Title:

Voyage of the Damned

Author:

Frances White

Category:

Science Fiction / Fantasy

Rating:

Date Reviewed:

December 18, 2024
liked Voyage of the Damned better in the beginning than I liked it at the end. By the end I was thinking - "Gee, that really stretches my willing suspension of disbelief". It could be argued that any fantasy novel containing magic already puts a reader at the limits of skepticism, but I argue that there is believable magic and there is unbelievable magic, and by the end of this novel, there was just too much unbelievable magic, and that it made it too hard to enjoy the resolution to the story. I was interested enough that I kept reading, because I wanted to know who committed the murders and why, but the answers I got turned out to be disappointing.

The protagonist Ganymedes is one of twelve heirs destined to rule one of the provinces of Concordia. Ganymedes is from Fish Province, the lowliest of the twelve provinces. Each heir has inherited a magical Blessing that gives them one supernatural power, but most of the Blessed take great pains to hide what their ability actually is. Ganymedes is a fraud, he has not actually inherited his father's Blessing yet, even though he is 22 years old and most heirs inherit between ages 6 and 10. For a dozen years now, Ganymedes and his father have been pretending that the Blessing power has been transferred, though I never quite caught on why it was so important that everyone think that Ganymedes already had inherited his Blessing power. After all, Eudora, the heir to the Dragon province, the most powerful province of all, does not yet have her Blessing.

Tradition decrees that all 12 heirs must gather for a 12 day boat ride to a magical mountain for a ceremony. Ganymedes doesn't want to go, he fears that his lack of Blessing will be exposed. Also, he bitterly hates all of the other Blessed because they all look down upon him because of his lowly Fish province origins. Ganymedes doesn't hate all of the other Blessed, he is actually madly in love with Ravi, the Blessed from Crow province. Despite being 22 years old, Ganymedes emotional swings are as wild as any dramatic pre-teenager. He is either madly in love or so wounded he wishes he could die. I did not find him all that appealing of a protagonist.

The boat ride begins with the 12 Blessed on board - and no one else, no crew, no chaperones, no hanger-ons! The boat is powered and controlled entirely by magic from the distant, senile Emperor. There are no crew, but there are magical constructs that can appear and disappear and answer reasonable requests. (These magic constructs cannot, however, answer the question of "Who murdered Eudora, the heir to the Dragon Province".) Eudora is murdered, and it is a great mystery why. Obviously, it had to have been one of the 12 Blessed on board (I wondered if a Crab assassin from the banished 13th province might have sailed next to the magical boat and snuck on board to do the killings. Since Crab was once a province of Concordia, shouldn't there be a Crab heir with a Blessing?). The plot is meant to be a who-dunnit. Only eleven living souls on the boat, and one of them is a murderer. Ganymedes decides that he will become a detective and solve the case.

More murders occur - Ganymedes finds his beloved Ravi stabbed 17 times out on the deck

I think what bothered me is that the magic Blessings always seemed to operate in ways necessary to make the plot advance. Rather than describe a magical system with certain restrictions, consequences and abilities, it seemed that each person's Blessed ability could be almost anything. Things seemed too convenient for the sake of the storytelling.

I was also disappointed by the universal hate and murderous temperment that all of the Blessed seemed to possess toward each other. How could Concordia have lasted 1000 years when the different provinces are so different from each other, and loathe each other intensely?

Voyage of the Damned reminded me of Gideon the Ninth, in which a representative of each of the nine houses is called by the Emperor to a trial at a enclosed station. The representatives have magical powers and are cruel and deceptive. Soon they begin to murder each other. The protagonist is from the lowest, presumably least powerful house but proves to be tough and resilient. But unlike Voyage of the Damned, I was impressed by the plotting and creativity of Gideon the Ninth.

At least Voyage of the Damned tells a complete story in a single volume, there is no hint of a sequel. But speaking of Gideon the Ninth reminds me that I liked that book and intended to read its two sequels. I should look for Nona the Ninth next from the library. I don't think Voyage of the Damned merits the glowing review it got from Bookpage.