Eco-Fantasy – Magic Can’t Solve Everything

Let’s talk about one of my favorite lesser-known subgenres, Eco-Fantasy (short for ecology fantasy). Right off the bat, I want to mention I am playing hard and loose with genre definitions here, and Eco-Fantasy in my mind is less strict definitions and more vibes. Generally, Eco-Fantasy is about fantasy worlds with strong scientific foundations and, most importantly, large-scale biological or environmental issues/barriers that can’t just be magicked away.

These roadblocks can be things like figuring out how a mega-predator like a dragon could exist (What are its food sources? How does it fly with that bulk? How would its environment shape its breed?). Or, it could be about how to stop environmental collapse without just hand-waving it away with a spell. Or, how to use magic to respond to natural disasters both in prevention and recovery. These books are often tied to the current contextual tension of climate change that we all live in and often have themes revolving around environmentalism, discovery, research, and rigorous scientific endeavors. They often feel like a subcategory of Science Fantasy, another genre I love and have written about—but tend to be grounded in low-tech worlds that rely on magic. The other thing Eco-Fantasy lends itself to is the thrill of discovery. Good scientific study is slow, methodical, and additive, building upon existing knowledge with new discoveries and enhancing the total body of human knowledge. When coupled with vast and mysterious worlds that have the right amount of grounding, the result is settings that easily suck the reader in and are brimming with fascinating secrets to discover. 

I hope I have your curiosity because curiosity is what these books reward in droves. Below are five recommendations of books/series that embrace the ideals of Eco-Fantasy. These stories are full of likely and unlikely scientists rooting around for the building blocks of their realities, sometimes for fun but often in desperation. If this run-up sales pitch appeals to you at all, I recommend you check any of them out.

1) A Natural History of Dragons by Marie Brennen – If you love dragons as much as I do, it’s very likely you have fantasized about the idea of studying them like a zoologist. Natural History tells the story of a female biologist with a love of studying dragons in a time that was not kind to women. Which, you know, unfortunately, doesn’t really narrow it down much. It takes place in the Victorian era. The book approaches the study of these magical beasts with all the rigor and methodology of actual biologists and tells a scarily immersive story for anyone who has ever dreamed about seeing one of these fantastical creatures in the flesh. There is a lot of time spent cataloging new lands and species, studying their relationships with their environments, and surmounting the many hurdles that occur when trying to observe rare wild animals not keen on being watched. This, plus a fun period piece romance story, makes this five-book series a ton of fun to read and one that really should be getting a lot more attention.

2) Blood of an Exile by Brian Naslund – Blood of an Exile is one of the hidden gems I recommend any chance I can. It’s a story with powerful characters, a rich world, and a fairly inventive plot. Ostensibly, the story follows our protagonist Silas Bershad the Flawless, a man who was sentenced to exile as a dragonslayer for crimes that are revealed throughout the narrative. While Bershad is our main protagonist, the story is actually told by four major POVs: an alchemist, an assassin, a princess, and Bershad himself. Each holds key pieces of the narrative that slot nicely together. The major themes of the book are nature, ecosystems, and how destroying crucial elements of any environment can greatly upset the balance. Multiple of the POVs (including Bershad) are dragon lovers. While they recognize that they are dangerous animals that can cause great harm, dragons are common in this world and are a part of every ecosystem they touch. While Blood of an Exile is very much an action-packed adventure fantasy, it is also a story about amateur scientists desperately trying to keep humanity from destroying the Earth for fiscal gain—an angle I was not expecting and loved in equal parts. There is a huge focus on the study of dragons and the understanding of their nature. This does a very powerful job of painting them as real living, breathing creatures.

3) The Fifth Season by N. K. Jemisin – If you are familiar with anything on this list, it is probably The Fifth Season. A beloved book that follows a post-apocalyptic world that has regressed to feudal existence in the wake of disasters, this book/series heavily explores the nature of human identity across race, gender, class, and more. It is also a story about mages trying to carve out an existence on a planet that both metaphorically and literally hates them. The Broken Earth trilogy is a good hard look at the relationship between humans and the environments that host them, specifically when humans push that environment too hard too fast and it starts to fall apart. It is a methodically bleak story about what our future could be if we don’t learn to be more in balance with the world and it pulls no punches in its assessment of how much of the damage is our fault. While this selection doesn’t quite have Eco-Fantasy as a central theme compared to the others, I still think it represents an important growing sentiment in the genre around climate change and does an incredible job exploring it (and everything else Jemisin speculates on).

4) Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett – If you’ve ever wanted to take a more scientific approach to understanding the fae and the vastness of their capricious species, I suggest you read Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries. The novel is a streamlined compilation of Emily’s journal, field notes, and citations as she conducts research in Hrafnsvik, Ljosland for her faerie encyclopedia. She is a prickly, unsociable creature who seems to handle faerie encounters more easily than any interactions with her human counterparts. Yet her unending curiosity shines a brilliant light on every discovery no matter how terrifying. She possesses a stubborn doggedness in her pursuit of knowledge, and Emily’s obsessive notetaking provides an interesting, yet detached perspective of the fae. The story does a fantastic job of delighting and horrifying the reader while approaching everything from Emily’s studious mind as she documents the unimaginable magical species living within and adjacent to her world.

5) The Forever Sea by Joshua Phillip Johnson – There is certainly something magical about floating through a sea of grasses, but Johnson tries to add a bit of scientific flair to it. Kindred, the main protagonist, ventures out into the sea of grasses that dominate her world in search of her grandmother, the Marchess. The grasses are dying, growing gray and she has a sneaking suspicion that it’s not a part of their natural process. While not as deep in some of the technicalities as some of the other books on this list, Johnson definitely shares a fondness for the natural world he has created. The novel goes to great lengths to point out how the cities and people are impacting the natural world. It doesn’t settle for “humans bad,” and instead tries to dissect modes of living. As Kindred travels the seas, she encounters life within the “ocean” and tries to learn the lessons it provides. She also tries to teach others around her those lessons instead of harboring them for herself and building a disdain for humanity. The story sort of loses its way in the second book, but The Forever Sea definitely nails the wonder and joy of seeing and experiencing the world for what it is, not just a resource.