The novel I'm working on has both animal and human characters, so I'm trying to read as many books with animal characters as I can get my proverbial paws on. Any suggestions? I'm familiar with Richard Adams, Jack London, Anna Sewell, Nicholas Evans, George Orwell and Sara Gruen, so if anyone has any writers other than those I'd be truly grateful.
I remember reading "Missing Link" by Kate Thompson when I was a kid, and it did seem to have a cast of animal characters. My memory on it is a bit fuzzy, but I think some of the animals may have talked near the end. Otherwise, the animals were described quite well. I can't vouch for it's quality because it's really been a long time since I've read it, but I did quite enjoy it. It was a book for kids/teens after all. (Can't remember which. Sorry. :/) Besides that, this may seem a bit overused when it comes to fiction with animals, but consider C.S. Lewis' "The Chronicles of Narnia". All seven books have the talking beasts in them, or whatever they're called. I was also going to say Orwell, but you have that covered.
I can highly reccommend a few works of David Clement Davies: The Sight- which focuses on wolves with prophesies and powers and such. It's really good but quite sad. I think he writes the gestures of the animals well. Fire Bringer- which focuses on deer, and is one of my favourite books. It's really dark and gritty and immersive. Off the top of my head, there's also Flush by Virginia Woolf; written from the POV of her spaniel-dog. I haven't read it though so I can't tell you how good it is.
Thanks so much for the suggestions guys, I'll add them to my list. I don't want to go down the fantasy/magical powers route, so if you think of any more be sure to let me know.
E. E. Knight has a series called the Age Of Fire in which the main characters are all dragons. Their perspectives and priorities are really unique compared to what you would expect a human's to be. They also have quite a bit of interaction with other species as well.
Try the "Tales of Valdemar" series by Mercedes Lackey- its a fantasy series with "horses" that are really angel like spirits in horse bodies. They speak mind to mind with their human counterparts. These were my favorite books growing up, although I think they were meant for an adult audience. If you walk into any chain bookstore and look in the fantasy section, she always has an entire shelf (at least) dedicated to her books and collaborative works. The same could be said about Piers Anthony and his Xanth novels (you would have to look individually to find ones with talking animals, but all of them are very interesting/crazy reads)
Hi, I'd recommend the classics by Richard Adams, Watership Down, the Plague Dogs, and Shardik. Cheers.
A Hundred and One Dalmatians by Dodie Smith James Herriot's It shouldn't Happen to a Vet, etc. Joyce Stranger, I think is a writer who focuses on animal stories. The Animals of Farthing Wood series by Colin Dann. Lucy Daniels "Animal Ark" series, another set for kids really, but animally. lol. Virginia Vail "Animal Inn" series, similar kind of thing. Happy reading, and good luck with your novel.
Are you looking for animals with human intelligence or just normal animals. If it's the later I'd suggest the wolfbrother by Michelle Paver and the other books in that series (whose name I can't remember.). Some of the chapters are from a wolfs POV and I think the book does a good job of presenting things as a wolf might see them. Fire for example is described as "The bright beast that bites hot" from wolfs POV.
