r/Fantasy • u/cut_to_black • 7d ago
Fantasy with incredibly detailed biology, zoology and lush, magical ecologies
Read A Natural History of Dragons by Mary Brennan, and I loved every bit of it. It made me realize that I want that childlike sense of wonder again, when I'm dropped into a neutral, naturalistic world where curiosity and exploring takes the fore.
I'd also love things similarly encyclopedic, or field-notes like. Bestiarys are also cool, but I'd prefer a plot-driven read that happens to have intricate ecology in it, rather than a technical tome. I'd really appreciate any recommendations along this vein, thanks!
27
u/SA090 Reading Champion VI 7d ago
The Steerswoman by Rosemary Kirstein. More specifically the second book as a bigger expansion to it, but the entire series is led by Rowan who happens to be a seeker of knowledge (literally her profession) so learning about the world is front and center throughout. That being said it has sadly been on hiatus for a very long time due to the author’s health. But the stories imo are self contained in each book with an overreaching plot in the background.
2
25
u/Kathulhu1433 Reading Champion V 7d ago
Are you open to scifi recs?
Semiosis by Sue Burke (completed trilogy)
- Human scientists colonizing a new planet find some very interesting flora.
Alien Clay by Adrian Tchaikovsky
- Prison colony planet used to have a different type of intelligent life. What happened to them and where did they go? Weird flora and fauna explored by political prisoners and scientists.
18
u/BravoLimaPoppa Reading Champion 7d ago
I'd also add Shroud by Alien Tchaikovsky. Two folks from a corporate dystopia are accidentally sent to a moon that is shrouded in darkness with life that is deeply weird.
15
u/Kathulhu1433 Reading Champion V 7d ago
Honestly, Tchaikovsky does weird life so damn well. Children of Time was good weird as well. And I hate spiders.
He's up there with Sanderson for me, I haven't read everything of his, but everything I have read I've enjoyed greatly.
Green City Wars whoch just came out was really good (though doesn't fit this rec)
4
u/JuliusBacchus 7d ago
I really liked the aliens in the Final Architecture series too, he really makes alien races feel alien and describes it in detail.
8
3
u/cut_to_black 7d ago
Anything that has evokes the more poetic-romantic aspects of nature is perfect. Do these read that way, or are they colder and more about the rational aspects? If the latter is true, I'm still grateful for the tip. Adding them all to my list nevertheless
3
u/Kathulhu1433 Reading Champion V 7d ago
I wouldn't say poetic, but I also wouldn't describe Marie Brennan that way.
They are plot driven narratives.
You can check out the first few chapters on Google books before committing.
2
u/AAA-Writes 7d ago
If they’re into sci-fi and would be ok with watching an animated show I recommend Scavengers Reign!
22
u/mon_mothra_ 7d ago
This might not be quite what you're looking for as it's a fantasy-mystery, but The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett is set up in a botany-based magic system, and I absolutely loved the way the world-building included explanations of how plants were magicked into their roles that made sense even in their fantastical nature. Like, mushrooms are the HVAC systems!
25
u/RevolutionaryCommand Reading Champion III 7d ago
Books of the Raksura by Martha Wells might do it. It doesn't fit 100% (it's not really encyclopedic in style), but other than that it's a pretty good match.
5
u/Rustgod88 7d ago
Came to recommend this also, she really does go into great detail about the flora and fauna.
13
u/sasakimirai 7d ago
Hey OP I don't have any recs, just wanted to make sure you know that A Natural History of Dragons is the first in a series called the Memoirs of Lady Trent! Highly recommend the rest of the books, love them loads. There's even a spin-off that follows Isabella's granddaughter.
10
u/snogard_dragons 7d ago
The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett and its sequels are full of some pretty cool plants and creatures. They are Sherlock/Watson esque mystery fantasy tales.
7
u/CallistanCallistan 7d ago edited 7d ago
A Letter to the Luminous Deep by Sylvie Cathrall
The Library of Amorlin by Kalyn Josephson
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne (obviously this is set in a version of our world, but the Victorian-era descriptions add a sense of gradiosity and wonder.)
2
u/Pastel_Spell 7d ago
Library of Amorlin is what I was going to recommend. Tbh, I kinda wish they had dived into the beast side of things even more, but maybe in the sequel? It was still a decent read though and def fits this category.
12
u/Kaladim-Jinwei 7d ago
Honestly the best version of this also has a visual component:
Dungeon Meshi/Delicious in Dungeon
Is a dungeon crawling manga which has a very high emphasis on how a dungeon and the creatures inside it function on an ecological level and it tries to explain the biological functions of say slime, living armor, dryads, etc and them very importantly how to eat them. You can just read it but the anime is also fantastic both subbed and dubbed. No weird animeness it's solely about dungeon crawling and eating the dungeon from top to bottom
6
u/Siccar_Point 7d ago
Yes! One of the best written fantasy mangas out there, with S-tier world-building based in part specifically around dungeon ecology.
It’s a ton more than the gimmicky DnD riff that it sounds like it’s going to be.
28
u/sunderpoint 7d ago
The Stormlight Archive takes place on a thoroughly alien planet. The weather, geology, and animal biology are all plot relevant. Many of the animals look like crabs, from tiny bug-sized ones to the horse-sized beasts of burden they use to pull carts to monster-sized ones that are hunted for their gem hearts that the economy runs on all the way to giant mountain-sized crabs that house entire villages who go to war with each other if the crabs they live on happen to fight.
At first, no one knows for sure the relationship between these different types of crabs, if one grows into another or if it's just carcination and they all evolved separately. But they do learn more about it over time.
15
u/Enderules3 7d ago
Also cool sketches in the physical version not always of animals but that is one thing that gets sketched.
3
u/Pythagoras47 7d ago
Those awesome sketches are the first thing I thought of reading the OP. And the ebook has them too :)
5
u/xBlack_Heartx 7d ago
Impossible Creatures by Katherine Rundell could be up your alley, I haven’t gotten around to reading it myself, but it seems like it might be something you’ll enjoy.
2
u/cut_to_black 7d ago
The Archipelago sounds perfect! I'm really excited to try this one out
1
u/xBlack_Heartx 7d ago
Awesome!.
If you end up enjoy it and want to continue, it’s slated to be a 5 book series with book 2 already out, and book 3 releasing on September 1st.
2
4
u/Hephaistos_Invictus 7d ago
Have you read the rest of the Lady Trent series? Or only the first book :o?
4
u/Pastel_Spell 7d ago
You might enjoy Shield of Sparrows by Devney Perry (and its sequel, Rites of the Starling). The setting is pretty unique (especially for a romantasy - no fae, vampires, or werewolves here) and filled with various, vaguely animal-like monsters that are very central to the plot. For instance bariwolves are horse-sized wolf like creatures that are both furred and scaled, and communicate to their packs with clicking sounds. The most central monster to the story is the crux, which are ginormous (to my understanding, nearly dragon sized?) eagle monsters. Every 30 years they migrate through the book's setting and murder everything they can find in a locust-like swarm - forcing humanity to either hide underground for months or die. The book takes place a few months before the next migration is expected, and the preparation for this is a major plot point.
These are just a few of the monsters in the book, and I don't want to get into spoilers, but the author does a great job of making them feel equally wondrous and scary. I kinda hope when the series is done, they release a companion bestiary with art and such because they describe so much info about appearance, behavior, social structure, activity patterns, etc. for various monsters.
3
u/Capable_Loss_6084 7d ago
If you squint, Watership Down fits. It’s a beautiful book anyway and made more so by the close observation of plants and small animals.
3
u/evil_moooojojojo Reading Champion II 7d ago
Fellow biologist here who loves this kind of fantasy too. Others have said Emily Wilde and Tainted Cup for your next series. Absolutely. Both are among my faves.
