Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl
Xenofiction is written from the perspective of a non-human protagonist.
The protagonist could be all sorts of different things: an animal, a mythological creature, an intelligent robot, an alien, a microbe, or some other living (or robotic but sentient) being.
The possibilities are endless.
I enjoyed all of these stories and would recommend any them to someone who wants to read something from a non-human perspective.
1. Memoirs of a Snowflake by Joe Vasicek (My Review)
The protagonist is a: snowflake.
2. Watership Down (Watership Down, #1) by Richard Adams
The protagonist is a: rabbit.
3. A Dog’s Purpose (A Dog’s Purpose, #1) by W. Bruce Cameron
The protagonist is a: dog.
4. Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi
The protagonist is a: a wooden puppet who is magically brought to life.
5. Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions by Edwin A. Abbott
The protagonist is a: a two-dimensional being who travels to three-dimensional, one-dimensional, and no-dimensional worlds and must try to make sense of them.
6. Raptor Red by Robert T. Bakker
The protagonist is a: raptor.
If you’ve read xenofiction before, what are some of your favourite books from this genre?
Interesting topic, Lydia. Honestly, I had never heard the expression “xenofiction” but I could probably come up with a few books like that. And I even have read one of them: Watership Down. And everyone knows Pinocchio, right?
Thanks for visiting my TTT this week.
Thank you, Marianne. And, yeah, Watership Down would totally count. I loved that book. 🙂
Great idea for a list. I wonder if you have read and if you’d include the new series by Becky Chambers with a robot main character.
Thank you, Deb! Yes, I’ve read that series and am loving it so far. 🙂 Thanks for the recommendation.
Interesting topic for sure! You might like World Running Down. One of the main characters is AI in an android body.
Thank you. I’m looking that book up now.
I didn’t even know there was a name for this type of book! I’ve never read any of these, though I did see the movie for A Dog’s Purpose and omg it was so cute haha
It was adorable for sure. 🙂
Fab list, very cool!
Thank you.
…huh, wow. I didn’t know this was a genre. I’ve read books from animal perspectives before, but mostly as a kid with the exception of Watership Down.
Yes, it is!
I haven’t read any of these. I’m glad you enjoyed them. I hadn’t heard of this genre before.
Thank you. 🙂
Oh, I love that you chose xenofiction to highlight, especially as I’ve read quite a few of these books.
Thank you. We seem to have similar reading tastes. 🙂
I’d never heard of xenofiction before. I think my favorite would have to be the Feline Wizards series, by Diane Duane
Oh, cool!
Great list! I’d have to include Murderbot on my list of favorites.
My TTT: https://bookwyrmknits.com/2023/02/28/top-ten-tuesday-regency-fantasy-romance-with-dragons/
Ooh, I’ll have to look that one up! Thank you, Nicole.
You’re welcome, I hope you enjoy it! I especially like the Murderbot novellas, as compared to the one (so far) full length novel; they’re cozy science fiction (though not quite as cozy as the Monk and Robot books).
🙂
Interesting topic. Have you read any of Martha Wells’ Murderbot series? I think you might enjoy them.
Here is our Top Ten Tuesday. Thank you!
No, never. I’ll check it out. Thank you. 🙂
It seems like I have one or two books on my shelf that deal with alien type characters but since I haven’t read them (yet!), I cannot remember the titles. Either way, hopefully they’ll be good reads and I’m glad you enjoyed these!! Thanks so much for visiting today, Lydia!
You’re welcome. I hope you like those books whenever you end up reading them!
Really good choices.
Thank you. 🙂
What an interesting list! A Dog’s Purpose caught my eye. Happy reading.
Thank you! That was a great book and film.
Great topic! I had no idea that was the name for this type of book.
Thank you. Yeah, I only recently learned it myself.
This is a very cool topic! I remember reading A Dog’s Purpose so long ago!!
Thank you! I hope you liked that book. I sure did. 🙂
Cool post, very original, Memoirs of a Snowflake sounds interesting.
Another book is The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane is about a China rabbit doll, is beautiful children story
Ooh, that sounds like a good read. Thanks for the recommendation.
I did not realise that xenofiction was a thing, but now that I know the term, I can definitely say I’ve read books like it as I was big into animal books as a kid and a few of them were from the perspective of the animal: my personal favourite was Black Beauty.
I loved that book, too!
Great topic! I haven’t read any of these yet. I can’t recall if I read any xenofiction before, but it does sound intriguing so I’ll need to try either way.
It includes such a wide range of genres and topics. I hope you find something in it you like. 🙂
#1 – A snowflake as a main chaaracter? I don’t know. It sounds strange but kind of fascinating.
#5 – What? This one is harder to grasp.
I didn’t even know there is genre such as xenofiction or rather I just didn’t know that’s the name for such books. I have read from animals point of views before but I’m not a huge fan.
Have a lovely day.
Thank you. Yeah, those were both excellent books.
What a great idea for this week’s TTT! I’ve actually read two of these: Watership Down and Pinocchio. But now I want to check out Memoirs of a Snowflake and Raptor Red. 😀
Thank you. I hope you like Memoirs of a Snowflake and Raptor Red. They were both very unique and fun to read.
I’ve never heard the term “xenofiction” but this is such an interesting topic! I guess Animal Farm would fit the bill here as well, so I’ve read at least one book in the genre, right?
Yes, it totally would count!
My husband and son both love Watership Down. I could add Remarkably Bright Creatures to this list as it’s narrated partially by an octopus.
Ooh, good pick!
Interesting topic! I hadn’t heard of this specific term before although I have read a few books that I think would fit.
Thank you. Yeah, there are more books out there about this than some people might think!
Great topic! I didn’t know there was a word for this. I just read a book where a tree narrates part of the book, very original. I loved Watership Down.
Ooh, that book sounds good! What was the title of it?
What a great pick. I always wanted to read Watership down. And the perspective of a raptor too!
Thank you. They were both great reads! I think you’d like them based on the sorts of science fiction you blog about. 🙂
Love the topic choice both because it’s unique and because I learned a new word.
Thanks! 🙂
What a great topic! I recommend the Imperial Radch series by Ann Leckie. It’s narrated by a ship’s AI stuck in a single body.
Thank you. I’m looking that book up now. It sounds great.
Looks like you educated a LOT of us with a new word, xenofiction, though I’m not surprised there is one. And, what a great list. My contribution is Island of Missing Trees in which a tree is a major character, and Remarkably Bright Creatures has the very clever Marcellus, an octopus. Thanks for the visit.
Terrie @ Bookshelf Journeys
Thanks! Missing Trees sounds good, and I’ve heard great things about Remarkably Bright Creatures as well.
Island of Missing Trees is so good!
🙂
What an amazing list – I never really thought of books like this with a non human protagonist. A dog maybe but never come across anything else.
Thank you very much!
This is a new word to me too! The first book that came to mind for me was The Murderbot series by Martha Wells.
I’ve heard good things about that series!
Such a fun topic!
Thank you. 🙂
I loved Watership Down! Anne McCaffrey’s Brainship series comes to mind as a good example of xenofiction, as does Robin Hobb’s Liveship Traders series. Station Eternity by Mur Lafferty involves a sentient space station and a variety of alien lifeforms, although the protagonist is human.
Ooh, I’m looking those books up now!
Such a neat take on the topic, Lydia! Pinocchio is on my latest Classics Club list — I’ve never read it! Thanks for stopping by my TTT 🙂
You’re welcome. I hope you like Pinocchio when you read it.
I read Watership Down when I was a kid and I absolutely loved it!!! I’m thinking I need to read it again. I love your take on this TTT!
Thank you very much. I thought it was even better the second time around.
This is a cool idea for a list! I’ve read Watership Down and loved it.
Thank you. Glad you liked that book.
I think I need to add Memoirs of a Snowflake to my TBR. That looks fun! I read The Dogs of Christmas, by W. Bruce Cameron and that was fun, so I’m sure the one your list is too. Happy Reading! 🙂
It was excellent! Hope you like it.
The Dogs of Christmas sounds good, too.
Watership Down is one of my favorites too. I also recently read Remarkably Bright Creatures, a wonderful book where one of the protagonists was an octopus.
I’ve heard great things about that book!
I had to look up xenofiction… and I found a great article about it.
I am sure I must have read something that applies. The only thing that comes to mind immediately is the Murderbot series by Martha Wells with a robot with AI as the main character. But I also have The Humans by Matt Haig, from the perspective of an extraterrestrial visitor to Earth.
Thanks for your comments my list.
TracyK at Bitter Tea and Mystery
Cool! I’ve heard good things about Murderbot. The Humans sounds interesting, too.
This is an interesting and fun genre topic! I guess I never thought about how many books are told from non-human POVs. Great idea 🙂
Thank you. Yeah, there’s more than you might think!
The Culture books by Iain M. Banks!
Looking them up now. Thank you!c
Great topic choice, Lydia! I haven’t read any of these, but I did enjoy the first Murderbot, All Systems Red, and I have Hollow Kingdom on my kindle, which is from the perspective of a crow during the apocalypse. Happy reading!
They sound good. Thanks. 🙂
Oh that’s a fun take on this week’s freebie topic. I may have to check some of these books out. Have a great weekend.
Thank you! I hope you had a good weekend, too.
Love your theme for this genre freebie. And I learned my new word for the day.. I am sure I have heard this term before but didn’t pay attention to it. As for books in this genre, I have read many and will keep it in mind for the next freebie. Thanks for visiting and commenting as always
Thank you very much! I hope you do borrow this idea sometime. That would be fun.
And you’re welcome.
I’m very bad at replying to comments on my own blog when I skip a TTT week, but sometimes I remember to visit others!
Great genre pick — I read a ton of books from animal perspectives, usually wildlife, but I never like the ones where the animals seem to think/talk more like humans than real animals (11-year-old Me was OUTRAGED about how Not An Animal Book! Watership Down is). That said, as far as adult xenofiction goes, Hunter’s Moon by Garry Kilworth was fantastic.
Also, I’ve never heard of Raptor Red but that sounds FASCINATING, and certainly like it would meet my “act more like the animals they are than humans” criteria, adding to my TBR.
No worries, RS!
I think you’d like Raptor Red. It’s been a while since I read it, but I believe the raptors in it don’t think like humans at all. It was super unique.
I’m looking up Hunter’s Moon now. 🙂
What a fun list! I love all of Katherine Applegate’s MG xenofiction (The One and Only Ivan, The One and Only Bob, The One and Only Ruby). I think the most interesting adult xenofiction novel I ever read was the scifi novel Semiosis by Sue Burke! I’ll never look at bamboo the same way. 😆
Thank you. I’m looking up Applegate’s work now.
And, yeah, Semiosis was great!