Historical fiction usually isn't my genre, but the premise of this sounded so good I had to give it a try. The two storylines were both interesting but both moved so slowly it was hard to get super invested in anything. I also kept waiting for them to be interconnected in some way other than just living on the same island. And this book was SAD man. Some awful things happen to these children. It is interesting that it is based on a ship wreck that actually occurred but I just didn't connect with this story or characters in any way.

**I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinions.

I was provided a free copy of this from @NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.
Based on the real life tragic shipwreck of the Batavia, in 1629, this story follows a young passenger, Mayken, throughout the ill-fated voyage. 360 years later we also get a glimpse into the "current" state of the people who now live and work on the island the Batavia survivors were shipwrecked on, as we follow Gil through his adventure of coming to the island. Both kids have recently lost their mothers and are learning to live in these new worlds on their own.
Both Mayken and Gil rub up against what is expected of them. Mayken wants to visit all parts of the ship and Gil struggles with who he is after being raised in a difficult situation.
I struggled a bit with this and really had a hard time with the overarching purpose of the book. Although the stories were interesting, my favorite was probably the 1629 parts because they seemed to have more redemption. A lot of this book was dark, and covered the worst parts of humanity. Unfair treatment of others, unnecessary cruelty, and many horrible things that humans do to each other. I didn't find as much purpose and redemption in Gil's story. And although I enjoyed Mayken's more, there were elements of mystical realism that confused me, since it was a real historical incident.
Overall it was an ok book for me. I did want to know what was going to happen, but it was overall a dark heavy book. Not normally what I enjoy. I am now curious about the Batavia and will probably do some of my own research on it.
It is set to come out on Tuesday (4 Oct) if you enjoy dark books, add it to your TBR!

This book was everything I wanted it to be. It had me turned pages without even realizing. It was so good!

The Night Ship is a beautifully written atmospheric book that draws you in from the first time you meet Mayken and Gil .

Mayken's story takes place in 1629 and Gil's in 1989 some 300 years later.

Mayken and Gil have almost parallel stories in some regards and your heart goes out to both of them.

When Gil is sent to live with his grandfather, not your average grandfather, he is grief stricken, lonely and finds comfort in his tortoise .

I don't want to give anything away as its a journey you will go on as you read their two stories .

Its magical, its haunting and its well done.

The Night Ship will make an excellent Book Club choice.

Jess Kidd always tells a great story that stays with you long after the final page has turned and The Night Ship is no exception.

Can't wait to get my hard copy to sit beside Things in a Jar , Himself (my favourite) and Mr. Flood's Last Resort.

Thanks to NetGalley and Atria Books for a fascinating read.

A soft sadness outshines the outright brutality our two main characters experience in this historically inspired tale of two newly orphaned children, both 9 years old and on similar voyages 300 years apart. While the historical events of the <i>Batavia’s</i> ultimate demise move the story forward, it’s still very character driven with a cast that breaks your heart left, right, and center. Mayken’s dark whimsy and Gil’s quiet misery are both so endearing and had me feeling protective of them right away. Seeing the world through their eyes, often with beautifully told mirroring of their thoughts and experiences was both joyfully sweet and painfully real, not unlike childhood itself. Their respective support people were also well done with an interesting twist on Gil’s end that his found family was actual family he’d never met. What worked less for me was when the details of the <i>Batavia’s</i> shipwreck overtook Mayken’s part of the time line - what happens to most of the souls aboard is terrifying and so sad, but the telling was longer than I cared for and so bleak in a story already awash with so many hardships.

<i>Thank you to Simon & Schuster / Atria and NetGalley for an eARC of this book!</i>

Thank you so much to Net Galley, the author, and publisher for providing this book for my honest review. The author’s writing is just beautiful. I can’t wait to read more from this author. I will say this book is heartbreaking and pretty sad. It was difficult for me to read because the children, who are the main characters, have very difficult lives. However, this is a powerful and beautiful written historical fiction novel that I am so glad I read. The book follows two POV’s - Mayken who sets sail to Batavia (now Jakarta) from the Netherlands in 1629 and Gil whose story takes place in 1989. If you love historical fiction and can handle some heartbreaking moments involving children then I highly recommend this beautifully written and well researched novel. It will stay with me for quite some time. Thank you again to Net Galley, the author, and publisher for providing this book for my review.

