Stranded in the Arctic, the international crew of an illegal whaler find themselves in a race for survival. Can they survive the cold, the sea, and, most of all, each other?

Pushed to desperation in a bleak world ravaged by climate change, Lora M’Bandi flees her homeland to join a group of unlikely outcasts aboard the whaling ship Livyatan. When an explosion rips through the vessel, the crew become shipwrecked deep inside the Arctic Circle—sabotaged by one of their own. Now, they must trek across the treacherous sea ice to reach dry land before the ice retreats—all the while with a traitor in their midst and fearsome predators stalking their every move.

Who will make it out of this harrowing tale of horror and survival?

Broken Voyage is what appears to be the third published novel by Scottish author, Lindsey Kinsella. His bio describes him as a qualified naval architect which must have helped with the technical aspects of the book.

At just 160 pages long Broken Voyage is novella length but those pages are packed with tense action as we follow the small crew before and after the shipwreck. In between this action we have flashback chapters on the crew members to give us their backgrounds and to explain how such a diverse mix of people could be doing this work. That combination of characters, together with the harsh conditions in the arctic, work together to keep the reader’s attention.

As hinted in the synopsis, this is a dystopian novella set in the not too distant future. Climate change has progressed as many currently forecast and I was interested to read how Kinsella treats not just the effects of the warmer world but also the human reactions to it, particularly in the northern countries.

On occasions we were following the fairly complex thought processes of a whale. I concede that it helped to explain some of the plot but these sections reminded me more of childhood stories such as Black Beauty and Wind in the Willows than an adult thriller.

Although it fitted the circumstances I did find some of the graphic descriptions to be just about bearable. The synopsis may not be Kinsella’s work but I was surprised by what I thought was an unnecessary spoiler and, being a bit picky, although Lora ended up on a whaler it was not the reason she left her homeland.

All in all, Broken Voyage is an entertaining read which I think that most lovers of action stories will enjoy. I have awarded 4.5 stars.

Lindsey Kinsella is a Scottish science fiction and fantasy author.

​While a qualified and experienced naval architect and avid classic car enthusiast, he always reserved space in life for his fascination with science, nature, and palaeontology. This drove his writing process as he aspired to write tales of the rich and complex story of life on Earth.