Robbins Library: Bingo Square: Fantasy Novels With Anthropomorphic Characters

Press release from Robbins Library:

August 9, 2021

Are you participating in Adult Summer Reading and stuck on this bingo square? We’ve got some suggestions for you! Links go to the catalog so you can see if the books are available now and request them if they’re not.

Definition of anthropomorphic (Merriam-Webster Dictionary)an·​thro·​po·​mor·​phic \ an(t)-thrə-pə-ˈmȯr-fik 1. described or thought of as having a human form or human attributesanthropomorphic deitiesstories involving anthropomorphic animals

2. ascribing human characteristics to nonhuman thingsanthropomorphic supernaturalismanthropomorphic beliefs about nature

The golden compass (His Dark Materials Book #1) / Philip Pullman

Lyra is rushing to the cold, far North, where witch clans and armored bears rule. North, where the Gobblers take the children they steal–including her friend Roger. North, where her fearsome uncle Asriel is trying to build a bridge to a parallel world.

Can one small girl make a difference in such great and terrible endeavors? This is Lyra: a savage, a schemer, a liar, and as fierce and true a champion as Roger or Asriel could want.

But what Lyra doesn’t know is that to help one of them will be to betray the other…

A masterwork of storytelling and suspense, Philip Pullman’s award-winning The Golden Compass is the first in the His Dark Materials series, which continues with The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass.

The aeronaut’s windlass (Cinder Spires Book #1) / Jim Butcher

Since time immemorial, the Spires have sheltered humanity, towering for miles over the mist-shrouded surface of the world. Within their halls, aristocratic houses have ruled for generations, developing scientific marvels, fostering trade alliances, and building fleets of airships to keep the peace.

Captain Grimm commands the merchant ship, Predator. Fiercely loyal to Spire Albion, he has taken their side in the cold war with Spire Aurora, disrupting the enemy’s shipping lines by attacking their cargo vessels. But when the Predator is severely damaged in combat, leaving captain and crew grounded, Grimm is offered a proposition from the Spirearch of Albion–to join a team of agents on a vital mission in exchange for fully restoring Predator to its fighting glory.

And even as Grimm undertakes this dangerous task, he will learn that the conflict between the Spires is merely a premonition of things to come. Humanity’s ancient enemy, silent for more than ten thousand years, has begun to stir once more. And death will follow in its wake…

The chronicles of Narnia / C.S. Lewis ; illustrations by Pauline Baynes and including an essay on writing by C.S. Lewis

The chronicles of Narnia / C.S. Lewis ; illustrations by Pauline Baynes and including an essay on writing by C.S. Lewis

Fantastic creatures, heroic deeds, epic battles in the war between good and evil, and unforgettable adventures come together in this world where magic meets reality, which has been enchanting readers of all ages for over sixty years. The Chronicles of Narnia has transcended the fantasy genre to become a part of the canon of classic literature.

This edition presents all seven books–The Magician’s Nephew; The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe; The Horse and His Boy; Prince Caspian; The Voyage of the Dawn Treader; The Silver Chair; and The Last Battle–unabridged. The books appear according to C. S. Lewis’s preferred order and each chapter features a chapter opening illustration by the original artist, Pauline Baynes.

Arrows of the queen (Heralds of Valdemar Book #1) / Mercedes Lackey

Follows the adventures of Talia as she trains to become a Herald of Valdemar in the first book in the classic epic fantasy Arrows trilogy

Chosen by the Companion Rolan, a mystical horse-like being with powers beyond imagining, Talia, once a runaway, has now become a trainee Herald, destined to become one of the Queen’s own elite guard. For Talia has certain awakening talents of the mind that only a Companion like Rolan can truly sense.But as Talia struggles to master her unique abilities, time is running out. For conspiracy is brewing in Valdemar, a deadly treason that could destroy Queen and kingdom. Opposed by unknown enemies capable of both diabolical magic and treacherous assassination, the Queen must turn to Talia and the Heralds for aid in protecting the realm and insuring the future of the Queen’s heir, a child already in danger of becoming bespelled by the Queen’s own foes.

The color of magic : a novel of discworld (Discworld Book #1) / Terry Pratchett

Terry Pratchett has invented a phantasmagorical universe in which a blissfully naive interplanetary tourist called Two-flower joins up with a drop-out wizard whose spells only seem to work half of the time. Together they undertake a chaotic voyage through a crazy world filled with monsters and dragons, heroes and knaves. Pratchett has taken the sword and sorcery fantasy tradition and turned it in its ear to create an entertaining and bizarre spoof.

According to the author, these novels are episodic and can be read in any order.[Discworld Wiki] Some animals on the Discworld known to have human-level intelligence are Gaspode, The Librarian, camels, The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents and Quoth the raven.

Watership Down / Richard Adams

Richard Adams’s Watership Down is a timeless classic and one of the most beloved novels of all time. Set in the Hampshire Downs in Southern England, an idyllic rural landscape, this stirring tale of “suspense, hot pursuit, and derring-do” (Chicago Tribune) follows a band of rabbits in flight from the incursion of man and the destruction of their home. Led by a stouthearted pair of brothers, they travel forth from their native Sandleford warren through harrowing trials to a mysterious promised land and a more perfect society. “A marvelous story of rebellion, exile, and survival” (Sunday Telegraph) this is an unforgettable literary classic for all ages.

Hounded / Kevin Hearne (The Iron Druid Chronicles Book#1)

Atticus O’Sullivan, last of the Druids, lives peacefully in Arizona, running an occult bookshop and shape-shifting in his spare time to hunt with his Irish wolfhound. His neighbors and customers think that this handsome, tattooed Irish dude is about twenty-one years old–when in actuality, he’s twenty-one centuries old. Not to mention: He draws his power from the earth, possesses a sharp wit, and wields an even sharper magical sword known as Fragarach, the Answerer.

Unfortunately, a very angry Celtic god wants that sword, and he’s hounded Atticus for centuries. Now the determined deity has tracked him down, and Atticus will need all his power–plus the help of a seductive goddess of death, his vampire and werewolf team of attorneys, a bartender possessed by a Hindu witch, and some good old-fashioned luck of the Irish–to kick some Celtic arse and deliver himself from evil.

The red wolf conspiracy / Robert V.S. Redick (The Chathrand Voyage Book #1)

Scant years after a terrible war that shook empires, a six-hundred-year-old ship sets sail for enemy lands in an attempt to forge an enduring peace between the world’s two greatest monarchies. A vast city afloat, the ancient vessel bears a royal bride-to-be; a stowaway tribe of foot high warriors; an honest young tarboy with a heritage of treason; a rat with a magical secret; and a dark conspiracy centered around the Red Wolf, a legendary and dangerous artifact. When the conspiracy is uncovered, the voyage takes a turn into perilous waters, and the sword-wielding young bride and her quick-witted tarboy companion must face deadly assassins, treacherous mermaids, and monstrous slavers to uncover secrets at the highest levels of power—secrets that will send heroes and traitors alike careening towards a mysterious destination that could destroy both empires at a stroke. A publishing sensation in England, The Red Wolf Conspiracy marks the debut of a remarkably gifted young writer.

Empire of the ants (La Saga des Fourmis Book#1) / Bernard Werber ; translated by Margaret Rocques

Here is the stunning international bestseller in the tradition of Watership Down but with a dark, original twist. Unique, daring, and unforgettable, it tells the story of an ordinary family who accidentally threaten the security of a hidden civilization as intelligent as our own–a colony of ants determined to survive at any cost….

Jonathan Wells and his young family have come to the Paris flat at 3, rue des Sybarites through the bequest of his eccentric late uncle Edmond. Inheriting the dusty apartment, the Wells family are left with only one warning: Never go down into the cellar. But when the family dog disappears down the basement steps, Jonathan follows–and soon his wife, his son, and various would-be rescuers vanish into its mysterious depths. Meanwhile, in a pine stump in a nearby park, a vast civilization is in turmoil. Here a young female from the russet ant nation of Bel-o-kan learns that a strange new weapon has been killing off her comrades. To find out why, she enlists the help of a warrior ant, and the two set off on separate journeys into a harsh and violent world. It is a world where death takes many forms–savage birds and voracious lizards, warlike dwarf ants and rapacious termites, poisonous beetles and, most bizarre of all, the swift, murderous, giant guardians of the edge of the world: cars. Yet the end of the female’s desperate quest will be the eerie secret in the cellar at 3, rue des Sybarites–a mystery she must solve in order to fulfill her special destiny as the new queen of her own great empire. But to do so she must first make unthinkable communion with the most barbaric creatures of all. Empire of the Ants is a brilliant evocation of a hidden civilization as complex as our own and far more ancient. It is a fascinating realm where boats are built of leaves and greenflies are domesticated and milked like cows, where citizens lock antennae in “absolute communication” and fight wars with precisely coordinated armies using sprays of glue and acids that can dissolve a snail. Not since Watership Down has a novel so vividly captured the lives and struggles of a fellow species and the valuable lessons they have to teach us.

