAY better had he not gotten his own blessing! He would have learned that he's fine the way he is which is what his BF was trying to tell him this whole time. So frustrating.
Even though I think this book could have benefitted from being like 100 pages shorter, I am happy that it's not a series (I don't think anyway) because the ending was nice and fluffy. I wanted to like it more.. it's just hard to enjoy when you don't like any of the characters.
Next, it has nothing really to do with the book at all but I was annoyed that so many people were rating this book poorly because of the narrative tone being humorous and not at all serious. Personally, at the start, I found that really refreshing. Especially because most of these other readers are totally down to read Brandon Sanderson describe in detail that the king is shitting corn down the latrine, but they freak out when White's narrator mentions poutine and hot dogs. Like that's the extent of your suspension of disbelief.
Anywayyyy. With that being said I have my own issues with this book that are totally valid.
First, if this book was everything BUT the romantic storyline, I would have likely given it 5 stars. I have yet to read a queer love story that isn't written like a middle school romance. If anyone has any that aren't so infantile... I'll take recs.
I don't know.. I also just had a hard time relating to the main character because of how much he literally LOATHED himself. I understand self-loathing can play an important part in a character arc but it got really, really, really old and then ALL THE SUDDEN at the end, he's confident enough to literally change the world within about 2 paragraphs. Speaking of not being able to relate though, has this author never heard a 6 year old speak? She writes this 6 year old girl as if she's a feral toddler banging her fists on doors and using like 2 word sentences ("Gimme sweets!"). She could have been such a useful character had she actually behaved like a 6 year old.
and one last thing but this is like.. a semi-spoiler so DON'T READ PAST HERE IF YOU CARE:
But this whole time Dee's personality has been that he doesn't have a gift. And then all in the span of a couple paragraphs, he gets his gift of breathing under water?! And he's like all the sudden like "oh I was scared of water but also didn't care if I died by drowning but now I ~*care*~ so I got my blessing" and then it is literally mentioned once more and never again. In my opinion it's the most pointless blessing he could have gotten because what would he do with it? Swim under water and ask the fish to come out nicely? Also, it would have been WAY better had he not gotten his own blessing! He would have learned that he's fine the way he is which is what his BF was trying to tell him this whole time. So frustrating.
Even though I think this book could have benefitted from being like 100 pages shorter, I am happy that it's not a series (I don't think anyway) because the ending was nice and fluffy. I wanted to like it more.. it's just hard to enjoy when you don't like any of the characters.