ABANDONED. YA/A fantasy: alien planet with warships that sail on sand

[Dave]

- read it about 2005;
- remember one scene where whole communities lived on gigantic sailing ships that sailed on seas of sand
- I think the sailing ships were also war ships that fought each other
- I think there were also scenes of a community of tents, also in the sand deserts, and I remember prisoners being forced to perform or fight in an arena, for punishment and maybe as entertainment for the people.

[L J]

Any idea if it was a new book or an older book?

[Dave]

I would guess newer but not sure

[Stephen]

Probably not, since it's not YA and the setting is a far-future Australia rather than an alien planet, but I'll mention Terry Dowling's Rynosseros series, starting with Rynosseros

[Ann aka Iftcan]

Some of the John Carter of Mars books have ships that sail the sand seas of Mars. I don't remember which ones (hey, it's been decades) but thought I'd throw that out there. A Princess of Mars is the first book in the series.

Also, I think that in one of the short story collections of Robert A. Heinlein there is a story about (again) sailing the sand seas of Mars. But that one I remember even less of than the previous suggestion.

[Dave]

Stephen wrote: "Probably not, since it's not YA and the setting is a far-future Australia rather than an alien planet, but I'll mention Terry Dowling's Rynosseros series, starting with Rynosseros"

Interesting and thanks for the suggestion but it's not the book I am trying to track. This was definitely not a future setting. The sand ships in this story were large but basic structures that ran on wheels - the technology was pre-steam. And I think it occurred on another planet, not Earth

[Mel (Epic Reading)]

Sand ships at war makes me think of The Lions of Al-Rassan by Guy Gavriel Kay.

[Cat]

Long shot but maybe Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld

[Bargle]

Arrgh, I know I've read a book with sand ships in the past few years. Of course, I can't remember what. I'll be looking through my lists and hope something pops into my mind.

[[deleted user]]

The Wind on Fire trilogy has giant ships which are cities with whole communities living in them which sail around the desert. They are used by two tribes who fight each other whenever they meet with both the ships and smaller vessels. In the 2nd book there is a large convoy travelling through the desert who use tents and the community they are travelling to has gladitorial fights.

It's YA/fantasy/dystopia and was published 2000-2001.

https://www.goodreads.com/series/5248...

[Bargle]

Lori wrote: "The Wind on Fire trilogy has giant ships which are cities with whole communities living in them which sail around the desert. They are used by two tribes who fight each other whenever they meet wit..."

The Wind Singer is the book I was thinking of. Thanks, Lori.

[Lobstergirl, au gratin]

Dave, are you still looking for this or did you find it?

[Kris]

No response, moving to Abandoned folder.

Dave (OP) was last active on the site in August 2018.