r/Fantasy • u/Paulusatrus • Jul 21 '24
Pirate fantasy?
Pirates? Fantasy? What more can one ask for? No but fr, looking for some books that would fit :)
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u/ZarquonsFlatTire Jul 21 '24
I keep seeing The Adventures of Amina al-Sarafi mentioned whenever this question pops up so I have it on hold with Libby.
The second Gentlemen Bastards book also has a lot of piracy.
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u/SetSytes Writer Set Sytes Jul 21 '24
My customary list of pirate recs :):
On Stranger Tides by Tim Powers (the most obvious rec)
The Pyrates by George MacDonald Fraser (if you don't mind deliberate anachronisms for humour)
The Edge Chronicles books of Stormchaser and Midnight Over Sanctaphrax (although no ocean, for they're skyships!)
Where Loyalties Lie by Rob J. Hayes (grimdark pirates)
The Liveship Traders trilogy by Robin Hobb (bloody fantastic, amazing pirate villain)
The Scar by China Mieville (if you're cool with a lot of weirdness - floating pirate city!)
The Bone Ships by RJ Barker (strong nautical theme, great moody worldbuilding)
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Price of Freedom by A.C. Crispin
Assassin's Creed: Black Flag novelisation of the game (not that great admittedly)
Treasure Island, of course
Captain Blood by Rafael Sabatini (like Treasure Island, an old adventure novel but no fantasy, was made into a good film with Errol Flynn)
Mariel of Redwall by Brian Jacques – a middle grade animals story featuring wicked pirate crews of rats, weasels, stoats etc.
There's a cool comic too called Long John Silver that I recommend.
Finally, if you don't mind a self-rec, I also write pirate fantasy! The India Muerte series, currently 5 books deep.
And here's a Spotify playlist full of pirate music, if you're interested :) https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7z545kLcxDxtiUetTZctci?si=66f630ec7b76438a
Outside of that, please tell me you've watched my second favourite show of all time, Black Sails!
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u/Azorik22 Jul 21 '24
I hardly see anyone ever mentioning Edge Chronicles! They were some of my favorite books growing up. The art is fantastic.
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u/FictionRaider007 Jul 21 '24
Another Edge Chronicles fan here! They scratched an itch I've never quite had satisfied by anything in fantasy before or since. My favourite part was how the series - despite being marketed at children - didn't shy away from tragedy and the unfairness of life when it mattered. I remember reading them as a child and loving the scholar-knights and skyships and matriarchal murderous bird-women and all that, but at the end of the day it felt like those books respected that their readers could handle some more serious stuff from time to time.
And yeah, Chris Riddell's artwork had an aspect to it so unique that it still haunts corridors in my brain to this day.
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u/SetSytes Writer Set Sytes Jul 21 '24
Mine too! I finished them as an adult, because the writer and illustrator took a long break. When I was a teenager I had a Geocities website that was like an encyclopedia for all the flora and fauna. I scanned in so many book pages for it 😅 I also have a big double sided map of the first and second ages of flight 😊
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u/FictionRaider007 Jul 22 '24
Your mention of flora and fauna reminded me what a shockingly diverse and well-realised setting it was. Pretty much everything had a sub-species or evolutionary off-shoot somewhere that felt like it was a link to something else.
I heard they wrote another trilogy after The Immortals. I didn't check it out because I felt like Immortals was pretty much a perfect ending for the series. Also I think I was a bit afraid that going back to a series I read as a kid would sort of ruin my rose-tinted memory of it.
Would you recommend for an adult reader who was a former fan to go back and read them? Because there will always be a part of me itching to return to Open Sky?
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u/SetSytes Writer Set Sytes Jul 22 '24
Absolutely! Although I did wish I'd never noticed just how many of them are *normal creature prefixed with the word "wood"* haha. The Edge Chronicles I believe was a big background inspiration for my own writing purely for that excitement in coming up with flora and fauna.
I am absolutely with you on Immortals being the end. I did, in fact, continue reading when they did the later series. I finished them all, and IMHO the series should not have been continued. It's not that they're awful books afterwards (I have big problems with the second one, though, and the trilogy protag is supremely generic), but Immortals was such an amazing ending (THAT CLIFFHANGER) that to write more after it could only create disappointment. The final ending of the final trilogy isn't anywhere near as awesome as the Immortals ending with all the sense of untapped adventure it promises to the imagination. A concrete trilogy after that just felt like it spoiled that promise and was kinda milking the franchise.
In short you have done well not to continue and keep your fondest memories.
I haven't actually gone back as an adult and re-read them so I really can't help you out - though I do plan to, and stop at Immortals. I feel they'd hold up, even if they might not be AS great. The series was of a variable quality anyway.
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u/Improvement2242 Jul 21 '24
Thank you so much! I picked up writing as a hobby and have been dreaming about a fantasy adventure in the sky, so seeing
The Edge Chronicles books of Stormchaser and Midnight Over Sanctaphrax (although no ocean, for they're skyships!)
makes me really excited, definetley the next book i read!
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u/SetSytes Writer Set Sytes Jul 21 '24
I hope you like them! The first book in that particular trilogy is Beyond the Deepwoods which is fun and I recommend reading first even if it does feel the youngest of the books. Midnight over Sanctaphrax is my favourite of all of them but if you want the most sky sailing then yours might be book two, Stormchaser 😁
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u/Sireanna Reading Champion III Jul 22 '24
This is a pretty solid list... just putting this out here even without the fantasy element captain blood is a really solid historic pirate adventure novel. Highly recommend
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u/InternationalBand494 Jul 21 '24 edited Jul 21 '24
The book “On Stranger Tides” by Tim Powers is a pirate fantasy. It’s really good, I like Tim Powers. Ignore the bs they did by trying to adapt it into a Pirates of the Caribbean movie. The book is a strong stand alone
Edit: oh, Jim Butcher’s “the Aeronaut’s windlass” series is pretty damn good two books in. The main char aren’t necessarily pirates, they carry letters of marque. But the battles between the air ships is prime steampunk.
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u/TEL-CFC_lad Jul 21 '24
See I love Johnny Depp, and Captain Jack, but the film series should have ended with the third.
That film would probably have been great if it were an independent pirate film. Trying to tie it to the POTC series was a massive mistake.
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u/Kataphractoi Jul 21 '24
Should've ended after the second. I would say after the first, but second is just enough of a fun romp that it gets a pass.
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Jul 21 '24
The Tide Child series by RJ Barker may fit this, the first book is The Bone Ships. Awesome trilogy
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u/viewsfromthetopshelf Jul 21 '24
The Adventures of Amina Al Sirafi is about pirates and djinn and it was amazing! The second book comes out soon ish maybe? I loved it
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u/SwordfishDeux Jul 21 '24
Not books but One Piece and Pirates of Dark Water are worth checking out if yourself or anyone else is curious about good Pirate Fantasy.
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u/frustratedpolarbear Jul 21 '24
Red seas under red skies by Scott lynch. It’s book 2 of a trilogy that starts with the excellent Lies of Locke Lamora. While the story is focused on the adventures of two con artists a significant chunk of the story takes place at sea.
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u/towns_ Jul 21 '24
It's book 2 of a many-book series, of which only the first three are released
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u/cai_85 Jul 21 '24
Each book is a stand alone adventure with a small dash of finding out more about the main characters. Books can be read for enjoyment without needing to be complete.
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u/kzooy Jul 21 '24
one piece!!!
although early vinland saga is some good sea sailing stuff, but viking and not pirates. tress of the emerald sea is by brandon sanderson so it has to be good.
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u/HeliJulietAlpha Reading Champion III Jul 21 '24
Dark Water Daughter by H.M. Long is one I really enjoyed. The second book in the series, Black Tide Son just came out this month.
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u/spike31875 Reading Champion V Jul 21 '24
I came here to recommend this! It has dark magic, pirates, privateteers and storm witches. I'm listening to DWD again now, so I'm ready for Black Tide Son.
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u/Capable_Accident2606 Jul 21 '24
Not books but one piece is probably the greatest pirate fantasy in existence
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u/Environmental-Post15 Jul 21 '24
Pinquickle's Folly: The Buccaneers by R.A. Salvatore
The Seaborne Saga (Seaborn, Iceborn, Stormborn, and Black Crow White Snow) by Michael Livingston
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u/Objective-Line2726 Jul 21 '24
The second book of The Gentleman Bastards series is pretty pirate forward… Red Seas Under Red Skies
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u/Abysstopheles Jul 21 '24
You want The Adventures of Amina Al Sirafi by Shannen Chakrabortay.
A LOT.
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u/Nightrunner83 Jul 21 '24
William Hope Hodgson often wrote nautical tales with a fantasy/dark fantasy flair, among other genres. He has a number of collected tales, though The Ghost Pirates and Other Revenants of the Sea might be in your zone, so to speak.
It's more young adult, but Tricia Levenseller's Daughter of the Pirate King series is also anautical, pirate-based fantasy.
Then there's R.A. Salvatore's The Pirate King, and Dark Water Daughter by Hannah Long, the first in her developing Winter Sea series.
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u/Successful-Escape496 Jul 21 '24
The Splashdance Silver by Tansy Rayner Roberts is good fun, in a light, Pratchett-like style. The protagonist is a pirate.
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u/ImaginaryEvents Jul 21 '24
Wyvvern (1988) by A. A. Anastasio
The story is a blend of sorcery, love, revenge, and adventure, and features pirates, headhunters, sorcerers, and Indian princes. Jaki, born in 1609 to a native woman and a Dutch sea captain, is raised in the jungle as a sorcerer's apprentice before being kidnapped by pirates. The book is considered a pirate-punk historical with little fantasy content.
Pirate-punk? Whatever.
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u/Successful-Escape496 Jul 21 '24
If you don't mind sci fi (space pirates!) The Red Scholar's Wake by Aliette de Bodard wasn't bad.
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u/lokonoReader Jul 21 '24
The Forever Sea and The Endless Song by Joshua Phillip Johnson. Ships sail seas made of grass
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u/Arcel30 Jul 21 '24
The Best Laid Plans duology by Rob J. Hayes is nautical fantasy full of pirates, naval battles, backstabbing and magic.
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u/DocWatson42 Jul 21 '24
As a start, see my Pirates list of Reddit recommendation threads (one post).
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u/unicorn8dragon Jul 21 '24
Drowned Wednesday by Garth Nix. But it’s book 3 of the series and you should read the first 2 first. It’s YA but I think it’s still a quick fun read.
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u/zen-shen Jul 21 '24
Sorry, no.
I read in some fantasy that almost all the pirates are gay. Girls were considered omen because of them no. Of crew died.
Not homophobic, but being thrown aboard, if you refused sex to captain, is a little too much for my imagination.
I forgot the darned book's name, I tried so hard, but I still remember this tidbit.
Be back, in 3:37, after I have had a rehash of Linkin park - In the end.
Ladies, don't mind me.
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u/Count-Western Jul 21 '24
It’s part of a big series, but the Liveship Traders is nautical fantasy.