Review of The Night Ship

Review of The Night Ship

A story should go somewhere, that’s the central tenet for anything that’s been put on paper, if you haven’t got to a different place, found different people, different perspectives, what was the point of the story in the first place.

The Night Ship is a story where things change and do not change, told in the claustrophobia of a vehicle as it journeys onwards to destinations unclear. There’s the danger outside the vehicle, the danger of what they are running from, but more importantly, the understanding that the danger doesn’t just come from outside, but also from those within the vehicle.

Putting a compelling story into a place where the scenery doesn’t change is difficult at the best of times, and so it is here, the enemy is never clearly defined, and that’s good, because we fear what we don’t know, if it had been clear from the beginning what it was they were up against, then the story would have taken a very different perspective, and would have been weaker for it.

What we have here is a story almost of folklore, when unseen and misunderstood beasts hunt humans for no discernable reason, it’s not an easy read, there’s parts where the story meanders, but when it’s on target, it’s engaging and maddening in equal parts, I think that there should have been more on the background of the world, perhaps something setting up the initial reason for running and the explanation of how bad things had gone.  I believe in finishing a book when I start, but the opening was more difficult than it needed to be.

In all, it resolves into a tight story with a good explanation and a hint of worse to come, but you need to stay with it to get past the opening.

Thanks to Flame Stree Press and the Author for the Free ARC, my views are my own, no incentive offered or accepted.