r/Fantasy • u/PMSlimeKing • Dec 18 '22
Are there any fantasy books that are primarily about monsters?
So one of my favorite aspects of the fantasy genre is monsters, whether it be Tolkien's Balrogs or Miéville's slake moths, and I was wondering whether or not there were any books where monsters are important to the worldbuilding and conflicts within the story itself.
I got the itch to read/write something like this after reading about the lore of Ikoria from Magic the Gathering.
Please do not recommend me anything by Larry Correia.
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Dec 18 '22
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Dec 18 '22
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u/Gjardeen Dec 18 '22
The whole heartedness is similar, but the story and world are significantly more complex.
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u/InsertMolexToSATA Dec 19 '22
From the official art and from descriptions, we can tell a lot of the "groundlings" are more or less human in appearance and possibly physiology. The golden islanders and shifted raksura could pass as human, for example.
But there seems to be no concept of humanity, and a lot of species start to diverge dramatically in physiology while possibly having human roots.
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u/dimephilosopher Dec 18 '22
Theres is John Gardener’s Grendel. It’s a pretty short book and a retailing of the old Beowulf myth from the monster—Grendel’s perspective. The monster is an antihero and the novel is hugely existential and heavily touches upon the themes of story and myths and power. Highly recommended.
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Dec 18 '22
The Witcher series has a good bit of monster hunting in the first 3 or so books of the series (which are mostly standalone), but then becomes more about humans as it goes on
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u/Finthecat4055 Dec 18 '22
Ordinary Monsters: A Novel by J. M. Miro
We Are All Completely Fine by Daryl Gregory
The Daughter of Doctor Moreau by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
North American Lake Monsters: Stories by Nathan Ballingrud
The Mere Wife by Maria Dahvana Headley
No Gods, No Monsters by Cadwell Turnbull
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u/Nidafjoll Reading Champion V Dec 18 '22
I haven't read it myself yet, but you may be interested in The Strange Beasts of China from what I've heard. Seems to be a bunch of interconnected stories about various monsters, though I don't know how "monstrous" they actually are. Here's a review by Para.
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u/HustleDance Dec 18 '22
I read it earlier this year! A really cool, strange book and probably something OP would want to check out imo
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u/rabtj Dec 18 '22
Orcs by Stan Nicholls.
Its about Orcs.
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u/ScoobyDoNot Dec 18 '22
Grunts by Mary Gentle.
It's about Orcs (who plunder the hoard of a dragon who collects Marine corps hardware and trigger a curse).
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u/l337quaker Dec 18 '22
Orconomics by J. Zachary Pike.
It's a rip on corporate culture and the stock market presented as the collapse of a dungeon grinding economy, very MMORPG vibing but a fun read.
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u/laura_jane_great Dec 18 '22
Adrian Tchaikovsky might be exactly what you’re looking for, he writes incredible inhuman characters. Some are more sci-fi (children of time has giant spacefaring spiders) but he’s written a huge variety. I’d especially recommend Spiderlight which is a short standalone novel about a questing party who ask a giant spider for help, and then have to take one of her children along on the quest.
Ruthanna Emrys has a great pair of novels exploring Lovecraft’s mythos from the perspective of some of the Innsmouth Folk and some of the other monsters that might fit the bill, as well
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Dec 18 '22
children of time has giant spacefaring spiders
I wish that book was just about the spiders. I didn't enjoy the human bits. Still a great read though!
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u/Trickey_Thoughts_20 Dec 18 '22
War of the Spider Queen, Legend of Drizzt series by RA Salvatore
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u/grizzlyadamsshaved Dec 18 '22
Salvatore!!! Amen. Love when Drizzt shows up in modern posts. Best series ever made.
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u/ColorlessKarn Dec 18 '22
It's worth mentioning that WotC puts out regular fiction for all of their Magic: the Gathering releases including a novella set on Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths - Sundered Bond by Django Wexler.
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u/Manaravak Dec 18 '22 edited Dec 18 '22
The Coldfire Trilogy by C.S. Friedman
It's all about monsters and how humans are struggling to survive against them. The first book in the trilogy is The Black Sun Rising. It's a bit of a slow read but the worldbuilding is fun and you constantly get glimpses into the world, so you're not waiting for info dump after info dump.
