Non-Humans and Aliens

These books feature non-humans, aliens and humanoids. In some stories, such as the Uplift books, the story is told from multiple viewpoints, however, there are more non-human and alien protagonists than humans, therefore, I placed the books here. Again, this is a work in progress, so there will be more books added as fast as I locate them, get referrals and/or read the books.

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Clare Bell
Tomorrow's Sphinx (Grades 7+ / Ages 13+)
"Two unusual black cheetahs share a mental link, one cat coming from the past to reveal scenes from his life with the young pharaoh Tutankhamen, and one struggling to survive in a future world ravaged by ecological disaster." Sadly, this book appears to be out of print and available as a used book only.

David Brin
The Uplift Saga - Sundiver, The Uplift War, and Startide Rising  (Ages 15+)
These books include chimpanzees and dolphins, which have been uplifted by their human patrons to increase their intelligence. Unlike other galactic species, humans apparently did not have a patron, causing huge problems with the ancient races in charge of the Galaxies. Humans are considered savages by most civilized races.
 
Sundiver
"No species has ever reached for the stars without the guidance of a patron--except perhaps mankind. Did some mysterious race begin the uplift of humanity aeons ago? Circling the sun, under the caverns of Mercury, Expedition Sundiver prepares for the most momentous voyage in history--a journey into the boiling inferno of the sun." 

Startide Rising
"The Terran exploration vessel Streaker has crashed in the uncharted water world of Kithrup, bearing one of the most important discoveries in galactic history.  Below, a handful of her human and dolphin crew battles armed rebellion and a hostile planet to safeguard her secret--the fate of the Progenitors, the fabled First Race who seeded wisdom throughout the stars."

The Uplift War
"As galactic armadas clash in quest of the ancient fleet of the Progenitors, a brutal alien race seizes the dying planet of Garth.  The various uplifted inhabitants of Garth must battle their overlords or face ultimate extinction.  At stake is the existence of Terran society and Earth, and the fate of the entire Five Galaxies.  Sweeping, brilliantly crafted, inventive and dramatic, The Uplift War is an unforgettable story of adventure and wonder from one of today's science fiction greats."

The Hugo Award winning book, The Uplift War, is my favorite of all the Uplift Books and I'd like to see more of their characters in another series focused on the chims and chimees. (RDJ)


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The Uplift Trilogy: Brightness Reef, Infinity's Shore, and Heaven's Reach
(Ages 15+)
This trilogy continues the fascinating stories of the first three books and incorporate more of ancient galactic history and species. Again, the books include several Earth species’ and aliens’ points of view. (RDJ)

Brightness Reef
"The planet Jijo is forbidden to settlers, its ecology protected by guardians of the Five Galaxies.  But over the centuries it has been resettled, populated by refugees of six intelligent races.  Together they have woven a new society in the wilderness, drawn together by their fear of Judgment Day, when the Five Galaxies will discover their illegal colony.  Then a strange starship arrives on Jijo.  Does it bring the long-dreaded judgment, or worse--a band of criminals willing to destroy the six races of Jijo in order to cover their own crimes?"

Infinity's Shore
"For the fugitive settlers of Jijo, it is truly the beginning of the end. As starships fill the skies, the threat of genocide hangs over the planet that once peacefully sheltered six bands of sapient beings. Now the human settlers of Jijo and their alien neighbors must make heroic--and terrifying--choices. A scientist must rally believers for a cause he never shared. And four youngsters find that what started as a simple adventure--imitating exploits in Earthling books by Verne and Twain--leads them to the dark abyss of mystery. Meanwhile, the Streaker, with her fugitive dolphin crew, arrives at last on Jijo in a desperate search for refuge. Yet what the crew finds instead is a secret hidden since the galaxies first spawned intelligence--a secret that could mean salvation for the planet and its inhabitants...or their ultimate annihilation.

