Please suggest me a book in which aliens are not bipedal humanoids
As far as I can remember, most of books, movie and TV shows depict aliens as bipedal humanoids which is a bit boring.
I want to see or read about intelligent lifeforms which are very different from humans.
Lilith’s Brood and the rest of the Xenogenesis series by Octavia E. Butler would be a good starting point.
originalsibling on
_Nor Crystal Tears_ by Alan Dean Foster is from the point of view of a Thranx, an insect like alien who makes first contact with humans.
SaiphSDC on
Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky. Intelligent spiders, very different way to thinking.
JoBeWriting on
Project Hail Mary
saltmarsh on
A Fire Upon the Deep – Vernor Vinge
Whickywacky on
A lot of Stanislaw Lens novels like “Solaris” and “Fiasco” fit the bill. One of my favorite authors.
quik_lives on
Becky Chambers’ Wayfarers series does include some bipedal aliens, but also a mollusk-like species, as well as one described as lobster-centaurs, and one that I think of as giant friendly sloths
Pretty-Plankton on
– **Ender’s Game**, Orson Scott Card. You might want to buy it used, though – the author’s an asshole and that way you’re not supporting him.
– **Lilith’s Brood**, Octavia Butler
– “Vaster than Empires and More Slow” (short story), Ursula K LeGuin
unlovelyladybartleby on
The Doona Books by Anne McCaffrey have aliens that are semi-bipedal giant cats and then ones that look like bears show up too
ambrym on
**Blindsight** by Peter Watts
ActonofMAM on
You’ll find some non-bipedal sentients in the Ringworld books by Larry Niven, and in some of his Known Space stories.
MelnikSuzuki on
Usurper of the Sun by Housuke Nojiri.
Minnakht on
Finally, I can be moderately useful!
The Sector General series by James White is about a giant space hospital, where various intelligent species of the galactic alliance are treated. There are humans and bipedal humanoid aliens in it (but they’re Ewok-like) but there’s a large amount of non-bipedal, non-humanoid aliens – I think at least three different kinds are hexapedal.
One of the later books even has one of them as the perspective character!
fikustree on
The Amber Spyglass in the His Dark Materials series has one of the coolest aliens ever.
Ok-Dragonfly4140 on
The Mountain in the Sea by Ray Nayler I think the author had exactly your thought when he wrote the book because it explains how thinking aliens can only be bipedal is such a weakness
testmf on
A Meeting with Medusa : a short story by A.C. Clarke which is a very nice tale of an encounter with an ‘alien’ alien.
Aromatic-Lime-4848 on
Innkeeper series by Ilona Andrews
ZPCHARIZARD on
One of the first : the war of the words, H.G. wells
18 Comments
Lilith’s Brood and the rest of the Xenogenesis series by Octavia E. Butler would be a good starting point.
_Nor Crystal Tears_ by Alan Dean Foster is from the point of view of a Thranx, an insect like alien who makes first contact with humans.
Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky. Intelligent spiders, very different way to thinking.
Project Hail Mary
A Fire Upon the Deep – Vernor Vinge
A lot of Stanislaw Lens novels like “Solaris” and “Fiasco” fit the bill. One of my favorite authors.
Becky Chambers’ Wayfarers series does include some bipedal aliens, but also a mollusk-like species, as well as one described as lobster-centaurs, and one that I think of as giant friendly sloths
– **Ender’s Game**, Orson Scott Card. You might want to buy it used, though – the author’s an asshole and that way you’re not supporting him.
– **Lilith’s Brood**, Octavia Butler
– “Vaster than Empires and More Slow” (short story), Ursula K LeGuin
The Doona Books by Anne McCaffrey have aliens that are semi-bipedal giant cats and then ones that look like bears show up too
**Blindsight** by Peter Watts
You’ll find some non-bipedal sentients in the Ringworld books by Larry Niven, and in some of his Known Space stories.
Usurper of the Sun by Housuke Nojiri.
Finally, I can be moderately useful!
The Sector General series by James White is about a giant space hospital, where various intelligent species of the galactic alliance are treated. There are humans and bipedal humanoid aliens in it (but they’re Ewok-like) but there’s a large amount of non-bipedal, non-humanoid aliens – I think at least three different kinds are hexapedal.
One of the later books even has one of them as the perspective character!
The Amber Spyglass in the His Dark Materials series has one of the coolest aliens ever.
The Mountain in the Sea by Ray Nayler I think the author had exactly your thought when he wrote the book because it explains how thinking aliens can only be bipedal is such a weakness
A Meeting with Medusa : a short story by A.C. Clarke which is a very nice tale of an encounter with an ‘alien’ alien.
Innkeeper series by Ilona Andrews
One of the first : the war of the words, H.G. wells