A review by escapistlit
Voyage of the Damned by Frances White

adventurous 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 a super fun debut! funny, tense, mysterious, and dark. and dee is a fantastic disaster bisexual gremlin narrator. this was a bad book to read during my commute only because of the number of times i almost missed my stop because i wanted to keep reading 😂 

a little murder, a little romance, some accidental child acquisition (or did the child acquire the adult) found family, and an unravelling of secrets and questioning of the established ways of being in this world. 

the general setting and plot reminded me of part of the dark continent arc in Hunter x Hunter (my fave manga of all time) but only in the most basic sense. the main mystery plot as well as the subplots including the romantic one were all well laid out and engaging. the characters, though most of them are not ones you want to root for, are dynamic and evolve as detective dee works the case. 

some parts were predictable but there were some twists that got me. and some of the journeys to a twist i had a feeling about but i couldn’t figure out were also ‘aha’ moments. 

the last quarter felt a tad rushed, i found a bit of a pacing issue between certain plot points, but that’s only being super nitpicky. 

super excited for more of white’s work! 

thank you to the penguin michael joseph for the review copy.