Tailchaser’s song / Tad Williams

Tailchaser’s song / Tad Williams

Meet Fritti Tailchaser, a ginger tom cat of rare courage and curiosity, a born survivor in a world of heroes and villains, of powerful feline gods and whiskery legends about those strange furless, erect creatures called M’an.

“The hour of Unfolding Dark had begun, and the rooftop where Tailchaser lay was smothered in shadow. He was deep in a dream of leaping and flying when he felt an unusual tingling in his whiskers. Fritti Tailchaser, hunterchild of the Folk, came suddenly awake and sniffed the air. Ears pricked and whiskers flared straight, he sifted the evening breeze. Nothing unusual. Then what had awakened him? Pondering, he splayed his claws and began a spine-limbering stretch that finally ended at the tip of his reddish tail.”

Join Tailchaser on his magical quest to rescue his catfriend Hushpad on a quest that will take him all the way to cat hell and beyond.

Birds of paradise / Oliver K. Langmead

Many millennia after the fall of Eden, Adam, the first man in creation, still walks the Earth – exhausted by the endless death and destruction, he is a shadow of his former hope and glory. And he is not the only one. The Garden was deconstructed, its pieces scattered across the world and its inhabitants condemned to live out immortal lives, hiding in plain sight from generations of mankind. But now pieces of the Garden are turning up on the Earth. After centuries of loneliness, Adam, haunted by the golden time at the beginning of Creation, is determined to save the pieces of his long lost home. With the help of Eden’s undying exiles, he must stop Eden becoming the plaything of mankind. Adam journeys across America and the British Isles with Magpie, Owl, and other animals, gathering the scattered pieces of Paradise. As the country floods once more, Adam must risk it all to rescue his friends and his home – because rebuilding the Garden might be the key to rebuilding his life.  

The builders / Daniel Polansky

A missing eye.A broken wing.A stolen country.

The last job didn’t end well.

Years go by, and scars fade, but memories only fester. For the animals of the Captain’s company, survival has meant keeping a low profile, building a new life, and trying to forget the war they lost. But now the Captain’s whiskers are twitching at the idea of evening the score.

Rescue ferrets at sea (Ferret Chronicles Book #1) / Richard Bach

Not many humans know. On the edges of every sea, the Ferret Rescue Service stands alongside the Coast Guard and Coastal Patrol of any country that claims an ocean shore. Just as it is the job of humans to rescue human lives at risk in storm and shipboard disaster, so it is the job of ferrets to rescue seagoing animals. In this world of committed, courageous ferrets, Captain Bethany Ferret stands apart. A kit from humble beginnings, she rises quickly to command the swift J-boat Resolute, once derelict, which she herself has rescued from the rocks. Bethany and her crew measure the days by storms at sea, by ships in distress and by lives saved from tempest. When the alert siren shrieks in the midnight storm, Bethany shakes away sleep and races to the bridge. “Boa, start Engine One, start Engine Two.” She does not inquire whether the Chief Engine ferret is ready for action on a quarter-minute warning. She switches to the ship’s loudspeaker: “Topside crew, paws on deck. We have a vessel in distress, this is not a drill. “Engines bursting awake, searchlights blazing, crew and boat battle swells and screaming wind to reach desperate creatures in black water, the lines between life and death now drawn only by the limits of the ferrets’ courage. From ceaseless boat-drill practice to instant decisions on the broken deck of the Deepsea Explorer, Rescue Ferrets at Sea is a tale of the pursuit of ideals, of the value of teamwork, an action portrait of those who believe that the rescue of life is the highest calling.

This press release was produced by Robbins Library. The views expressed here are the author’s own.