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bibliomania_express's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Voyage of the Damned by Frances White is a sharp, quick-paced murder mystery that was everything I hoped it would be. Twelve Blesseds, each representing a province of the United Empire of Concordia, are on a voyage to the sacred mountain. Except Dee isn't Blessed - he's hiding his lack of power to protect his province. Then Dee has bigger things to worry about as one by one the Blesseds are murdered. Dee will have to figure out who the murderer is and what's going on before he ends up dead.
I had such a great time with this book. It has some great character work, a twisty mystery, an interesting magic system, and fantastic representation of different races, sexualities, body types, and disabilities. It also deals with classism, xenophobia, prejudice, religious bigotry, self-esteem, and the economics of control. Along with grief, love, family, found family, and corruption. Just a whole lot of stuff packed into an isolated, closed circle murder mystery on a boat.
Dee was a great protagonist and it was fun to follow him through his resentment and self-loathing at the lie foisted upon him to finding his true self and working his way through the clues. Dee is loud, proud of his big body, funny while using humour as deflection, and in many ways his idgaf nature is what saves the day. There's also a romance element in this book, which went some unexpected ways a few times.
I liked how the Blessings were tied into the plot, and how the story unravelled by revealing bits about each character and their pasts. It did get a bit confusing that characters had names but were also called their province's animal name.
I did guess some elements of the solution, but not all of it. I'm not sure if I would class this as a fair play mystery since some of the clues come rather late and deal a lot with the politics and secrets there wouldn't be a way of knowing.
I'd have more to say, but it would all be spoilers, so I'll leave it there.
Graphic: Blood, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, Xenophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Death, Classism, and Colonisation
Moderate: Grief, Blood, and Bullying
Minor: Child death, Fatphobia, Suicide, Ableism, and Terminal illness
beckisnotonfire's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Moderate: Terminal illness, Murder, Death, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Violence, and Grief
inkysplodge's review
- 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
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Xenophobia, Murder, Self harm, Death, Classism, and Cursing
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Suicide attempt, Blood, Terminal illness, Suicidal thoughts, and Alcohol
Minor: Death of parent, Fatphobia, Suicide, Vomit, Animal death, and Sexual content
novel_nibbles's review against another edition
- 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
4.0
Like all good mysteries, Voyage of the Damned kept me guessing the perpetrator and speculating on how they’d carried out their crimes.
Moderate: Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Blood, Chronic illness, Terminal illness, and Suicidal thoughts
madscientistcat's review
- 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
Graphic: Murder, Blood, Suicide attempt, Grief, Classism, Xenophobia, Terminal illness, Chronic illness, Medical trauma, and Suicidal thoughts
Moderate: Child death
Minor: Sexual content
aroraback's review
- 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
4.5
Points of the plot were apparent, but I felt like the evidence was pointing against it. But I was pleasantly surprised at various points as the story wrapped up during the reveal. All point but one point were used and didn’t get left behind. The myth the story uses as setup/a driving force felt a little underdeveloped, or like it had more that needed to be edited out. But this didn’t detract from the rest of the story and wasn’t absolutely necessary for the plot to continue.
I did start a little slow with this story, solely due to single quotations (a pet peeve of mine, and something I wouldn’t mind dropping a book for), but once I got into the story I easy got over this.
Star rating based on CAWPILE
I read the first sentence from one review before starting this and was sold on that (before hesitating when I saw single quotations). That being comparing it to a gay Fruits Basket. While not 100%, the story is reminiscent that I love this comparison LOL
Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Mental illness, Terminal illness, Suicidal thoughts, and Chronic illness
Who dies: Wyatt, Euphodar, Negrüi, Jasper, Shinjirio, Eska,sarahna's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Self harm, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Murder, Bullying, Chronic illness, Classism, Ableism, Blood, Suicide attempt, Fatphobia, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Body shaming, Confinement, Infidelity, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Toxic friendship, Violence, and Vomit
lisashelves's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Grief, Blood, Murder, Death, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Sexual content, Terminal illness, and Vomit
Minor: Suicide attempt and Suicidal thoughts