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A review by mspilesofpaper
Voyage of the Damned by Frances White
emotional
lighthearted
mysterious
tense
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? It's complicated
3.5
Voyage of the Damned was one of those books where I was worried if I would like it (or even finish it) because the first part is rough. I think it mostly stems from the unusual writing style/narrative because it's a very sarcastic first-person narrative but once I got used to it, it was enjoyable to read. It is a fantasy version of "Death on the Nile" with a queer underdog protagonist who doesn't even want to be there.
It's a closed-door murder mystery set on a magical boat that sails towards a (magical) mountain to fulfil some ancient tradition. All passengers aside from Ganymedes (Dee) have a magical ability called Blessing. And while some are rather open about it, most keep their Blessing a secret, which suits Dee due to his lack of it. And while he doesn't even want to be there, and plans to antagonise the others so much that he will lose his title, he didn't expect the murder of ... well, anyone. To survive, he teams up with a 6-year-old girl and a sickly boy to solve the murders. As the book progresses, the bodies start to pile up and Dee uncovers secrets and has to deal with the topic of castes (often within castes), societal and familial expectations, grief for loved ones and prejudices.
The world-building is a high fantasy with urban fantasy influences (e.g., hot dog as a dish, modern chess, ...) and the magic system seems very wild at first but is explained later in the novel why the magic (the Blessings) seems to be so unsorted. The only thing that I would criticise about the world-building is the map and the very different climates in each region, e.g. a desert region is right next to an ice-cold region where mammoths live. (I'm very picky when it comes to such things though.) It doesn't influence the story though as it's more background information for the Blessed who rules/will rule over the region. Plus points for the queerness in the novel though. We have a non-binary character (their entire region is very non-binary coded with their own terms for parents etc), two bisexual characters and one gay character. There's also one character in a wheelchair and while it's revealed that people tend to underestimate the character, no one uses a slur towards them. All arguments and tensions stem from other issues.
I have to say though that I find the "adult fantasy" label inaccurate because it is very YA-coded. Yes, you have adult characters in the book but the overall writing and the behaviour of the MC is very YA-esque. Every death is mentioned but not in-depth as it would happen with an adult novel but more in a "he was stabbed 17 times"/"the wounds were deep" kind of way, which is very fitting for a YA too. (I wouldn't categorise it as a thriller either. It's a YA with a murder mystery and that's it. There's no suspension in it that's typical for thrillers.)
My main issue with the book is the fatphobia and the MC's relationship with food. The male MC is a plus-size character (always described with a soft tummy, thick thighs, ...) who is often discarded due to it or reduced to his size. As someone who is plus-size, it made me very uncomfortable at times and I'm an adult in my 30s. Also, Ganymedes' relationship with food is close to an eating disorder. Here, I'm unsure if the author did it on purpose or if it happened accidentally but in combination with the fatphobic comments, I found it troublesome. I find this very troublesome in combination with the YA-esque vibe of the book because it would have influenced me a lot as a teenager. Yes, I grew up in the 90s/early 00s when diet culture was rampant and Kate Moss' was hyped for her "nothing tastes as good as skinny feels", which deeply influenced my relationship with my body and with food, but books tended to be a safe place to leave reality for a while. I think if I had read this book as an older teenager who was struggling with body image and a healthy relationship with food, I would have just cried or felt even worse. Yes, Ganymedes knows that he's fat and accepts himself completely but he's so often reduced to his looks (especially when everyone else in the novel is tall and destroyed as beautiful) that it just ... hurts.
It's a closed-door murder mystery set on a magical boat that sails towards a (magical) mountain to fulfil some ancient tradition. All passengers aside from Ganymedes (Dee) have a magical ability called Blessing. And while some are rather open about it, most keep their Blessing a secret, which suits Dee due to his lack of it. And while he doesn't even want to be there, and plans to antagonise the others so much that he will lose his title, he didn't expect the murder of ... well, anyone. To survive, he teams up with a 6-year-old girl and a sickly boy to solve the murders. As the book progresses, the bodies start to pile up and Dee uncovers secrets and has to deal with the topic of castes (often within castes), societal and familial expectations, grief for loved ones and prejudices.
The world-building is a high fantasy with urban fantasy influences (e.g., hot dog as a dish, modern chess, ...) and the magic system seems very wild at first but is explained later in the novel why the magic (the Blessings) seems to be so unsorted. The only thing that I would criticise about the world-building is the map and the very different climates in each region, e.g. a desert region is right next to an ice-cold region where mammoths live. (I'm very picky when it comes to such things though.) It doesn't influence the story though as it's more background information for the Blessed who rules/will rule over the region. Plus points for the queerness in the novel though. We have a non-binary character (their entire region is very non-binary coded with their own terms for parents etc), two bisexual characters and one gay character. There's also one character in a wheelchair and while it's revealed that people tend to underestimate the character, no one uses a slur towards them. All arguments and tensions stem from other issues.
I have to say though that I find the "adult fantasy" label inaccurate because it is very YA-coded. Yes, you have adult characters in the book but the overall writing and the behaviour of the MC is very YA-esque. Every death is mentioned but not in-depth as it would happen with an adult novel but more in a "he was stabbed 17 times"/"the wounds were deep" kind of way, which is very fitting for a YA too. (I wouldn't categorise it as a thriller either. It's a YA with a murder mystery and that's it. There's no suspension in it that's typical for thrillers.)
My main issue with the book is the fatphobia and the MC's relationship with food. The male MC is a plus-size character (always described with a soft tummy, thick thighs, ...) who is often discarded due to it or reduced to his size. As someone who is plus-size, it made me very uncomfortable at times and I'm an adult in my 30s. Also, Ganymedes' relationship with food is close to an eating disorder. Here, I'm unsure if the author did it on purpose or if it happened accidentally but in combination with the fatphobic comments, I found it troublesome. I find this very troublesome in combination with the YA-esque vibe of the book because it would have influenced me a lot as a teenager. Yes, I grew up in the 90s/early 00s when diet culture was rampant and Kate Moss' was hyped for her "nothing tastes as good as skinny feels", which deeply influenced my relationship with my body and with food, but books tended to be a safe place to leave reality for a while. I think if I had read this book as an older teenager who was struggling with body image and a healthy relationship with food, I would have just cried or felt even worse. Yes, Ganymedes knows that he's fat and accepts himself completely but he's so often reduced to his looks (especially when everyone else in the novel is tall and destroyed as beautiful) that it just ... hurts.