Soh Kam Yung reviewed Voyage of the Damned by Frances White
A fantasy murder mystery and could have been set in a better conceived world.
3 stars
An interesting "cosy" mystery wrapped up in a fantasy world. Set on a ship making a twelve-day journey, you may be able to solve it before the end based on the information revealed during the voyage. But the world-building in the story is rather basic and could have been better thought out.
The book is set in the empire of Concordia, made up of twelve provinces, each ruled by an heir that is 'Blessed' with a special magical ability, which is usually a secret ability not revealed to others. To mark a thousand years, the twelve heirs have gathered on a magical ship to sail to a sacred mountain. Problem is, one of the heirs isn't Blessed, and he is hiding it from the other heirs.
During the journey, hiding it turns out to be the least of his problems. The heir to the emperor is found dead. Then, over …
An interesting "cosy" mystery wrapped up in a fantasy world. Set on a ship making a twelve-day journey, you may be able to solve it before the end based on the information revealed during the voyage. But the world-building in the story is rather basic and could have been better thought out.
The book is set in the empire of Concordia, made up of twelve provinces, each ruled by an heir that is 'Blessed' with a special magical ability, which is usually a secret ability not revealed to others. To mark a thousand years, the twelve heirs have gathered on a magical ship to sail to a sacred mountain. Problem is, one of the heirs isn't Blessed, and he is hiding it from the other heirs.
During the journey, hiding it turns out to be the least of his problems. The heir to the emperor is found dead. Then, over the days, other heirs are killed. The murderer has to be among the heirs left, for the magical ship has no crew, other than magical dragon butlers who, as stated early in the book, refuse to hurt or kill the heirs. The unBlessed heir decides to find out who the murderer is, how the murders take place (apparently with the use of magic) and why they are taking place. Clues are dropped, so those paying attention might be able to figure out what is happening before it is explained.
Complicating the investigation is the political and economic background of the empire, divided into upper and lower class provinces, resulting in rather hostile relationships among the heirs, some of whom look down on others. The unBlessed heir, who is a teen, also has a highly romantic relationship with another heir, which will affect how he investigates the matter.
While the murder-mystery is interesting, the story is let down by the rather basic world building. Each province consists of only one type of geography (ice, mountains, jungles, grassy plains, etc.) and provide one type of material (jewels, fish, and so on). Since they are all on a ship, all of this background information is 'dumped' on to the reader, instead of being experienced.
In summary, an interesting murder-mystery story that takes place in a fantasy world that could have been better crafted so as not to break the reader's suspension of disbelief while trying to figure out who did it before the investigator does.
