So, I can see why this book why this book might be considered a Tik Tok sensation. The premise was quite interesting, and I feel like there was quite a lot of potential with this book. But I'll be honest, I don't think it was the right book for me. I' m confused about it, and I think this is why it took me so long to read it, and I had to alternate between the audiobook and the physical book to get through it (for transparency sake, I had the eARC from Netgalley, which I never managed to get through, and then ended up listening on Audiobook via Spotify and borrowing the ebook from my library)
I have to say, my main issue was the tone. It felt like it was trying to be really quirky and funny, but it felt like it made everything appear immature. And it felt strange, with the setting making seem more fantasy, but it would then say things that would take me out of that. It was a strange experience.
Characters wise, it just didn't click with most of them. They felt really one-note, and everyone came across as supposed to be stereotypes of the province they were from. It was just really hard for me to really like any of them and root for them.

I really wanted to love this because it’s up my street in almost every way but it felt uncontrolled and like the narrative got away from the author in places. It also read a little more YA than I was expecting? Which makes sense considering this was a huge TikTok title, but not sure it should be labeled adult fiction.

Fantasy Mystery is my personal favorite genre blend, so this was right up my alley! I enjoyed the tone - funny and tender, even as the murders and political machinations were serious. I also thought the world building was creative and interesting.

This book def had a rough start for me. I found it hard to get into this world, and I understand that in the beginning elements were omitted to help the mystery, but it wasn’t until nearly halfway did the book start picking up for me. I really enjoyed it once it did pick up. Dee, who initially annoyed me, really warmed up as I saw him interacting with Grasshopper (my fave character)!! I would give this 3-3.5 stars!

Not for me. It read very YA for me and just didn't work. I'm sure it will be enjoyed by a different target audience and I can think of many students who would enjoy it depending on their maturity.

Frances White’s Voyage of the Damned is a locked-room murder mystery set aboard a ship in a fantasy empire teetering on the edge of chaos. Ganymedes “Dee” Piscero, the most unremarkable hero of Concordia’s twelve magical heirs, is thrust into a deadly game when a fellow heir is brutally murdered. With no magical “Blessing” of his own, Dee must rely on his wits and sheer luck to survive as suspicion and bloodshed multiply aboard the emperor’s ship. As tensions mount, the question isn’t just who the killer is—it’s whether anyone will survive the voyage long enough for it to matter.

The premise hooked me immediately: A fantasy murder mystery? Twelve heirs, each with a unique secret power, trapped on a ship with a killer among them? Sign me up! The romance—abrupt as it was—grew on me, too. There’s something tender about Dee’s connection with Wyatt that offsets the grimness of the plot. And it was sweet to see a self-loathing protagonist stumble into vulnerability through a soft love story amidst all the chaos unfolding around them.

But with that said, the execution left a lot to be desired. The worldbuilding is the book’s glaring weak spot. Concordia’s provinces are so reductive they feel like caricatures. Each province is defined by a single animal and a somewhat related industry (and a matching hair color for some reason?). From what I gathered, the magic is hereditary within one single family per province, and it passes down from a parent to one of their children, but other than that, the magic lacks any discernible system or depth. I also found myself asking way too many questions about the logistics of this world. For instance, why are there finger guns in a high fantasy setting where actual guns don’t exist? And in this world where there is no electricity, why are there hot dogs, cotton candy, and poutine, and references to how undeniably cool it is to walk away from an explosion without looking back, and comments on something being so good it’s ”like crack”? None of it makes sense and fundamentally strips the setting of its believability.

The characters are both a highlight and a source of frustration. Dee’s self-deprecating humor and insecurities make him relatable early on, but as the bodies start piling up, his self-absorption and misplaced priorities are distracting and confusing. Why is he busy agonizing over choosing between a dead ex-lover and his very new romantic interest when they're all actively being pursued by a murderer? I wish White had spent more time on Dee's journey of self-discovery and his battle with internalized shame, particularly given the book’s LGBTQ+ representation. I appreciated the barest hints of themes like unity, oppression, and the effects of colonialism, but I needed to see way more of it. I also loved Grasshopper and the dynamic between Dee and Grasshopper. Hands down the best part of the book. Unfortunately, the rest of the cast felt more like stereotypes than people, each defined by a single trait.