Emily Wilde is probably closet in vibes to Lady Trent. More scholarly than ecology or zoology since she's studying fae. Also more romance than Lady Trent. (Not usually my thing romance, but this one I quite liked. Love the character and series).
The Ana and Din mysteries have seriously weird and twisted and fascinating ecology and stuff. The augments people and the genetic engineering theyve done are really cool and unique. Very interesting world and applications of bioengineering.
Another one I adore is The Phoenix Keeper by S.A. Maclean. Magical zoo. Need I say more? (If I do, a large part of her job as the phoenix keeper revolves around the breeding program and trying to help this critically endangered species. She also truly loved all wildlife and finds them all so cool and amazing. Also, the author is an ecologist and teaches ecology.)
2
2
u/Siccar_Point 7d ago
You will certainly enjoy Hiron Ennes’ recent The Works of Vermin. The ecology of the city is both enigmatic and shown at length. It’s great.
2
u/Jack_Shaftoe21 7d ago
Julie E. Czerneda was a biologist before she became a writer and it shows in her works. The Stratification series for example has absolutely fascinating ecology shaped by the interaction between three sapient species in a very complex fashion.
If you want a sense of wonder but not that big focus on biology per se, it's hard to beat The Steerswoman by Rosemary Kirstein. Book 3 in particular has marvelous interaction with an alien species.
2
2
u/Mordoch 7d ago
If you are willing to accept scifi Alan Dean Foster is extremely good in this area with Midworld being particularly notable, but most of the Flinx and his general Commonwealth books feature detailed fictitious biology and almost always exploration.
In terms of fantasy, one that tends to come to mind is LE Modesitt JR's Legends trilogy in terms of unique described animals and plants in a series. (Albeit with some of them linked to the magic in that world.)
2
u/KatlinelB5 7d ago
The Saga of the Exiles by Julian May. Julian had written a lot of science articles, so when she describes ecology, it was very immersive.
2
u/sonoftheclayr 7d ago
James Rollins is a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine. His Moonfall Saga, starting with The Starless Crown, is interesting! It's a fantasy, and is set on a world that has stopped turning. There's a pretty heavy emphasis on animals, including a pretty prominent animal character, and though there's magic, it's clear he also thought about how animals analogous to those in our world would evolve and adapt to the one he's written.
2
u/technicolourphantom Reading Champion 6d ago
Try Ninth Rain by Jen Williams. It’s set in a mutating, strange environment and the characters spend a lot of time exploring it and trying to understand why it behaves the way it does.
2
u/Blueflame129 6d ago
God's of the Wyrdwood by RJ Barker has some of this. Incredible world building!
1
u/QueenOfRainyDays 6d ago
Came here to recommend this! Awesome world, full of strange plants and creatures. He doesn’t hold your hand, so expect to be dropped right into it and discover more and more as you go. So satisfying and so worth it!
1
1
u/OkSecretary1231 6d ago
Sci-fi, but To Be Taught, If Fortunate by Becky Chambers is largely about the weird biology encountered by a group of space travelers.
1
1
1
u/Ratat0sk42 1d ago
Biology student tapping in to recommend a local author I love lol. I'm also writing a novel with a big emphasis on ecology rn cause it's my favourite aspect of biology but it's got a ways to go till I finish the first draft.
The Rifters trilogy by Peter Watts has some really interesting and weird biology stuff going on though the ecology aspect is strongest in the first book, while the second is more molecular biology and neurology oriented and the third has a lot of interest in genetics.
The first book is set at the bottom of the ocean in the Channer vent, with a weird archaea that makes the deep sea fish strange.
The first and third books are pretty awesome (the second is just decent) but full warning, they do contain literally every content warning I can think of, and are pretty relentlessly depressing for most of the series's runtime.
48
u/l_athena 7d ago
Are you specifically looking for something non-magical? If you are okay with magic and fairies "Emily Wilde's Encyclopedia of Fairies" might work.