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New Adventures in H.P. Lovecraft's Dreamlands #2
Ship of Dreams
While the zombie armies of the dead march in the Dreamlands, David Hero and his friend, Eldin, fly through the clouds in a skyship and find their journey interrupted by a pack of faceless night-gaunts. Original.
256 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published December 1, 1986
3 people are currently reading
318 people want to read
About the author
Brian Lumley
444 books1,359 followersBrian Lumley was born near Newcastle. In 22 years as a Military Policeman he served in many of the Cold War hotspots, including Berlin, as well as Cyprus in partition days. He reached the rank of Sergeant-Major before retiring to Devon to write full-time, and his work was first published in 1970. The vampire series, 'Necroscope', has been translated into ten languages and sold over a million copies worldwide.
He was awarded the World Fantasy Life Achievement Award in 2010.
He was awarded the World Fantasy Life Achievement Award in 2010.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
April 14, 2025
Another glorious heroic sword & sorcery romp in Lovecraft's dreamlands, as envisioned by Brian Lumley as a pulp adventure setting. Our duo of David Hero and Eldin the Wanderer start off in dire straits, awaiting sentencing for burning down a dockside tavern and mauling the husband of a lover, all in a drunken frenzy. Banished, they immediately sneak back into town, steal back their swords, steal a boat, and proceed to immediately get drunk again during their maritime getaway, finding themselves in a whole new heap of trouble.
The story proceeds in bounds of luck and banter, with Lumley inserting his own pulp villains and monstrous new friends and foes alongside those established in The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath. It's so far off from Lovecraft's style that it would be easy to be offended by Lumley's treatment of the source material, but it's also just such fun and lighthearted in intention that there's no reason to be sour. Flying ships from a floating city, a queen of the undead, snuffling underground beasts, an unstoppable automaton museum curator, friendly gaunts, an oath of revenge, kidnapping, sabotage, swashbuckling galore, all of it provides nonstop action in a tight little novel.
Lumley wrote this trilogy (with this book bridging Hero of Dreams and Mad Moon of Dreams) all in one and gave them over to Paul Ganley, niche New York publisher, who gave them a lovely small print treatment, with wonderful illustrations and a heavy cardstock paper that was a joy to handle. They were later reprinted for the mass market so all could enjoy the adventure.
The story proceeds in bounds of luck and banter, with Lumley inserting his own pulp villains and monstrous new friends and foes alongside those established in The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath. It's so far off from Lovecraft's style that it would be easy to be offended by Lumley's treatment of the source material, but it's also just such fun and lighthearted in intention that there's no reason to be sour. Flying ships from a floating city, a queen of the undead, snuffling underground beasts, an unstoppable automaton museum curator, friendly gaunts, an oath of revenge, kidnapping, sabotage, swashbuckling galore, all of it provides nonstop action in a tight little novel.
Lumley wrote this trilogy (with this book bridging Hero of Dreams and Mad Moon of Dreams) all in one and gave them over to Paul Ganley, niche New York publisher, who gave them a lovely small print treatment, with wonderful illustrations and a heavy cardstock paper that was a joy to handle. They were later reprinted for the mass market so all could enjoy the adventure.
February 16, 2019
And so on to the second adventure or really in the mood of the book - the second quest. Again we are given to explore more of the dreamlands - to the point where it felt more like a travel guide than an adventure. However for those who have read other dreamland stories it does give an air of authenticity to what would otherwise feel like a run of the mill fantasy
And I must admit that reading the book the second (or is that third) time around I start to feel like this is descending in to a conventional fantasy adventure one that a few decades ago would have been seen as standard fare.
Now maybe I am being too harsh here - after all the book was in the late 80s were to be honest fantasy was a different thing. Good or bad its down to the readers call - what I would say though is that the genre has evolved and as such presumptions made now can be unfairly applied to books from different times - this being a perfect case in point.
So for standard fantasy adventure its pretty good fun in my eyes for a mythos book it more name drops than adds anything to the canon as a book by Brian Lumley I prefer his horror titles if this is anything to go by. I guess I need to review the last two books to see if I am being unfair or not.
And I must admit that reading the book the second (or is that third) time around I start to feel like this is descending in to a conventional fantasy adventure one that a few decades ago would have been seen as standard fare.
Now maybe I am being too harsh here - after all the book was in the late 80s were to be honest fantasy was a different thing. Good or bad its down to the readers call - what I would say though is that the genre has evolved and as such presumptions made now can be unfairly applied to books from different times - this being a perfect case in point.
So for standard fantasy adventure its pretty good fun in my eyes for a mythos book it more name drops than adds anything to the canon as a book by Brian Lumley I prefer his horror titles if this is anything to go by. I guess I need to review the last two books to see if I am being unfair or not.
March 9, 2022
Amusing yet forgettable. This was another early story from Brian Lumley that has him cutting his teeth on some pulpy goodness.
April 20, 2022
The Dream-Quest of Vellitt Boe has spoiled me for works that follow from Lovecraft's original writings. Lumley in comparison has created a tale of pure adventure, stripping the Dunsanian influences and rendering the mythic styling down to a breezy contemporary style more in line with Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser. There's no introspection into the originals and no consideration about what the Dreamlands actually _are_, other than a place available to some special real-worlders.
He does, however, touch on one nugget: that the dreamers from Earth are essentially a pain in the ass to the locals. Hero and Eldin, at least, are destructive rogues, like entitled Spring Break in Cancun participants.
He does, however, touch on one nugget: that the dreamers from Earth are essentially a pain in the ass to the locals. Hero and Eldin, at least, are destructive rogues, like entitled Spring Break in Cancun participants.
June 20, 2018
This started off pretty rough and I really though I wasn't going to finish it. But after the first third was over and done with it finally moved into the territory of just being really mediocre instead.
What is it with high fantasy, that when an otherwise good author in a different genre decides to write it, s/he suddenly turns into a teenager writing pure wish-fulfillment with stock characters that they obviously love way too much turning them into Mary Sue's/Gary Stu's?
The constant references to Lovecraft's stories didn't really help, it just made it turn from a stock fantasy story into a stock fan-fiction fantasy story.
What is it with high fantasy, that when an otherwise good author in a different genre decides to write it, s/he suddenly turns into a teenager writing pure wish-fulfillment with stock characters that they obviously love way too much turning them into Mary Sue's/Gary Stu's?
The constant references to Lovecraft's stories didn't really help, it just made it turn from a stock fantasy story into a stock fan-fiction fantasy story.
August 2, 2017
Really more worthy of a 2.5 than a 3.
A pretty straightforward, ham fisted and cheese-headed adventure story; a textbook reading of a 12-year-old's D&D campaign, given the benefit of the extra 1/2-star bump by how hilarious it is to read the entire midsection of the book by substituting the monsterous "dholes" as "d-holes."
A pretty straightforward, ham fisted and cheese-headed adventure story; a textbook reading of a 12-year-old's D&D campaign, given the benefit of the extra 1/2-star bump by how hilarious it is to read the entire midsection of the book by substituting the monsterous "dholes" as "d-holes."
January 19, 2014
If you like Lovecraftian novels you should like this continuation of Lumley's dreamland series.
July 17, 2022
After Eldin the Wanderer and David Hero's adventure in the first novel, where they went on a quest to retrieve three supremely important magic wands for a group of superhuman elder beings and were given their heart's desire at the end, they ended up finding out that they had died in a car accident in the waking world and would never be waking up so they were effectively stranded in the Dreamlands.
And much like Leiber's tales of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser and their often-changing fortune, the pair of adventurers now find themselves down on their luck after finding themselves drunk in the great city of King Kuranes' Celephais and thrown out on their asses with all their riches and gear confiscated to pay for a tavern Eledin caused to burn down and the damages to a man David beat up and whose fiancee he seduced while they were both on an epic bender.
So yeah, their fame doesn't really stretch as far as Celephais and they end up going on another quest for glory and riches and to save the Dreamlands even if nobody finds out about it or really believes these guys are real heroes or that the stories of their adventures hold much truth to them.
Fun but by-the-numbers pulp sword and sorcery with a Lovecraftian twist. I'll read the whole series and the other related series, to finish with the book that caps all three.
And much like Leiber's tales of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser and their often-changing fortune, the pair of adventurers now find themselves down on their luck after finding themselves drunk in the great city of King Kuranes' Celephais and thrown out on their asses with all their riches and gear confiscated to pay for a tavern Eledin caused to burn down and the damages to a man David beat up and whose fiancee he seduced while they were both on an epic bender.
So yeah, their fame doesn't really stretch as far as Celephais and they end up going on another quest for glory and riches and to save the Dreamlands even if nobody finds out about it or really believes these guys are real heroes or that the stories of their adventures hold much truth to them.
Fun but by-the-numbers pulp sword and sorcery with a Lovecraftian twist. I'll read the whole series and the other related series, to finish with the book that caps all three.
March 21, 2019
Great escapist fare.
January 26, 2016
Lumley should stick to vampire/horror books. This is his attempt at a fantasy/SiFi "man transported to another world" story. While not bad it's doesn't stand out in any way. Not recommended
September 1, 2007
Kind of stupid Lovecraftian bok about the Dreamlands.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews