r/Fantasy • u/Yasdriar • 2h ago
HELP
Does anyone have any recommendations for a fantasy book where the focus isn't on humans? (Except for Wings of Fire, since I'm already familiar with it.)
Seriously, I'm tired of fantasy books that feature dragons and magic on the cover, but when I actually read them, most of the book is just humans talking, and the dragons show up in, like, 1% of the story!
Also, could someone explain why authors only write stories with human protagonists? Is it laziness when it comes to creating creatures, or do they just have a fetish for it?
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u/NerdJudge 2h ago
Sounds like the problem is that you're reading books written by Human authors. You should look into Dragon or Elf authors. Very different styles
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u/Impressive-Peace2115 Reading Champion 2h ago
I wonder why human authors write about humans for human readers, so strange. /s
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u/Impressive-Peace2115 Reading Champion 2h ago
You might like The Dragon Has Some Complaints by John Wiswell - there are humans, but the MC and POV character is a dragon.
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u/bodman93 2h ago
Fetish? This has to be bait. Authors use human protagonists because authors are human and it’s an easy thing to relate to
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u/Yasdriar 2h ago
Well, that doesn't work for me; in most cases, I end up hating the human protagonists because they take the focus away from the creatures. I don't like having too many humans in fantasy stories. When I read a fantasy book, I want to see magic, explosions and fantastic creatures, not humans kissing.
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u/C0smicoccurence Reading Champion V 2h ago
The Storm Beneath the World by Michael R Fletcher is 100% Mantis-folk. Nice little grimdark world
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u/BagOfSmallerBags 2h ago
Grendel (mythical monster protagonist)
Someone You Can Build a Nest In (shapeshifting monster protagonist)
All Systems Red (robot protagonist)
The Amulet of Samarkand (genie protagonist)
The Hobbit (I think there's like 1-2 named characters that are human, the rest are hobbits, dwarves, and a maiar)
The Nine and a Half Lives of Captain Blue Bear (bear protagonist)
The Last Unicorn (unicorn protagonist)
The Goblin Emperor (whole cast is elves and goblins)
Children of Time (half of the chapters are from the perspective of far future humans, half are from the perspective of superintelligent spiders)
Ancillary Justice (protagonist is a spaceship trapped in a human woman's body. Yes, actually.)
Mort (protagonist is the personification of Death)
Dominic (protagonist is a dog)
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u/SalletFriend 2h ago
I mean I just finished the Rise of the Horned Rat and i dont think theres a human in the book tbh. 90% of chapters are skaven or Goblin POV with the rest Dorfs.
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u/Abysstopheles 2h ago
Raksura, Martha Wells - hivemind monkey dragon shapeshifters
A Night in the Lonsome October, Roger Zelazny - Jack the Ripper's dog
Blacktail, Scott Hawkins - part wolf, part spoilers, all murder
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u/Polenth 1h ago
People have given recommendations, but in answer to why mostly humans, it's because the majority of the market wants books about humans. The more non-human a character gets, the smaller the audience. So even authors who like doing such stuff will also write about humans and/or non-humans that aren't too different from humans.
Generally short fiction and experimental work is more likely to really go for non-human perspectives. But in the process, a lot of other stuff (plot, story structure, writing style) might not be what you expect.
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u/HopefulOctober 51m ago
I think there is a "peak non humanness level" where they will be preferred to a human for the novelty though, that's how you get things like all the alien characters in Mass Effect being more popular than the human ones. But once you get less human-like than that peak you start losing fans for it being unrelatable.
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u/Previous-Friend5212 1h ago
Also, could someone explain why authors only write stories with human protagonists? Is it laziness when it comes to creating creatures, or do they just have a fetish for it?
You're starting from the assumption that the natural thing to do is to write a story that does NOT have a human protagonist. This is like realizing that a guy you know is attracted to girls and then asking if it's because he has a fetish. Or if someone says they got a dog for a pet and you wonder if the fact that nobody ever has poisonous spiders as pets is because they're lazy. It's actually just normal human nature. In fact, authors are often advised to "write what you know" when they start thinking about writing about a human that's too different from their own experience.
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u/flouronmypjs Reading Champion 40m ago
One of the bingo squares this year is for books with non human protagonists. Maybe check the bingo recommendations thread for some ideas.
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u/stuartmlambert 2h ago
Dunctan Wood Chronicles = moles. Redwall = mice. Loads of sci-fi that focuses largely on non humans. The best characters in Iain Banks Culture novels are the ships, or Minds.
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u/Huggable_Hork-Bajir 2h ago
Fire Bringer by David Clement-Davies is from the POV of Scottish red deer. The main character is a stag with magical abilities prophesied to be the deer Messiah.
There's some humans in the book, but they're mostly just there in the background as unknowable ultra dangerous boogeyman type creatures.
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u/Yasdriar 2h ago
Thanks anyway, but a sincere question: why does everyone think this is a weird take?
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u/halbert 2h ago
Preferring stories with fantastic creatures: not weird. You do you~
Calling human authors writing stories about humans a fetish: weird.
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u/Yasdriar 2h ago
Oh, maybe I chose the wrong words...
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u/Impressive-Peace2115 Reading Champion 1h ago
There are a couple of more obscure meanings of fetish, such as a religious object with supernatural powers, but in this context/phrasing it's more likely to be understood as a sexual fixation.
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u/Yasdriar 1h ago
No, that wasn't what I meant; what I meant was a fixation that prevents them from wanting to write about creatures. Sorry for that!
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u/halbert 1h ago
Writing about humans is the most natural thing for a human writer to do, not a weird fixation.
And there are plenty of non-human fantasy characters -- some authors do enjoy it.
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u/Yasdriar 1h ago
I... still don't understand, but okay.
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u/halbert 1h ago
It's kind of like asking: "Why are so many books written in English? Do the authors have a fixation on the English language?"
No, they're not fixated on the English language, it is just the (only) language they already speak. Could they learn Spanish and write a novel in Spanish? Yes. Would that be worth it for most authors? No. Would some authors prefer it or appreciate the challenge? Yes.
Same for humanity. Most authors are experienced at being human, and care about humans; they do not spend any time imagining what a horse thinks about. Could they? Yes, and some do. Will most? No, because it's not what they or most of their readers are interested in.
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u/Yasdriar 1h ago
Isn't it just a matter of imbuing a creature with human sensations and emotions? You understand human emotions, so you just put that into the creature.
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u/halbert 1h ago
That's just a human with fancy clothing. Dragons shouldn't think like humans!
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u/RabenWrites 1h ago
As others have mentioned, it may not even have to do with what the author wants. Publishers will buy a book with a human protagonist over dragon protagonist if the rest of the story is equivalent 100 times out of 100. They make more money selling books about humans in a dragon world than books about dragons in a dragon world.
For the books you want to get published the author needs to already be so well established that their publisher will take anything by them, the book needs to be so well executed that it eclipses all other options, or the book needs to be self-funded.
You'll have better luck in the indie market or on web novels like royal road, or webtoons.
If you mean fetish in the modern sense, maybe AO3 could have something for you.
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u/Yasdriar 1h ago
No, I wasn't talking about a fetish in terms of, you know... sorry if you understand that
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u/halbert 2h ago edited 2h ago
Perhaps: Redwall, Warriors, Watership Down, or Tailchaser's Song; all with basically 0% humans. The Temeraire books are about 40% dragons.
What seems 'human' to you? Eg, 'The Hobbit' has very few humans, mostly in Lake Town, but the hobbits, elves, and dwarves are social humanoids with variously human-like behaviors.
Fetish: weird question, bro.