SciFi and Fantasy Book Club discussion

LF fantasy/sci fi with preferably a lot of unique animal companions/mounts/monsters/aliens that go far beyond just having dragons/elves in it.
It's seemingly hard to find such books or its just never the main selling point of it unlike dragons that appear literally everywhere.

The Forgotten Beasts of Eld, by Patricia McKillip is an excellent beautiful book. I’m on the app, so no link, sorry.

Nick O'Donohoe's Crossroads series beginning with THE MAGIC AND THE HEALING - Crossroads Series Book (1) One is about a vet to all sorts of fantasy creatures. Unfortunately it's not available in Kindle format so you'd need to look for used paperbacks.

DivaDiane wrote: "The Forgotten Beasts of Eld, by Patricia McKillip is an excellent beautiful book. I’m on the app, so no link, sorry."

The Forgotten Beasts of Eld I love that book.

I would also endorse The Forgotten Beasts of Eld. It is a great story written in beautiful prose. (And the line, delivered deadpan, where they decide to hide the dragon in the wine cellar is hilarious!)

A completely different approach to unique animals is in a book by CJ Cherryh I've mentioned recently in a different thread: 40000 in Gehenna. Check out the calibans in this SF book.

The Ninth Rain is great for that! Giant Bat mounts/companions, alien and ghost animals, and in books 2-3 bonded various mythical creatures.

Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky. Features giant mutated spiders and other beasties. The next two volumes in the trilogy move toward space-faring squid and other fun stuff.

"Giant mutated spiders" makes me think of the bugs in Heinlein's Starship Troopers. That should fit the criteria.

I thought the Hippae of Sheri Tepper's Grass were extremely unique.

You might enjoy the Gobbelino London series, starting with Gobbelino London & a Scourge of Pleasantries. Gobbelino is a talking cat who runs a private investigation service with his person. Gobbelino is the narrator of the books. The stories are a lot of fun and funny, and they run into a lot of other magical creatures.

Meredith wrote: "You might enjoy the Gobbelino London series, starting with Gobbelino London & a Scourge of Pleasantries. Gobbelino is a talking cat who runs a private investigation service with his..."

I second Meredith's rec!

Gobs is almost always the answer!

Vlad Taltos books, perhaps?