The concept of The Ship was interesting, but somewhere in the telling, the story fell flat and my attention wandered.

What a strange, sad story! I wish I'd read this sooner. I really wanted to like this book but there was a lot of suspension of disbelief and I didn't connect with or particularly like any of the characters.

This book was not for me and the first book in a long time that I could not finish. I kept going back to it thinking it would get better, that something would finally click. But that moment never came. The premise of the story was interesting to me, dystopian London, and I was really looking forward to it. But the storyline and characters fell flat for me. Finally I had to give up when I found myself dreading reading. My rating is based on the fact that I could not finish the book.

It had good description and kept my interest, it was just a bit slow at times.

An interesting concept brought down by an irritating characters, constant repetition, weird gender dynamics, and ham-fisted messaging. I don't think it was initially marketed as YA, but as literary fiction with a teenage protagonist. However, it feels very much YA according to current stylistic norms.

It's the end of the world. That is, society as we know it has just collapsed on itself, and people are at wits end trying to hang on to their comfortable lives in the face of widespread shortages and outtages. Okay. I like how there's been no particular cataclysm, just a massive series of failures in the system that have left humanity to stew in the results of late-stage capitalism. I like the concept of a teenage girl, Lalla, being sheltered from the worst of this by her well-meaning parents. I like the issues raised by the parents' arguments over which people are worthy of saving (via hoards of canned food and supplies on the titular ship) and which people must be left behind.

Unfortunately, once the action moves -- far too soon -- onto the ship, things go downhill fast. Lalla is a very naive 16 year old, overly sheltered and immature, but the writing makes her come off more like an 11 year old (which makes it extremely uncomfortable to read when she starts having sex). She's a hard narrator to like, not necessarily because she's naive but because she's a bit thick. She's the only person on the ship who did not start out already privy to the central "mystery" of the book -- one that every reader will spot immediately, and then wait endless pages for Lalla to catch up.

Lalla's father, Michael, is built up to be a sort of creepy cult-leader figure, but the book doesn't know what to do with this. There is sometimes a sense of menace, but it doesn't lead anywhere. Lalla's relationship with her new boyfriend, Tom, is viewed by her as some Great Romance -- LOVE! LOVE! I WOULD GIVE UP EVERYTHING FOR OUR LOVE!!! -- but most readers will find Tom condescending at best, and a manipulative abuser at worst.

There are countless boring, circular conversations and repetitive inner monologues. Most of the side characters are inscrutable. It's like they've either been brainshwashed, or they're supposed to illustrate that the supposed "best of humanity" are the kind of people that foster and "I got mine" mentality to the exclusion of all else. There don't seem to be any LGBTQ people on the entire ship of 500 people. Michael's view of utopia is outmoded and heteronormative (see: white wedding gowns and bride & groom cake toppers stocked below deck!) and this is questioned neither by the other characters nor by the entire narrative. Lalla eventually realizes how flawed this whole Ship plan is, but her only alternative, as presented in the end, is equally absurd.

This book was not all bad. There is some wonderful imagery to be found, some of which will stay with me. But it will not satisfy lovers of dystopian fiction, feminists, or literary fiction fans, and I can't say I'd recommend it even as straight YA.

I am a big fan of apocalyptic/end of the world as we know it kind of books so I was quick to request this book when I read the synopsis.
Lalla has the misfortune to be a young person alive at a time when the world and civilization has basically collapsed. She lives a sheltered life for awhile until her father decides to take an escape route he has been planning for awhile: a ship that is limited to 500 people.
The idea of the book is interesting and different from other novels I have read that deal with this kind of scenario. I have to admit that I did not like Lalla's character very much but I can understand and empathize with why she is the way she is. The writing is amazing and kept me up reading just a bit more but I found the overall tone very dark as it should be considering the subject matter. All in all, I enjoyed reading this book but felt a bit sad and let down at the end as there is no fairy tale ending. The Ship is a very realistic story on a difficult and uncomfortable subject.

I could not bring myself to finish this one. I just did not find the story to be interesting. I had a problem connecting with the plot and characters.

I appreciated the opportunity to read this book, as the premise was intriguing and I often enjoy dystopian stories. Unfortunately it came up short for me and I ended up not finishing it. The beginning wasn't particularly engaging and I couldn't connect enough with the characters to stick it out. This one just ended up not being a great fit for me.

Hated this one. I kept hoping it got better as I usually love this sort of story. I only made it 50% through before I had to quit reading. Terrible characters, weird story that didn't make sense. Ugh

This is one of those books that I went into not really sure what to expect, yet after I finished, I thought ‘well, that’s not what I expected’. Which is kind of strange, right? But not bad. It wasn’t bad at all. It was just…unexpected.

So, it’s dystopian. The premise is the world has been falling apart for a myriad of reasons, most of which have to do with the fact that we ignored climate change and sea levels rose. And the soil has been stripped and won’t grow anything anymore. Disease has spread as populations have become denser. There are too many people and not enough of anything. The government has taken unconscionable measures to keep things under control, and now they have begun to regard citizens as less than human, treating those in the lower classes as vermin. Those who are privileged enough to get some special treatment have to hide in their very small homes in order to stay safe.
Lalla, a teenager who has never known the world as it is now, has a father with a great deal of power and reach, so she has not starved or gone cold or been homeless. But her life is so sheltered that she hasn’t really grown up. For years, her father has been working on a backup plan, for when things get completely untenable, but she knows nothing other than it involves a ship, and he has been interviewing future passengers. The ship can house hundreds, and he will take as many as he can, but only the right kind of people. Lalla doesn’t know what the right kind are, or where the ship is going, or when (or if!) they’ll ever get on it. If it was up to her mother, they wouldn’t at all. She keeps putting it off because she has hope that things will improve.
Finally, the situation in London degrades to a point that Lalla’s father believes it is time to go. No more waiting. It is time get on the ship and move forward. Catastrophe strikes when they trying to embark, and Lalla is left to deal with the consequences on a ship about which she knows nothing. Her father tells her nothing. She doesn’t know where the ship is going or what the plan is, but she feels something isn’t right. In the end, it is her mother she takes after, not her father.

So much of this book is in Lalla’s head. It isn’t suspenseful or thrilling. It is sometimes sad, always melancholy, and occasionally frustrating because Lalla is a privileged immature teenager (enough said, yes?). But. Despite the lack of significant action, I couldn’t stop reading it. It was compelling. Lalla annoyed me to the very end, but I loved her persistence. And while I didn’t expect the ending, her choice made me quite proud of her.

A good story. Not hopping up and down good, but a solid read.

Unfortunately, I DNFed this book in the first 15%. It just didn't grab my attention.

This was a strange read. I really thought I’d end up liking it more, but then it just went in a direction that I wasn’t really expecting and I kinda felt a little let down. I like the story that preceded the book, how their dystopia future came to be, more than their time on the ship. I thought I would be getting more of a dsytopia/survival story than what I got. What I did get was more of a Jonestown cult-like group of people that wanted to live in a fairy tale, rather than the real world, and a teenage girl who disturbed their already fractured reality. Overall I never really felt like I truly understood the different characters. Even the main character seemed to just swing back and forth as to whether she was going to be a strong, independent thinking woman, or a whining selfish brat. I think if I had maybe had POV from an older character I would’ve had an easier time relating to this story in some way. As it stands, I just felt like everyone was a little bit crazy, but not crazy enough to be entertaining or believable all the time.

I’m still glad I read this, and will admit that it stayed with me for a time after reading it as I compulsively broke down the individual aspects of the story in my mind. And when it comes right down to it, I enjoyed the ending (like the last 15%) more than any other part of the book. But it didn’t do enough for me emotionally or intellectually to really get me to want to continue with this particular series. I would definitely look into reading more of this author’s work, as there does seem to be some great storytelling in there, but it won’t be this story. At least not for me.

Thank you Netgalley for providing a copy of this story in exchange for an honest review.

The Ship by Antonia Honeywell is a beautifully written unique novel that swallows the reader in its world despite one’s fears and trepidations. It is a modern 1984-type dystopian story that is both seductive and disturbing in its futuristic prediction of where we could be headed if we continue to mismanage our planet and exhaust our resources.
It starts off very strong, the world-building is exceptional, and the main character engages the reader. The end is also quite fabulous, and the ambiguity is perfect—it leaves the reader knowing that what is important is the decision, not the outcome.

