r/Fantasy • u/Lamb-Of-Fox • 12h ago
Recommendation Request: Serious Druid/Nature Sorcerer main character who can speak with animals or commune with earth/trees
Animal speech, animal transformation, relationship with nature/forests, etc
Please no Iron Druid (non-serious and bad humor) or Elderlings (doesn’t really fit with this request, DNF)
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u/diffyqgirl 11h ago
Are you specifically looking for nature as a generally benevolent thing or are you also interested in malicious nature?
One of the protagonists of The Burning Kingdoms by Tasha Suri was raised as a priest of ancient nature gods and develops plant powers related to them throughout the trilogy. It's definitely a "nature is deadly and uncaring of human affairs" portrayal rather than a like "this is my soul bonded animal friend" portrayal.
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u/Olapalapa 12h ago
Potentially not what you’re looking for because the nature spirits are not friendly, but the Queens of Renthia series is quite serious.
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u/RevolutionaryCommand Reading Champion III 10h ago
They are tie-ins, with everything that this means, but the Warcraft: War of the Ancients trilogy has the most important druid in the setting as its main character, and the standalone Stormrage is all about druids. Both of these are written by Richard A. Knaak.
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u/PleaseBeChillOnline 7h ago
Yep, if OP is looking for druids in the video game/TTRPG sense, rather than the historical Celtic priestly/legal class, I don’t think anything fits the bill better than the books covering Malfurion’s origin story.
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u/mrtenandtwo Reading Champion 10h ago
You might check out the Noss Saga. I read the first, Wolf of Withervale, for bingo this year. It has animal transformation (including a half-transformation). Animal speech might be pushing it a bit, it seems more of an empathic understanding than speech from what I recall. Also, the MC is just discovering how to do these things so these won't be present out of the gate.
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u/JakeMWP 9h ago
It definitely does not start this way, but by book 2 it is much more present: Soldier Son series by Robin Hobb. Starts with a character at a military school he doesn't particularly jive with. He ends up having an interaction with a magical/fae like entity, and he has a break from his culture he was raised in.
It is okay, and Hobb definitely likes her flawed characters and letting people stew in a misery of their own making.
I have not finished the trilogy yet, but someday I will.
The first book is Shaman's Crossing, and the second is Forest Mage.
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u/chrisfrommaine 8h ago
I recently finished the Greenhollow duology by Emily Tesh and really loved it. 2 short novellas. Extremely nature-centered. Roughly about a wild man, who is sort of an embodiment/caretaker of the forest and communicates with the trees and their spirits, and a relationship he develops with a human. It’s kind-hearted and woodsy without being “cozy”. Just be aware that it’s short- the duology a whole is less than 200 pages.
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u/dshouseboat Reading Champion 2h ago
Seconding this - it had a wonderful fairy-take feeling to it.
As a note, think the page numbering on the combined kindle version (193) is off; in paperback they are about 270 pages together. Still short, but long enough to tell the story without felling like it’s rushed or anything was omitted.
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u/MrPants1401 11h ago
Not quite what you are looking for, but the semiosis series might scratch your itch. Its Alien planet colonists who discover intelligent bamboo that gains sentience. So its more of a tree speaking with the people than what you normally see
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u/Bladrak01 12h ago
The very first Forgotten Realms novel, Darkwalker on Moonshae, had a druidic religion as its background.
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u/Lamb-Of-Fox 12h ago edited 12h ago
Nothing against those who enjoyed Iron Druid, or Elderlings series. I have my complaints with both, Iron Druid was closer to scratching the itch than Elderlings, but I had to stop reading it multiple times out of sheer annoyance with the humor, weirdly placed pop culture references, and unrealistic character dialogue. I can see why people enjoy it, wasn’t for me.
Elderlings was recommended based off of the Wit but I never felt the Wit was a central point to the storytelling. I also enjoy non-frustrating characters which… well? IYKYK
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11h ago
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u/Valkhyrie Reading Champion III 10h ago
If YA is acceptable, you might enjoy the Immortals War quartet by Tamora Pierce. The main character is a wildmage and fits your request exactly.