The Ship by Antonia Honeywell
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
I absolutely inhaled Antonia Honeywell’s The Ship, reading it in just two days. All its strength comes from its disturbing premise, which did fascinate and disturb me. The enclosed society of this ark-like ship has promises that are unnervingly simple and sweet–the reader tears along with the main character through the first half, working furiously to uncover the secrets of the cult. Ultimately though, once the mysteries are solved, there’s not a ton of substance to give the book any lasting power beyond the turning of the final page. It’s less of a story, and more of a ride. A cool ride! But a temporary thrill. The characters, especially our heroine, are simple at best and off-putting at worst. I wish Lalla would have been pushed way further in her capacity to understand, manipulate, and resist her surroundings–she was so inert as to be frustrating. However, the ending was right, and that counts for something.