A magical murder mystery that had me invested from the jump. The main character is exceptionally likable and some scenes were so good I had to put the book down and kick my feet while giggling. ( )

I would like to thank Penguin Random House South Africa for giving me a proof copy for a review. All opinions are my own.

2.5 stars

I am a fan of mysteries. I have binged Midsomer Murders, Murder She Wrote, Christie's Marple, and Christie's Poirot.

This novel is an okay read. The murder mystery was non existant. The fantasy was okay, and the world building was meh. The world reminded me of the anime Saint Seiya: Knights of the Zodiac. It almost has the same premise, but with its own small twist to it.

12 Blessed aboard a ship to take them to the Goddess's Mountain, and here friendships should be formed due to the next generation blessed to rule the provinces.

So, here begins our mystery after mingling the first victim drops. Everyone is shocked, and blame starts to set in. And on we go . . .

Our ML - Dee - sets out and makes a diagram for every passenger and their 'blessing' and their murder level. This diagram was unhelpful as it held no meaning throughout the novel due to no detecting.

Dee sets out to try and figure it out, but as no relevant questions and as a group, everyone keeps saying they were either in their cabins or with someone.

I had my first suspect from the first victim. When the second victim was found, I had another suspion, and by the third . . . I made a conclusion.

A true mystery novel, I feel you have to conclude when the detective concludes and not before hand otherwise it makes the story completely dull. This novel didn't have me guessing until the end. I had it on page 220, who was involved at everything.

There was a map to explain the provinces and a map of the ship.

The above set aside.

This is a nice acceptance novel. It has love, compassion, and hope in the pages. You are who you are, and don't let the world define you.

Dee's favourite words:

Fuck and all its variants.
Cock.
Cunt.
Shit.
Dragon's dick.

Conclusion:

If Agatha Christie wrote fantasy, this is not it. ( )

First the good: It was an easy fun read.
The characters were good developed and fun as well, especially Dee and Grasshopper.

On the other hand, I had the main culprit figured out as soon as the character was introduced. I was even right with what the motive was, more or less.
Now what does that mean? Am I really this good in solving murder mysteries or was it really this obvious? It put for sure a damper on the excitment a bit,
which made the conclusion (mainly day 12) very anticlimactic.
The end in general felt a bit rushed.

Nonetheless, the writing itself was fun enough to go on reading, even if some themes were handled a bit heavy handed.
There were two or three things going on with the characters which I didn't see coming and which made up a bit for me solving it so early. ( )