10 best pirate fantasy books, ranked
Gather ’round ye scallywags, I’ve got a treasure for thee.
Is it gold doubloons? Nay. Jewels? Nary. A cove of a sexually attractive half-fish/half-people looking to date? Not a one. No, me hearties, the treasure here is READIN’ MATERIAL. Now I know many a’ ye never bothered to learn yer letters what with all the plunderin’ and lootin’ we do keepin’ us occupied, but now’s the time! And what better way to learn to read when it is ourselves we be readin’ about?
Feast yer unpatched eyes mates, here is a list of the 10 best pirate fantasy books, ranked!
10. Vampirates series by Justin Somper
A more jocular portmanteau there never was! Justin Somper’s Vampirates is a comical series about twins Grace and Connor Tempest, who are separated from one another after being shipwrecked after a terrible squall. Just like the plot of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night! Alas, the immortal Bard missed the chance to populate his pages with pirates (both human and vampirical). On the high seas of this pirate-filled fantasy world, living and non-living crews battle it out for survival, and Grace and Connor end up on opposite sides of the fray. It’s the ultimate sibling rivalry, yet the pair eventually reunite to cross swords and stories to uncover their mysterious past.
9. Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie
I know, me hearties, it hurts me too. Mr. J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan did a number on our reputation, painting us as the villains (we’re actually a misunderstood product of a 16th-century sociopolitical and economic environment), but credit where credit is due! His story about a green-pantsed kidnapper of children and his magical fairy put us on the map. Can you imagine where we’d be without the many sequels, spin-offs, and musical adaptions this seminal work of piratical (though inaccurate) fiction spawned? We’d be culturally marooned! Nay, this novel remains a classic for a reason, and while the finer details of its plot are known the world over, it’s on these pages where the tale truly began.
8. On Stranger Tides by Tim Powers
I know what yer thinkin’, this title sounds familiar! Wasn’t it a Walt Disney blockbuster starring the infamous Pirates of the Caribbean in their self-titled movie franchise? Well, this here story is what inspired the fourth film installment! Tim Powers’ On Stranger Tides is a historical fantasy tale of pirates in their quest for the Fountain of Youth. After French puppeteer John Chandagnac is kidnapped (we prefer “hired”) by pirates, he’s swept up in Blackbeard’s quest to chase after the mythic fountain. Along the way, the pirates must contend with sorcerers, ghost ships, and the blasted Royal Navy, the sworn enemy of pirate kind.
7. Peter and the Starcatchers by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson
A prequel to the pirate smear job that is Peter Pan, Peter and the Starcatchers by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson improves upon its sequel/predecessor by humanizing its piratical antagonists, telling the tale of how the pirate Black Stache became the infamous pirate celebrity, Captain Hook. Meanwhile, we meet Peter and his friends before they become forever young childnappers as stowaways on a ship, where they discover a chest full of a mythic substance called starstuff guarded by a young girl. Peter and his friends help the girl hide the starstuff from the pirates who seek it, thus depriving them of the eternal youth they crave. Is it so wrong to want to be young and fly around? Even if you have to throw a few children overboard in the process?
6. Shades of Magic series by V.E. Schwab
V.E. Schwab’s Shades of Magic series is the story of a young magician named Kell, who can leap between four dimensions each containing their own color-coded version of London. After a street thief named Lila steals a magical artifact from him in Grey London, she and Kell’s fates become forever intertwined. Kell uses her knack for theft to gain employment on the pirate ship Night Spire in the series’ second book and serves under the lustrous cap’n Alucard Emery. While technically they are more privateer than pirate (a common source of confusion) there are plenty of high seas adventures in the pages of this work of magical fantasy.
5. Red Seas Under Red Skies by Scott Lynch
Scott Lynch’s Red Seas Under Red Skies is the second of the Gentleman Bastard novel series, and as the title suggests, concerns itself with all manner of piratical fancy. After being forced to infiltrate a pirate crew as punishment for a crime, master thief Locke Lamora and his first mate Jean Tannen sail to Ghostwind Isles on the Poison Orchid, captained by a pirate queen. Their job is to sneak onto the islands and stir up chaos among the pirates that call the place home to aid the powers that be, but as they bond with their newfound crew, their loyalties start to shift. Your timbers will be shivered at the effect one rum-drunk night in the galley with a group of unwashed ne’er do wells can have on the human heart.
4. The Nature of a Pirate by A.M. Dellamonica
A.M. Dellamonica’s The Nature of a Pirate is the third book in The Accidental Turn series and follows the story of young Sophie Hansa, a modern woman marooned in the piratical past. After entering the parallel realm of Stormwreck, a nautical world of islands and oceans, Sophie must adapt to the place’s ever-shifting tides—political and literal. In this book, Sophie has gotten a knack for her new world and accompanies the Stormwreck’s ruling naval power, The Fleet, in its trek across pirate-infested waters. Meanwhile, she’s investigating a rise of new magical beasties that have cropped up across the world, beasties whose flesh-dissolving powers are capable of chaos if left unchecked.
3. The Princess Bride by William Goldman
While the high seas are an infrequently used setting in William Goldman’s The Princess Bride, pirates account for a major part of the plot! After a young farm boy named Wesley leaves home on a quest for adventure, his lover Buttercup is left holding the bag. Pining for Wesley’s return, Buttercup gets word that Wesley has been captured and killed by the Dread Pirate Roberts. If that weren’t bad enough, Prince Humperdink wants to marry Buttercup, and he ain’t exactly marriage material. Buttercup is taken by the Dread Pirate Roberts but soon discovers a familiar face hiding beneath his mask.
2. The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi by Shannon Chakraborty
Shannon Chakraborty’s The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi is set in the Indian Ocean, leagues away from the waters of the Caribbean where many a pirate story has already been told. The story unfurls during the Islamic Golden Age, and concerns legendary pirate Amina al-Sirafi, who has put her buccaneering days behind her in an attempt to live a quieter life. Like many retired adventurers, she’s dragged back into that life on a “one last job” offer from a noblewoman, who begs her to rescue her captured granddaughter. To save the woman’s kidnapped kin, Amina will have to contend with all manner of sorcerers and djinn, facing down dark magic that she thought was long drowned beneath the ocean’s waves.
1. One Piece by Eiichiro Oda
Spanning decades of volumes and thousands of anime adaption episodes, Eiichiro Oda’s One Piece is perhaps the most enduring pirate tale ever told. The manga’s plot concerns Monkey D. Luffy, a plucky youth who decides to become king of the pirates after chowing down on a magical fruit that gives him the power to stretch his limbs like rubber. To stake his claim of greatness, Luffy gathers a crew to seek out the titular One Piece, a mythical treasure once owned by Gol D. Roger, the greatest pirate the world had ever seen. As captain of the Straw Hat Pirates, Luffy encounters evil buccaneers, nefarious naval captains, and mythical monsters in his quest for glory. One Piece is a sprawling epic with new issues still being published! It is a treasure that keeps on giving, mateys.
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