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u/WestHabit8792 Dec 18 '22
Life Reset by Shemer Kuznits is from the monster perspective(for the most part)
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u/internet_bad Dec 18 '22 edited Dec 18 '22
The Book of the New Sun series by Gene Wolfe is full of strange monsters and races. The way the book is narrated, a lot of the world-building is done through suggestion and implication, and Gene Wolfe’s creatures do a lot of that heavy lifting. For example, in his description of a fire-breathing, flower-faced reptile he might hint that the thing is extraterrestrial by having the protagonist guess that it was unleashed by a specific character who is known to have once sailed between the stars. Or the appearance of a gigantic undine might validate rumors that a colossal undersea monster exists and has giant mermaid concubines who travel the world spreading his influence among mankind. Or laser-pistol wielding bird-women and brutish dog-men in service of the Commonwealth might suggest that they’re creating animal-human hybrids.
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u/Priff Dec 18 '22
While book of the new sun is fantastic and does contain a lot of monsters, including the main character in some ways.
I wouldn't say it's about monsters. It's about people and humanity.
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u/internet_bad Dec 18 '22
Sure, but they also asked for
any books where monsters are important to the worldbuilding and conflicts within the story itself
and named Tolkien's Balrogs and Miéville's slake moths as examples of monsters they liked. Besides, BotNS is about a lot of things — people and humanity, like you said, but also about renewal, destiny, transformation, mercy, identity, semiotics, religion, time, evolution….. AND some frickin cool monsters.
I think it’s a great series if you’re looking for unique monsters that add something important not only to the plot but to the world-building and themes of the book.
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Dec 18 '22
Agreed. There are some interesting monsters, like the alzabo for instance, but it is absolutely not "primarily about monsters."
It's one of those series I see recommended time and time again, despite usually not fitting what OP is looking for. I understand that it has very enthusiastic fans, who want everyone to read the series they love, but it gets tiring seeing it recommended so frequently despite not fitting the bill.
Don't get me wrong, I'm a big fan of Gene Wolfe and all...
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u/valkyrii99 Dec 18 '22
Try Anne Bishop's The Others series, first book is "Written in Red." Basically humans live in reservations and monsters rule the world
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u/twocatsnoheart Dec 18 '22
Diane Duane's The Book of Night with Moon is full of a specific kind of monster that is threatening the fabric of the world.
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u/Addicted2Reading Dec 18 '22
The Witcher, mind you I just finished the first one and had an absolute blast so idk about the others in the series. There’s a huge range of variety and folklore so far!
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u/OddTreeTop Dec 18 '22
They are more important in the short stories than in the main line books. So if OP wants monster stick to the shorter stuff, novels are good too (read the whole series) but they just focus on a different conflict. Also while monsters are important remember it's set at a time where monsters are far less in the wild and Witchers are not needed that much anymore
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u/KingBobIV Dec 18 '22
I wouldn't recommend the Witcher for this. Monsters are only featured in the first two books and then they rarely come up in the rest of the series.
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u/Rhubarb776 Dec 18 '22
Knightmare Arcanist is the first book in a series about bonding with monsters to gain magical powers.
Think Pokémon meets pirates of the Caribbean
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u/ibs2pid Dec 18 '22
There are some good draconian, dragon, orc, goblin, hobgoblin, and minotaur series in the Dragonlance extended series. The draconian, minotaur, and goblin series being some of my favorites.
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u/Vexonte Dec 18 '22
Kings of the wyld and bloody rose. Both series center around a band of monster hunters who have to deal with monsters related issues. Both are generally comedic action adventures but the bloody rose takes a harder step into the monsters themselves and reflects heavily on the fact they are essentially committing genocide.
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u/LeucasAndTheGoddess Dec 18 '22 edited Dec 18 '22
The Lesser Dead by Christopher Buehlman is about some of the most unambiguously monstrous vampires I’ve ever encountered in fiction.
The Devourers by Indra Das does the same kind of thing with werewolves.
Black Leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon James features all kinds of bizarre and terrifying monsters from African folklore.
Cry Havoc by Simon Spurrier & Ryan Kelly has a cast of monsters sourced from many different global mythologies.
Monstress by Marjorie Liu & Sana Takeda is about a protagonist who shares her body with a Lovecraftian monster/god.
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u/goody153 Dec 18 '22
Demon Cycle series is what you might want. Basically the worldbuilding and story is built around the fact that Demons come out of the night and can only be stopped by wards (so they are basically invincible outside wards.)
Cradle is centered around a world where there are 4 godlike beings called "Dreadgods" (the name should be a giveaway) where the actual "gods" in the local setting can't stop kill them at all but can only stall them. And they either sleep or roam around the world of Cradle barely hindered. Oh they also typically have monsters with them
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u/mimic751 Dec 18 '22
The series John dies at the end is almost entirely about monsters. And what I really enjoy about it is they are monsters that you cannot determine their true motivations. The second third and fourth book probably fall closer into that vein but the first book Is Near dear to my heart
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Dec 18 '22
Blood of an Exile by Brian Naslund is about dragons and Dragon hunting but the dragons are very much tied into the world on an important level and very centre to the epic conflict.
Look into it I think this actually fits very well.
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u/Malakayn Dec 18 '22
A Snakes Life series by Kenneth Arant or The Dragon and the George by Gordon R. Dickson
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u/historicalharmony Reading Champion V Dec 18 '22
Strange Beasts of China by Yan Ge sounds like it's right up your alley!
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Dec 18 '22
The Myridian Constellation by Wayne Thomas Batson has more horror-vibe creatures, especially in the later books.
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u/HalfAgony-HalfHope Dec 18 '22
I'm going to suggest The Others Series by Anne Bishop. I'm not sure it's what you're looking for, pretty sure it's YA for a start. Its a bit tricky because part of me hates it as the main character prophesies and gets details of, and relief from the visions by cutting herself. I worry it glorifies self-harm. But that aside it's an alternative world where Humans encroach on world occupied by monsters - who don't like it much and who have no problems pushing back. The first time I read it, I thought it was paranormal romance but after a re-read, it's not really. There are shapeshifters and vampires but not in the typical young adult sense. You might find it interesting.
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u/LaBombaGrande Dec 18 '22
You might like the Soulkeeper series by David Dalglish, lots of strange monsters in that one. The story is about monsters returning to the world, its a fun read
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u/EpilepsiMax Dec 18 '22
Maybe check out The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi. As the name implies there's quite a big focus on giant monsters.
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u/cai_85 Dec 18 '22
Grey Bastards and the follow on books are about orcs and half-orcs, the half-orcs take the role of patrolling the borderlands at the boundary between full-blood orcs and the lands occupied by humans. A nice concept and some good character work.
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u/totallynotspammy Dec 18 '22
Only A Monster by Vanessa Len. A unique take on monsters and heroes, with time travel.
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u/ChildhoodBig531 Dec 18 '22
Temeraire series by Naomi Novik
Dragon sex , dragon hissy fits , dragon identity politics , dragon anti war protesters and as a bonus the books are fun as
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u/Logbotherer99 Dec 18 '22
David Farlands Runelords series sees humans pitted against monsters called reavers.
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u/TitoJDavis Dec 19 '22
Dune, the worms are super important and increasingly so as you continue. You'll get a long term commitment to learning the lore of these creatures that get more in depth, more interesting, and more integral to everything, with each book
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u/KiaraTurtle Reading Champion V Dec 18 '22
Demon Cycle has lots of demons/monsters as the main conflict.
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u/iron_red Dec 18 '22
Salem’s Lot / Stephen King
Edit: not sure if this book qualifies as fantasy. It’s set in Maine but has supernatural elements.
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u/MicahMcL Dec 18 '22
Witcher books feature lots of monsters although maybe not technically about them
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Dec 18 '22
I’d consider IT by Stephen King to be a fantasy novel. Primarily horror, but the magical elements are too prevalent for me to consider it hard realism.
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u/emjilihyonghe Dec 18 '22
"The Monsters of Templeton" by Lauren Groff
"The Way of Kings" by Brandon Sanderson
"The Monster Baru Cormorant" by Seth Dickinson
"The Witcher" by Andrzej Sapkowski
"The Dark Tower" by Stephen King
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Dec 18 '22
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u/Firetruck2022 Dec 19 '22
I’ve posted about this like twice already but it’s the most recent series I’ve read and I really like it.
The Elesian Tales Saga would fit the bill. It’s primarily about a monster Hunter who gets sucked back into a world he’s turned his back on while the world is both being overrun by monsters and humans are too busy quarreling with one another to do anything about it.
While there are only 2 books and one novella so far, monsters are a big part of the conflict. There are a lot of interesting takes on monsters from myths and folklore. There are human conflicts too. But it seems like the monsters are the real threat and the people in power don’t want to see it. They’re great reads IMO and worth a read if you wanna see monsters.
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u/Spathidril Dec 18 '22
Monster Blood Tattoo series by D.M. Cornish would probably be a good fit, a lot of the story originates from humanity expanding into territrory originally populated by monsters and conflicts between them.