The Chathrand Voyages

A fantasy series by former theater critic Robert V.S. Redick, set in a world called Alifros. Its most powerful nation Arqual has been trying to take total control of all other nations, with the only group strong enough to challenge them being the primitive Mzithrini. But finally, it appears that peace may be possible between these two great powers, as the Arqualis offer one of their own citizens as the wife of a prominent Mzithrin. For a voyage of this importance, the massive trade ship Chathrand is pulled out of mothballs and stocked full of all the Arqualis who want to witness the historical event.

Except that's not really what's going on at all. Lowly deckhands Pazel Pathkendle and Neeps Undrabust, along with the "Treaty Bride" Thasha Isiq herself, come to realize that the marriage is actually part of a Evil Plan to crush the Mzithrini once and for all. And this is far from the only sinister plot being forged on the ship. Pazel, Neeps, and Thasha will have to work out just who they can trust and who is their enemy, something made even more complicated by just which Evil Plan they're trying to stop at the moment.

The series consists of three books so far: The Red Wolf Conspiracy, The Ruling Sea, and The River of Shadows. Book four, presumably the final one, will be titled The Night of the Swarm.

Provides examples of:

 * Action Girl: Thasha has been trained in swordfighting most of her life, and is initially far more skilled than Pazel and Neeps.
 * Artifact of Doom: The Nilstone.
 * Bad Boss: Captain Rose is arrogant, bad-tempered, ruthless, and has little regard for anyone else, so of course he falls into this. He apparently once had a man flogged for hiccuping.
 * Badass Grandpa: Sandor Ott is in his 60s, but is still a highly skilled assassin and swordfighter.
 * Baleful Polymorph: Apparently anyone crossing between universes is forced into another form. The human wizard Ramachni is changed into a mink whenever he enters Alifros, though he doesn't seem to mind at all.
 * Berserk Button: Accusations of insanity are the worst imaginable insult to the dlomu.
 * Big Bad Ensemble: There are lots of independent villains running around this story; the two most prominent are Sandor Ott and Arunis. The Shaggat thinks he's one, but he's really a tool for the other two.
 * Blessed With Suck: Pazel goes through periods when he can completely comprehend any language he sees or hears a sample of, and remembers them all afterwards. Trouble is, these periods end with him being unable to speak intelligibly for quite a while.
 * It turns out his sister Neda was also hit by it: she can store perfect memories of her whole life, but they come and go at unpredictable times.
 * Cats Are Mean: Sniraga. Though she has her moments in the Heel Face Revolving Door like everyone else.
 * Chekhov's Gun: Ramachni gives Pazel the use of three powerful spells that can each be used once, before disappearing from his memory: controlling fire, turning someone to stone, and "blinding to give new sight." Naturally, Pazel agonizes a bit over the right time to use each, especially since neither he nor Ramachni actually knows what that last one really means.
 * There's also a literal one: the pistol is invented midway through the story and Sandor Ott gets his hands on a prototype. Savvy readers know right then what will eventually happen.
 * Chekhov MIA: Pazel's mother and sister. In the first chapter he's informed that they're alive after years of wondering if they escaped Arqual's invasion, though his search for them is more or less permanently sidetracked by the various plots on the ship.
 * Complete Monster: The Shaggat Ness. His goal is no less than the complete extermination of anyone who doesn't believe that he's a god. Plus he sets fire to his own sons while they sleep, until they refuse to wear anything but loose robes that can be removed in a hurry.
 * Arunis is hardly better, claims of being a Well-Intentioned Extremist aside. There's a reason he and the Shaggat got along..
 * Cunning Linguist: Pazel.
 * The Dreaded: The Shaggat Ness. Even Sandor Ott is fearful of meeting him in person, though he quickly recovers his composure.
 * Dropped a Bridge On Him:
 * The Empire: Two of them set off the plot of the series; Arqual is cosmopolitan but agressively expansionistic, while the Mzithrin is more insular and theocratic. They're traditional enemies, and neither is particularly nice.
 * Later, we're introduced to a third, Bali Adro, which was originally quite a noble society.
 * Evil Sorcerer: Arunis.
 * Fantastic Racism: The ixchel experience this both from and towards humans.
 * Fantasy Gun Control: Averted; all naval ships are armed with cannon, and Sandor Ott carries a prototype pistol. Guns are hardly the standard weapon in Alifros, but it looks like things will be heading that way in a century or two.
 * Fingore: suffers through an especially gruesome version which is thankfully offpage. From the description later, it seems that each of his fingers was actually subjected to a different kind of torture.
 * Gambit Pileup: And how! It gets to the point where you'll have trouble remembering whose side anyone is on without notes.
 * Glass Cannon: Ramachni is upfront from the start that he's good for just a few pieces of powerful magic, after which he'll have to return to his own dimension for a long while to recover his strength.
 * A God Am I: The Shaggat Ness believes he has become a god, and is destined to conquer the world for the Mzithrini.
 * God-Emperor: The Shaggat Ness. "Shaggat" is Mzithrini for "God King".
 * Heel Face Revolving Door: Quite a few characters, though their motivations never really change; they're just on the heroes' side or not based on whether it helps their own goals at the moment. But the real king of the trope is Dr. Ignus Chadfallow. You're never sure whose side he's on.
 * Heel Face Turn: On the other hand, is the one character who makes a concious effort to turn from evil to good.
 * Hoist By His Own Petard: The sea murth Klyst hits Pazel with the love spell her people use to lure humans to their deaths. Except
 * It Is Pronounced Tro PAY: Klyst's name is pronounced "Kloost," by Word of God.
 * Knight Templar: Master Mugstur is a Knight Templar rat, of all things.
 * Literary Agent Hypothesis: Several footnotes and a couple brief chapters paint the books as an in-universe attempt by a professor in Alifros long after the events to set the record straight about what exactly happened, based on several accounts buried in his university's archives.
 * Loads and Loads of Characters: And almost all of them have their own plan brewing.
 * The Man Behind the Man:, providing the brains and magic to the Shaggat's fanaticism and political clout.
 * Magnificent Bastard: Sandor Ott. However much you may think you've figured him out, he's always at least five steps ahead of you.
 * Malignant Plot Tumor: The climax of The Ruling Sea has three in quick succession:
 * Morality Kitchen Sink: A given with how many gambits are going on from heroes, villains, and anything in between.
 * Never Found the Body:
 * And one more with
 * Our Mermaids Are Different: Inverted, as the murths go all the way back to the original depictions of mermaids: mostly human-looking but with very sharp teeth, and mostly surviving on humans who they hypnotise into following them home.
 * Smug Snake: Greysan Fulbreech.
 * Spanner in The Works:
 * Stalker With a Crush: Klyst. Especially potent as
 * Taken for Granite:  at the climax of the first book, courtesy of.
 * Trilogy Creep: Redick first planned for the story to be a trilogy, then decided it needed four books partway through writing book two.
 * The Vamp: Syrarys.
 * Well-Intentioned Extremist: Sandor Ott, of sorts; he's utterly devoted to his country to the extent of basically seeing "Arqual" and "Good" as synonymous, and is willing to do whatever it takes on the Empire's behalf. Arunis claims to be one, but he's a consumate deciever and his actions show someone who's pretty much pure evil.
 * Wild Card: Dr. Chadfallow. See Heel Face Revolving Door.
 * The Woobie: Felthrup. However you feel about rats, you will want to give him a hug every time he appears.
 * Year Outside, Hour Inside:
 * Year Outside, Hour Inside: