Title: The Night Ship

Author: Jess Kidd

Publisher: Atria Books 2022

Genre: Fantasy

Pages: 400

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Unread Shelf; Spring TBR

1629: A newly orphaned young girl named Mayken is bound for the Dutch East Indies on the Batavia, one of the greatest ships of the Dutch Golden Age. Curious and mischievous, Mayken spends the long journey going on misadventures above and below the deck, searching for a mythical monster. But the true monsters might be closer than she thinks.

1989: A lonely boy named Gil is sent to live off the coast of Western Australia among the seasonal fishing community where his late mother once resided. There, on the tiny reef-shrouded island, he discovers the story of an infamous shipwreck…

I grabbed this book right after Christmas and was so excited to read it after living Kidd’s previous book, Things in Jars. This one is a very different book from that and I just didn’t enjoy it as much. This one alternates between two pretty dire situations and time periods. There’s not a light or hope in this book. It’s very dark and depressing. Two main characters are set adrift in the world, one very literally. Both characters have experienced horrors in life and they seem to be continuing. I was really rooting for each of those characters (and many of the side characters) even while knowing that the story of the Batavia doesn’t really have a happy ending. My favorite part was the weaving of the mythology and folklore into the two storylines. We get to hear snippets of stories throughout the journeys. In some passages, it really felt like those stories had come to life and were stalking the characters. You’re never really certain what’s real and what’s imaginary. That play between real and unreal lifted this book from just a sad story to something mystical.

Next up on the TBR pile: