Voyage of the Damned by Frances White

FantasyMystery

Jun 6

Voyage of the Damned by Frances White Book Cover with Publication Information and Star Rating

Synopsis

For a thousand years, Concordia has maintained peace between its provinces. To mark this incredible feat, the emperor's ship embarks upon a twelve-day voyage to the sacred Goddess's Mountain. Aboard are the heirs of the twelve provinces of Concordia, each graced with a unique and secret magical ability known as a Blessing.

Except one: Ganymedes Piscero - class clown, slacker, and all-round disappointment.

When a beloved heir is murdered, everyone is a suspect. Stuck at sea and surrounded by powerful people without a Blessing to protect him, odds of survival are slim. But as the bodies pile higher, Ganymedes must become the hero he was not born to be. Can he unmask the killer and their blessing before this bloody crusade reaches the shores of Concordia?

Or will the empire as he knows it fall?

*Blurb taken from Goodreads

Review

This was a fun ride that kept me hooked up until the end! As a fan of both fantasy and locked-door murder mysteries, to see a genre mash-up of the two peaked my interest. Add in that I was already getting a special edition from Illumicrate? Done deal!

Our main protagonist, Dee, has snarky, crass demeanor that, frankly, will grate on some readers and not on others. I found him to be absolutely hilarious and loved the antics he pulled! His jokes functioned as a social shield, and beneath that layer of distancing was a boy who wanted nothing more than to be loved for exactly who he is. Which is a chaotic empath that adores sweets and is loyal to a fault, always seeking out the good in others.

Each of our voyagers are rulers of their provinces within Concordia because they have an inherited Blessing (AKA, magic). But the specificity of these Blessings aren’t known. Trying to solve the magic of each character alongside the murders—as these gifts would have been used to enact the kills—added another layer of intrigue to the plot. As someone who reads a lot, I continuously went back and forth on who I thought the murderer(s) might be. Having Dee as an unconventional protagonist (he’s more Watson than Holmes) only heightened this intensity because, as I said before, he really can find good in most everyone. By getting his perspective, each leader has a motive for murder, as well as the capability to follow through, but they also have softer qualities of wanting to be understood.

I think it will take a specific kind of reader to like Dee’s voice. I happened to be that reader and was so endeared to him! If you’re frustrated by chapter three, however, this may not be the book for you. This was a solid text with a mystery that keeps readers guessing up until the 70% mark, where the narrative makes a more political shift. White tackled a huge cross-genre concept, and she mostly executed. There are some specific critiques that lowered the star rating for me. As a debut, however, I’m genuinely excited to see what more this author releases!

Critiques

So, I had some pretty big issues with this, but we’re going to narrow it down to my top four and leave the more nitpicky critiques out.

Villainous Monologue: While Dee does figure out what’s going on, and mostly works out who the culprits are, he doesn’t know how the kills were pulled off. Enter chess and the murderess mastermind, Cordelia. Over a game together, Dee convinces Cordelia to expunge the details of her gory murder spree, including her motivations, how she managed some of the trickier kills, etc. It ripped most of the suspense right out from under me. And in a murder mystery, it’s never great to need the villain to monologue disjointed connections.
Stereotyping: I’m hesitant to even comment on this, because White does give thanks to a group of diversity readers in her acknowledgments, so it is clear that she had feedback before publication. However, in the world-build of Concordia, different nations very much parallel our world and the characters from those nations seem to fit stereotypical roles. Do I LOVE getting diversity in a text? Absolutely. And every author will represent diversity in, well, diverse ways. But something about this setup made me wince. It didn’t feel organic, which then gave off a sense of inauthenticity.
Ravi: So. Many. Issues. Ravi as a character single-handedly ruined this book for me. The first thing he did was exist after we thought he was dead. I was so taken by Dee and Wyatt’s romance, and I adored the way Dee really understood Wyatt and what he went through as the dux of Bear province. Their relationship was built on selflessness and an empathy I wish we in the real world saw more of in our day-to-day. To have that shattered when—BOOM—Ravi reveals he has actually been Wyatt the entire time felt like a slap. The intimacy of the entire relationship dissolved, because all of the emotional depth came from Dee’s (and “Wyatt’s”) acceptance of one another for who they are as people, and what they do for their people. Ravi’s gift felt like a cop-out of a twist that ended up ruining some of the lovelier parts of the book.
Ravi also has this weird, all-knowing aura to him that was trite and irritating. He knew who was murdering everyone aboard the ship, but did nothing to stop it. Worse, he agreed to be a part of it all. But when he switched sides, he played this personal little game with Dee that, I guess, was all about Dee gaining confidence. Because, oh yeah, Ravi knew Cordelia intended to take all of the Blessings and move the Bandage which will end in the slaughter of millions of people. And eventually, Ravi tells Dee that he wants the power so he can do better by Crow Province and the Crabs. But actually, that’s a lie as well to ensure Dee recognizes his own self worth and will take the power instead. I mean … what? Ravi: 1. Stood by while people were murdered, 2. Led Dee on this gory obstacle course for self-improvement, 3. Had the information to stop everything but instead acted like some omniscient sociopath puppeteering our MMC. That’s insane. Except, Dee doesn’t seem to think it’s insane and we get a loosely threaded Happily Ever After. Again … what?
World-Building: This world was both too big and too small for the story. This was a huge political system that got tackled in a single book with a murder mystery that relied upon said government to understand the context of the voyage, as well as the motivation behind the killings. And while I was at no point confused by the complexity of the world or the magic system, that’s because it was all rather simple. So, a HUGE concept told in such a simple way that it felt flat and generic. If the world had been smaller with more details added in (and if these details hadn’t been a bit info-dumpy), then it would have led to a tighter plot. Instead, this came off as a massive undertaking, which ultimately led to a Meh mood at the conclusion. Because really, do we think Dee’s changes will last beyond his death after a thousand years of the pervious government? No. No, we do not.