The Wind Whales of Ishmael

by Philip José Farmer

Ishmael, lone survivor of the doomed whaling ship Pequod, falls through a rift in time and space to a future Earth—an Earth of blood-sucking vegetation and a blood-red sun, of barren canyons where once the Pacific Ocean roared.
Here too there are whales to hunt—but whales that soar through a dark blue sky....

Hugo Award-winner Philip José Farmer has spun a fascinating tale of whaling ships and seamen of the sky in a bizarre future world where there are no seas to sail and no safe harbor to call home....

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Fantasy, Science Fiction Fantasy, Time Travel, Novels

160 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1971

About the author

Philip José Farmer was an American author, principally known for his science fiction and fantasy novels and short stories. He was born in Terre Haute, Indiana, but spent much of his life in Peoria, Illinois.

Farmer is best known for his Riverworld series and the earlier World of Tiers series. He is noted for his use of sexual and religious themes in his work, his fascination for and reworking of the lore of legendary pulp heroes, and occasional tongue-in-cheek pseudonymous works written as if by fictional characters.

Reviews

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another story showcasing the very original and even outrageous imagination of Philip Jose Farmer.
It's the future, the far future, as Earth is under a bloodred sun. Ishmael, the survivor of the Pequod's hunt for Moby Dick, finds himself in this far future. Whales soar through the air and the whalers of the future have also taken to the skies...
I have to comment that as a long-time Star Trekker, I would very much like to see a future where the human race has reached the stars. It's disturbing to see civilization having declined and humans struggling just to survive on a dying planet in the future. But the way we are going, this looks much more likely...

[Monique Snyman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Before you read The Wind Whales of Ishmael by Philip Jose Farmer, it’s probably best to dust off your copy of Moby-Dick by Herman Melville, in order to understand where this book is coming from. The protagonist, Ishmael, is the lone survivor of the Pequod and as he floats adrift Ishmael finds himself falling out of our time and into the distant future where things are no longer the same. The Earth has blood-sucking vegetation and a blood-red sun, there are barren canyons where the Pacific Ocean once roared! Oceans have nearly evaporated completely and man finds himself in air balloons hunting the leviathans of the air. However, if Ishmael thought his adventures are over, he has another thing coming, because they take to the heavens in a pursuit of a beast that is more fearsome and deadly than he has ever known… Screw Moby-Dick! Moby-Dick was simply child’s play in comparison to what’s in store for our dear Ishmael…

The Wind Whales of Ishmael by Jose Farmer is a fantastic, alternate reality that will keep you on the edge of your seat from the beginning to the very end. In a lot of ways this is a steampunk novel in a sci-fi world, before steampunk even existed as a genre, so it’s definitely somewhat of an intriguing read, yet for many it will be a little bit outdated as far as pure sci-fi goes. Nevertheless, Farmer has an excellent ability to pull the reader into the story and when it comes to defining what a word-smith is, well Farmer definitely convinced me, even though The Wind Whales of Ishmael is a little short. Not to mention that the editing is first class, the formatting is adequate and the cover is just absolutely gorgeous!

First published in 1971, Titan Books has acquired the rights to republish this novel and better it in my opinion. Farmerphiles all over the world may be doing flips of ecstasy due to this new print run, which has a foreword by Michael Croteau and an afterword by Danny Adams, and people who are not familiar with Philip Jose Farmer will find The Wind Whales of Ishmael an excellent introductory novel to his work. So it’s definitely worth a look if you’re aching to get your hands on a true and proper science fiction novel that will take your breath away.

Of course, I would be lying if I said that the book was without fault. Here and there it becomes plainly obvious that the novel was written in a whole other era, back in the 1970′s when science fiction was still somewhat localized – if that’s the right word to use – and at times you wonder whether it is worth stepping back in time just to fast-forward yourself to a place that doesn’t seem to thrill readers as much anymore. Science-fiction has grown as a genre to include different sub-genres, which mainly pushes the boundaries of the final frontier, instead of staying on Earth. It’s difficult to imagine, and I could go on for hours explaining my side of the argument, but frankly when you just need a good read that isn’t long and which will help you reminisce about when the genre was young and pure, The Wind Whales of Ishmael is perfect.

So, the verdict? Well, Farmerphiles will adore this re-published version and science-fiction nuts will have a splendid time on a rainy day. It’s a good book to familiarize yourself with the author and Titan did a really good job when they breathed new life into the Grand Master Novel Series.

(Review originally posted at http://www.killeraphrodite.com/2013/0... )

[Jim · Rating 3 out of 5]

When I was younger, I thought more highly of Philip José Farmer than I do now. I admired several of his books, but wonder if I would now if I re-read them. The Wind Whales of Ishmael is a strange amalgam of Moby Dick, Edgar Allan Poe's The Narrative of A Gordon Pym, and Mark Twain's A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court.

The story begins by Melville's Ishmael -- after he has been rescued from the sinking of the Pequod -- encountering another disaster of which he is the only survivor. He is whisked off to another time and place where there are constant earthquake tremors and "sharks" and "whales" which inhabit the air. He discovers other humans and learns to speak their language. When a neighboring people destroy their city, he takes charge and attacks them.

Farmer's Ishmael is something of a thinker:

And that, he said to himself as he turned away, summed up the mechanics of life. A living being had to keep on going, no matter what happened, until the enemy was conquered or had conquered. Even here, in this quivering world of the ref sun and the falling moon, that held true.

Unfortunately, Farmer has thought up of some outlandish names of places and people which are singularly unmemorable. And it is rather hard to follow his descriptions of airborne ships drifting in the wind.

[J.P. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well, I've got to give Philip Jose Farmer points for creativity, if nothing else. In THE WIND WHALES OF ISHMAEL, the guy creates a world in the relatively brief space of 157 pages. He breathes new life into a classic character (Ishmael, from MOBY DICK). At the tail-end of this book, he even brews up a good old-fashioned adventure. But somehow, the overall effect here is. . .sadly pear-shaped.

Long story made short: Farmer's story picks up where Melville's left off. Ishmael, having survived Ahab's mad quest for the white whale, is headed home on the good ship Rachel. But somehow, the Rachel slips through some kind of worm-hole in time. Sea level has dropped hundreds of feet below its present level. The moon is closer to the earth. Whales have sprouted wings and taken to the skies, where they are pursued by whalers in flying ships. Much of the remaining wildlife likewise resides in the skies. The Rachel literally falls from the sky, crushing a sky-ship and killing all on board both vessels---except two.

Those two are Ishmael and a woman named Namalee. Namalee takes up with Ishmael and teaches him her language and the ways of her people. Ishmael takes up with Namalee's people, whose city has been destroyed by a rival city; those foreign invaders have stolen Namalee's people's sacred idols. Ishmael leads Namalee and a band of her people to this other city in an attempt to steal back their sacred idols. There's a great swipe-and-chase involving a "Stone Beast" and an ensuing airship battle. Namalee and Ishmael become lovers. Ishmael declares that the two rival peoples should unite as one. The end.

If my review seems a bit. . .rushed, it's because THE WIND WHALES OF ISHMAEL reads like a "rushed" novel. Farmer has crammed 10 pounds of info into a 5-pound bag. He describes wondrous characters, creatures and places at a breakneck pace. Some are merely alluded to and never mentioned again. He takes a truly intriguing character, Namalee, and develops her back-story to a fascinating point---then shoehorns her into a stereotypical 'damsel-in-distress' role and leaves her there. I know one has to suspend disbelief with fantasy fiction, just go with the flow. But this book doesn't have a flow---it has white water rapids. At times, I felt overcome by a storm of information.

THE WIND WHALES OF ISHMAEL is an almost schizophrenic book. The first half mirrors the glacial pace of Melville's novel. Then, around page 100 or so, the speed picks up with the 'stealing back the idols' segment. It's almost as if someone spliced a few chapters of an Edgar Rice Burroughs pulp serial into the middle of MOBY DICK. The result is a bizarre hybrid---not unpleasant, but not wholly satisfying, either.

My two main criticisms are pacing and content. I believe this book could've been improved drastically if Farmer had doubled its length, taken a bit more time to fully explore the world he created in it. Either that, or he should've left out some of the myriads of details he stuffed between these two covers. Closer focus on Namalee and Ishmael as a couple would've been better, too.



Philip Jose Farmer is rightfully known as a visionary among science fantasy writers. But vision requires focus and structure. this novel doesn't have those things. Farmer has written a shelf full of s-f classics. THE WIND WHALES OF ISHMAEL is not one of them.

[Aqsa · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's been a while since I read this kind of sci fi, where with the main character you're thrown deep into a changed world. This one is a future world with a dying red sun, dried up oceans and where much of life has taken to the air. It's an epic adventure, and really imaginative in terms of the plant life and predatory creatures of this world, which feel more developed than the characters themselves. The mechanics of the wind whales was also really unique, and I wished I understood more about ships as some of the terms were lost on me.

As it's not a long book it felt a little jarring having the main character adapt to the language so quickly, and as he took charge it felt like the characters who had lived in this world all their lives were less useful than they should have been. But I still enjoyed the story. Especially because I got this free while shopping at Forbidden Planet :)

[Stephen Rowland · Rating 3 out of 5]

-Hey baby, I'm reading a science fiction sequel to "Moby Dick," are you impressed?
-Oh I am and so turned on by your erudition!
-Yeah, the author once wrote a book about a guy who got a big boner when killing people and shot loads and loads of cum. An overlooked genius, I would say.
-I agree and now I will blow you because there is nothing cooler and sexy than reading "The Wind Whales Of Ishmael!" Gulp.
-I'm a man, a really manny man and everyone loves me.

[Octavio Aragao · Rating 4 out of 5]

Farmer pega emprestado o narrador de Moby Dick, o transforma em um herói de Edgar Rice Burroughs e salpica elementos de Edgar Allan Poe e Jonathan Swift aqui e ali.
O resultado é um guisado que, em suas meras 157 páginas, demora um pouco para dizer a que veio, mas que, quando engrena, vira um banquete com ares filosóficos.
Há questionamentos que talvez remontem ao positivismo comtiano e vislumbres que fariam Marx sorrir com o canto da boca, mesmo sem esquecer o proativismo conservador do herói solitário.
Um pequeno romance despretensioso, uma novela com elefantíase (ou com o tamanho de uma baleia), e a ausência de subdivisões em capítulos evidencia essa condição, mas exatamente por isso digno de releituras aqui e ali.

PS: sou capaz de apostar que o diretor Jordan Peele se inspirou nesse romance para o roteiro de seu filme “NOPE” (“Não, Não Olhe!”).

[Bishop · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Wind Whales of Ishmael starts out as a classic sci-fi adventure, but quickly devolves into a tedious white savior story. The imaginative ecology and unique narrative framework are notable, but unlike Moby Dick there are no great truths to be uncovered. The man gets the girl and teaches brown people how to properly interact with the environment they were born to. Many of the natives die without comment as Ishmael ascends to literal godhood, and the women are "treasured" as baby making sexual objects. The conceit of an upside-down air-ocean in the far future is fantastic, but it's all downhill from there.

[Андрій Гулкевич · Rating 3 out of 5]

Сюжет та сеттинг нагадує класичн�� романи про моря та океани. Здається, що автор надихався Джозефом Конрадом і Германом Мелвіллом, а саме "Мобі Діком", оскільки сюжет, напевно, запозичений з цієї книги. Також вплив, гадаю, здійснила творчість Лавкрафта, оскільки присутні химерні чудовиська з якими протагоніст вступає у бій.

[Xabi1990 · Rating 4 out of 5]

7/10. Media de los 23 libros leídos del autor: 7/10.

En su momento otro de mis autores favoritos, aunque con algún gran “truño” entre sus obras. Me enamoró con su novela “Relaciones extrañas”. Y tb muy buenas “Los amantes” o la Saga “Mundo río”, treméndamente original esta última.
En esta novela tenemos un mundo sin océanos, con ballenas volantes y aventurita facilona. De los no muy buenos.

[Gwen Tolios · Rating 4 out of 5]

The worldbuilding in this is fascinating. An Earth scraped clear of metals, with the oceans boiled away and much of life taking to the sky. A culture of creating and trading gods, where women on ships bring good luck.

Pacing varied, but when there were airship battles I was all in.

[Geoff · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful Christmas present - a book I never knew existed. The adventures of Ishmael after the Rachel is sunk. Farmer riffs on Moby Dick, on Shakespeare, and delightful read.

[Jeffery · Rating 4 out of 5]

I haven’t read a whole lot of the late Philip Jose Farmer’s vast output. I’ve read through Riverworld twice, and I’m familiar with his Wold Newton alternate literary history. I’ve always heard that the World of Tiers was his high point, so I’ve been promising myself to read those in the near future. I’ve always taken him to be a high concept writer – I mean, it doesn’t get much bigger than resurrecting the entire human race along the banks of a world-spanning river, right? So when I picked up a copy of The Wind Whales of Ishmael, saw that it was the Ishmael from Melville’s Moby Dick, I had to read it. Had to.

Being a fan of Melville’s masterpiece, I couldn’t wait to see how Farmer would continue Ishmael’s story, let alone plop him into the middle of a science fiction story. I was honestly expecting to read a tale of the Wold Newton family. For those not familiar with the concept, it’s basically a linking of a vast array of literary characters (Tarzan, Doc Savage and Sherlock Holmes, just to name a few) to the meteor strike in Wold Newton, England in the late 1700’s. Even though it wasn’t a part of that universe, the story was a wild, exhilarating ride. It picks up right after Ishmael’s rescue by the Rachel at the end of Moby Dick. Five pages later – bam – Farmer has him a billion years or so in the future, trying to not only stay alive, but also to understand what’s going on around him.

As I was reading, and after I’d determined this wasn’t part of the Wold Newton universe, I kept trying to figure out why have Ishmael as a character. He could have created any other John Carter-style hero fit the bill. Brave guy from our world transported to a strange world, becomes a hero, saves the known world, marries the princess – how many times have you read that? I guess if you wanted to, the comparison between the setting here and Jack Vance’s Dying Earth are pretty evident. There’s no super-science or sorcery here, but the alien landscape and the ever-present bloated, red sun is. Farmer, however, is not copying anyone. His fading earth has regressed. Cities are isolated and rivals, and people “fish” the skies in boats that are not too unfamiliar to the protagonist’s time. Then it struck me, why Ishmael? John Carter types are doers. Ishmael is a scholar, a thinker, an observer. We see this future earth in some detail through his eyes, we speculate about its origins with him, and by the end, we will have pondered the follies of Captain Ahab battle with the white whale to identify the nature of mankind’s ultimate enemy.

Do you have to have read Melville to get it? Definitely not. The astute reader will understand Ishmael in the end. Does it help? Definitely. There are references to Queequeg and his coffin, Ahab, even Typee. That was just like icing on the cake for this reader. In the end, there’s even a Moby Dick equivalen. From start to finish, The Wind Whales of Ishmael is an exciting, fun read.

[Alien · Rating 2 out of 5]

Farmer liebte es, Bezüge zu Werken der Weltliteratur in seine SF-Bücher einzubauen. Im vorliegenden Roman schrieb er sogar eine Fortsetzung, nämlich von Moby Dick. Seine Idee hierfür war es, den Walfang mit allem Drum und Dran in die ferne Zukunft und vom Meer in den Luftraum zu verlegen.
Zur Handlung:
Nach der Vernichtung von Kapitän Ahabs Schiff wurde Ismael ja als einziger Überlebender gerettet. Dieses Schiff fällt nun (einfach mal so) durchs Raum-Zeit-Gefüge Millionen Jahre in die Zukunft. Dort stürzt es aus dem Himmel in den fast verdampften Ozean. Ishmael überlebt wieder als einziger und erreicht eine ständig von Erdbeben erschütterte Landmasse. Im blutsaugenden und von seltsamen Tieren bevölkerten Dschungel trifft er auf eine ziemlich normal aussehende Frau. Sie ist die Prinzessin einer Stadt, die vom Walfang lebt. Nur dass die Wale und die Walfänger im Himmel unterwegs sind.

Farmer hat ja ein paar Klassiker der SF-Literatur geschrieben, v.a. "Die Liebenden" und die "Flusswelt"-Reihe. Dieser Roman gehört nicht zu seinen besseren Werken.

Das einzige, was herausragt, ist das Worldbuilding. Vor allem die Flora und Fauna ist sehr einfallsreich geworden.

Die Handlung ist hingegen arg einfach und linear erzählt. Viel Action, wenig Glaubwürdigkeit, etliche Schlamprigkeiten.
Die Charaktere sind auch nicht der Rede wert. Eigentlich hätte die Begegnung Ismaels mit den Menschen der Zukunft viel Stoff für interessante Interaktionen geboten. Doch Farmer hat das offenbar nicht interessiert.

Insgesamt also ein einfacher Abenteuerstoff für anspruchslose Gemüter. 2.5/5

[Joshua · Rating 2 out of 5]

The 2 star rating may be a bit harsh, as my expectations were probably too high. What I wanted from this book was Moby Dick set in the distant future. What I got was what most Melville readers thought they were getting when they read him in the 1800's - a ripping adventure tale. Ishmael is the protagonist - but he is definitely not the same Ishmael we see in Moby Dick. It felt like there were a lot of anachronisms as well, though I didn't bother chasing them down. While Farmer makes clear that his natives are like Melville's "natives" (reflections of and commentary on the white man) they are far more superficial. Readers looking for a fun Sci-Fi novel will still enjoy it. Fans of Melville's rich allegory who are looking for a new twist or extension of the novel will be disappointed.

[Tom Bechtel · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I first started reading this book I thought to myself, "This guy is on acid or something just as wicked". But after reading it, I thoroughly enjoyed the story and still occasionally replay of some of the events that took place in this book. Wildly imaginative and fun adaption/abstraction of Moby Dick.

[Velvetink · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really liked it when I read it growing up. Have to read it again to comment though.

[Dan Sihota · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book, The Wind Whales of Ismael, was given to me by a work colleague of mine who is a huge fan of science fiction.

My one star rating may seem a little harsh, but I really did not enjoy this book, and had it been a little longer in length, I doubt I would have finished it. However, this is not to say this is a bad book or it is badly written, the simple fact is I just couldn't get into it.

Although this book is categorised as science fiction, it is really a fantasy story, one where we follow the adventures of the main protagonist, Ishmael, a whaler, who gets transported to a different world (a future earth) where flying ships hunt flying whales. But this world also contains many strange insect-like beings intent on killing everything in their path. Our hero finds himself rescuing a damsel in distress, who turns out to be the daughter of a local chief, and then he helps this group wage war against their enemies. I know this book is sort of a sequel to the classic, Moby Dick, and it's possible if I had read Moby Dick then I might have been a little more interested in following the adventures of Ishmael.

I think my main problem with this book is that the story seems to be told from a distance, as a result, it's very difficult to get close to any of the characters and fully understand them. And as the story is set in a world full of all kinds fantastical things, it's not easy trying to visualise what's going on at times, a little more description may have helped. Without any kind of explanation, it's difficult to understand how someone could get transported to a world which couldn't be more different than his own, and yet he managed to adapt so easily and so quickly. Had the story been told in the first person narrative then it might have provided a little more insight into what the main character was thinking, allowing the reader to better understand him. The story could have benefited from a little more dialogue between the main characters to help the reader better understand them. I might have enjoyed the reading experience a little more had there been an attempt to include any elements of humour, and given the cultural differences the main character is faced with this seems like it would have been such a natural thing to include in the story.

I completely understand that I am not a member of the target audience this book is aimed at, and someone who enjoys fantasy adventure stories may enjoy this book a lot more than I did.


My final thoughts on this book, I just didn't get it.

[Vladimir Ivanov · Rating 3 out of 5]

Герой повести, как сказали бы сейчас, «обратный попаданец». Британский матрос из XIX века магически переносится не в прошлое, а на миллионы лет в будущее и обнаруживает, что за это время мир очень изменился: Солнце стало огромное и темно-красное, Земля еле вращается, Луна нависает на полнеба, океаны почти полностью испарились, пересоленная суша заселена в основном растениями-вампирами, а бОльшая часть фауны отрастила себе газовые мешки и парит в небесах.

Но протагонист, конечно, не теряется, находит племя сильно одичавших homo sapiens и быстро становится их вождем и адмиралом воздушного флота, с разными попутными приключениями.

Повесть откровенно средненькая, написана на скорую руку и больше похожа на черновик к замечательным «Пробуждению каменного бога» и «Темному солнцу», чем на полноценное произведение.

Но Фармер не был бы Фармером, если бы просто написал проходняк ради быстрых денег и не учинил при этом никакой дикой выходки. Чтобы взбодрить читателя, он делает героя повести не просто рандомным моряком, а Исмаилом, да, тем самым Исмаилом, который в финале «Моби Дика» единственный чудом выживает после гибели «Пекода». Типа, не успел бедолага выплыть из океанских пучин, как неведомая сила подхватила его и перенесла в будущее, далее см. выше.

И Фармер реально промоутил книгу как СИКВЕЛ МОБИ ДИКА :D Что, формально, является абсолютной правдой, но читателю от этого не легче.

Так что если решитесь прочесть эту повесть, при чтении обязательно представляйте себе лица чуваков из 1971 года, которые побежали в книжный за долгожданным продолжением «Моби Дика», оплатили на кассе, принесли домой, дрожащими от нетерпения руками открыли на первой странице, а там... Филип Фармер.

[Dirk Van · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read for the second time. I first read this in the seventies, when I was a teenager, but except for the connection to Moby Dick, I didn’t remember much. It’s short and fast-paced, and when I came across an epub, I thought: why not?

This is very pulpy and requires a great deal of suspension of disbelief. And I get why my 14-year-old self liked this.

A couple of days after Ishmael is picked up as the sole survivor by the *Rachel*, the whole ship and crew fall through a time warp into the far future—a time when all the seas have evaporated. The sun is a giant red balloon in the sky, and days last four times as long. Billions of years, Ishmael thinks. Because the sea is gone, the *Rachel* falls from the sky and crashes into an airship. Again, Ishmael is the only survivor, but there is also a survivor from the airship: a young girl who finds him and teaches him her language (in a couple of days!) and the ways of surviving in this strange world.

Together, they try to reach her hometown, which was raided by a rival tribe a short while ago. They get picked up by another ship from her city. Onboard, Ishmael learns more about the way they hunt air-whales and air-sharks. When they reach her home, they find very few survivors—and worse, their idol-god has been stolen. Ishmael becomes their leader, organizing a mission to confront the rival tribe and retrieve the idol. With his guidance, they adopt new weapons and tactics, infiltrate the rival city, and successfully reclaim their idol, along with the rival tribe's own idol.

But on the way back, both idols are lost. Ishmael convinces the people that there’s still a future, even with the sun almost dying. Perhaps there’s still time to build spaceships and journey to other worlds...

[Jack · Rating 2 out of 5]

I received this in a science fiction mystery book box and chuckled when I saw the title and cover, fully expecting it to be rubbish.

It begins with Ishmael (yes, that Ishmael) who has survived the encounter with the legendary white whale and is now sailing aboard another ship called 'The Rachel'. One night, strange eel-like beings appear in the water around the ship and the sea itself suddenly disappears, resulting in Ishmael, The Rachel and its crew falling through a mysterious sky. He plunges through the membranes of a strange and enormous mushroom-shaped creature floating above a dark sea below. This slows his descent and he witnesses his ship smash into another airborne vehicle before he lands in the sea, which he finds to be extremely salty and he proceeds to float to the surface, drifting to a distant shore. Here he witnesses flying sharks and whales devouring the floating mushroom creatures, finds a forest of parasitic plants and encounters a mysterious person along the way.

Despite the core premise being a little ridiculous, Farmer exercises some extremely compelling and thoughtful worldbuilding that is a joy to read. The book has no chapters and is only short, allowing for a quick and fun reading experience. I should also mention that I've never read Moby Dick in full so perhaps I would have picked up on some additional detail if I had. Some of the action is poorly described, the characters are extremely shallow and the plot is not particularly interesting.

[Rhys · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a rip-roaring adventure. Literally, because a lot of fabric (or skin) gets ripped as airships are torn apart by collisions, by flying whales and aerial monsters, by sky battles with other airships. It's fast-paced magnificent adventure, and really rather weird. Correction: very weird.

One of the things I like most about Philip José Farmer is that he had a solid grounding in fantasy literature, so his stories are strongly constructed, but he takes the action sideways, makes it more offbeat than most other authors are willing to do, and he does this by imposing an unexpected conceit that powers and controls everything that follows.

In this novel, Ishmael, the hero of Melville's Moby Dick, is transported into a far future where the seas have mostly dried up and life has taken to the air. Whales are like zeppelins, floating on currents of air, and there are more diabolical creatures here too. Humanity has evolved into a race of slender beings with strong tribal customs. Ishmael must utilise all his physical and mental strength to survive in this environment, and ultimately to help humanity endure.

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Usually I rate harder than the average review but in this case I rate it better.

It continues with the story of Ishmael with a considerable dose of intergalactic or at least inter dimensional. This contains some of the same art as other Philip Jose Farmer books: it does not just bog itself down in psuedotheory or how we got here discussions. There is an exploration and lead-in, and there is also a great deal of action novel work for the character to free him- or herself.

Ishmael has a knack for surviving multiple bad situations, and this book is true to the character. Ishmael is good at adjusting to adversity and unusual conditions, and this part of his character also comes through.

Hope for humanity's future is hinted at the book's end. That's something I've always believed: we've got to figure out how to get out of here, provided we still exist, in some billions of years. Since that's nearly impossible, it's time to get to work now now now!

It's unfortunate I don't have the space to keep it.

[Jeffrey Powanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

What happens to Herman Melville's character Ishmael after he survives the sinking of Pequod in Moby Dick? In The Wind Whales of Ishmael, Farmer fashions a bizarre pulp science fiction sequel that's also a breathless adventure story, very much inspired by Edgar Rice Burroughs.

The mystical carvings on Queequeg's coffin serve as a time machine that transport Ishmael to the distant future of the planet, when the oceans have nearly all dried up and humanity has survived by hunting enormous creatures that have evolved to live in the air.

The book is as different from Moby Dick as can be. It lacks Ishmael's exhilarating first-person narration and Melville's morbid symbolism. Although Farmer was a great science fiction writer perhaps most famous for the World of Tiers and Riverworld series, this is one of his lighter novels. Even so, it has energy and imagination to spare. It was undeniably fun seeing Farmer transform Ishmael into a pulp action hero.

[Erik Prime · Rating 3 out of 5]

This sometimes fascinating and always thought-provoking tale is a mash-up of Moby Dick and the space-faring novels of Edgar Rice Burroughs. The last survivor of the Pequod is transported to a future Earth where the oceans have dried up and gaseous whales, sharks and tentacled monsters ply the not-so-friendly skies. Recommended for general sci-fi fans and Melville enthusiasts.

[Wol-vriey Wol-vriey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Similar to 'The Stone God Awakens,' in that the hero is transported to an unbelievable future, but without the former's evolved-from-animals humans.

Still a crazy ride though. One of those books where the sheer adventure is justification enough.

[Jens Rushing · Rating 2 out of 5]

Shortly after the events of "Moby-Dick", Ishmael is flung forward in time to 1000000000 AD. Now whales fly and he hunts them in flying ships. But he must beware the Purple Beast of Stinging Death! The rare sequel that surpasses the original.

[Julia Reviews · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book will lift you up, hold you close and force you into its world. It will make you think that this world is not only possible but that you have been there. - see the rest on Webador Simply honest reviews

[Scott · Rating 2 out of 5]

I felt the storyline was a little thin. Maybe I was expecting something more along the lines of Farmer's Riverworld series. An easy read, though.

[Philip · Rating 3 out of 5]

A future of sequel to "Moby Dick" with Ishmael cast through time to the far future where he encounters a world unlike the one he left and struggles to survive,