# Any good Anthro Books??



## perkky (Mar 27, 2016)

any good anthro/furry books that are good to read??


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## Bloodhowl (Mar 28, 2016)

Anthro Comic Books and Graphic Novels:

black sad
the great catsby
mouse guard
the wilds end
autumn lands tooth and claw
Nordguard
Squarriors
elephantmen
kennel block blues
mirror
tall tails theives quest
the western deep
caterwall
the mice templar
redwall (theres a regular novel too, with no pictures if your looking for that)
the dog days of summer
red lantern
the tortoise and the hare written and illustrated by marilyn cole
lackadaisy
wuffle comics


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## PrismaKitty (Mar 28, 2016)

Not sure if it counts, but I thought _Pride of Baghdad_ was very good. It's pretty short, too, so no long commitment and the artwork is beautiful.


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## Arcturus Maple (Mar 28, 2016)

Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH
Watership Down


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## Ahkrin Descol (Mar 28, 2016)

Not sure if it qualifies but I enjoyed the Changeling series by Steve Feasey, it's not pure anthro but the main character goes through the troubles of being the last werewolf alive (and the vampires don't sparkle).


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## Otookee (Apr 4, 2016)

A Black Fox Running, by Brian Carter - like Watership Down but with foxes instead of bunnies.

The original Bambi novel by Felix Salten is worth checking out.  Salten was a keen-eyed naturalist and his work is far more realistic than the Disney adaptation - Bambi's mother is far from the only character who dies!

Duncton Wood, by William Horwood.  A society of moles.  Apparently there are sequels (Duncton Quest, Duncton Found, several others) and he also wrote something called The Stonor Eagles, which I haven't read.

Several of Richard A. Knaak's Dragonlance books star minotaurs: Kaz the Minotaur, Land of the Minotaurs, Night of Blood, Tides of Blood, Empire of Blood.

A couple more Dragonlance books, by Margaret Weiss and Don Perrin, star a regiment of draconian soldiers, nominally minions of Evil but mainly just trying to survive: The Doom Brigade and Draconian Measures.

Satyrday by Steven Bauer counts among its main characters a saytr, a fox-nymph, a couple of ravens, and an owl (the villain).

The Grey Horse by R.A. MacAvoy - the title character is an Irish were-stallion.

The Chanur series by CJ Cherryh- scifi from the viewpoint of feline aliens.

Paul Kidd wrote a few: The Rats of Acomar, A Whisper of Wings (illustrated by Terry Smith), Red Sails in the Fallout, Mus of Kerbridge.


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## aefields (Apr 17, 2016)

_Spellsinger_, by Alan Dean Foster.  There are several books in the series.  Very enjoyable.  Human thrown into world where every mammal and avian species is anthropomorphic and sapient.  So the carnivores only eat reptiles, fish, bugs...  This series embodies 'furry' more than any other work by a major author that I've read.  It is suitable for young adults.  Since I'm an old adult, I wish he would write a book of that world that is fully adult.  Ah, well.

- comments on what others have posted -

Yup, Chanur, definitely.  Her novel _Hestia_ is good, too.  But Cherryh's stories all follow too similar a situation, so after reading most of her work I think I may skip it from now on... unless it's Chanur ;-)

I was in my teens when I read Satyrday.  It scared me.  But I thought it was really good.

_Watership Down_ - about rabbits.  Only 'anthro' because the animals can talk to each other.  They can't count above 4, and don't understand roads.  Imagine the life of a real nowadays rabbit.  Loved it.  Still do.  I've read it about a dozen times.  But I wonder: how much of my appreciation of it is because it was my first novel?


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## BRN (Apr 17, 2016)

I read some of Kyell Gold's stuff after meeting him at Rainfurrest. His reputation is well-earned!

Green Fairy was one of his older books that I picked up at his personal recommendation, and it's seriously a good read.


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## Tattorack (Apr 27, 2016)

Bloodhowl said:


> Anthro Comic Books and Graphic Novels:
> 
> black sad
> the great catsby
> ...


I was going to add some names, but all the good ones I know are already on this list right here XD


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## Toby_Morpheus (Apr 27, 2016)

Do uh... heh... Animorphs count? :V


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## Bloodhowl (Apr 27, 2016)

Tattorack said:


> I was going to add some names, but all the good ones I know are already on this list right here XD


I made a bigger separate list in another thread.  in this forum.


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## Inzoreno (Apr 27, 2016)

Not exactly 'furry', but Guardians of Ga'Hoole, a series about sentient owls which, despite being juvenile fiction, I still thought was fairly decent though the first half of the series (I feel it went a little bit off the rails in the second half). Kathryn Lasky, the author, has two other series about sentient wolves and horses, but I've never read any of those and I can't give any critique.


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## Conker56 (Apr 27, 2016)

Out of Position by Kyell Gold is pretty good.


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## modfox (May 7, 2016)

cry of the wolf 
by melvin burgess


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## reptile logic (May 8, 2016)

aefields said:


> _Spellsinger_, by Alan Dean Foster.  There are several books in the series.  Very enjoyable.  Human thrown into world where every mammal and avian species is anthropomorphic and sapient.  So the carnivores only eat reptiles, fish, bugs...  This series embodies 'furry' more than any other work by a major author that I've read.  It is suitable for young adults.  Since I'm an old adult, I wish he would write a book of that world that is fully adult.  Ah, well.
> 
> - comments on what others have posted -
> 
> ...



I remember Spellsinger and Watership down. I went through Alan Dean Foster's stuff pretty quickly as I recall. Sloop John B.


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## StarrySpelunker (May 15, 2016)

Seconding Alan Dean Foster he does aliens so well. 
s:

Nor Crystal Tears  is excellent insect xenofiction(I'd hesitate to call it furry exactly as it's about large alien preying mantises) and easily fits into furry. It's also a fun first contact novel.


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## SniperCoon2882 (Jun 20, 2016)

Prometheus_Fox said:


> Do uh... heh... Animorphs count? :V


I used to LOVE those books, and I think those were the thing that made me furry... that was back in 3rd grade, aka 8 or 9 years ago.


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## ChapterAquila92 (Jul 18, 2016)

I would highly recommend the Moreau series by Andrew Swann. It's a near-future sci-fi detective series featuring genetically-engineered anthros ("moreaus") and designer babies ("frankensteins"), both originally conceived as weapons to fight World War 3, living as second-class citizens in the US.

As the author summarizes on his site:



			
				Andrew Swann said:
			
		

> The four Moreau novels are set in a postwar United States where there is a growing population of over ten million non-humans, the leftovers of wartime genetic engineering. The books revolve around politics, conspiracy, prejudice, and the attempts abnormal characters make to live a normal life.
> 
> These books have developed a bit of a following within “furry fandom,” the subclass of fandom that’s usually associated with cartoons and animation, the primary source for images of anthropomorphic animals. While I wasn’t aware furry fandom existed before I wrote these books, I find their response to my work gratifying. A lot of what fan-mail I receive (nowadays mostly fan e-mail) comes from “furries”.
> 
> ...


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## Arcturus Maple (Jul 19, 2016)

ChapterAquila92 said:


> I would highly recommend the Moreau series by Andrew Swann. It's a near-future sci-fi detective series featuring genetically-engineered anthros ("moreaus") and designer babies ("frankensteins"), both originally conceived as weapons to fight World War 3, living as second-class citizens in the US.


It seems like whenever somebody develops some kind of superhuman powerhouses in fiction, they always end up being treated like subhumans instead. Only humans could be so idiotic as to antagonize things more powerful than themselves.


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## Sergei Nóhomo (Jul 19, 2016)

Redwall
Alera Unbroken


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## ChapterAquila92 (Jul 20, 2016)

Arcturus Maple said:


> It seems like whenever somebody develops some kind of superhuman powerhouses in fiction, they always end up being treated like subhumans instead. Only humans could be so idiotic as to antagonize things more powerful than themselves.


That depends on how tolerant you are of those who are not only groomed to be superior to you but are also specifically _designed_ to be superior. The average peasant kind of gets pissed off when the ones in power are practically flaunting their wealth with it.

There is however a subversive context in the setting; among other things, there was little care taken towards the long-term effects of the genetic arms race leading up to WW3. Honduran rats, as an in-universe example, were disposable cannon fodder used by certain nations as cheap manpower; they were expected to drown their enemies in bodies and not to last very long on the battlefield. As such, no one at the time gave a shit that their mental development by physical adulthood was equivalent to that of a human child and all that it entails. For similar reasons, moreaus in general would consider themselves lucky to die of old age in their fifties (the rats only last for 18); longevity was never a factor to consider when it came to designing soldiers.