Representation in fantasy is something I always root for, so seeing characters like Dee, a bisexual, plus-size person grappling with mental health struggles, and Wyatt, who lives with chronic pain and illness, felt refreshing and necessary. Their identities and challenges added depth and realism to the story, as well as glimmers of inclusivity often lacking in this genre. However, as part of the late-stage plot twist, we discover that this version of Wyatt isn’t even real. It’s such a betrayal to Dee (and, honestly, I’m not sure how he could just get over it!) and to the readers who got invested in the romance developing between Dee and Wyatt. It soured the entire story for me because it felt a little like the work this relationship did to help normalize characters like Dee and Wyatt finding love in the stories we consume was just a trick. Fantasy deserves better, and so do the readers who see themselves in these characters.

In addition to my major issues with the romance, representation, worldbuilding, and characters, the locked-room mystery also falls short. Instead of piecing together clues, Dee passively gathers information handed to him by other characters. It feels lazy and robs the story of the tension and intrigue that make a good mystery compelling. The story felt really aimless in that regard, and what’s even more frustrating is I don’t think there was any way for readers to solve the murder mystery on their own. Where’s the fun in that?

Voyage of the Damned reads like young adult fiction, so marketing it as adult fantasy sets up expectations it can’t meet. I never got attached enough to the characters, the mission, or the world, so it essentially failed to deliver the compulsive, edge-of-your-seat tension I expect from a murder mystery. The writing is accessible with memorable flashes of wit and charm, but ultimately, any redeeming qualities are drowned out by inconsistent characterization, clunky worldbuilding, and a mystery that doesn’t trust its audience to engage. Fans of lighter fantasy or creative LGBTQ+ representation may enjoy its quirky charm, but for those seeking a tightly woven mystery or a richly immersive fantasy world, this voyage may be one to skip.

One of my absolute FAVORITE leads of 2024, and I immediately bought a copy. I don't know why or how it took me so long to get to it because I absolutely loved it. The world, the characters, the relationships, all of it. The amount of times I laughed out loud was impressive, and yet I still managed to cry at the end of it. I want more!! So impressed that this is a debut, and I cannot wait to see what Frances White does next! whatever it is, I will be first in line.

I’ll admit, I took a little bit to get into this one. But once I did? I couldn’t put it down!

One of the biggest things that appealed to me was the diversity of the characters. It didn’t feel like it was shoehorned in there either which was nice. The main character Ganymedes is plus-sized AND queer, there are TONS of queer and POC main and side characters, etc.

The pacing was nice. I got a little confused in places, but things finally made sense in the very end. There were funny moments interspersed with sad and heavy moments… Overall, I really enjoyed this read!

DNF @ 46%- I honestly could keep reading because it is readable, but honestly, I am so beyond bored. If Kindle had a "picked up x amount of times" feature like Iphone does, I would be well into the billions on this one book alone.

My issues:

1) This is supposedly an adult book but tagging this as an adult book does it a disservice because I think a lot of people who want adult fantasy expect a lot more of the systems that fantasy is built on, and the tone of the writing is pretty juvenile. I was not a fan of the narrative tone or the way that the main character was weirdly obsessed with a child and a boy he didn't know all that well (and has a crush on a new boy he equally does not know!). The very tongue-in-cheek first person but occasional *wink wink nudge nudge* direct regard to the reader didn’t work so while I thought there was some pretty funny parts that genuinely had me laughing out loud, I was rolling my eyes at Dee and his "haha I am so funny" thing more often than not. ALSO, let us remember that the oldest character is 30 and our MC is 24 (25?) so it is weird to me that this was marketed very firmly as 'adult' and not 'new adult'.

2) What the fuck is the setting of this book? Second world high fantasy, sign me up. Hot dogs are mentioned on page one, which okay, strange but sure. Chapter two starts by telling the reader that walking away from explosions without looking back - a common television and movie trope - is “undeniably cool.” WHY (again more a YA thing and not an adult thing). But we have floating magical lights and no electricity. The ship we’re on runs on magic (by a senile old man!!) but then why does the map of the ship include an engine room? WHAT THE HELL IS THE SETTING SUPPOSED TO BE HERE????

3) The world building and magic is…not good. Notice I said magic and not magic system, because there is no system. Neither a hard nor soft system to be found. In the almost 230 pages I got through all I could tell you about the magic is that 12 specific people have one seemingly random magical power, a power that even our main character does not understand so how the fuck am I supposed to? (The actual line for me was learning that the power system was "a reflection of each of [them]" and the death of one of my favourite characters who had no fucking page time except one scene were she basically told the MC that he did not understand anything). How prevalent is magic outside of those twelve specific people? No fucking clue, and apparently neither do the characters.

4) The aesthetics of this book. I hate it. Our twelve person main cast is differentiated by the province their from, recognizable by the pastel color of their hair 💀 green hair for the dragon province, lilac hair for the grasshopper province, “pastel pink” hair for the bunnerfly (like what the fuck is that!) province, blue hair for the tiger province, you get it. Hand in hand with the setting, the aesthetics are also wildly difficult to get a handle on when there’s no apparent rhyme or reason to how the world operates.

5) There are a million plot lines that do not make sense to me- we're talking rebellion, murder, and magic and you would think that I would love that but considering the MC cannot really take anything seriously makes it hard to actually care about what is happening within the story.

6) As someone who has a very temperamental relationship with food, the way the author wrote the MC's relationship with food to be borderline disordered eating and I legitimately cannot tell if that was intentional. The very casual mentions of this plus sized character's use of food for spite, emotional regulation, and played for laughs was...uncomfortable for me. There is the deliberate inclusion of fatphobia as one of a number of ways this character is looked down on by their family and majority of peers, but it didn't feel like their relationship with food was written with intentionality in regards to that.

In all, I was just bored and I do not care and it's making my eyes hurt. I am so disappointed because I was excited about this but it just did not work.

I thought this book would be better towards the end but it got progressively worse. I can see how people would enjoy it, but it wasn't my cup of tea.

I have received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I may be super late to the party, but I am so happy that I found the time to jump into Voyage of the Damned. It was so freaking good, and I loved all the characters. The only thing that was super hard was trying to figure out who I could or couldn't trust. It's a good thing the main character, Ganymedes, was so freaking lovable and hilarious. I absolutely adored his friendship with Grasshopper.

Besides enjoying the characters, there's a mystery to solve. So many twists throughout this book kept me on the edge of my seat. Sure, I was so mad at some things that happened and sad at other times. Still, I kept going because I needed to see how it was going to end. I also really needed to figure out who was behind it all, and damn, I was shocked.

The ending was so freaking good! I'm in awe of this book and so mad that I waited so long to dive into it. I definitely recommend the audiobook because the narrator did a fantastic job. In the end, I will definitely have this author on my radar and look forward to their next book!

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! No spoilers. Beyond amazing I enjoyed this book so very much. The characters and storyline were fantastic. The ending I did not see coming Could not put down nor did I want to. Truly Amazing and appreciated the whole story. This is going to be a must read for many many readers. Maybe even a book club pick.

This was such a fun genre mashup: part fantasy novel, part murder mystery, part dark comedy. It was well-executed, kept me guessing, and made me laugh often. I will warn that anyone looking for a fantasy novel with a deeply-detailed magic system and extensive worldbuilding around said magic should probably look elsewhere, as the information given regarding how magic works is limited, to say the least. The world itself is interesting and well-described, and the characters are nuanced and complex in beautiful ways, but the magic and its logic is one aspect of fantasy books that this novel refuses to adhere to.

As far as its numerous murders and the way they are explained: so very well done. I guessed one or two twists, but certainly not all of them, and even the ones I could guess were revealed in such a magnificent way that I was still gasping as I read. A fun, endearing read, with characters you learn to love and hate in equal measure. Dee is a wonderful narrator (albeit kind of unreliable), and Grasshopper stays my favorite lil sweetheart. 4⭐️

*Thank you again to NetGalley and the publishers for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.*

An intriguing storyline that keeps you on your toes. Set on a boat with fantasy creatures, this murder mystery captivates with its twists and turns. The diverse and captivating characters make it hard to stop reading.

Voyage of the Damned is a thrilling and haunting tale that kept me hooked from start to finish. Frances White masterfully weaves suspense, rich characters, and a chilling atmosphere into an unforgettable story. It’s an engaging read that’s definitely worth your time!

In *Voyage of the Damned*, Ganymedes Piscero, the heir to Concordia’s Fish Province, is thrust into a deadly mystery aboard an enchanted ship during a twelve-day voyage meant to celebrate a millennium of peace. Surrounded by powerful heirs, each wielding unique magical blessings, Ganymedes must hide his own lack of magic while being the prime suspect after a string of murders begins with the princess herself. Armed only with sharp wit, reluctant courage, and the help of unexpected allies—including a delightfully irrepressible six-year-old—he must unmask the killer before they reach land, proving that even those without blessings can change the fate of an empire.

Narrated with self-deprecating humor and cutting wit, this locked-room mystery will not only keep you guessing until the very end, but also laughing out loud at Ganymedes' antics. With a touch of unrequited love thrown in, this book will enchant readers until the very last page.

I really enjoyed this. I listened to the audio so I was able to just let myself go along for the ride and it was for sure a ride!

Ganymedes is definitely not your typical protagonist. He's looked down on by practically everyone because of where he was born and he has a lot of resentment and defiance of the others because of that. He is queer, he is fat, he is funny, he has secrets, and he is really loyal to those who are deemed worthy of that loyalty. Because of this he tends to "pick up strays" who also don't really fit in for one reason or another. So much of the sleuthing is done by Ganymedes teamed up with a sometimes terrifying 6-year-old and an invalid who can barely keep up. I found it easy to identify with him and sympathize with him and thought he was a great choice for the POV character.

I don't read a lot of locked-room mysteries, though I enjoy the ones that are done well. This one was very satisfying, especially with the slow reveal of everyone's magical power. I suspected everyone at one time or another and was thrown by almost every twist. The ending, when everything started coming together, was very satisfying.

The cast of characters were really fascinating and everyone was very unique. Many were easy to hate, at least at first, although there were reveals throughout the book that changed my opinion of several of them. They all had motives which made the unspooling of the mystery investigation really satisfying and made it hard to predict who was behind the killings.

The audiobook was really well done and the narrator did a great job with giving everyone different voices. It was a very good listening experience.

*Thanks to Harlequin Trade Publishing and MIRA for providing an early copy for review.

Voyage of the Damned is the fantasy murder mystery I didn't know I needed this year!

Frances White weaves a tale of intrigue, corruption, and abundance that calls forth Ganymedes Piscero, the black sheep of a family blessed with magic. He does not have a magic blessing and when a murder is committed on a ship full of his fellow heirs to Concordia, he must figure out who the murderer is before they find another body.

I loved this book! This one was so incredibly fun- just getting familiar with this new fantasy world alone was entertaining, but then you have a locked-room (locked ship?) murder mystery going on, too!

Regarding the fantasy world, it was so unique. You have 12 different provinces, each with their own unique attributes (some with pink hair, some with green, etc.) as well as completely different climates. Each has a ruling house with someone having a “Blessing”- some kind of special power they get from the Goddess. But each power is unique and secret, as well. (And omg you can’t just ask people what their power is! - saying this in a Gretchen Weiners voice, LOL.)

Anyway, I loved the fantasy world so much but when the MMC “Dee” tries to start solving the murders on the ship, it just gets even more fun. And on top of all of this, there is an incredibly sweet message of believing in yourself and loving yourself. Even the author’s dedication (“For anyone who has ever entered a room and felt they did not belong”) was just so powerful. I’d definitely recommend this one to any fantasy lovers out there!

I really unique fantasy read. I loved the incorporation of the closed door mystery element. It felt like something I hadn't read before. The characters were also engaging and I had a great time with this book.