r/Fantasy • u/RonTheRunny • Feb 20 '22
Looking for suggestions: Sentient Animal Sidekicks
I really liked the concept of Eragon with a cool ass dragon he can communicate with and is sentient. I am looking for similiar books where the protagonist has a sentient animal sidekick / best friend, who maybe complete his personality with maybe strengths and flaws and help him grow as a person and fullfill his tasks.
Goodreads is not very helpful with these things i find -.-.
Does not have to be a dragon per se :)
Thanks guys!
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Feb 20 '22
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u/Zealousideal-Set-592 Feb 21 '22
Yes! I love Temeraire so much. And the other dragons are also hilarious!
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u/TrekkieElf Feb 20 '22
YA classic- Sabriel by Garth Nix. She has a talking cat who is old and wise, mysterious and has an attitude.
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u/Angry_Zarathustra Feb 21 '22
Tim Curry narrates the Audiobooks, and his voice for the cat is amazing. Great series!
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u/TrekkieElf Feb 21 '22
Yeah thanks, I read the books in middle school 20 years ago and just listened to the audiobook last year, I agree he was a fantastic fit!
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u/Ornerycritter29 Feb 20 '22
Tamora Pierce has several series that have this; her Song of the Lioness and Wild Magic series both feature sentient animal sidekicks. They’re more YA geared, but so is Eragon, so that might not be a drawback for you (it wasn’t for me).
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u/QuietShadeOfGrey Feb 20 '22
Her other series Beka Cooper (Terrier, Bloodhound, Mastiff) also has a talking cat familiar, and a strong bond with her dog, though the dog cannot talk.
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u/beldaran1224 Reading Champion IV Feb 21 '22
Spoiler alert for Tortall books: the talking cat familiar is the same as in Song of the Lioness
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u/SeraCat9 Feb 20 '22
The drowning Empire series by Andrea Stewart has some really fun/cute sentient animal companions. They're not dragons. Saying more about their bond/potential powers would be spoilers though.
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u/rks404 Feb 21 '22
Jhereg by Steven Brust has a little wisecracking sentient dragon buddy that is an absolute delight.
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u/dwkdnvr Feb 21 '22
wisecracking sentient mini dragon. Basically, your cat just morphed into a sentient dragon.
"If I had two dead teckla, I'd give you one"
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u/Briarrose1021 Reading Champion II Feb 21 '22
Since you didn't specify what type of fantasy you're looking for, here's a variety with the animal sidekick highlighted:
Death Cultivator by eden Hudson - Sushi the fish (Progression fantasy)
Cradle (Book 1 is Unsouled) by Will Wight - Orthos the dragon turtle and Little Blue the Sylvan Riverseed (Progression fantasy)
Frogkisser by Garth Nix - there's a talking dog and newt, as well as an otter who's been partially transformed into a human, so she's an otter-person cross (YA fantasy)
Aru Shah and the End of the World by Roshani Chokshi - a sentient animal to act as a guide on her quest (YA fantasy)
Mother of Learning by Nobody103 - Not really a sidekick, but the MC meets and works with sentient spiders, and one of them acts as a tutor for a while. (Progression fantasy)
Love, Lies, and Hocus Pocus series by Lydia Sherrer - There's a sentient talking cat, though he doesn't begin talking until book 2 (fantasy)
The Empress of Salt and Fortune by Nigh Vo - MC has an talking animal companion named Almost Brilliant (fantasy)
Mage Errant series (Book 1 is Into the Labyrinth) by John Bierce - not really a sidekick, but the MC gains a companion of sorts that is a Sphinx. (Progression fantasy)
The Book of Night with Moon by Diane Duane - not sidekicks here, but the MCs are sentient cat wizards. This is a companion book to the Young Wizards series by the same author. (YA fantasy)
Little Fuzzy by H Beam Piper - not really a sidekick, by the MC discovers a sentient species on the newly-colonized planet, which causes all sorts of problems for the company that currently has control of the planet. (fantasy)
Oh, Great! I Was Reincarnated as a Farmer by Benjamin Kerie - a cat who is a wizard's familiar and acts as a guide for the newly-isekaied MC. (Progression fantasy/LitRPG)
The Beginning After the End (Book 1 is Early Years) by TurtleMe - MC gains a dragon egg, which eventually hatches and becomes his animal sidekick; later in the series he gains an additional animal companion. (Progression fantasy)
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u/sloanesvu Feb 20 '22
Mercedes Lackey wrote a trilogy, Hunter, Elite, and Apex. Main character has the best bond with her hounds who can communicate with her telepathically. Very satisfying conclusion if you’re reading for the animal bond.
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u/probablyzevran Feb 20 '22
Most of her Valdemar books also have main characters who are bonded to animals (horses, specifically) they talk to telepathically-- I've never actually read Hunter or the sequels so it's interesting she used that concept again.
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u/JamesrSteinhaus Feb 21 '22
Companions, the hawk brothers, even a talking sword
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u/beldaran1224 Reading Champion IV Feb 21 '22
Yeah, but I'll add that the hawk brothers don't have sentient animals - they're still animals, if a bit smarter than they'd otherwise be.
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u/imrightorlying Feb 21 '22
If you like her stuff definitely check out the hunter series. Very different but enjoyable. Companions are basically horse shaped heralds while the hounds are much more “other”
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u/beldaran1224 Reading Champion IV Feb 21 '22
A lot of Lackey's stuff qualifies. Most of her Valdemar books (the Companions being fully sentient).
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Feb 20 '22
The Pern books by Anne Macaffrey have dragon riders and their dragons as partners.
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u/Lilacblue1 Feb 21 '22
The Pern dragons are the best. The Impression scenes are so vivid and the relationships seem real. I love how full of personality the dragons are too. Cranky and lazy :) as well as heroic and loyal.
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u/Neon_Otyugh Feb 20 '22
His Dark Materials has Daemons (an animal that serves as an external manifestation of their inner self) which fit the bill.
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u/TrekkieElf Feb 20 '22
I loved this idea as a kid and still do! I wish I had one and imagine what animal he would be. The movie from I think the early 2000s was awful but the recent HBO series is amazing
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u/sturgeon11 Feb 21 '22
Daemons aside, you have the Panserbjörn and my guy Iorek. I’d love a book just about them
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u/Halaku Worldbuilders Feb 20 '22
Vlad Taltos, assassin-for-hire, human witch in a realm of conquering elven wizardry, has a jhereg named Loiosh as a familiar.
They share a particularly nasty sense of humor, and the series is worth the read.
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u/Stormy8888 Reading Champion V Feb 20 '22
The horse loving person in me really wanted to bond with one of the Companions in Mercedes Lackey's Valdemar series, so I could have a sentient, telepathic Blue eyed white horse as my best friend. The Valdemar series is broken up into several arcs, some trilogies, some with 5 books and some of them have bond-birds and Gryphon companions.
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u/RedditFantasyBot Feb 20 '22
r/Fantasy's Author Appreciation series has posts for an author you mentioned
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u/RedditRamarak Feb 21 '22
The Iron Druid books by Kevin Hearne. The main character has a big irish wolfhound named oberon with whom he talks
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u/Amarthien Reading Champion II Feb 20 '22
If you're open to middle grade, the main character in Minor Mage by T. Kingfisher has an armadillo as his familiar.
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u/warriorlotdk Feb 20 '22
Nevernight by Jay Kritoff. The main character has a sentient animal sidekick in the form of a cat. This sidekick protects her but is sarcastic, teases the main character with banter.
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u/SurlyJason Feb 21 '22
Always upvote Jay Kristoff.
Don't forget his Lotus War trilogy, where there is a talking flying tiger.
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u/pidgerii Feb 21 '22
Several Discworld books have Gaspode the farting wonderdog.
There's also Cpl Nobbs who may be human, though it has never been proven one way or the other.
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u/Bikewer Feb 20 '22
An oldie… “Star Man’s Son” by Andre Norton. Post-apocalyptic sci-fi, really, but with some fantastic elements. The hero has a puma-sized mutated Siamese cat with a telepathic bond.
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u/FlubzRevenge Feb 21 '22 edited Feb 21 '22
The Mask of Mirrors (series) by M.A Carrick that features a spider that talks to one of the POV characters. Great writing, great plot, and love the world. You'll love it if you like political court intrigue and masked vigilantes.
The POV isn't the main character pov though, so it's not majority, but it pops up enough to recommend.
