Voyage of the Dammed
Author: Francis White
Publisher: MIRA Books / HarperCollins
First read of June and I genuinely enjoyed it! I was surprised by how much I liked it. If you enjoy locked room mysteries with a fantastical twist and a bit of romance, I would recommend it! Are there a couple of…things..that I felt a bit uh excuse me about, yes, but it was a good book overall. I will have some spoilers at the end, but I will put a note before I get in to them.
In a fantasy world where every generation in each of the 12 provinces a child is gifted a ‘blessing’ (an x-man like power) those 12 will set sail on a journey that they will never forget.
Ganymedes, accompanied by a 6-year-old child and an unexpected ally, must solve the mystery of the murdered heir to the throne and discover the secrets of the others on-board before it’s too late, all the while trying to keep his own secret safe.
I really liked Ganymedes. He is someone that I related to on some levels, and I love how he interacts with the youngest blessed, a child of six. He realizes that the others are going to be cruel to her and just says nope, this is my family now. He portrays himself as a shallow man whore, who is actually a very troubled but deeply empathetic and loyal person. He uses sarcasm and flamboyance to distract others from looking too closely in case they see the real him.
The Narrator, Nathan Foad, did an amazing job of drawing me into the story and keeping me there while bringing these characters to life. I think that their voice work played a part in my enjoyment of the book.
So, while I have a slight issue with one tiny aspect of the book, I really liked it.
## Spoiler for parts of the book below##########
This is mainly about the romance story line. I went in to this slightly spoiled about a specific character.
Ravi is Ganymedes kind of ex. On the Voyage Ganymedes reunites with Ravi after a five year absence. In the five years that they have been apart Ravi has changed from the kind, tender hearted boy that Ganymedes loves to a cruel and cold man. When Ganymedes approaches him, he rebuffs Ganymedes by telling him because of who he is, he is useless to him politically and that it would damage his, Ravis, reputation to be seen with him.
Ravi is supposedly killed early on, but is later revealed to be alive, simply using his ‘blessing’ to transform into another member on board, Wyatt. He uses the form of Wyatt to help Ganymedes investigate the death of the heir and others on board. He also uses it to get closer to Ganymedes.
Ganymedes meanwhile is devastated by Ravis’s death not only because he loves him, but he was the one that found the body. He is also hurt by the knowledge that Ravi was engaged to marry one of the other blessed. As he gets to know ‘Wyatt’ he starts to realize that he did love Ravi but that he can move on, he can grow close to people and fall in love again one day. He grows to care deeply for Wyatt.
Ganymedes eventually discovers that ‘Wyatt’ was Ravi almost the whole time and is rightfully angry. I would have been fine, even happy with this revel if he hadn’t been an asshole at the start then his excuses for why he was a-okay with mass-murder right up until he saw his ex stand up to the people that Ravi had become a lacky to. When Ganymedes ask why he changed his mind from killing everyone on board he says that seeing you say F*** you to all your betters made me decide I loved you again.
He is manipulative towards Ganymedes when he is explaining to him why he was okay with killing all these people and then why he manipulated Ganymedes while he was Wyatt. He sided with the murders because he needed to fit in with the gentry and move up in society and that everything he did was for Ganymedes, brushing under the rug that Ganymedes was going to be murdered too and Ravi wasn’t that bothered about that. Ravi also tells us that he made sure that Ganymedes was the one who found his fake dead body. When Ganymedes asks Ravi about why it had to be him and didn’t he realize what that would do to him. Ravi is like I needed to body found by someone who wouldn’t hide the body, and I didn’t think you cared that much about me. I’m sorry but what even Ravi! Finding any dead body would be traumatizing, even finding a friend dead would be, but finding the love of your life stabbed to death is going to be devastating. It seems like Ravi is the one that doesn’t care. He kinda Love-Bombs Ganymedes, saying things like ‘ oh I knew you could figure everything out because you are smarter and braver than anyone expects and everyone else and you are my risk.
My main issue was that Ganymedes forgave Ravi very quickly and Ravi didn’t actually suffer any consequences for anything. Abandoning Ganymedes five years before, nothing. Being an ass at the start, nothing. Being okay with actual mass murder, nada. He gets Luke Skywalkered but that’s it. Gets to be happy at Ganymedes side a the end.