1629: A newly orphaned young girl named Mayken is bound for the Dutch East Indies on the Batavia, one of the greatest ships of the Dutch Golden Age. Curious and mischievous, Mayken spends the long journey going on misadventures above and below the deck, searching for a mythical monster. But the true monsters might be closer than she thinks.

1989: A lonely boy named Gil is sent to live off the coast of Western Australia among the seasonal fishing community where his late mother once resided. There, on the tiny reef-shrouded island, he discovers the story of an infamous shipwreck…​

*Thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for this e-arc.*

Well, this was dark. Darker than I expected. It is based on a real life event, a tragic shipwreck. It is historical fiction with folkloric elements woven into it. Kidd's storytelling is immersive and I was quickly drawn into this gothic story.

Two main characters Mayken and Gil, both 9yo, orphans. Mayken is really naive and innocent as any 9yo should be. A good portion of her story is about Mayken looking for a mythical monster called Bullebak (or bunyip, an eel-like shapeshifter that preys on children). This part gets tiresome. The creature was a metaphor, I think, for the evil of humans and greed. Also the story gets bleak after they get stranded on an uninhabitable island. The brutality is very tough to read.

Gil (short for Gilgamesh, as in the Epic of Gilgamesh)'s story is just as heartbreaking but at least it has a happier ending. He is lonely until he gets a turtle that he names Enkidu. But life on the island is not smooth sailing for Gil. He gets noticed by the wrong people.

The pacing is a bit off but toward the end it becomes unputdownable. The way the novel is structured in alternating chapters helps with keeping the tension up. . I wanted to see a more solid intersection between the two stories save for a witch stone shared by both kids.

The Night Ship is a haunting story but other than the legend of the ghost of little May haunting this present day fishing island there are no ghosts, the living are the monsters.

This novel is not just about the shipwreck. It is about friendship and sacrifice, brutality and forgiveness. Both timelines will likely pull at your heart’s strings and leave you sad

• Thank you to Atria Books and NetGalley for providing this Advance Reading Copy. Expected publication date is October 4, 2022.

#StoryGraph: fiction historical literary adventurous informative reflective medium-paced
400 pages | first published 2022

Based on a real-life event, the sinking of a ship called the Batavia. This novel tells the tale of the lives of two children. 1629: An orphaned girl (Mayken) is bound for an island off Western Australia. 1989: A boy (Gil) is sent to live with his grandfather in a remote fishing village on the very same island. There he discovers the story of the shipwreck.

Another wonderful novel by Jess Kidd!
Based on the true story of the sinking of the Batavia.
Beautiful writing, especially of the two nine year old protagonists who make up the dual timeline of the book.
1628 .. Mayken, a Dutch girl, boards the Batavia..traveling with her nursemaid after her mother’s death to Batavia the capital of the Dutch East Indies where her wealthy father lives.
1989 .. Gil, his mother has died and he’s gone to live with his grandfather, who lives in fishing village on Beacon Island, off the coast of Australia..it is the archeological site of the Batavia shipwreck.
There are some touches of magical realism in the story.. also some of the brutal stories of the survivors of the shipwreck who lived on the island and tried to survive.
Gil’s story, I really loved .. and great characters!

I have read every one of this author’s books, and look forward to anything written by her!


Thank you to Netgalley and Atria for the ARC!

3.75. Jess Kidd's The Night Ship is a unique take on the tale of the Batavia, alternating it with a 1989 story set where the Batavia will eventually end up. Mayken and Gil's lives echo each other across 300+ years, parallels appearing until you finally get a few direct intersections, which were honestly quite thrilling (and left me wanting a little bit more, but I understand leaving it where it was).

It took me a while to get into the book, though, and it's perhaps a bit too long. There isn't a whole lot of plot in at least the first half; Mayken and Gil meander around the ship and island respectively, with some bursts of adventure and discovery, but mostly it's about them sitting around while you know more is coming, especially for Mayken. There is tension laden in the book, though perhaps some is taken out by knowing the fate of the ship and some sprinkled in reveals of what happens to the survivors. I think I would have preferred more time on the island in 1629 than on the ship, and that section goes by very quickly; so does the final act of Gil's story.

Still, Kidd's writing is lovely and atmospheric, and she so skillfully evoked the setting of both stories, especially Mayken's side, which she obviously researched so deeply (it set me off into a Wikipedia spiral, as I didn't know anything about the Batavia or similar stories). I was also impressed by how well Kidd wrote the voices of these two children and maintained this throughout the book, even as they are forced to grow up more. You never forget how young they are, and there are so many touches to her writing that show their perspectives on the world that are specifically childlike, even when their lives are still challenging and even tragic. We are truly seeing these stories through their eyes, something that is hard for authors to pull off.

This one just didn’t do it for me. Alternating between Mayken from 1629 and Gil 1989, stories from the same island, both recently lost their mother at the age of 9, pretty much where the similarities end. I found Gil’s story to at least contain hope, sad but still hopeful. Maykens story just went from grim to grimmer, very repetitive and just did not keep my interest. Overall was good glad to be finished.

Thanks to Netgalley and Atria books for my electronic advanced reader copy in exchange for my honest review.

Enjoyed this tale of two children, Mayken and Gil, each facing the loss of a parent set in two completely different time periods. Great character development and descriptions. Especially liked Gil's grandfather, Joss', transformation from grumpy and indifferent caretaker to supportive grandparent.

Heartbreaking

4.5 stars

The Night Ship is a novel about two children whose stories intersect 300 years apart.

1629: 9-year-old Mayken, a dutch girl from an affluent family, boards the Batavia for a months-long journey to her new home in Australia. What she finds aboard is a world of wonder, not only begging for exploration but also a world that puts her life in danger.

1989: 9-year-old Gil is sent to live with his grandfather in Beacon island, Australia, after suffering the loss of his mother. The island is the site near the Batavia shipwreck, where the survivors fought for their lives. Mayken is thought to haunt the island.

Both characters are riveting. Mayken is impish and fascinated with the world of the boat and the characters who inhabit it. Gil is awkward, lonely, a little weird, and terrified of the world. His only friend is a 900-year-old tortoise named Enkidu.

Casts of eccentric characters inhabit both worlds.

Both stories are linked through dutch and Australian folklore, although there are a lot of additional commonalities between the two children as they are bound by loss, grief, and trauma.

This was a fascinating read for many reasons. Surprisingly, this novel prompted me to read more about the shipwreck of the Batavia and the horrors the survivors faced.

The Night Ship is a slow-paced, character-driven story. I became attached to Mayken and Gil, and it was hard to say goodbye to their characters. This is not a novel that one can casually flip the pages while reading; it is a heavy read that evokes dread, tension, fear, and heartbreak.

A special shout out to the sour-faced tortoise Enkidu, who always made me smile even while reading some of the horrors that Mayken and Gil had to cope with!

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley and Atria Books in exchange for an honest review.

Title: The Night Ship
Author: Jess Kidd
Rating: ★ ★
Read type: eARC


I realize I am the unpopular opinion when it comes to this book. And I really don’t know if I have a reason for not liking it.
It didn’t hold my interest, it wasn’t a page turner for me, I found my mind drifting to other thoughts while reading.

There will be a lot of praise for this novel. It is beautifully written, the author excels at bringing the characters to life.
There is an unsurmountable amount of historical detail in this book. The Night Ship has a split timeline, two main characters, both children who are both away from home.
Year 1628-29 belongs to Mayken on the ship Batavia and 1989 belongs to Gil on the small island of Beacon Island which is the place where the Batavia was shipwrecked.

This is a story of adventure, faity tales, human brutality and friendship. Perhaps I will read this one again down the road and it might strike me differently. But for now I think I’ll leave it as is.

In a wildly large range of alternating timelines (1629 & 1989!), Mayken and Gil become real as the reader turns the pages of The Night Ship. In 1629, Mayken, a young and adventurous (but "proper") young girl embarks on a months-long ride on the open seas upon the Batavia from The Netherlands, around the Horn of Africa, and on to the Spice Islands (currently the west coast of Australia), where her father lives. Her nursemaid falls ill shortly after the journey begins, and Mayken has many unsupervised adventures aboard the ship with the various personalities on board. There are hints of magic and tales of creatures interwoven throughout Mayken's voyage.

In 1989, Gil goes to live on a tiny island off the west coast of Australia shortly after his mother passes away. Gil's only living relative, his grandfather, is a reclusive crayfisherman who lives alone, fishes alone, and seems to do everything else alone too. Gil doesn't quite fit in on the island full of male bravado.

The two children live wildly different lives separated by centuries but their tales are woven together beautifully with Kidd's prose. I look forward to reading more books by this author!
Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

A haunting and heartwrenching work of historical fiction, The Night Ship is a dual timeline story of the parallel lives of two isolated nine-year-old children living centuries apart and trying to survive after losing their mothers. In 1629, Newly orphaned, adventurous, and outgoing Mayken is sailing aboard the Batavia for the Dutch New Indies to reunite with her father. Based on actual events, the Batavia is shipwrecked and becomes the scene of mutiny, desperation, and cruelty.

