Mosi Mynn Posted April 30, 2018 Share Posted April 30, 2018 Are stories featuring animals as the protagonists still being written? When I was a yoof my favourite books included The Silver Brumby series, the Duncton Chronicles, The Animals of Farthing Wood and Watership Down, amongst others. Watership Down is still one of my favourite ever books, and I re-read it a lot. And I recently re-read the first Duncton trilogy - still as harrowing as A Storm of Swords I seemed to be drawn to animal-based stories when I was younger. Has this genre (is it a genre?) died out? Replaced by YA maybe? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Errant Bard Posted April 30, 2018 Share Posted April 30, 2018 I'm not sure it ever was a genre, but the books you bring up are usually classified ad YA, I think. I don't have an idea about something entirely similar, but stuff like Adrian Chaikovsky's Children of Time (or his shadow of the Apt series) feature anthropomorphised insect/arachnoid characters. David Brin, with its Uplift Saga, had dolphins and apes. There's the ants by Bernard Werber. Hmm, probably more but nothing comes to mind right now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seli Posted April 30, 2018 Share Posted April 30, 2018 There is still some out there I am aware of, Summer in Orcus by T. Kingfisher (aka Ursula Vernon) has anthropomorphic birds in a portal fantasy. The aforementioned Children of Time. The Only Harmless Great Thing by Brooke Bolander is a borderline case with intelligent Elephants and humans. In comics they might be more common, eg Monstress by Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iskaral Pust Posted April 30, 2018 Share Posted April 30, 2018 I recall the Redwall series with farmland creatures, but those are quite old and definitely YA-ish. And Wind In The Willows was a classic. More recently, there was a series called The Builders with similar anthropomorphic characters — I think it reached me via one of the monthly free Kindle books, but I dropped it after a few chapters. It felt too YA. The greatest anthropomorphic character of all is Death in Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series, but that’s not a cross-species anthropomorphism. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry of the Lawn Posted April 30, 2018 Share Posted April 30, 2018 Does Mieville count? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mosi Mynn Posted April 30, 2018 Author Share Posted April 30, 2018 1 hour ago, Iskaral Pust said: I recall the Redwall series with farmland creatures, but those are quite old and definitely YA-ish. ... The greatest anthropomorphic character of all is Death in Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series, but that’s not a cross-species anthropomorphism. Can't believe I forgot Redwall! I loved the first three in particular. Witches Abroad had some very memorable anthropomorphicisation! Greebo springs to mind ... 30 minutes ago, larrytheimp said: Does Mieville count? Mieville always counts :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ormond Posted April 30, 2018 Share Posted April 30, 2018 Aeron Clement wrote The Cold Moons, a novel about badgers that was a bestseller in the UK in the late 1980s when it first came out. This seems to have been the only fiction he ever wrote: https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-385-29694-6 Though they are mythical animals, there are a great many fantasy novels that have featured dragons as intelligent characters. One of the most recent is Jo Walton's Tooth and Claw, which she describes as a "sentimental Victorian novel where all the characters are dragons who eat each other." http://www.jowaltonbooks.com/books/tooth-and-claw/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darth Richard II Posted April 30, 2018 Share Posted April 30, 2018 Do they all have to be animals? Elizabeth Bear has talking tiger people. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ormond Posted April 30, 2018 Share Posted April 30, 2018 Oh, just remembered Tad Williams' novel about cats, Tailchaser's Song: https://www.tadwilliams.com/books/novels/tailchasers-song/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darth Richard II Posted April 30, 2018 Share Posted April 30, 2018 46 minutes ago, Ormond said: Oh, just remembered Tad Williams' novel about cats, Tailchaser's Song: https://www.tadwilliams.com/books/novels/tailchasers-song/ Ohhhhh thats a good one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Astromech Posted April 30, 2018 Share Posted April 30, 2018 I've had Robert Repino's War with No Name series on my TBR for a while. It sounded bizarre enough to add to my list. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22181034-mort-e Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maarsen Posted May 1, 2018 Share Posted May 1, 2018 I remember reading a series of books about genetically modified animals trying to find the humans who created them. I am damned if I can remember the writer or the name of any of the books. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spaßvogel Posted May 1, 2018 Share Posted May 1, 2018 There is a really long YA series called The Warriors by Erin Hunter (a collective author name used by 5 people). It's about tribes of cats. There's also of course Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH by Robert C. Obrien. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HexMachina Posted May 1, 2018 Share Posted May 1, 2018 17 hours ago, Darth Richard II said: Do they all have to be animals? Elizabeth Bear has talking tiger people. Hobb card revoked for not recommending Liveships! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ormond Posted May 1, 2018 Share Posted May 1, 2018 14 hours ago, maarsen said: I remember reading a series of books about genetically modified animals trying to find the humans who created them. I am damned if I can remember the writer or the name of any of the books. He may not be who you are thinking of, but this made me remember Cordwainer Smith, who wrote many science fiction stories featuring "underpeople", who were descended from non-human species who had been genetically augmented to become slaves of humans: http://www.sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/smith_cordwainer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darth Richard II Posted May 1, 2018 Share Posted May 1, 2018 3 hours ago, HelenaExMachina said: Hobb card revoked for not recommending Liveships! Those arn't animals though! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HexMachina Posted May 1, 2018 Share Posted May 1, 2018 4 hours ago, Darth Richard II said: Those arn't animals though! Sea serpents though... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darth Richard II Posted May 2, 2018 Share Posted May 2, 2018 3 hours ago, HelenaExMachina said: Sea serpents though... Yeah but they're not anthropomorphic. Otherwise I could suggest every Mercedes Lackey book ever. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Errant Bard Posted May 2, 2018 Share Posted May 2, 2018 16 hours ago, Darth Richard II said: Yeah but they're not anthropomorphic. Otherwise I could suggest every Mercedes Lackey book ever. Hmm, on that note, would the PERN dragons be considered anthropomorphic? Thinking about it, Steven Brust has lizard people in Vlad Taltos, and telepathic flying serpents too. Also, there's Pierre Boulle's Planet of the Apes, heh? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry of the Lawn Posted May 2, 2018 Share Posted May 2, 2018 Leguin's Cat Wings is pretty great Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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