# Naval-oriented fantasy?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/naval-oriented-fantasy/416858
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [August 25, 2007, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/naval-oriented-fantasy/416858 "2007-08-25T02:02:43Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)
#### Post date: [August 25, 2007, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/naval-oriented-fantasy/416858/1 "2007-08-25T02:02:43Z")
Most fantasy seems focused on events on land. There must be fantasy which has a group of intrepid souls exploring the Seven Seas (or whatever how many on a given world), so I hereby humbly ask for recommendations.
---
### Author:  [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)
#### Post date: [August 25, 2007, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/naval-oriented-fantasy/416858/2 "2007-08-25T02:08:47Z")
**Towing Jehovah** by James Morrow has most of its plot take place on a ship at sea.
---
### Author:  [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)
#### Post date: [August 25, 2007, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/naval-oriented-fantasy/416858/3 "2007-08-25T02:12:08Z")
I cannot vouch for their quality, but Robin Hobb wrote a series about ships made of living wood. Liveship Traders or something similar.
Also there was a pretty good book I read a few years back, “Voyage of the Shadowmoon,” although I cannot recall the author and am not inclined to look it up right now.
( and how can you forget the Giants of Thomas Covenant?)
---
### Author:  [@Dunderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunderman)
#### Post date: [August 25, 2007, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/naval-oriented-fantasy/416858/4 "2007-08-25T02:15:19Z")
The Narnia book _Voyage of the Dawn Treader_ largely takes place at sea.
---
### Author:  [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)
#### Post date: [August 25, 2007, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/naval-oriented-fantasy/416858/5 "2007-08-25T03:03:40Z")
The [Temeraire](http://www.temeraire.org/) series is basically Master and Commander with dragons.
---
### Author:  [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)
#### Post date: [August 25, 2007, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/naval-oriented-fantasy/416858/6 "2007-08-25T04:00:48Z")
[QUOTE=DrFidelius]
I cannot vouch for their quality, but Robin Hobb wrote a series about ships made of living wood. Liveship Traders or something similar.
[/QUOTE]
Yep, and the trilogy was superb. It’s the central trilogy, in fact, in a trilogy of trilogies telling one overarching story. The other two are set on land, though.
---
### Author:  [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)
#### Post date: [August 25, 2007, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/naval-oriented-fantasy/416858/7 "2007-08-25T04:41:57Z")
Try “The Green Odyssey” by Phillip Jose Farmer. It’s set on dry land, but its basically about a ship voyaging on an ocean.
Here’s a url for some reviews:
[http://www.pjfarmer.com/reviews.htm#green](http://www.pjfarmer.com/reviews.htm#green)
---
### Author:  [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)
#### Post date: [August 25, 2007, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/naval-oriented-fantasy/416858/8 "2007-08-25T04:46:28Z")
Also, Tim Powers’ “On Stranger Tides”
[http://www.babbagepress.com/html/32-8.html](http://www.babbagepress.com/html/32-8.html)
Probably the best fantasy about pirates on the sea you’ll ever encounter …
---
### Author:  [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)
#### Post date: [August 25, 2007, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/naval-oriented-fantasy/416858/9 "2007-08-25T06:11:14Z")
Curses, **Evil Captor**! That was just the book I came in to mention.
---
### Author:  [@TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW)
#### Post date: [August 25, 2007, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/naval-oriented-fantasy/416858/10 "2007-08-25T06:47:33Z")
China Mieville’s _The Scar_ takes place in a floating city in a fantasy world, and includes naval battles, blimps, and so on.
---
### Author:  [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)
#### Post date: [August 25, 2007, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/naval-oriented-fantasy/416858/11 "2007-08-25T06:52:21Z")
Come on. You’re [asking for it.](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/a2/Tom99.jpg)
---
### Author:  [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)
#### Post date: [August 25, 2007, 7:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/naval-oriented-fantasy/416858/12 "2007-08-25T07:01:46Z")
How about Sinbad? The Odyssey? Jason & The Argonauts?
---
### Author:  [@TPWombat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TPWombat)
#### Post date: [August 25, 2007, 8:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/naval-oriented-fantasy/416858/13 "2007-08-25T08:01:47Z")
**Ursula K. LeGuin**'s _A Wizard of Earthsea_ . Earthsea consists of a lot of small islands and there’s a lot of travelling by boat in this first volume of four.
Added bonus - A magic school that actually sounds believable and a magic system with an underlying “physics” that _actually makes sense!!!_ . JK Rowling please take note. Oh, too late.
---
### Author:  [@Meurglys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meurglys)
#### Post date: [August 25, 2007, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/naval-oriented-fantasy/416858/14 "2007-08-25T11:55:48Z")
**Paul Kearney** ’s _The Mark of Ran_ and it’s sequel. Well, especially the sequel, _The Forsaken Earth_.
**Michael Stackpole** ’s Age of Discovery series, starting with _Cartomancy_.
**Chris Bunch** had a great ‘fantasy pirates’ book a few years ago called _Corsiar_
_Midshipwizard Halcyon Blyth_ by **James M. Ward** is better than you’d assume from the title!
---
### Author:  [@Crusoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crusoe)
#### Post date: [August 25, 2007, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/naval-oriented-fantasy/416858/15 "2007-08-25T14:25:53Z")
I’ll second VCO3’s suggestion of _The Scar_. I’m not really a fantasy fan but it’s very good (although best read after his first, and even better, book in the same series, _Perdido Street Station_).
---
### Author:  [@Hunter\_Hawk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hunter_Hawk)
#### Post date: [August 25, 2007, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/naval-oriented-fantasy/416858/16 "2007-08-25T15:24:06Z")
A good chunk of William Hope Hodgson’s output is fantasy/horror that takes place at sea.
_The Lees of Laughter’s End_ by Steven Erikson (it’s a novella in the Malazan setting, but not part of the main _Book of the Fallen_ series)
Robert E. Howard did a bunch of short stories set at sea–his “Cormac Mac Art” character was his main output in this vein.
_The Black Wheel_ by A. Merritt and Hannes Bok.
_The Ship of Ishtar_ by A. Merritt.
There’s also any number of other miscellaneous short stories by various authors.
---
### Author:  [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)
#### Post date: [August 25, 2007, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/naval-oriented-fantasy/416858/17 "2007-08-25T16:46:59Z")
Thanks all-got some good recs which I shall look into.
---
### Author:  [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)
#### Post date: [August 25, 2007, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/naval-oriented-fantasy/416858/18 "2007-08-25T17:07:38Z")
… and we should never forget **Omphalos of Gor** …
---
### Author:  [@appleciders](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/appleciders)
#### Post date: [August 25, 2007, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/naval-oriented-fantasy/416858/19 "2007-08-25T23:54:33Z")
I’ll second LeGuin’s **Earthsea** stuff. Good fantasy, besides.
---
### Author:  [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)
#### Post date: [August 25, 2007, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/naval-oriented-fantasy/416858/20 "2007-08-25T23:58:22Z")
The OP didn’t specifically mention books, so I’ll nominate the cartoon series _Pirates of Darkwater_.
Marc
[Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/naval-oriented-fantasy/416858.md?page=2)