Damn! Pun intended. ;)
This book really took me for a ride and spit me back out again at the end. I loved every second of it - the twist, the turns, the ship as its own character basically. Kept me captivated and guessing!

Voyage of the Damned by Frances White
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
0.5/🌶

What I loved:
🐟The characters. There isn't one unrelatable or unlovable character here. They were all so well-developed, even the ones who died early.
🐟Idk how White managed such incredible world building on top of a brilliant murder mystery, but she did.
🐟The LGBTQ+ representation. There were so many diverse characters, and at no time was the narrator preachy about it. It just *was*, and that's exactly what it should be.
🐟Laugh out loud funny! Dee has sent me to an early grave.

I have no words for how utterly phenomenal this was. What a triumph. But, I will do my best to influence everyone to read this with my review.

The pacing was perfect. It was fast-paced but never felt rushed. There were a few scenes that slowed it down, but they were welcome and refreshing moments.

All the characters were incredibly well developed, and I loved getting to know them. They were so well-rounded and dynamic and had so much depth. All had their own traumas and hidden problems. None of them were perfect, and all had made mistakes, but they were doing their best. This also made it extremely difficult when they died because I really grew to love them.

Dee was such a brilliant MC. How do I put it into words?! Quick-witted, smart, selfless, and big-hearted. He took in Grasshopper when no one else would. (Grasshopper also holds my heart and added so much levity) I loved Dee's humor. I also really felt for him because underneath the sarcasm and wit, Dee was broken.

As for the mystery, in the wise words of Dwight Schrute, "It's never the person you most suspect. It's also never the person you least suspect, since anyone with half a brain would suspect them the most. Therefore, I know the killer to be... the person I most medium suspect."

I tried. I tried SO HARD to solve this, and I failed miserably because I didn't listen to Dwight! It didn't help the mystery was complex, so I would have only gotten it partially correct, but still!

The setting was also spectacular. A magical ship that none of them could leave. With little dragon butlers? I mean, could it get any better?

And the world building? I loved learning about the world and the different cultures. I loved the politics in play and the history between the characters.

I dont think I can name one thing I didn't like because there isn't one. White bridged fantasy and murder mystery perfectly and nailed both. This is the best murder mystery I have ever read. I truly, truly cannot recommend this enough.

I know this is one I will be rereading over and over again. For me, it's an instant classic. A perfect comfort read to come back to when I need a pick me up or to get me out of a slump. This is one of my top ten best books I've ever read.

This book dealt with some heavy topics and themes, but yet it remained light and hopeful. They were covered with so much compassion. Themes of not belonging, pressure to conform, unrequited love, loss, grief, loneliness, and more.

TWs: attempted suicide, violence, death

So, imagine if Hercule Poirot was on a ship. And he was the heir to a magical province. And he's trapped on that ship with the other hereditary magical heirs of the empire. And his ex boyfriend is there. And then the emperor's heir is killed. And then other people start dying. And oh yeah, he's been lying the whole time about his magical abilities. That thought exercise would get you sort of in the ballpark of everything this book has to offer. The high fantasy world building in this murder mystery is truly excellent, especially since it manages to be queer, funny, and well paced all at the same time. I can't wait to read more from this author.

It’s been a while since I dove into the world of fantasy, and this was one that didn’t disappoint. I genuinely enjoyed the Clue-esque aspect of the story: the murder mystery, the tension of wondering who was next, all while trying to figure out who was responsible. The characters were likable enough to keep the reader intrigued and the twists were good enough to keep the reader on their toes. All in all, it was a gruesomely good time of a read!

A big thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin Trade publishing for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

This was a rollicking good time on the high seas where motives are rampant, magic abounds, and the body count climbs! Told from the first-person perspective of our main character, 'Dee" (Ganymedes), we are introduced to the land of Concordia that is split into 12 provinces. Each of these provinces are governed by a dux that has been blessed with a magical ability, and the next heir will be known when they are also blessed with magic. Unfortunately for Dee, he hasn't yet been blessed with magic and yearns to escape the lie that his father has spun. The lie that Dee has been blessed when he hasn't, but there isn't a choice as he's the only legitimate heir. For millennia, the provinces have worked together to ensure the peace of Concordia and to keep unwanted people out, namely the Crabs. While they are each meant to be equals, there is clearly a hierarchy among the duxes who manipulate and play for power.

As they all set sail on a ship together to form bonds, not all is what it seems. Clearly there is a scheme a foot. Magical powers are kept hidden and deadly secrets hang in the balance. Will Dee be able to make it out alive and find the killer in time?

Even though I felt this could have used a bit more editing to move the plot along, I loved how fully developed the characters were. Dee seems to be the unlikely hero - always looked down upon and seen as worthless by his peers. Regardless of that, he is quirky, funny, and tenacious. He is what most of the characters are not - a good person. I also thoroughly enjoyed the diverse representation in this story and the message that we are all worthy. Worthy to be loved and seen as whole, Being and feeling seen for who we are, and not defined by what we lack. If you love a good fantasy and murder mystery in one with a host of well-developed characters you should give this one a try.

I just couldn’t get into this book. I got close to half way through and found the writing style to not be my personal favorite. It wasn’t at all that the story was bad, it was interesting but I couldn’t get past the fast paced writing. Which, for someone else this writing could be really fun and upbeat but for me it just felt really busy. It read like an anime. Someone had mentioned fruit baskets and honestly that was a really good comparison. But, just because I didn’t enjoy it doesn’t mean you won’t! As I said the storyline was intriguing, give a book a try! That’s all us readers can do.

This book is absurdly fun. Not only is there a killer mystery, intricate magic system, and interpersonal drama for DAYS, it's just ... a really good, funny, heartfelt thrill ride? What can I say. Frances White, you have gained a fan.

I flew through this book in about 24 hours and I had a great time.

Voyage of the Damned is such a fun fantasy murder mystery on a boat with a diverse cast of intriguing characters. Giving a bit of Knives Out: Glass Onion, A Restless Truth by Freya Marske, and Agatha Christie all mixed in one.

The mc Dee was delightful! Funny, charismatic, compassionate, and also a chaotic mess with a bit of self-loathing thrown in. Basically, my kind of character.

Besides the murder mystery aspect of the book, it also gets into privilege, socioeconomic differences, power struggles and inequalities, as well as friendship, love, grief, and self-image. But like, in a fun way lol.

I didn't figure out most of the reveals until they happened or closely beforehand so I had great time reading this and being charmed by Dee and his antics as he was trying to find the killer and keep himself and his new friends alive.

The book's got really diverse characters, and lots of great rep that includes Dee being bi and fat, and side characters being trans, asexual, disabled, and queer.

Voyage of the Damned was pitched to me as a queer, magical murder mystery on a ship—all things I notoriously love, so I was excited to dive in, and even more stressed to realize the January release date for the book was only for the UK. So thank you to Harlequin Trade Publishing and Netgalley for this eARC for my honest review on this book!

The general premise behind the world of this book is daunting: a nation with twelve provinces, represented by different animals, each has a representative called a Blessed, each given a gift from the Goddess that is passed down from parent to progeny meant to help lead their province. Once all twelve Blessed in a generation are identified, they make a journey—alone—on a ship to a remote mountain.

Only this time, someone starts picking them off, one by one.

I'll be honest, I was nervous as I am any time I open a book and it starts with a map. I love a large cast of characters as much as (if not more than) the next reader, but coming in knowing that (particularly in a murder mystery) I need to keep track of twelve primary characters, I was worried—not many authors can successfully not make that all feel like alphabet soup.

However, the author's ability to write distinct, interesting characters and attaching them each to an animal somehow made it not such a heavy task. I'll admit that I rolled my eyes a little with each outlandish character description (hair every color of the rainbow, overly disparate styles that made me sometimes feel the world was not cohesive), but it helped me keep track of the Blessed as they were killed off.

The concept of the Blessed (and their Blessings) was something I particularly loved about this book and felt was handled in an original way, with some characters keeping Blessings a secret—as they align with their true character—allowing the concept to feed into the mystery. A particular twist in the back half of the book really hit this one home, and I think the way the author balanced the web of characters and their abilities was extremely tactful.

As a result, the actual solve to the murder mystery was extraordinarily satisfying as a reader. I had my suspicions! And I was wrong! And so happy to be! The author laid the groundwork that the solve didn't entirely come out of nowhere, but still made it that the reader would be surprised. A perfect balance.

(Even if the culprit explaining it out beat by beat in a later scene was a little on the nose.)

That being said, the post-mystery solution felt a little rushed, and the overall ending left a few plot holes that I have questions about that I wish we'd taken a little more time on. A few loose ends in the way the world ends up after several of its leaders are massacred is...a little rough, but didn't leave me with a total sour taste.

My other struggle with this book is that I did not always love our protagonist, Dee. The "Blessed" from Fish Province—who is actually a liar and never received his father's Blessing, presumably because it went to a bastard—was sometimes so outlandish and childish he felt more at home in a middle grade novel despite this book otherwise often feeling quite adult. This ties into the tonal dissonance in the aesthetics with each province—there were times I didn't entirely know what genre of book I was in, or what to make of my setting because of it.

That being said, I had a thoroughly great time with this adventure—and the quiet, dedicated romance that ran through it.

The world building in this book was super interesting and the magic of Concordia felt very immersive. I love a good fantasy stand alone book and this one definitely delivered as a debut novel. I do believe there is some potential for more interconnected books due to the characters being super interesting. There is a good amount of humor in this book which makes the reading experience more enjoyable but there is also some more underlying depth to the characters that you have to dig at. Typically I am a romance/romantasy reader and I do not think this quite falls into that realm it is more of a high fantasy with some romantic subplots. There is a ton of representation within this book which is super exciting to see especially within a fantasy novel.

Fantasy genre mixed with locked room murder mystery and sparkled with great humor! What a fun read it was! This book made me giggle and kept me guessing who did it throughout the whole book. This book is also character-driven and I loved them all! Each character was unique and had a big personality. This one was such a refreshing read!!
Hope more people will read this book soon!

Fantasy is 100% my favorite genre, but I enjoy dabbling in locked-room mysteries and Voyage of the Damned was a perfect combination of the two! The main character, Ganymedes, is truly the unlikeliest of heroes and I loved him for that, even if his personality was a little grating (he was doing it on purpose, so I forgive him!). The author did an exceptional job juggling 12 very distinct characters and their magical abilities and I was kept guessing basically up until the big reveal. Overall, I’m very impressed and would love to read more books in this vein!

I ordered myself a fancy Waterstones exclusive edition with the fancy gold and edges and all of the things.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin for the ARC.

(3.5 stars rounded up)

Dee is one of the Blessed and on a boat ride to a ceremony to celebrate all the Blessed (kids with special powers to help their country). People start dying and secrets start coming out. This book has a somewhat complicated magic system and honestly it was a little hard to follow combined with the numerous provinces, powers, province animal/character name (used interchangeably), and their hair colors (that supposedly tell you where people are from). I couldn’t decide if I like Dee and his sarcasm, jokes and relationship with some of the Blessed, or hated him and his obsession with food, constant drama and weirdly being turned on by things in weird situations. I enjoyed the murder-mystery aspect (a la “And Then There Were None” but with superpowers) but some parts of the backstory and lore of this magic situation were just a little hard to follow. A bit of the romance felt super rushed and like Dee just would fall in love with anyone, but that made sense later. I think that relationship was maybe the most interesting aspect of the book.

Thanks to NetGalley & Frances White for allowing me to read and review this!

Unfortunately, I had to DNF this one. I was super intrigued by the premise, it seemed like a really fun twist on a closed-room (ship?) murder mystery. However, I had a really difficult time relating to the writing style and characters. Although marketed as more of an adult novel, to me it read more middle-grade. I felt as though the characters lacked depth and I felt more apathy and annoyance to them rather than interest and care, despite the variety of ages and backgrounds. The lore was super well developed and it's clear that a lot of effort was put into creating this world, each providence and the history behind each.
Although I seem to not be the target audience for this novel, I can see it being a great fit for a large variety of readers.

I didn’t particularly like the last 15% or so (the big reveal, the final twist, the villain speech, etc) and none of the characters really felt like people except for Dee and Grasshopper. But I liked the messy politics and picking sides and who was more important and Dee. Dee gave the story heart with his humor, his genuine goodness, and yes even his self loathing. I think this book could have benefited from having the characters interact together more either in a group or directly one on one with Dee instead of all his deductions coming from flashbacks. Also the hair colors as sole and definitive indicator of what providence the characters were from felt kinda tacky

I landed on a middle of the road grade for Voyage of the Damned by Frances White, because there were 5 star aspects but also 1 start aspects. I enjoyed the very tongue in cheek writing, which lent a lot of humor to the story and made me love the MC and his little sidekicks. 5 stars for Grasshopper and Dumpling! And I thought there were some really interesting concepts in terms of the world and magic. Sadly though, these things weren't explored and I had too many unanswered questions in terms of the world building.

Although I love a locked door who dun it mystery, this one was too long without much happening. I was invested once I was in - which took awhile as the writing skews very young, not adult - but it did get awfully repetitive in the middle, with too much being quickly resolved at the end. But without giving me all the answers I was hoping for. The main murder plot was resolved, but I wanted so much to know what happened next with the surviving characters and their world! Which was only given a couple ending pages.

“Voyage of the damned” is a unique fantasy journey with magical characters and murder mystery themes. Sounds like a random concoction to throw together but somehow it works.

I will say that this book takes a little while to get into, and reads more like a YA novel, however once you push past the first bit the rest of the ride is pretty enjoyable.

What drew me to this book was the reference to Agatha Christie’s whodunnit style of writing, although there are similar themes, there is also lots of humour in this book so it is not one to take too seriously.

My overall thoughts are I did enjoy this book. I do think it could have benefited from some extra editing to tighten things up a little, maybe dropping a few characters to keep from confusing the reader with all that was going on. Nevertheless I recommend giving this one a go as you will likely have a fun time reading.

Thank you to Harlequin Trade Publishing, Fances White and NetGalley for the EARC!

Publish date: August 20th

I was such a huge fan of Agatha Christie when I was younger (I still am today), so reading a fantasy murder mystery was a lot of fun for me! I love anything fantasy related, so I ate this up.

This was an enjoyable read and I had a hard time putting this down!

This book was categorized as fantasy, but the fantasy world did not seem well researched with a lot of flaws in the timelines. This book did not seem like an adult fantasy and it fell a little flat for me.