Book Review: Voyage of the Damned by Frances White [Audiobook]

 
 
Ganymedes is forced to go on a 12-day ship voyage with the 11 other Blessed heirs of the provinces who all hate him, and they don't even know his secret: he has no magical ability. But when the murders start, he's determined to find the killer and bring justice to the dead.

Title: Voyage of the Damned
Author:
Pages: 498
My Rating: 4 Stars
More Info: Goodreads // Amazon // Publisher
 

Review:

This was such a fun mystery book! (Well, fun for me, not so much for the characters being murdered.) I don’t read a ton of mystery books, but I like ones like this, where the characters are all trapped together, and you know one of them must be the killer, but you don’t know who. The further I got in the book, the more into it I got. I really wanted to figure out how all the puzzle pieces fit together and who the murderer was. I’ll admit, I was completely wrong in my guesses, but it was a fun and enjoyable mystery that kept me on my toes and made sense in the end.

This is one of those books where you’re shown a bunch of characters immediately, which can feel overwhelming, but it stops at 12, and then you stick with only those 12 for the whole book. And an eclectic and diverse cast of characters, they were. The MC was fat or chubby. A couple characters were disabled. Some were POC. Many of them, including the MC, were queer. And they were all unique in personality.

The main character was sassy and rebellious and a bit irreverent. He was both confident and self-loathing, though the latter was mostly because of his life situation and how the world treated him because of his lower-ranking province. Ultimately, he was fun and wanted to do what was right and good. I also especially liked Grasshopper, an adorable six-year-old he took under his protection. The love interest also turned out to be pretty interesting.

The world-building was fairly simplistic. There were 12 provinces, one was a desert, one was a tundra, one was a rainforest, one was all about books and learning, etc. It was fine, deep world-building wasn’t really the point.

The magical abilities added a fun element to things. Solving a murder is a lot harder when everyone involved has powers, but you also don’t know what those powers are.

There was one thing that still makes no sense to me, though it’s not an important thing. *SPOILER* It makes no sense why Nergui wanted so badly to talk with Dee. And wanted so badly for him to admit he had no blessing. And got so angry when he wouldn’t say it. None of that mattered if they were just going to kill him. Nergui might’ve wanted to share their truth, but that still doesn’t explain so badly wanting Dee to share his. And then there was their little parting gift of making everyone spill their secrets that no one knew, and what they’d said about how he’d regret not telling them. That made it seem like Nergui was trying to help Dee before, because if he’d said it, then it wouldn’t have been a secret no one knew, and Nergui wouldn’t have outed it. But again, that makes no sense if Nergui was planning on killing Dee. *END SPOILER*

There’s also one thing I’m torn about. It was sorta cool, but I didn’t fully buy it. *MAJOR SPOILER* When it turned out Wyatt was Ravi, that was a sorta cool twist. But we’re supposed to think the reason Dee fell in love with Wyatt so fast was because he was Ravi all along and Dee fell for that essence of Ravi. I don’t feel like he did though. He had no idea. Fake Wyatt didn’t have the same essence as Ravi, for lack of a better way of putting it. Ravi was changed, acting differently from the person Dee used to know. But then, maybe that does make sense. Dee fell for this person, the one who stood up to the others and all that, and it just turned out to be Ravi. So it turns out, Dee loves Ravi’s softer side, but also loves this new side of him. *END SPOILER* Ok, I think I’ve actually come around and am on board with this after talking it out 😅 Gonna leave it in my review though in case it’s helpful to anyone else.

I listened to the audiobook, narrated by Nathan Foad, and it was mostly great! The southern accent was maybe not the best. I’m not sure about all the other accents. But he did a lot of different voices and accents that made it easy to keep track of all the characters, and he sounded natural, bringing the right bit of sass to Ganymedes’s POV.

Overall, I liked the characters, I enjoyed the story, and I got fully sucked into the mystery!

*Rating: 4 Stars // Read Date: 2024 // Format: Audiobook*

 

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Do you like mysteries where everyone is trapped together with the killer?

 
 
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4 thoughts on “Book Review: Voyage of the Damned by Frances White [Audiobook]

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  1. Roberta R.

    “I’ll admit, I was completely wrong in my guesses”
    Usually the mark of a good mystery (unless the solution isn’t well thought-out, which doesn’t sound the case here).

  2. Lola

    I do like locked room type of mysteries where you know one of those is the culprit. And trying to guess who has done it is always fun even if I am wrong. This one sounds good and I like how you describe the characters as all havign such an unique personality. I’ve read some paranormal cozy mysteries, the magical element can really add an additional element to the mystery, although I don’t think I’ve ever read one completely set in a fantasy world. I’ll add this one to my wishlist!