And in 1989, lonely, introverted Gil loses his mother and goes to live with his grandfather on an island off the coast of Australia, where Gil learns that the island is the site of that historic shipwreck. As the children turn to myth and supernatural stories to try to deal with their traumas, they find the real monsters are not those sprung from imagination. Meticulously researched and atmospheric, it shows Kidd's remarkable talent and unique writing style, but it is dark. Human cruelties are examined, but so are human goodness, forgiveness, and love. Magical realism and a mystical artifact are also woven into this harrowing, vivid, and complex story.

Before reading this, I had not known about the Batavia, which is a disturbing chapter in human history that I researched in further detail. I encourage you to check content warnings before reading this. This one will stay with me for some time. Thank you to @netgalley and @atriabooks for the opportunity to review this ARC.

I love Jess Kidd’s writing and absolutely loved Things in Jars which came out back in 2020. Kidd has a way of weaving supernatural stories with lyrical prose and creating something extremely unique and captivating. I was ecstatic to get an ARC of her newest book The Night Ship, but I struggled with this book.

Told through the POV of two children and in two very different time periods. We follow Mayken as she sets sail on the Batavia for what is now Jakarta in 1629 from The Netherlands. Mayken is an interesting little girl with a vivid imagination and a kind heart. For the most part her POV is a recollection of the Batavia’s journey, including once the ship is shipwrecked off the coast of Australia. Her tale while will with creativity, is a sad one filled with loss. There is a bit of magical realism woven in through the story of a eel like creative, and since we know the Batavia was shipwrecked from the beginning, it’s more of a historical count of what may have transpired on the ship during it’s months at sea.

Our second POV is from Gil’s perspective in 1989. After the death of his mother, Gil returns to the island where the Batavia was shipwrecked to live with his grandfather. Those that live on the island are mainly fisherman and the occasional scientist/ archeologist. Gil’s story, like Mayken’s is filled with loss and trying to find his way in the world.

Neither POV is particularly plot driven. While Jess Kidd has the most vivid descriptions and can build an atmosphere like no other, the plot and point of this book really missed the mark for me. I kept waiting for the two story lines to interweave, but besides a few quick moments of magical realism and Gil being intrigued by the story of the Batavia, these were almost two separate stories. The parallels between the lives of Gil and Mayken, are tied more by the themes within their stories versus the actual story. I almost would have preferred for this to be two different books, instead of rolled into one.

Kidd is an excellent writer but this is not my favorite. It was honestly to depressing for me and as a new mom, I just don’t have the capacity for sad books are dark historical fictions at the moment. I did enjoy learning about the Batavia, and ended up doing a deep dive into it’s history but that was the most intriguing thing about the book for me. This one took more over a week to read and was a 2.5★ for me. Rounding up to 3★ simply because Kidd’s writing is always beautiful.

TW: Child death, overdose

The Night Ship comes out October 4, 2022! Huge thank you to Atria Books for my advanced copy in exchange for my honest opinion. If you liked this review please let me know either by commenting below or by visiting my instagram @speakingof.books.

I enjoyed reading the well-written, Night Ship, by Jess Kidd. The story is based on the real- life sinking of the Batavia in 1629 and follows 2 young orphans. Curious, outgoing Mayken is aboard the Batavia in 1629 following the death of her mother. In 1989, following the death of his mother, lonely, secretive Gil has been sent to live with his grandfather in a fishing village off the Australian coast near the site of the sinking of the Batavia. Jess Kidd seamlessly alternates between the adventures of the 2 characters weaving their stories together even though they are separated by centuries. Overall, it is a dark tale that shows the worst of human nature but it also shines a light on the good among us. Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for the advanced copy of Night Ship.

I loved The Night Ship. It has the same mood as Things in Jars, but it’s historical fiction mixed with a teensy bit of surrealism. Based on the story of the shipwreck of Batavia, the dual timelines of the two young protagonists in the book complemented each other so well. Both, living in very different times in history, face social class, occupation, gender, and age issues while trying to survive due their own circumstances. It’s such a heart wrenching story, but one I loved reading. I knew nothing about the shipwreck of Batavia until I read the synopsis of The Night Ship. Overall, it was a great, though sad, story. I hope to read more historical fiction (and anything else) from Jess Kidd.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC!