• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
FanFiAddict

FanFiAddict

A gaggle of nerds talking about Fantasy, Science Fiction, and everything in-between. They also occasionally write reviews about said books. 2x Stabby Award-Nominated and home to the Stabby Award-Winning TBRCon.

  • Home
  • About
    • Reviewers
    • Review Policy
    • Stance on AI
    • Contact
    • Friends of FFA
  • Blog
    • Reviews
      • Children’s / Middle Grade Books
      • Comics/Graphic Novels
      • Fantasy
        • Alt History
        • Coming of Age
        • Epic Fantasy
        • Fairy Tales
        • Grimdark
        • Heroic Fantasy
        • LitRPG
        • Paranormal Fantasy
        • Romantic Fantasy
        • Steampunk
        • Superheroes
        • Sword and Sorcery
        • Urban Fantasy
      • Historical Fiction
      • Science Fiction
        • Aliens
        • Artificial Intelligence
        • Alt History
        • Cyberpunk
        • Dystopian
        • Hard SciFi
        • Mechs/Robots
        • Military SF
        • Space Opera
        • Steampunk
        • Time Travel
      • Thriller
    • Guest Posts
    • Lists
    • Neurodivergence in Fiction
    • Why You Should Read…
    • Interviews
      • Book Tube
      • Authorly Writing Advice
  • Fear For All
    • Demons
    • Ghosts
    • Gothic
    • Lovecraftian
    • Monsters
    • Occult
    • Psychological
    • Slasher
    • Vampires
    • Werewolves
    • Witches
    • Zombies
  • SFF Addicts
    • SFF Addicts Clips
    • SFF Addicts (Episode Archive)
  • TBRCon
    • TBRCon2025
    • TBRCon2024
    • TBRCon2023
    • TBRCon2022
  • FFA Book Club
  • FFA TBR Toppers
    • Advertise Your Book on FFA!
  • Writer Resources
    • Artists
    • Cartographers
    • Editing/Formatting/Proofing

Book Review: Voyage of the Damned by Frances White

November 11, 2024 by Andy Peloquin Leave a Comment

Rating: 9/10

TL;DR Review: A beautifully colorful and magic-full murder mystery guaranteed to keep you guessing right until the final moment!

Synopsis:

A mind-blowing murder mystery on a ship full of magical passengers. If Agatha Christie wrote fantasy, this would be it!

For a thousand years, Concordia has maintained peace between its provinces. To mark this incredible feat, the emperor’s ship embarks upon a twelve-day voyage to the sacred Goddess’s Mountain. Aboard are the twelve heirs of the provinces of Concordia, each graced with a unique and secret magical ability known as a Blessing.

All except one: Ganymedes Piscero—class clown, slacker and all-around disappointment.

When a beloved heir is murdered, everyone is a suspect. Stuck at sea and surrounded by powerful people and without a Blessing to protect him, Ganymedes’s odds of survival are slim.

But as the bodies pile higher, Ganymedes must become the hero he was not born to be. Can he unmask the killer and their secret Blessing before this bloody crusade reaches the shores of Concordia?

Or will the empire as he knows it fall?

Full Review:

I’ll be honest: I went into this book blind, knowing only it was a murder mystery on a ship, and got instantly sucked in. In fact, I read the entire thing in one sitting because it was just so damned entertaining!

Voyage of the Damned follows Dee (real name Ganymedes, but he hates it if you call him that!), the chosen inheritor of the “Blessing” (magical ability) gifted to one member of each of the twelve duchies of this fantasy kingdom. He belongs to “Fish” duchy, the lowest of the low, home to fishermen and not much else.

He, along with the eleven other “Blessed”, are set aboard a ship to journey twelve nights to the place where they will receive their anointing from the Goddess that will confirm them as the highest powers in the realm, save only for the Emperor.

Only there’s two problems…

First, Dee doesn’t actually have a Blessing—he and his father have pulled off a big con, convincing the world he is Blessed but he has no magic whatsoever. And to top it off, he’s got no desire to rule or lead—he just wants to try every food in the Empire and enjoy every handsome man and beautiful woman that crosses his path.

Second, on the very first night aboard the ship, the other Blessed start getting MURDERED. One by one, the bodies start piling up, and somehow Dee gets roped into figuring out how, why, and, most important of all, who. Because if he doesn’t, he’s pretty sure he’ll be next.

The worldbuilding in this book is spectacular. The customs and cultures of each of the twelve duchies is so thoroughly explored and ingrained in every fiber of their being, from the way they talk to the clothes they wear even to how they identify themselves. Each realm is defined by a color and an animal, and the themes are so pervasive that they add glorious detail that set the imagination tingling as you read through it.

The characters are also incredibly colorful. From the spymaster who holds the Blessing of the Spider duchy to the duty-bound warrior who holds the Blessing of the Tiger duchy, from the dark-haired Crow (who happens to be Dee’s crush) to the adorably spry Grasshopper child, there are no two characters alike, but each is so unique and well explored.

Despite the darkness of the book (people are getting murdered, after all!), there’s so much humor and wryness, which is also balanced with some fascinating character development. All of the characters undergo amazing journeys of self-exploration and discovery, and Dee’s is the most powerful and compelling transformation of all.

But the greatest triumph of this book is that I DIDN’T SEE THE ENDING COMING! It did such a spectacular job of making sure everyone could be the killer, and just when you’re certain you’ve figured it out, there’s another twist or another body dropped. It kept me guessing right up until the end, and when I finally found out who was behind it, it felt like all the pieces fit into place so smoothly that it painted a glorious picture.

If you want a well-crafted murder mystery set in a fascinatingly rich fantasy world featuring well-developed characters, Voyage of the Damned is definitely the book for you!

Filed Under: Dark Fantasy, Epic Fantasy, High Fantasy, LGBTQ+, Nautical fantasy Tagged With: Book Review, Books, Epic Fantasy, Fantasy, Fantasy Books, Murder & Magic, murder mystery

About Andy Peloquin

I am, first and foremost, a storyteller and an artist--words are my palette. Fantasy and science fiction are my genres of choice, and I love to explore the darker side of human nature through the filter of heroes, villains, and everything in between. I'm also a freelance writer, a book lover, and a guy who just loves to meet new people and spend hours talking about my fascination for the worlds I encounter in the pages of fantasy and sci-fi novels.
Speculative fiction provides us with an escape, a way to forget about our mundane problems and step into worlds where anything is possible. It transcends age, gender, religion, race, or lifestyle--it is our way of believing what cannot be, delving into the unknowable, and discovering hidden truths about ourselves and our world in a brand-new way. Fiction at its very best!

Other Reviews You Might Like

Review: Bloodless by G.J. Terral, book 3 of The Binding Tenets

Anji Kills a King by Evan Leikam

Review: Anji Kills A King (The Rising Tide #1) by Evan Leikam

Review: The Girl in the Walls by Meg Eden Kuyatt

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Sponsored By

Use Discount Code FANFI For 5% Off!

FFA Newsletter!

Sign up for updates and get FREE stories from Michael R. Fletcher and Richard Ford!

What Would You Like To See?(Required)
Please select the type of content you want to receive from FanFi Addict. You can even mix and match if you want!

FFA Author Hub

Read A.J. Calvin
Read Andy Peloquin
Read C.J. Daily
Read C.M. Caplan
Read D.A. Smith
Read DB Rook
Read Francisca Liliana
Read Frasier Armitage
Read Josh Hanson
Read Krystle Matar
Read M.J. Kuhn

Recent Reviews

Anji Kills a King by Evan Leikam

Recent Comments

  1. Mark Matthews on COVER REVEAL: To Those Willing to Drown by Mark MatthewsJanuary 7, 2025
  2. Basra Myeba on Worth reading Jack Reacher books by Lee Child?January 5, 2025
  3. Ali on Review: Sleeping Worlds Have No Memory by Yaroslav BarsukovJanuary 5, 2025
  4. Carter on So you want to start reading Warhammer 40,000? Here’s where to start!January 4, 2025
  5. M. Zaugg on Bender’s Best LitRPG reads of 2024January 3, 2025

Archive

Copyright © 2025 · Powered by ModFarm Sites · Log In