The Ship of Ishtar
#7083.55 adjusted 3.81 for sample size in the official ranking · full ranking
Books 1 book Status Complete 1924 Reading commitment Low A. Merritt Last reviewed 2026-09-29
Overview
A. Merritt's 1924 pulp classic, serialised in Argosy All-Story, sends John Kenton, an archaeologist hollowed out by the Great War, from his New York rooms onto a jewelled ship sailing an eternal sea. Its deck is divided by a line no one aboard can cross: Sharane, priestess of Ishtar, and her women at one end, Klaneth, black priest of Nergal, and his men at the other, frozen for six thousand years in their gods' quarrel, until Kenton, who alone can cross, breaks the deadlock. Widely counted among the founding works of American fantasy adventure; a separate world from Merritt's The Moon Pool.
Sword & sorcery, Portal fantasy · For Adult
Core Canon: Reading Order (1 work) counts toward ranking
The Ship of Ishtar (1924) core · 3.55 (624 ratings); Serialised in Argosy All-Story Weekly, November-December 1924; first book edition G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1926 (abridged); the full text was restored in later editions. Pre-ISBN work: the ISBN recorded is the 2009 Planet Stories edition's, the standard in-print unabridged text. A separate world from The Moon Pool.
Quick answers
- How many books are in The Ship of Ishtar? The Ship of Ishtar's Core Canon is 1 book.
- Is The Ship of Ishtar finished? Complete (1924).
- How much reading does The Ship of Ishtar take? Low reading commitment (estimated from 1 Core Canon book · ~230 pages).
- How is The Ship of Ishtar ranked? #708 in this site's official ranking, based on 624 reader ratings across 1 Core Canon book. See the full ranking for how this is calculated.
Why is it ranked #708?
Ranked #708 in the official ranking.
- Average reader rating of 3.55 across 1 core book.
- A smaller readership (624 ratings), so the score carries less weight of numbers.
- 0.26 behind #707, The Wolves of Mercy Falls.
- Below the top-10 average of 4.45.
- A single standalone novel: ranked on that one book alone.
Why explore this universe?
Modestly rated · 1 book · Complete · 624 ratings · Ranks #708 overall
Good choice if you want a quick, low-commitment sword-and-sorcery universe that's already finished, so there's no wait for the next book.
Reading order
A single Core Canon work: no sequencing question to resolve.
Awards (verified)
- No award applies to this novel; it predates the genre's award era.
You might also like
Suggestions computed from what The Ship of Ishtar and each of these worlds have in common on record (subgenre, audience, shape, reading commitment and score), not a documented narrative connection.
- The Night Land Dark fantasy / Portal fantasy · Complete · Low commitment · 3.47
- Stardust Fairy-tale retelling / Portal fantasy · Complete · Low commitment · 4.09
- The Ten Thousand Doors of January Portal fantasy · Complete · Low commitment · 4.01
- Silverlock Mythic fantasy / Portal fantasy · Complete · Low commitment · 3.91
Official resources
Research details
Ranking metrics: weighted average 3.55 across 624 ratings on 1 Core Canon book. See Why is it ranked here? above for the full breakdown, or the full ranking.
How do we know this?
Admission: Canon extension: The Ship of Ishtar (A. Merritt) accepted 2026-09-29
Sources: (see source tier definitions)
- Wikipedia Tier 2
Last reviewed: 2026-09-29
Rule: Core Canon = The Ship of Ishtar (1924) only, standalone.