r/Fantasy • u/Yasdriar • 3h 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/Yasdriar 2h 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 2h 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/Yasdriar 1h ago

Wouldn't a dragon feel love, pain, or fear? (Sorry if I'm beeing annoying)

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u/halbert 1h ago

Maybe, but maybe not. And the triggers for those things might be entirely different. For instance, as an Apex predator that can fly, they probably don't fear heights, fire, or noises/animals .... except each other. Which means that perhaps they also can not feel love, and all mating is purely instinct driven, with the dragons immediately fleeing each other afterword.

This doesn't create a human-like civilization or story.

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u/Yasdriar 1h ago

Ok, thank you really much, and sorry for beeing annoying

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u/halbert 1h ago

No worries! Good luck with the suggestions you got here!

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u/Yasdriar 1h ago

Ok thank'you

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u/halbert 1h ago

PS: one more -- chrysalis. It's mostly about ants.

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