Unfortunately, the middle drags and the protagonist begins to seem petulant and annoying, and the reader’s empathy for her wanes. The middle is why I can only give this novel 3.5 stars, instead of the 5 stars that the beginning and end deserve. I felt that the motivations of the father character could have been explored (beyond creating a safe place for his daughter as that could’ve been accomplished without making himself such a guru to the others). What this ship-world accomplished for his own psychological needs is left to speculation, but could have been an interesting addition. Also, the middle could have developed more about the other passengers’ willingness to give up the freedom of independent ego states. Why was this given up without resistance? Didn’t any of them have ambivalence, and if so how did they resolve this, and if not, why not?

Overall, a very good book, but with a little more editing and a bit more development in the middle, The Ship could’ve been one of the truly great books of the year. As is, it is still very much worth the read, as the themes of freedom, happiness, and the meaning of our existence as presented in The Ship are deliciously thought-provoking. I look forward to the next book by this very talented author.

I received an Advanced Reader Copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.

Oh, how I struggled with this book! Such promise, yet I felt it didn't deliver on that promise. When I was done with the book, I looked back, and wanted more - of everything. More character development, more plot, more explanations.

The main character, Lalla, could genuinely be one of the most self-centered main characters that I've read about. That, in itself, isn't enough to sink the book (pun intended!), because at the same time, it's understandable why she's this way - she's led an unbelievably sheltered life. While Lalla does grow (and she had plenty to do), it wasn't enough to satisfy me. In the end, she remained pretty focused on herself and unable to articulate her needs, wants, and desires to others (including the reader).

What frustrated me the most was the pace of the novel. Like an ocean, it seemed rather endless. I wasn't expecting Divergent or Hunger Games level action, but I didn't find enough activity to keep the story moving forward. Instead, it meandered.

I found the premise very promising and inventive. I enjoyed the beginning of the book, and thought the end was intriguing...but ultimately, I think it didn't deliver on its potential.

This book took me a while to finish because it dragged on. And on. And on.

And on.

My general overall thoughts are that the book is okay. It really has some points that make you think, but they are buried within a lot of parts that I wish I could just fast forward through.

This is a completely implausible apocalyptic novel where the world is falling apart and a man builds an ark for his family and 500 people, which leaves from London, almost too late, because society is collapsing. His daughter, the protagonist, tries to resist the father's utopian cult. Nobody knows anything about science, including, I'd say, the author, considering all the things that would have to be true for the people on the ship to survive as described.

Things nobody in the book or writing the book knows about science:
-Where babies come from
-Where the moon rises and sets
-How bread is made (the author says there are no viable fields anywhere but yet the ship has endless stores of flour - and flour does not last forever)
-How powdered eggs are made (same issue)
-How orange juice concentrate is made (same issue)
-How ALL FOOD IS MADE
-How disease is spread (could all of China collapse in a pandemic and the rest of the world not be affected? Sigh)
-Why one doctor and one dentist are not sufficient planning for 500 people

