If you’re doing Book Bingo, this completes any of the following squares (possibly others as well; 1B, 1C, 1D, 4A.
The remarkable Tim Powers—who ingeniously married the John le Carrè spy novel to the otherworldly in his critically acclaimed Declare—brings us pirate adventure with a dazzling difference. On Stranger Tides features Blackbeard, ghosts, voodoo, zombies, the fable Fountain of Youth…and more swashbuckling action than you could shake a cutlass at, as reluctant buccaneer John Shandy braves all manner of peril, natural and supernatural, to rescue his ensorcelled love. Nominated for the Locus and World Fantasy Awards, On Stranger Tides is the book that inspired the motion picture Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides—non-stop, breathtaking fiction from the genius imagination that conceived Last Call, Expiration Date, and Three Days to Never.
The book is so much better than the Pirates adaptation. I was looking for fantasy books a few years ago that didn’t have such a Eurocentric setting and stumbled across this. I liked Tim Powers so I read it and enjoyed it tremendously.