I also chose to include a list of creatures and entities you might not normally pick. Some readers may glance at this list and exclaim, “how very dare you” for missing creatures from popular books or series. To that I say: Yes, I know. I did that on purpose. It is my goal to introduce creatures and books that you can discover and share with newfound glee. For the sake of organization and navigation, I chose to list creatures by sections based on the creatures’ main elements: Land, Water, Air, Forest, and an underworld-themed section, which encompasses creatures and entities (some of them are spirits) who hail from underworlds, netherworlds, and the gray places in between. I am including books across genres, from fantasy romance to literary, in hopes that you’ll each find something to your fancy, or a new genre to try. Additionally, for some of my favorite titles, I’ve includes descriptions and passages in quotations from the books themselves. Going off of the above definition, I want to include mythological creatures that have a basis or inspiration in mythology. For example, dragons, sirens, and dryads have a basis in English and Greek mythology. Demons, in many forms, come from various mythologies around the globe. Where the line is drawn, and how stark that line, is absolutely debatable, and I encourage readers to debate this line and list their own favorites on social media. Some of my choices tickle the edges of creatures based more in legend than myth, but you be the judge. So describes the dragon Temeraire from Novik’s series. It follows Captain Will Laurence, whose life as a sea captain is shattered when he bonds with Temeraire, forever duty-bound to fly in the sky. This is a magnificent alternate history of the Napoleonic Wars. This series was also made into a comic on Webtoon and has a season of episodes. The art is amazing! “Those eyes were blazing rings of fire, and that mouthful of teeth invited no argument. Tané could not disobey a god. Her body was a vessel of water, and all water was theirs.” “Does a flower remember its life as a seed? Does a phoenix recall itself as it burns anew? You will not see me again. I shall be but a shadow streaking across the sky — fleeting, speeding, and utterly gone.” This will check your box for dragons, I promise you. “The dragon looked away, westward, over the sea. It twitched its long body with a clink and clash of iron scales, then abruptly opened its wings, crouched, and leapt straight out from the cliff onto the wind. The dragging tail scored the sandstone as it passed.” Having read the Throne of Glass series, I actually found Tower of Dawn to be the best in the series. It was a nice reprieve from the intensity of the other character arcs, shedding light on a new land and array of characters. One of the best parts of Tower of Dawn are the ruks, giant eagle-like, gold-feathered birds that that rukhin ride on. The rukhin are the arial calvary for the khagans, the rulers of the southern continent. The flights and battles with these loyal birds were a blast to read. If you’ve hit your quota for dragon books, definitely take a dive into this one. Please note: It might be harder to navigate this book without reading the prior books in the series. “He saw the shadows settle over the floor as Bramble took up guard all around the place, calling up blackthorn and dark holly on every side, planting herself by the door in a menacing tangle. Well, there went Tobias’s vegetable garden.” “I think of what he’s asked me to think. Of man and wolf, man and animal, man and woman and animal, twisted together, fur and bones and flesh and claws and teeth, glowing eyes and arched spines, human skin peeling and tearing to spill out flea-bitten fur, a mass of memories from literature and film and myth and art.” If you like enjoy this book, the sequel, For the Throne, has even more monsters and myth-making to strike your fancy. “Chapman is one of a kind; he’ll build no house nor plant any garden, he accepts he’ll have no wife and raise no children, not like this, not as a species of one, half wild and half man, alone in the world except for his human brother.” “The stranger withe goldfish-tail hair plucked a shining grape from the ivy. She held it in her gloved hand, twisting it to catch the light. I could see now the scars down her arm and across her shoulder. Enochian scarred into her flesh.” There are many characters in the Dark Star trilogy that are mythical creatures. Marlon James’s trilogy has been called the “African Game of Thrones” for good reason. This Man Booker Prize winner writes one hell of a book. In this 6th addition to the portal fantasy series, Regan finds herself in a complicated friend situation, and her parents also reveal that she is intersex. Regan’s unmoored by her friends and finds a door to the Hooflands. Here, there are centaurs, creatures that gallop across everlasting green fields. “At last it’s done, and the kelpie stamps his hooves, pulls away sharply and begins to dance, tossing his head and moving sinuous as a seal in the water. I keep hold of the bridle, which feels disgusting and stinks.” “‘Nadi, spirit of chance,’ she murmured, the taste of strawberry on her lips. ‘You are hungry, and I have sweets.’”
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