I could go on but this is more than the typical suspending of disbelief. There's just no way to enjoy this book if you know even half of these things.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the Uncorrected Proof of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I have mixed feelings on this book. I am such a sucker for anything post apocalyptic/dystopian so man was I excited to get my hands on this. I loved the premise. A struggling family living in London where people are basically living off of the government and their lives are controlled by the man in charge so to speak. Parts of the city are under water and much of London is either in ruins are on it's way to being ruined. The Paul Family while struggling to make it, are much better off than most because of Michael Paul. He is an inventor/scientist who has helped the government develop some of the technology that helps to control its citizens. Michael's daughter Lallage (Lalla) and her mother have a soft spot for all of the less fortunate people and families they see in their city and so they try to help as much as they can. Michael on the other hand has been working on a way to get his family away from there and create a new society that they can thrive in. When the time comes to finally leave London on a giant ship with 500 other people, Lalla's mother is killed on their journey to the ship. Lalla and her father continue onto the ship and Michael quickly expects Lalla to move on with her grieving and leave the heartbreaking loss of her mother behind her. As the days and weeks go by on the ship, Lalla begins to question why they aren't reaching a destination. Her questions about where they are headed are answered with vague replies and it is driving her almost literally crazy. Meanwhile, Lalla begins to fall in love with Tom. A boy her age who is without any family on the ship. While this new found love seems to help her move forward and begin to adjust, she still constantly questions everything. Where are they headed? Why does the sun set on the same side of boat as it rose? Why do they have so many supplies on board for a journey that couldn't possibly take long enough to get through them all? Etc. Lalla's constant struggle with these questions was something I had a hard time dealing with. Her perspective and thoughts are so all over the place and constantly flip flopping I had a hard time understanding how she really felt. In one sentence she was ready to be with Tom and start a life there with him and in the next sentence she felt she must find a way back to London or to any land for that matter. There is a passage in the book that helped me understand a bit where she was coming from though. She basically can't understand how good she has it on the ship simply because she really didn't understand how bad things were back at home. She wasn't one of the people not knowing where their next meal would come from or whether there children would be murdered in front of them for some minor infraction. Lalla has a desperation for land and to grow plants and make a new life for her and Tom but doesn't seem to realize that the people on the ship view the ship as their new life. The life aboard the ship is worlds better than they had it and they truly believe that they are in a better place. They want for nothing, have all the food and water they could ever need and can see their children growing up in normal happy world that they never thought was possible back in London. Elsewhere in the world economies have crashed, whole countries are burning and the world has fallen apart. The fact that Lalla can't seem to see that and has this idealistic view that she must return to land drove me nuts. She makes decisions late in the book that had me yelling at my Kindle saying "What are you doing dummy?!" But I guess she had to stay true to herself no matter how selfish she seemed and how many lives she may have ruined or will ruin in the future. One other thing I had a really hard time with was suspending my belief about how stocked the ship was. They had everything from massive amounts of food to clothing for each person for years to come. How in a world so torn apart and reliant on the government to provide was Michael able to gather all of those supplies without government interference or theft? You would think that broke, starving people in London may have gotten word that there was a ship in the local port stocked with 30 years worth of food and supplies. And in that case would have found a way to steal the supplies or stow away on board. With some slight changes, I would have given this book 5 stars. It was a unique story and had all of the details that I love when it comes to survival and escape from a terrible world. I read it quickly and would recommend to others with the advice to take it for what it is.

The Ship is a British book (they do like their dystopias), set after economic/ecological collapse. Lalla's father helped set up the dystopia (without an identity card and 'screen', you really don't have a hope), but in secret he is setting up an escape for a carefully selected 500. Some are selected for the knowledge, and others because he approves of their actions (although sometimes the actions weren't what he assumed them to be). Finally, he takes his wife and daughter to a waiting ship that he has loaded with those select, and enough supplies to last them for decades, although his wife is shot in the trip, and dies soon after they reach the ship.

The book focuses on the daughter, Lalla, who has her doubts. She bounces between sensible (supplies don't last forever, and what about when things start to break down?) and teenaged naivete (she wants to take the ship's supplies back to London to help the people there... for a week at the most). She is obsessed with fruit that can't be grown anymore in poisoned soil. When her mother was dying, she turned off the pain drugs because she was certain her mother would want to know she was there, and her mother dies in agony as a result.

To be honest, I really had trouble identifying with Lalla who has managed to get through the collapse, including actually seeing people killed, and yet is so naive that she thinks a ship's supplies could save everyone in London.

I was more interested in the other passengers, and even her father. Not the love interest, though, who barely go any development. It was more the mother who refused to simply declare Lalla's father, Michael, her son's new father like everyone else on the ship, insisting on teaching him about his dead father. Or the woman in the laundry whose own daughter had turned away from her because of optimism (in a story much like Lalla's the woman's farm in Africa was sealed off from the suffering around it, but the daughter insisted on cutting down the wires to let in refugees, resulting in her father's death at her own hands).

Over time, Michael started to remind me more and more of Jim Jones, and the ship as Jonestown, where the inevitable end will be death for everyone. The ship is going in circles in the ocean, with no plans to ever find land, but with no weapons, how would they fight off pirates.

The ending is appropriately ambiguous, but I figure it could be summed up as 'and eventually they all died, and nothing was saved'.

I always get a little creeped out when I read post-apocalyptic stories and this was no different. The way the author described the how the world began to fall apart seemed pretty realistic to me and the way the Paul family secured a ship and selected people to go with them while the rest of the world wasted away kinda reminded me of Noah's Ark. Lalla's character annoyed me quite a bit because of how naive she was. She lived such a sheltered life compared to everyone else so I understood how frustrated all the other characters were with her. I liked how she finally realized things and stood her ground in the end though.