Another part of the problem comes down to that funny little thing called the Uncanny Valley. Interestingly enough, between the two 2nd-class citizens, franks (in-universe slang for frankensteins) have it worse than moreys (in-universe slang for moreaus) due to franks being "too human" in their appearances, whereas moreys are sufficiently different from baseline humanity in appearance to not invoke that disturbing level of creepiness.

In the end though, I would recommend picking up a copy of the series, reading it, and forming your own opinions on the setting from that, as opposed to letting me explain it in minute detail.


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## Hara Surya (Jul 22, 2016)

I'll second *Hestia *by C.J. Cherryh and remark the plot reminded me a little bit of Avatar. Now her Chanur books might throw you for a bit of a loop when you realize the muscle-bound, shirtless, somewhat scary looking cat-aliens on the cover are all female. She does a really good job of subverting the "sexy catgirl" trope in those books. She also does a wonderful job of worldbuilding and even gets into the fact alien brains won't necessarily work like ours. Her methane-breathing races are truly alien and don't even understand cause-effect like we do because they think in such massively parallel ways. (Their language comes across more as a matrix of what each of a dozen lobes is thinking at the moment.)

As for _*Mr. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH*_ I'll mention his daughter wrote several sequels in the 1980s.

On Kindle I found a series called Fuzzy Business by Amelia Ritner which takes place from the perspective of a young twenty-something woman who has some transgenic cat features who helps a similar canine-man avoid being framed for a murder. It seems pretty explicitly written by someone into Furries (the main character even mentions the subculture by name... as being a bit creepy...lol). Another titled Rainbow Dreams by Mistral Dawn is about a cat-person alien named Petri with a psychic vampire-like ability, but finds herself hunted because, well, she's a psychic vampire and people don't like them. I also have a story titled Terrae: The Hollow Men about a modern-day man who wakes up in a faux Medieval world populated by animal-people.


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## Moopsnotmoors (Sep 2, 2017)

Frontier is good. It'a sci-fi and kinda feels (i want to say) episodic? 
Artwork Gallery for maggot-mosh-pit -- Fur Affinity [dot] net


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## JoeStrike (Sep 4, 2017)

Inzoreno said:


> Not exactly 'furry', but Guardians of Ga'Hoole, a series about sentient owls which, despite being juvenile fiction, I still thought was fairly decent though the first half of the series (I feel it went a little bit off the rails in the second half). Kathryn Lasky, the author, has two other series about sentient wolves and horses, but I've never read any of those and I can't give any critique.



I like to think of anything featuring anthropomorphic animals as "furry," even if it originates outside, isn't targeted to the fandom or features "ferals" who talk among themselves.


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## JoeStrike (Sep 4, 2017)

I realize this thread is over a year old, but there are several mainstream, non-kid, non-sci-fi/fantasy genre novels featuring anthropomorphic animals; a few are pretty good (several feature interspecies sex!), most are OK & one or two suck:

Lives of the Monster Dogs, by Kirsten Bakis
-  Non-anthro, speaking dogs come to NYC & become celebrities
The Bear Comes Home - Rafi Zabor
- Adventures of a speaking, non-anthro, jazz saxophone-playing bear
The Bear Went Over the Mountain - William Kotzwinkle
- Non anthro bear steals writer's manuscript, comes to NYC & becomes literary celebrity
Gojiro - Mark Jacobs
- Godzilla-ish, gigantic sentient reptile
Carmen Dog - Carol Emshwiller
-  Women start turning into animals (and vice-versa)
Krazy Kat - Jay Cantor
-  The famous comic strip characters develop inner lives and existential crises
Gun With Occasional Music - Jonathan Lethem-
-  A noir/private eye novel: in an alternate, modern-day reality animals receive "evolution therapy"
In the Floyd Archives - Sarah Boxer
-  Freud's most famous cases retold with anthro animals
The Woman and the Ape - Peter Hoeg
-  Ape of an unknown sub-species is captured & brought to London; strangeness ensues

Probably more, but those are the first that come to mind (because they're all on my bookshelf); I'm sure they all have Wikipedia write-ups if you want to learn more about them.


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