Heaven's Reach   
"Winner of the Nebula and Hugo Awards, David Brin brings his bestselling Uplift series to a magnificent conclusion with his most imaginative and powerful novel to date--the shattering epic of a universe poised on the brink of revelation...or annihilation.

"The brutal enemy that has relentlessly pursued them for centuries has arrived. Now the fugitive settlers of Jijo--both human and alien--brace for a final confrontation. The Jijoans' only hope is the Earthship Streaker, crewed by uplifted dolphins and commanded by an untested human.

"Yet more than just the fate of Jijo hangs in the balance. For Streaker carries a cargo of ancient artifacts that may unlock the secret of those who first brought intelligent life to the Galaxies. Many believe a dire prophecy has come to pass: an age of terrifying changes that could end Galactic civilization.

"As dozens of white dwarf stars stand ready to explode, the survival of sentient life in the universe rests on the most improbable dream of all--that age-old antagonists of different races can at last recognize the unity of all consciousness."
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Kindle edition

Kindle edition

Kindle edition
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Kindle edition

Kindle edition

Kindle edition
C.J. Cherryh
The Chanur series - The Pride of Chanur, Chanur's Venture, The Kif Strike Back, Chanur's Homecoming, and Chanur's Legacy (Ages 15+)
A five-volume series featuring a lion-like species, the Hani. These are fascinatingly complex stories about an entirely different culture, yet we humans can better relate to the Hani than to the aliens that they trade (and fight) with during their adventures. The fact that the only members of the Hani who go out into space are the females is even more interesting.

The Chanure Saga - A three volume bind-up of The Pride of Chanur, Chanur's Venture, and The Kif Strike Back

The Pride of Chanur
"No one at Meetpoint Station had ever seen a creature like the Outsider. Naked-hided, blunt toothed and blunt-fingered, Tully was the sole surviving member of his company -- a communicative, spacefaring species hitherto unknown -- and he was a prisoner of his discoverer/captors the sadistic, treacherous kif, until his escape onto the hani ship The Pride of Chanur. Little did he know when he threw himself upon the mercy of The Pride and her crew that he put the entire hani species in jeopardy and imperiled the peace of the Compact itself. For the information this fugitive held could be the ruin or glory of any of the species at Meetpoint Station."

The female captain Pyanfar Chanur and her crew are traders caught in a complex conflict between several oxygen and methane breathing species when a human escapes from a Kif ship and finds refuge on The Pride of Chanur. (RDJ)

Chanur's Venture
"In the sequel to Pride of Chanur, Tully returns, and brings with him a priceless trade contract with human space--a contract that could mean vast power, riches, and a mess of trouble for Pyanfar Chanur."

The Kif Strike Back
"When the kif seize Hilfy and Tully, Pyanfar and her shipmates enter into a simple rescue attempt that soon becomes a deadly game of interstellar politics."

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Chanur's Endgame - The final two volumes bound together - Chanur's Homecoming and Chanur's Legacy

Chanur's Homecoming
"When those aliens entities called "humans" sent their first exploration ship into Compact space, the traditional power alliances of the seven Compact races were catastrophically disrupted. And, giving shelter to Tully, the only surviving human, Pyanfar Chanur and her feline hani crew were pitched into the center of a galactic maelstrom, becoming key players in a power game which could cause an intersteller war, or bring the last hope for peace between eight barely compatible alien races."

Chanur's Legacy
"A game of interstellar politics in which Hilfy Chanur and her vessel Legacy are commissioned to transport a small, mysterious religious object. The price is extremely generous, perhaps too generous."

This is another of my favorite series, like many others, I wish there were more books featuring the Hani culture and particularly the Chanur. (RDJ) 
The first three books bound up into one volume.
The last two books in the five-volume series bound into one volume.
Daniel Heath Justice
The Way of Thorn and Thunder: The Kynship Chronicles (Ages 15+) 
This 3-volume bind-up includes Kynship: The Way of Thorn and Thunder, Book One; Wyrwood (Way of Thorn & Thunder); and Dreyd (Way of Thorn & Thunder)

"Taking fantasy literature beyond the stereotypes, Daniel Heath Justice's acclaimed Thorn and Thunder novels are set in a world resembling eighteenth-century North America. The original trilogy is available here for the first time as a fully revised one-volume novel. The story of the struggle for the green world of the Everland, home of the forest-dwelling Kyn, is an adventure tale that bends genre and gender.

"'A powerful heroic fantasy, notable for being set, not in the familiar myth-Europe of most such fantasies, but (like Liliana Bodoc's haunting Saga de los Confines) in the Old World of the Western Hemisphere, the Native American world, where the true, deep roots of magic are threatened by conquest and destruction.' --Ursula K. Le Guin
 
"'A beautifully wrought high fantasy novel, drawing from the unique and fascinating cultures of North America s aboriginal peoples but successfully creating a world and characters that stand on their own, and are even set apart from what we usually see in high fantasy. Readers who enjoy meticulously created landscapes and cultures, as well as language that is by turns both visceral and elegant, will likely find much to love in The Way of Thorn and Thunder.' --Karin Lowachee, author The Gaslight Dogs" This is all three volumes of the Kynship Chronicles, bound up into one book.

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Kynship: The Way of Thorn and Thunder, Book One
"'A Cherokee-rooted fantasy that weaves a world every bit as challenging, dangerous, urgent, and joyful as our own, Kynship is a tale that shatters colonial myths. With this stunning debut novel, Justice helps decolonize the genre and brings us a story that is vital to Indigenous survival and resistance.' Qwo-Li Driskill, Author, Walking with Ghosts: Poems

""If you love the work of J.R.R. Tolkien or the Dragonlance series, you will love Kynship, Book 1 of The Way of Thorn and Thunder. Behold Oinara! It's Solace of the Dragonlance series and Middle Earth all rolled into one. Justice has created a fantasy epic so rich in history and so complex with all of its inhabitants and mystery that you're never going to want The Way of Thorn and Thunder to end. What a treasure for anyone looking for heroes and adventure in a series based on Aboriginal philosophy and wisdom.' Richard Van Camp, Author, Angel Wing Splash Pattern"

Wyrwood (Way of Thorn & Thunder)
"'There is action and adventure aplenty in this epic tale of conflict between Humans and other-worldly Kyn, but there is something deeper as well.  Like the magic that imbues his imagined world of spirit-trees and talking beasts, a true sense of wonder and enchantment wells up through Daniel Heath Justice's words.  This is a realm that fantasy fans can immerse themselves in, and return to again and again; a realm that feels at once fresh and new, yet old as the oldest myth.' Alison Baird, author of The Hidden World"

Dreyd (Way of Thorn & Thunder)
"The Eternity Tree has fallen, and with it falls Sheynadwiin. The forces of Eromar ravage the Everland, and the skies are filled with the smoke and ashes of the burning forests. Those Folk who do not escape into the far mountains and hidden valleys are driven into the broken westlands of Humanity, where Dreydmaster Vald reveals the full vision of his grand ambition, one that will annihilate even the memory of the Kyn and their kind. Yet not all the Folk walk down the Darkening Road. As the Redthorn Wielder, Tarsa’deshae, and her group of freedom fighters travel west to free their people, a young Tetawa Dolltender and her Strangeling compatriot head to the East, to plead their case to the Reachwarden in great Chalimor, the shining capital of the Reach of Men. Unexpected allies stand at their side, even as deadly enemies rise up to surround them. Yet surrender is not an option, for the Folk stand at the edge of oblivion. Never since the Melding have they faced such danger. Will their roots hold fast, or will they be lost upon the storm?"
The 3-volume
bind-up of the Kynship Chronicles
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Kindle edition of the 3-volume bind-up
Text-to-Speech enabled
Andre Norton
The Iron Breed - The Iron Cage and Breed to Come (Ages 13+) 
A two-volume bind-up. These are two completely separate novels, unrelated to each other. 

The Iron Cage
"Johnny has always loved and been protected by the People, the bearlike inhabitants on the planet he calls home. But when a star ship arrives carrying Johnny’s original species, humans -- humans who seek to exploit the People for their own ends -- Johnny is forced to choose between loyalty to the creatures he considers his family, and the need to reconnect with his long lost heritage."

Breed to Come 
"On a distant future Earth, humans have polluted the planet and departed, leaving their pets behind to inherit a blasted world.  But from that devastated past, a new breed of intelligence arises: the catlike People.  Now humans return and the People are in no mood to deal once again with the “demons” who abandoned them to fate so long ago."

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Janus - Judgement on Janus and Victory on Janus (Ages 13+)
Judgement on Janus and the sequel Victory on Janus bound up into one volume.

Judgement on Janus
Naill Renfro signs himself into servitude on a distant planet for two reasons, to ease his mother's pain as she dies and to escape the refugee camp known as the Dipple. Little does he know that the forested world of Janus holds a deep and ancient mystery. When he finds a cache of jewels, he hides it, but he can't hide the changes that it makes to his body and mind. He is transformed, becoming Naill as well as an ancient warrior of the original people of Janus. The conservative, religious cult of human settlers look upon those who are changed with horror, believing that it is their sinful desire for the cache that has transformed them into green monsters. In a race against time, Naill and Ashla Himmer, a settler's daughter, must solve the riddle of Janus and save both their new people and the settlers from an ancient menace. (RDJ)

Victory on Janus
Naill awakens early from his winter hibernation, seeking answers to a threat out of the depths of Janus' mysterious history. Battling against the artifacts and effects of an ancient alien installation, he and his fellow changelings are the only hope for the survival of the planet. While some of the technology is dated, like computers with vacuum tubes, the Janus stories have held up well through the decades since their original publication. Norton's writing of ecological issues set into a sci-fi, space opera mixed with the native peoples' magic are classic explorations of mans' own destructive attitudes and actions against nature. I highly recommend these two novels to teens and adults of all ages. (RDJ)
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S. Andrew Swann
The Moreau series: Forests of the Night, Emperors of Twilight, Specters of the Dawn, and Fearful Symmetries (Ages 18+)
These books are not quite a quartet, while set in the same world, the first three books feature different main characters, while the fourth returns to Nohar Rajasthan's story. These books are not fantasy, they're hard-boiled detective novels wrapped into serious science fiction. Warning: Some sex in each book, not too terribly explicit but probably not appropriate for a young teen. (RDJ)
 
Forests of the Night
The story begins with Nohar Rajasthan, a genetically-enhanced, intelligent Bengal tiger who works as a private detective. He's one of the few moreau who know who both his parents were, defectors from the Indian Army's Special Forces. His father was a radical and insane terrorist. His mother died of a virulent virus while trying to give Nohar a sibling. Raised by a mongoose surgeon, Manny, Nohar is tough but good-hearted. He takes a murder investigation case from a frank, a genetically-enhanced human, and things start getting interesting. Plenty of action-packed violence, prejudice against moreaus, a messed up world, and a love story mixed into this sci-fi mystery novel. Sexual relationship between Nohar and a human woman. (RDJ)

Emperors of the Twilight
Continues five years after Forests of the Night, with the story of Evi Isham, a genetically-enhanced human called a frank, short for Frankenstein. Engineered by the Japanese for the Jordanians, captured and raised by the Israelis, she emigrated to the United States after the nuking of Jerusalem. Being a frank, she didn't have much choice when she was recruited by the Federal government, then buried deeper into a super-secret organization after the events of the first book. Unfortunately, the new organization was so super-secret that the government doesn't know about it either and when a group of moreau are trying to take her out, she can't go back into the safety net of the Feds. On the run, she meets with a revolutionary moreau group, Nohar Rajasthan, and begins a love affair with a human woman. More action-packed mystery rolled up into an excellent sci-fi story.  The same sex relationship may be disturbing to young teens and their parents. (RDJ)

Specters of the Dawn
Angelica Lopez has recovered from her injuries suffered in Forests of the Night, thanks to skin grafts obtained from the gene bank and the huge genetically-enhanced rabbit population. She's moved to San Francisco, working as a waitress until she meets Byron, a British fox. They become lovers but she knows little of his past, only that he's currently unemployed. When Byron is murdered, Angelica is drawn into the mystery of Byron's life and death as well as an interspecies war engineered by an alien master race. Violence and an interspecies relationship between a rabbit and a fox. (RDJ)

Fearful Symmetries 
Nohar has retired to a cabin in the forest, living alone, until a human lawyer comes to see him about a missing person case. Triggered by the lawyer's visit, Nohar is attacked in the night, his cabin burned down, and the lawyer is murdered. The mystery continues with plenty of fast-paced action, a frame-up by the police and Federal agencies, a huge conspiracy, and he still has no idea who the missing person is. And when he does find out, it doesn't matter who is standing in the way, Nohar is going to find that young moreau. While it was a satisfying end to the moreau books, I wish there were more books set in this world. (RDJ)

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Wolfbreed (Ages 18+)
"In this captivating reinvention of the werewolf novel, S. A. Swann propels readers into the darkest days of the Middle Ages, weaving a rare blend of soaring romance, historical intrigue, paranormal thrills, and spiritual questioning to tell a story that forever changes those who hear it. When a monk inadvertently discovers a lair of werewolf young, he unleashes what will become the Church’s most powerful–and secret–weapon. Clandestinely raised by the Teutonic Order, these lupine creatures serve as instruments of God against pagan unbelievers. Trained to slip into villages cloaked in human form, they are all but unstoppable. Only one, called Lilly, has cunningly fled her brutal master. Uldolf is too young to remember the massacre eight years earlier that claimed his village, his arm, and his kin. But he knows the pain of loneliness. When he sees what appears to be a beautiful young woman, injured and cowering in the woods, he races to her aid. Uldolf and his adoptive family will do anything to protect the terrified girl, but the danger is greater than they can possibly imagine. For death is the only life Lilly has ever known–and if their humanity can’t pierce the darkness Lilly harbors in her soul, they’ll soon come to know it, too."  Contains mature themes including sex and violence. Not appropriate for a young teen.

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Wolf's Cross (Ages 18+)
"S. A. Swann continues to reinvent the werewolf myth in this fantastic new novel set in the medieval world of the celebrated Wolfbreed. Like its predecessor, Wolf’s Cross is unafraid to cross boundaries and break taboos to tell an unforgettable story of romance and adventure that will forever change how you think about werewolves. Maria lives a simple life in a small Polish village, working for the lord of the nearby fortress. Motherless since birth, Maria has been raised by her father and stepmother. Around her neck she wears—as she has always worn—a silver crucifix, to protect her from the devil. Or so her father tells her. But when a contingent of badly mauled Teutonic knights, including a handsome and gravely wounded young man named Josef, ask for succor at the fortress, Maria’s quiet and comfortable world shatters. For the knights are Wolfjägers, an order dedicated to the extermination of werewolves, and Maria, unknowingly, is one of the creatures they hunt. Only the crucifix about her neck prevents her body from changing into a lethal killing machine. When Maria meets Darien, a wolfbreed bent on exacting a terrible revenge on humans, she will learn the truth about herself, and find her loyalties—and her heart—torn in two." Contains mature themes including sex and violence. Not appropriate for a young teen.
The first three Moreau books bound up into one volume
The finale of the Moreau series














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