This is clearly a very well researched book and Jess Kidd does a great job of weaving the facts into this story, inspired by real events and people.
The Night Ship has two timelines, one in 1628 where we follow Mayken, a young girl who boards the ill-fated Batavia with her nursemaid, bound for the Dutch East Indies.
The second timeline, set in 1989, follows a young boy named Gil who has recently started living with his grandfather off the Australian coast after the death of his mother.
As both storylines progress we see the parallels between Mayken and Gil and their lives and we know that their stories will entwine at some point.
Jess Kidd is a talented writer and packs a lot of imagery and detail into her writing which makes it very enjoyable to read. I was fascinated by this story and the premise held a lot of promise for a book full of mysteries and drama.
Unfortunately it didn't really deliver on this for me. I found the pacing of the story painfully slow and even by the half way point, very little had actually happened in the plot. I don't mind a slow burner but I struggled to keep going with this one as I had hoped for so much more from the story.
Thank you to Readers First for the copy of this book.
The Night Ship has two timelines, one in 1628 where we follow Mayken, a young girl who boards the ill-fated Batavia with her nursemaid, bound for the Dutch East Indies.
The second timeline, set in 1989, follows a young boy named Gil who has recently started living with his grandfather off the Australian coast after the death of his mother.
As both storylines progress we see the parallels between Mayken and Gil and their lives and we know that their stories will entwine at some point.
Jess Kidd is a talented writer and packs a lot of imagery and detail into her writing which makes it very enjoyable to read. I was fascinated by this story and the premise held a lot of promise for a book full of mysteries and drama.
Unfortunately it didn't really deliver on this for me. I found the pacing of the story painfully slow and even by the half way point, very little had actually happened in the plot. I don't mind a slow burner but I struggled to keep going with this one as I had hoped for so much more from the story.
Thank you to Readers First for the copy of this book.