The most recommended sea books

Who picked these books? Meet our 34 experts.

34 authors created a book list connected to seas, and here are their favorite sea books.
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Book cover of The King's Coat

Brett Mumford Author Of The 7th Pre-Light

From my list on that draw you into a completely different world.

Why am I passionate about this?

I first found fantasy literature about the same time as I got into tabletop gaming, for me this was AD&D. Edgar Rice Burroughs, J.R.R. Tolkien, Arthur C. Clarke, Fritz Lieber, and Roger Zelazny were just a few of the authors that showed me what was possible. Writing my first novel cemented my understanding that I wanted to create the kinds of worlds that readers would want to experience. The kinds of worlds that would let them get away from their lives, if only for a few hours, where they could live a life of adventure and discovery. Just like the novels I recommended here did for me. 

Brett's book list on that draw you into a completely different world

Brett Mumford Why did Brett love this book?

This is a novel of historical fiction set in the time of the French revolution. The series is named after the main character, Alan Lewrie. This novel introduces you to this rapscallion of a character, someone who is a spoiled, and indolent 16-year-old young man. Against his will he will find his place in the world and it will be in the very last place he would have imagined, commanding a ship of the Royal Navy. The novels follow his travels and adventures as he rises through the ranks, and it was incredibly fun to watch the young man evolve and grow into the man he becomes.

By Dewey Lambdin,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The King's Coat as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

His exploits echo with the bustle of crowded ports and the crash of naval warfare...

It is 1780 and seventeen-year-old Alan Lewrie is a brash young libertine with a head full of dreams. When he is found in bed with the wrong woman, he is forced to leave his profligacy behind for a new life at sea.

Though sickness and hard labour await him aboard the tall-masted Ariadne, Lewrie finds himself gradually adapting to the world of a midshipman.

But as he heads for the war-torn Americas into a hail of cannonballs, will he ever catch wind of the plot…


Book cover of H.M.S. Surprise

Tim Murray Author Of From Antiquarian to Archaeologist: The History and Philosophy of Archaeology

From Tim's 3 favorite reads in 2023.

Why am I passionate about this?

Author Emeritus Professor Archaeologist Historian of science Passionate about the 19th century Opera lover

Tim's 3 favorite reads in 2023

Tim Murray Why did Tim love this book?

This is the 3rd book in the Aubrey Maturin series written now some 50 years ago. It has not aged at all.

Primarily set in Asia, it relates some of the most compelling stories of naval action I have ever read, while telling us so much about people and place. I read the whole cycle of the 20 completed novels every year. I do this for many reasons – not least of which is the sheer quality of the writing, and the fantastic sense O’Brien gives of life in the British Navy (the wooden world) at a crucial period in its history.

This was the Navy of Britain’s dominance of the globe through sea power – a dominance that affected so many aspects of our lives since then. It's always fun to rediscover the origins of so many English sayings such as To Toe the Line, and By and Large.…

By Patrick O'Brian,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked H.M.S. Surprise as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Third in the series of Aubrey-Maturin adventures, this book is set among the strange sights and smells of the Indian subcontinent, and in the distant waters ploughed by the ships of the East India Company. Aubrey is on the defensive, pitting wits and seamanship against an enemy enjoying overwhelming local superiority. But somewhere in the Indian Ocean lies the prize that could make him rich beyond his wildest dreams: the ships sent by Napoleon to attack the China Fleet.


Book cover of The King's Coat
Book cover of H.M.S. Surprise

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