Back in the day when I played D&D, one of my favorite characters was a gnome druid. She planted a grove in the back of a wagon that was pulled by her companion dire badger. Sometimes she would ride the badger, and the badger would fight with her in combat. It was awesome.

Yes, my dungeon master was… flexible… when it came to the rules.

In last week’s comments we started a discussion about pets in fantasy books, and were hard pressed to come up with many examples. While this is probably due to the adventuring lifestyle being hard on four-legged friends, a lot of fantasy books feature telepathic animals. Horses, dragons, cats — all have been central players in fantasy literature. My first foray into fantasy literature as an adult was Mercedes Lackey’s Arrows of the Queen and I wanted a Companion with all of my teenage girl heart. To have a best friend forever and ever is something any teenage girl would identify with. My sister wanted a dragon, but I wanted a Companion, and then I wanted one of the hawks from the Hawkbrothers, mostly because the Hawkbrothers had cool outfits and hair.fantasy book reviews science fiction book reviews And lived in trees.

Did you ever fall in want with an animal from a fantasy book? What was it about the animal that mesmerized you? And is it just me or are we about due for a revival in the telepathic bond-creature storylines?

Let me know in the comments and I’ll enter you in a drawing to win a book of your choice from our stacks!

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  • Ruth Arnell

    RUTH ARNELL (on FanLit's staff January 2009 — August 2013) earned a Ph.D. in political science and is a college professor in Idaho. From a young age she has maxed out her library card the way some people do credit cards. Ruth started reading fantasy with A Wrinkle in Time and The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe — books that still occupy an honored spot on her bookshelf today. Ruth and her husband have a young son, but their house is actually presided over by a flame-point Siamese who answers, sometimes, to the name of Griffon.

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