Fantasy and the Coast

I was sitting on a pebbly beach on Anglesey yesterday when I realised that I couldn't think of any fantasy books that were about the coast and the sea. I can think of a few sea voyage books but I couldn't think of any books that featured the magic of the coast the same way that I can think of a lot that feature the magic of forests or mountains.

So, I would like reccomendations for fantasy books that are about living on the coast, a fishing village or port for the next time I go to the beach.

Thanks for your help.

I can't think of very many off hand but at least two of Susan Cooper's The Dark of Rising series take place on the coast - Over Sea, Under Stone and Greenwitch.

Also The Bell at Sealey Head and The Changeling Sea by Patricia McKillip.

Maybe Sea Dragon Heir (and the rest of the trilogy more or less) by Storm Constantine, though they do not strictly focus on the coast as they do move to other places.

I'll be interested to see what other people have to recommend:)

I recently read Duma Key by Stephen King. That probably classifies as horror, not as fantasy, but most of it was quite fantasy-ish. And anyway, it is set on an island, most of it around a house on the beach of that island.

Robin Hobb's Liveship Traders trilogy are all sea based. The ships are even a couple of the characters. The first book is Ship of Magic.

Two of the main characters in The Cycle of Fire are fisher kids and there's a fair amount of seagoing in the trilogy as a whole.

The Scorpio Races is set on a small island and the eponymous races take place on the coast.

The People of the Sea by David Thomson is... more of an collection of selkie stories connected by a travelogue framework, but since they're selkie stories the coast features incredibly strongly.

Susan Cooper's Seaward isn't actually set near the coast for the majority of the novel, but the coast is the protagonist's destination, so that may or may not be another suggestion.

The Witch Sea by Sarah Diemer is set on the coast, though it's not really about life there. (It's a bit too short for much detail, but there's enough there to evoke the setting for me.)

Racing the Dark by Alaya Dawn Johnson is set amongst various islands, and certainly starts out with a group of people who live on the coasts. I don't remember how prevalent the life is in the latter parts of the book, though the beginning definitely fits the bill.

And the Glass trilogy by Maria V Snyder (Storm Glass is the first) is set partially near the coast, but it's probably not coast-centric enough for your purposes. ^-^ Still, the coastal setting is one of the ones that stands out to me, so I thought I'd mention it. ^-^

I think that's all I've got. I hope there's something useful/interesting in there if you decide to pick any one of them up!

A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula Le Guin would fit the bill as well.

The Whitby Witches trilogy by Robin Jarvis.

There is The Selkie by Melanie Jackson. The selkies come on shore looking like normal men searching for English women to have their selkie babies.

The Anvil of Ice by Michael Scott Rohan, the first book in his "The Winter of the World" trilogy, opens in a coastal village and has at least one more extensive segment in a "coastal" setting.

Inda and The Fox develop into a sea faring story.

I haven't read beyond the first book yet, but Dragon in Chains takes place back-and-forth between an island and its neighboring mainland, so while it's not as "coastal" in the same way as the McKillip books mentioned up-thread, but several characters are fisher-folk and everything does take place in-and-around the water.

Carousel Tides by Sharon Lee takes place on the Maine coast.

Water: Tales of Elemental Spirits by Robin McKinley and Peter Dickinson is full of short stories that take place on the coast and in the water.

Fathom by Cherie Priest takes place in and around Florida.

Deep Wizardry, the second book in Diane Duane's Young Wizards series, takes place almost entirely in the mid-Atlantic.

Glenda Larke's The Aware is fantasy about a string of islands. It's the first in a trilogy -- but don't let that frighten you; the trilogy is very contained and has a definite ending (plus it's gorgeous world-building).

Louise Cooper's Mirage is set in a coastal city, Haven.

Don't have much time (should've logged off 10 minutes ago to leave) but you shouldn't miss a selkie tale in a modern setting: Dragon's Eye by James A. Hetley. There's a sequel, also good. Basically urban fantasy on the Maine coast.

Ingo is set on the Cornish coast (I think).

>18 infjsarah:
Ingo is indeed set on the Cornish coast.

A Web of Air (Mortal Engines Prequel) by Philip Reeve is set on islands on the Atlantic coast in the far future.
Ursula Le Guin's A Wizard of Earthsea has already been mentioned, but individual stories in Tales from Earthsea are also set in that island archipelago universe.
John and Carole Barrowman's Hollow Earth is set in a fantasy island based on Great Cumbrae off the coast of west Scotland.

*blink* *blink* John Barrowman writes?

>20 bluesalamanders:
Yep, it's all here: http://www.hollow-earth.co.uk/

Fascinating! I know him from Doctor Who, had no idea he wrote as well.

Try H.P. Lovecraft for some horror-style sea fantasy. Tolkien is very sea-obsessed, with lots of coast action. Juliet Marillier's Sevenwater books deal with a dispute over islands, and the third book especially deals with the sea. That's all I can think of for now; I don't read too much fantasy.

If I remember right, Arthur Machen's The Great Return, set in the northwest of Wales and featuring a grail quest, has a few seaside scenes.

Scott Lynch's book Red Seas Under Read Skies has a strong maritime component, Red Wolf Conspiracy as well.

Dragonsong starts off around the sea, but that's technically science fiction.

Rozax - I disagree. It's fantasy. Giant fire-breathing, telepathic dragons equals fantasy. Moreover, it reads like fantasy. Some of the books in the Pern series may be science fiction, but the vast majority of them are fantasy.