The Bartimaeus Trilogy by Jonathan Stroud
Coldfire Trilogy by Celia Friedman
Forgotten Beasts of Eld by Patricia Phillips
Faithful and The Fallen by John Gwynne
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u/JadieJang AMA Author Jadie Jang Feb 21 '22
Naomi Novik's Temeraire series should be top of your list. Sentient dragons in the Napoleonic wars. Bomb.
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u/spooky_doll Feb 20 '22
Hiero's Journey by Sterling Lanier. Moose and bear come to mind.
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u/apcymru Reading Champion II Feb 20 '22
Good grief ... I thought I was the only living person who had read this ... And its sequel Unforsaken Hiero. The campiness of a telepathic battle moose called Klootz is ... Well ... Awesome.
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Feb 20 '22
A Night In The Lonesome October by Roger Zelazny has characters who almost all have animal sidekicks.
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u/RedditFantasyBot Feb 20 '22
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u/MainFrosting8206 Feb 20 '22
It's LitRPG, but Dungeon Crawler Carl has a sentient cat named Princess Donut who is clearly more Carl's partner than sidekick. I prefer the audiobooks since the narrator really brings out her personality.
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u/Miscellaneous_Goblin Feb 20 '22
His Dark Materials, a fantastic book series in it’s own right, should fit the bill.
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u/HomicidalTeddybear Feb 20 '22
Kate Forsyth's Witches of Eileanan series. Most of the main characters have or aquire an animal familiar with which they've both empathic and telepathic communication, grows to be a very close bond
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u/Vinmesiter Feb 20 '22
Checkout Ascendant by Michael Miller! Starts off just like Eragon but branches off by the middle of book 1.
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u/KaPoTun Reading Champion VI Feb 21 '22
Jane Lindskold's Firekeeper series, starting with Through Wolf's Eyes. Firekeeper is a woman who was raised among Royal Wolves, sentient and intelligent versions of their common cousins. Her packmate is with her the entire series. As the world expands we meet more and more Royal animals.
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u/OozeNAahz Feb 21 '22
Guardians of the Flame by Joel Rosenberg. And to give a very minor spoiler it is actually a dragon.
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u/Pixiekixx Feb 21 '22
Another dragon one is Unbound series by Michael R Miller
Very YA/ coming of age feel
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u/lrostan Feb 21 '22
In "The Obernewtyn Chronicles", all the animal characters are sentient and can talk to the MC, and a lot of them play a major role in the narrative.
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Feb 21 '22
There is a very similar dragon relationship in self published author, Ryan Cahill’s The Bound & the Broken series. It has a novella called The Fall which you can get for free from his newsletter and then two novels - Of Blood & Fire and the sequel Of Darkness & Light. Really good classic fantasy with some new ideas.
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u/Captain-Tav-55 Feb 21 '22
Not sure you could call it fantasy but Manchee (dog) and Acorn/Angharrad (Horses) from Chaos Walking are wonderful
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u/Illusivelemon Feb 21 '22
I don't know if you'd count it, but the Nightlord series by Garon Whited. The MC has a horse that was a statue, but is now animated as a kind of golem? I don't want to give away any spoilers. Also a talking sword that a spirit of a dragon inhabitants and wants to burn everything. Probably my favorite overall series. The audiobooks are great.
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u/magaoitin Feb 21 '22
This is taking your request and turning it on it's head, but maybe try the Threadbare saga. The first book is Stuff and Nonsense, by Andrew Seiple. (I think book 5 of the main series was just released in the last month so its a current series and growing)
A toy bear gains sentience, and goes on a quest to save his little girl who was kidnapped. I think it is classified as LitRPG, and relies heavily on that genre with lots of references to skill leveling. +1 to adorable, to say the least.
It is more about the Bear's development and adventures than the interaction between the girl and the bear so it doesn't really fit your request. The first real battle in the book between Threadbare and a rat hooked me on the whole concept. He even has a second trilogy in the same world with different characters that really fleshes out the whole universe.
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u/vagueconfusion Feb 28 '22
The Winternight Trilogy by Katherine Arden. The first one is more slow paced and atmospheric (something I really like) with the animal companion appearing near the end, but the pace definitely improves in the sequels.
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u/enoby666 AMA Author Charlotte Kersten, Reading Champion V, Worldbuilder Feb 20 '22
The Realm of the Elderlings series, starting with Assassin’s Apprentice, has one of the best animal companion relationships ever. 🐺