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Tim Powers
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On Stranger Tides Paperback – 1 May 2011

by Powers (Author)
4.1 out of 5 stars 1,742 ratings
on any 4 Qualifying items | Terms
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Shortlisted for the World Fantasy Award
Shortlisted for the Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel

1718: Puppeteer John Chandagnac has set sail for Jamaica to recover his stolen inheritance, when his ship is seized by pirates. Offered the choice to join the crew, or be killed where he stands, he decides that a pirate's life is better than none at all.

Now known as Jack Shandy, this apprentice buccaneer soon learns to handle a mainsail and wield a cutlass - only to discover he is now a subject of a Caribbean pirate empire ruled by one Edward Thatch, better known as Blackbeard.

A practitioner of voodoo, Blackbeard is building an army of the living and the dead, to voyage together to search for the ultimate prize: the legendary Fountain of Youth.

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  1. Print length
    416 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Atlantic Books
  4. Publication date
    1 May 2011
  5. Dimensions
    12.9 x 2.64 x 19.8 cm
  6. ISBN-10
    1848875126
  7. ISBN-13
    978-1848875128
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  1. But maybe it’s better to be an outlaw with purpose than a citizen without.
    Highlighted by 107 Kindle readers
  2. “Yeah, there’s some unlikely beasts in the world, and it’s best to stay near the ones that you’ve bought drinks for.”
    Highlighted by 101 Kindle readers
  3. It comes and goes, the movement seemed to indicate; good and bad, life and death, joy and horror, and nothing should come as a surprise.
    Highlighted by 81 Kindle readers
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Product description

Review

A dark, delicious flow of strangeness... On Stranger Tides reminds me why I came to love reading in the first place ― Orson Scott Card

Tim Powers is a brilliant writer ― William Gibson

Tim Powers has long been one of my absolutely favourite writers ― Peter Straub

The reigning king of adult historical fantasy ― Kirkus

The best fantasy writer to appear in decades ― The Guardian

If you've ever woken half way through a fabulous dream and desperately wanted to know what would have happened next: relax. Those unfinished stories go to Tim Powers, and he's good enough to write them down for all of us ― Nick Harkaway

Book Description

A swashbuckling, rip-roaring adventure: Pirates! Zombies! Blackbeard! Voodoo! Treasure! AND the book that inspired Pirates of the Caribbean IV: On Stranger Tides.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Atlantic Books
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ 1 May 2011
  • Edition ‏ : ‎ Main - Print on Demand
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 416 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1848875126
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1848875128
  • Item weight ‏ : ‎ 1.05 kg
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 12.9 x 2.64 x 19.8 cm
  • Best Sellers Rank: 115,430 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • Customer reviews:
    4.1 out of 5 stars 1,742 ratings

About the author

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Tim Powers

Tim Powers

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Tim Powers is the author of numerous novels including Hide Me Among the Graves, Three Days to Never, Declare, Last Call, and On Stranger Tides, which inspired the feature film Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. He has won the Philip K. Dick Memorial Award twice, and the World Fantasy Award three times. He lives in San Bernardino, California.

Customer reviews

4.1 out of 5 stars
1,742 global ratings

Customers say

Customers find the book thoroughly enjoyable from start to finish, with well-written characters and good value for money. They appreciate its historical fiction-cum-fantasy elements and consider it a great price. The storyline receives mixed reactions, with some enjoying it while others find the ending anti-climactic, and the action scenes are also mixed, with some finding them inelegant.

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ReadabilityEntertainment valueMystiqueCharacter developmentValue for moneyWriting qualityStorylineAction scenes
21 customers mention ‘Readability’19 positive2 negative

Customers find the book highly readable, with one describing it as a real rip roaring read, and another noting it's thoroughly enjoyable from start to finish.

"what a brilliant book, dont think this is anything like the rubbish film as it is a world away. Well written, great story and charcaters...." Read more

"it keep you on yhe edge of your seat. and its a really a good read that is why i put i liked it" Read more

"Was a great book that upheld the perfect amount of mystique, allowing you to piece the puzzle together as it unfolded." Read more

"Fabulous book." Read more

9 customers mention ‘Entertainment value’8 positive1 negative

Customers find the book entertaining, with one describing it as a swashbuckling adventure and another noting it's always leaves them wanting more.

"...Just as great an experience as the movie and video game but with a different story and in bok form." Read more

"Enjoyed the story line of the book. Very intriguing , and keeps you wanting to read more throughout the whole time." Read more

"...The plot is engaging and always leaves you wanting more. The ending is a bit of anti-climax, though...." Read more

"...about magic and a hint of voodoo, about Blackbeard, about swashbuckling adventure, a damsel in distress, nefarious villainy and tragic villains,..." Read more

7 customers mention ‘Mystique’7 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the book's mystical elements, with one review noting its historical fiction-cum-fantasy style and another mentioning its fully realized world.

"...A wonderful mix of history and fantasy sold at an excellent kindle price. Highly recommended." Read more

"It's like what Pirates of the Caribbean wanted to be. Fun, mystic, and a few nods to the infamous pirates of the day. Historical fiction-cum-fantasy." Read more

"...finish, combining flights of absolute fantasy with the occasional bit of fact and history, tying it all into a more or less coherent narrative...." Read more

"...were kept to a minimum and I had the sense that the book was set in a fully realised world and that everything made sense...." Read more

6 customers mention ‘Character development’5 positive1 negative

Customers appreciate the character development in the book.

"...There are also some good characters. The pirate captain Phil Davies, the evil Leo Friend and the loyal Skank spring to mind...." Read more

"...the film, comedy is more in line with Monkey Island series, Excellent characters. Good for any age" Read more

"...Well, the first thing it has going for it is excellent characters...." Read more

"...There are some great characters and that includes the main character...." Read more

4 customers mention ‘Value for money’3 positive1 negative

Customers find the book offers good value for money.

"Good book worth it" Read more

"...A wonderful mix of history and fantasy sold at an excellent kindle price. Highly recommended." Read more

"The book has pages missing which was not described so the price was absolutely ridiculous...." Read more

"...Great 2 have an old companion back at a good price and with prompt delivery" Read more

4 customers mention ‘Writing quality’4 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the writing quality of the book.

"...pirate stories were something of a genre cul-de-sac, but Powers' excellent writing and brilliant story converted me very quickly." Read more

"This was fantastically good fun. It had a great plot and was very well written...." Read more

"...Well written, great story and charcaters. well recomended" Read more

"...example, the whole Fountain of Youth episode stood out as a really good piece of writing, Tim Powers really portrayed a great sense of atmosphere..." Read more

18 customers mention ‘Storyline’12 positive6 negative

Customers have mixed opinions about the storyline of the book, with some enjoying it while others find the ending anti-climactic.

"I love story's about the sea, add pirates, and a great story and I am happy,...." Read more

"Too much in the way of overly descriptive action scenes and not enough of a story to get my teeth into...." Read more

"A bit of an unexpected twist on a pirate story featuring Blackbeard and a RL Stevenson type hero...." Read more

"Iconic tale of the high seas that had me glued to every chapter to the very end...." Read more

3 customers mention ‘Action scenes’1 positive2 negative

Customers have mixed opinions about the action scenes in the book.

"Too much in the way of overly descriptive action scenes and not enough of a story to get my teeth into...." Read more

"...There were lots of great action scenes and it was very atmospheric...." Read more

"...one thing the ending a little anti-climatic, and the action scenes are somewhat inelegant...." Read more

Top reviews from United Kingdom

  • Amazon Customer
    5.0 out of 5 stars Groosome compelling read
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 1 September 2018
    Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase
    I love story's about the sea, add pirates, and a great story and I am happy,. But this book adds an extra layer of magic, invented in new and interesting ideas. If it was ever made as a film, they would have to reduce the horror of it.
    Helpful
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  • Dr. Michael Heron
    4.0 out of 5 stars Pirates and Voodoo
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 26 October 2008
    Verified Purchase
    What's not to like about this book? It has pirates, voodoo, Blackbeard, and a man who plays with puppets. It's thoroughly enjoyable from start to finish, combining flights of absolute fantasy with the occasional bit of fact and history, tying it all into a more or less coherent narrative.

    It's not perfect - for one thing the ending a little anti-climatic, and the action scenes are somewhat inelegant. On the whole though, I would be happy to recommend this to anyone who finds the premise intriguing.
    6 people found this helpful
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  • Snikt5
    3.0 out of 5 stars Still waiting for that excellent pirate novel.
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 11 July 2011
    Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
    This is the book that the Pirates of the Caribbean film franchise drew inspiration from for it's 4th outing. I wanted to read the book before seeing the film and as a result of my tardiness, will now have to wait for the film to come out on DVD.
    I love pirates, I wish there were more novels surrounding pirates, (anyone that wishes to point me in the right direction please feel free). However, the few I have read, all seem to leave me feeling the same.
    It is very rare I finish a book and can't decide whether I enjoyed it or not. "On stranger tides" joins this list. Like other pirate novels I have read, there were moments where I really enjoyed the experience and other moments where I was reading but not really taking the story in.
    For example, the whole Fountain of Youth episode stood out as a really good piece of writing, Tim Powers really portrayed a great sense of atmosphere and claustrophobia. The sense of voodoo magic poured through the swamp like settings and the character's distress at their real or imaginary visions was quite disconcerting. However, if you asked me what the purpose of the whole scene was and what the characters achieved, I would struggle to tell you.
    There are also some good characters. The pirate captain Phil Davies, the evil Leo Friend and the loyal Skank spring to mind. However it is difficult to route for the main character Jack Shandy who spends long periods feeling for himself and drowning his sorrows.
    I think the biggest problem with the novel is the lack of direction. I like my plots to be clear, I don't mind complicated but I like to know the motivations of the protagonists and their overall objectives. With "on stranger tides," the main character "Shandy " seems to stumble from one scene to another with no real purpose. There is some vague mention of an uncle he wishes to confront and then later he wants to rescue a girl who at the beginning of the novel he did not care for.
    The timeline is never consistent. A chapter might end and the next may start up immediately after the event or some months after. I found myself not discovering which until I had read a good few paragraphs of the chapter first. This is probably summed up in the loosely entitled epilogue, which is really just the final chapter of the book taking place seconds after the ending of the previous chapter and in no way representative of an epilogue whatsoever.
    It sounds as if I really didn't enjoy the book, but I don't think that is a fair reflection. I just felt the story was more of a mesh of cool scenes loosely tied together than a clever tale. The only constant being Shandy's half hearted pursuit of a girl he did not want to encourage in the beginning. Overall, I enjoyed it then... I think.
    5 people found this helpful
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  • Matthew Dent
    5.0 out of 5 stars You couldn't really want for better pirate fare
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 13 May 2012
    Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase
    I went into this book knowing very little about it. Really the only thing I had to go on was the rather lacklustre Pirates of the Caribbean film based on it, which is hardly the best endorsement.

    But I found myself very pleasantly surprised with the result. The actual similarity between the book and the film is limited to the name, the fountain of youth, and the involvement of Blackbeard. If the film had been more like the book, then it might not have been the disappointment it turned out to be.

    So why did I like "On Stranger Tides" so much? Well, the first thing it has going for it is excellent characters. The pirate genre lends itself to colourful, imaginative and exciting casts, and Powers doesn't disappoint. Main character Jack Shandy is the classic character who never really wanted to be a pirate, but found an outlaw life thrust upon him, whilst Blackbeard manages to be engagingly bad, but more than simply a cardboard-cut-out comic villain. Add to the mix a host of brash but morally-questionable buccaneers and you couldn't really want for better pirate fare.

    One thing that I was a little less passionate about was the ending. Throughout, Powers keeps the story fast paced and exciting, with the action running right up to the end. Which is great, but it makes the ending feel rather abrupt. To go from full-throttle to over zap quickly killed the mood a little, but I couldn't say what I would have changed and it didn't damage the reading experience too much.

    Overall I would definitely recommend this book. I was somewhat sceptical at first, believing that pirate stories were something of a genre cul-de-sac, but Powers' excellent writing and brilliant story converted me very quickly.
    5 people found this helpful
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  • scuba Steve
    4.0 out of 5 stars Enjoyed the story line, and the book . A guitarist to the story ,and very intriguing at time. Very voodoo , right to the end
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 30 June 2021
    Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase
    Enjoyed the story line of the book. Very intriguing , and keeps you wanting to read more throughout the whole time.
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  • The Emperor
    5.0 out of 5 stars Rollickingly good fun.
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 1 June 2011
    Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase
    This was fantastically good fun. It had a great plot and was very well written.

    There were lots of great action scenes and it was very atmospheric. The exposition scenes were kept to a minimum and I had the sense that the book was set in a fully realised world and that everything made sense.

    The magical and supernatural elements were fully developed and didn't overshadow the rest of the plot.

    There are some great characters and that includes the main character. In fantasy novels they can often be a bit dull but that wasn't the case here.

    There were plenty of flashes of humour and despite being fairly long I found this to be a quick and easy read.
    7 people found this helpful
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  • Gabby
    4.0 out of 5 stars Loved it
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 6 November 2020
    Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase
    Was a great book that upheld the perfect amount of mystique, allowing you to piece the puzzle together as it unfolded.
    Helpful
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  • M. Gribby
    2.0 out of 5 stars The film is far better than the book....very poor.
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 3 February 2015
    Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
    Too much in the way of overly descriptive action scenes and not enough of a story to get my teeth into.
    I could only read the first 40 or so pages before other books tempted me.
    If you like action scenes you would be better off watching the film
    Helpful
     Report

Top reviews from other countries

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  • Ciraly
    5.0 out of 5 stars Gran historia
    Reviewed in Mexico on 14 April 2025
    Verified Purchase
    Es maravilloso
    Report
  • Nottingham7
    5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent roman, mais complexe en langue anglaise.
    Reviewed in France on 16 July 2012
    Verified Purchase
    On Stranger Tides de Tim Powers est l'oeuvre qui a inspiré les épisodes de Monkey Island sur PC ainsi que le 4ème film Pirates des Caraïbes (toute la saga est d'ailleurs inspirée de l'univers décrit par Tim Powers).
    C'est un authentique roman d'héroic fantasy dans l'univers de la piraterie où son influence est comparable à celle du Seigneur des Anneaux pour l'héroïc fantasy "médiévale".

    J'avais par contre souhaité le découvrir en langue anglaise et c'est là que cela se corse: le vocabulaire est celui de la navigation maritime, ce qui rends incompréhensible des passages entiers du roman pour les non-marins.

    En bref, un excellent roman, une pierre fondatrice de l'univers des Pirates des Caraïbes, mais difficile d'accès en version originale.
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  • cigarillored
    5.0 out of 5 stars Damn Good Fun
    Reviewed in Spain on 9 February 2025
    Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase
    I stumbled across the book after going down a Secret of Monkey Island rabbit hole. First up, it's a great read, and a brisk one at that. It's by no means a short book but with a story packed to the brim with pirates, voodoo and epic sea battles you'll be wishing there was an extra chapter or two. Supposedly this was the inspiration behind the Pirates of the Caribbean movie of the same name, but don't be fooled - aside from a couple of key story points, the book is vastly different (and undoubtedly superior, although admittedly I could picture nobody but the brilliant Ian McShane as Blackbeard whilst reading this).
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  • Spenzo
    4.0 out of 5 stars Love the story, size too big
    Reviewed in Sweden on 10 April 2021
    Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
    I haven't read that much yet but at the moment I really enjoy it, except the size. It would've been much better if the text was a smaller size so they could've made a smaller book so it's easier to hold and carry around.
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    Spenzo
    4.0 out of 5 stars
    Love the story, size too big

    Reviewed in Sweden on 10 April 2021
    I haven't read that much yet but at the moment I really enjoy it, except the size. It would've been much better if the text was a smaller size so they could've made a smaller book so it's easier to hold and carry around.
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  • Florian Klimscha
    5.0 out of 5 stars Pirates & Fantasy...
    Reviewed in Germany on 16 April 2018
    Verified Purchase
    ...blend exceptionally well in this action-packed tale of swashbuckling, voodoo, piracy and adventure.

    I was astonished to have missed this story, written already in the late 1980s, that inspired The Secret of Monkey Island (one of the best computer games ever to have been written) and the Pirates of the Caribbean movies (which include the very decent first part of the franchise). It is written very well in the style you get used to and love with Tim Powers. The plot is pretty complicated and I do not want to spoil anything here, so let’s just keep it simple: It’s the dawn of the age of piracy. Britain is sending a governor, soldiers and warships into the Caribbean and there will be a final amnesty for all pirates who repent. Yet, this is still months in the future when the novel starts, and bloodthirsty (yet strangely amicable) pirates still roam the sea. The mightiest of these have allied themselves with bocors, priest of vodun (voodoo) that help them survive lethal wounds, trick their enemies and perform other dees of legend.

    Tim Powers cleverly weaves historical facts on the iconic persons of the age of piracy with the supernatural without ever getting to the ridiculous lengths of the later Pirates of the Caribbean movies. (Blackbeard‘s seeminlgy erratic actions are brilliantly explained in the nocel to give just one example).
    The story includes many of the cliches we love with pirate tales, yet adds enough novelty to go far beyond Captain Blood and Treasure Island. I loved every single page and was totally hooked, even though there are quite a lot of characters and a complex story that includes a lot of twists and attention to details.

    I wholeheartedly recommend this book not only to fans of piracy novels (from which there are far too few good ones) as well as those who like original and clverly written fantasy. An inspiring tale of what fantastic literature can be!
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