I'm unsure how to feel about this one. On the one hand I loved the premise and the overall plot. Fantasy meets mystery on the high seas with a jokester layabout main character who seems to break the fourth wall. Think Deadpool but piratey. That I all liked. However, it was the none existent and weird world building I just couldn't get behind. One minute it's talking about hot dogs and the next it's briefly outlining a magical power. There's no explanations, no magical system that I could work out. And for me that's a deal breaker. I need logic in my fantasy. Logic and structure, not half hearted attempts at creating a world as we go. Also, beyond the main character the people on the ship are majorly underdeveloped and all seem to be defined simply by the colour of their hair. This definitely didn't endear them to me.

Really interesting idea, but this needed a lot more fleshing out in terms of world building and character development for me to truly love.

This was a fun and interesting fantasy that mixed different elements i've seen in other novels. I think combined they work well and the final product is good but there was a tiny sparkle that stopped it being a 5 star read for me. I think the main characters read as too juvenile for an adult fantasy, i get that D is seen as immature by those around him but the whole tone of the novel was a bit too young. At moments it felt like a YA novel. This is it's only real downside as everything else is fine and i really enjoyed the mystery aspect to this. The final reveals were done well and i loved the epilogue section so much!

Interesting premise and a compelling writing style but this novel just didn't excite me in the way I thought it would.

Incredibly interesting premise, lackluster execution. I couldn't stand the narrative voice. Way too snarky/edgy.

Such a shame.

3 .5 (rounded up) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you so much to Penguin Randomhouse and NetGalley for an e-arc of this book.

I really liked the whodunnit aspect of this book, something different for fantasy at the moment and the world building and magic system was quite unique as well.

I think the build up was better than the conclusion for me, the last part of the book wasn’t as engaging or exciting.

A fantasy murder mystery with some wonderful characters, although the world building was perhaps a little vague at times. Generally a fun read with lots of snark, which is always a very good thing in my 'book'.

A gripping and atmospheric tale that plunges readers into the heart of this book.
Voyage of the Damned is a masterful blend of horror and adventure - an unforgettable journey!

This book was everything that I wanted in a fantasy and more. Our fat main character has a wicked sense of humour, theres a really great closed room no escape kind of murder mystery, loads of food descriptions and loads of gays and theys! This book has so much heart and it was honestly so readable, I couldn't put it down!

I should be ASHAMED of how long this took me to read and it wasn’t even for any good reason as I was enjoying it from page 1?! But I just kept tanking through bits then putting it down for weeks! Do you ever get those moods?

Either way this book was brilliant fun, I adored the writing style and the authors humour was spot on (if you’ve read my reviews before you know how I feel about humour in books where sometimes it doesn’t always hit right!)

Voyage of the damned is a murder mystery/fantasy/who done it and turns out this is a genre I love but just didn’t know it! We follow our main character Ganymedes (a queer, disaster of a human being and I loved him) as he embarks upon a vessel…through space, yeah you read that right, as it journeys on a mission of unifying the worlds factions.

….then everyone starts dying.

Such a fun read and I cannot wait to read more from this author - for a debut it’s totally a standout.

Thanks so much to the publisher for the ARC (sorry I took me 5-6 business months to read🫠)

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an arc in exchange for this review.

Apologies for my delay, I’ve had a very hectic few months.

I sadly didn’t get very far in this arc before it expired. What I did read was interesting though, so I’ll probably get a physical copy and try it out again.

Imagine Death on the Nile meets fantasy, featuring a smug, witty, queer underdog protagonist you can't help but root for.

The twelve heirs of the providence board the Dragon's Dawn ship to journey to the mountain where the Blessing was first bestowed, to pay homage to the Goddess and unite once more.

Each heir possesses a unique and secret magical ability known as a Blessing—except for Ganymedes, or ‘Dee,’ a bastard who is forced by his father to lie about his absent Blessing. Aboard the ship, the beloved heir is murdered, and everyone becomes a suspect as the killer strikes repeatedly.

This captivating story is brimming with immature jokes, found family, longing, queerness, identity, class struggles, loyalty, and discrimination.

This is a first for me by the author and one I enjoyed and I would read more of their work. The book cover is eye-catching and appealing and would spark my interest if in a bookshop. Thank you to the author, publisher and Netgalley for this ARC.

3.5/5.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for the early access to this book.

I wasn't sold by the description/premise of the book, and didn't think I'd enjoy it, but really wanted to give it a go. And I was pleasantly surprised!

It ended up being a solid read, and it was fun, interesting and engaging.

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!

I had high hopes for this book but it didn't meet the mark. I found the world building to be simplistic, and often had myself saying that something didn't seem right or smart. I found the narrative tone to be quite annoying as well. It very much felt like this novel was aimed at a younger audience, rather than adult SFF.

Voyage of the Damned was a fun murder mystery with fantasy elements that I enjoyed. At the start of the book I wasn’t sold, the narration style I didn’t initially mesh with, but as the book progressed I found myself enjoying the irreverent voice used. While sometimes juvenile, the overall tone really helped to elevate the reading experience imo by making the fairly depressing murder marginally less so.

I was genuinely shocked by 1 of the twists, which doesn’t happen often, so I do really appreciate that! Although the majority of the book was predictable, that did not distract from me enjoying it. The pacing was good, it felt quick & flowed nicely.

I ended up really liking Dee despite initial reservations, but the star for me was really Grasshopper, a precious angel! I also always appreciate a strong female character, so the Spider & the Elephant also stood out.

Overall a good, intriguing read!

Thank you to Michael Joseph and Netgalley for the opportunity to review this ARC.

There's not a lot of fantasy whodunit but this one is great, entertaining and well plotted. I loved the characters and the world building.
The solid mystery kept me guessing and hooked.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

A fun and unexpectedly though-provoking mystery, in the style of the old 1930's mansion mysteries - several guests trapped in a single building (ship), when a murder happens, then another, then another... but with fantasy!

Many thanks to Netgalley, Michael Jospeh imprint of Penguin Random House, for an advanced reader copy of this book and to Illumicrate for a gorgeous special edition hardback, which I ended up tucking into in order to review this story.

This was something different for me, I have not read a true version of this genre pairing before, though I have read other fantasies that have elements of mystery in them, this really hearkened back to the style of Agatha Christie and her contemporaries. I also thought that there would be a fantasy gloss over the murder mystery, but that the glamour would be quite thin and surface level, when, in fact I felt myself drawn into the world, the characters and their politics, and inter-relationships, and the journey itself, which was a great device, the urgency building as the ship travelled closer to it's destination.

I loved the main character, Ganymedes Piscero, his character and motivation were natural, and compelling and I was really drawn to him, having not read many characters like him for ages, if at all. The romantic storylines were well-done, and the representation was well done and fit the narrative too, without feeling forced or token for the modern reader.

The only thing I couldn't get behind was the end, I won't spoil it by saying what happened, but one of the main threads and motivations for Ganymedes felt brushed aside by what happened at the end, and things that had happened suddenly had no impact on the character, or their significance forgotten.

I'm going to have to spell it out in a spoiler, my skirting around it isn't making sense:
<spoiler>
Dee seemingly accepting Ravi's role in the murders, the fact that, even if he himself hadn't killed everyone, he had been party to it, and placed Dee himself and Dee's friend, the six-year old Grasshopper in direct danger as a result jarred with me. Surely being so complicit, and seemingly quite calmly so, (he didn't like what he'd done in the end, but didn't seem particularly disturbed by it), would completely change who he was in Dee's eyes, but he seemed to face no consequences other than his own guilt, and, as a reader, it felt like we were supposed to be happy that Ravi was alive after all, and accept that he was just busy pretending to be Dee's romantic interest all while holding onto the knowledge that people were being killed, who was doing it and why.
</spoiler>

It's a shame, because I was really pleasantly surprised by how much I liked the book up until that point. I'm also not sure the cover or title suits the characters or the story, maybe that's something to do with the writing style. It reads quite young, the characters feel quite young, but I didn't really mind that because it felt like it had more depth and complexity than YA books in general. Just something to note, from the cover, you might expect something slightly different.

Still really intrigued to see what Frances White writes next and really glad Illumicrate chose this book for their box, it started my 2024 reading on a high note.

Can you say gay murder cruise? I really enjoyed this debut in so many ways. I especially loved Frances White's writing style and the fact that she made me fall in love with her characters, especially our protagonist.

Voyage of the Damned is a brilliantly concocted mix of fantasy and murder mystery that'll keep you on the edge of your seat. Through the eyes of Ganymedes Piscero, the magically ungifted protagonist, readers are treated to a thrilling investigation amid a magical realm. White weaved humor with suspense which makes this novel not just a journey through a magical empire but a delightful race against time to uncover a murderer. A perfect pick for those who love their mysteries served with a generous side of fantasy flair.

*Thank you for the ARC!

I loved this. I loved it so, so much. It’s like a country house murder mystery crossed with the hunger games what could you possibly not like about that. All these kids with different magical “blessings” are chucked together on a ship to do a pilgrimage to the Godess’s Mountain whether they want to go or not. Ganymedes our chubby, trouble making, slacker of a hero with daddy issues does not want to be there. As heir to the lowliest province everyone else considers him lower than the shit on their shoe but Dee has a plan to make them all hate him so much they kick him off the ship unfortunately before he can fully implement it everybody’s favourite heir and all round good girl is horribly murdered! Chaos and treachery ensue and there’s an empire at stake.
I give all the applause to this book, I ate it all up. It’s got heart, it’s got spirit, it’s got a snarky hero with a heart of gold a cute kid who didn’t make me want to vomit (this is difficult to achieve). There’s romance, there’s intrigue there’s representation done right and most of all there’s a really good mystery. I did not know who did it and it kept me turning pages. Everyone should read this.