I ain't no human!

[chrispenycate]

And robots as main characters: Jay score, R Daneel Olivaw (you're not going to convince me Elija Baley is the principal character there), Multivac, copies of human mentation in a non-human matrix…

 

[gully_foyle]

Look to Windward by Iain M Banks. Humans are incidental and not involved in the plot at all. The main characters are a Mind, a robot, two Chelgrians and I can't remember its name, but it was very cultured and looked like a big squishy pyramid.

 

[Joel007]

Many of Piers Anthony's books have a nonhuman main character (Dryad, Centaur, Ogre, etc.)

And of course most of Salvatore's books have a Dark Elf as the protagonist.

 

[Talysia]

I remember that Kij Johnson's Fudoki sees a cat as the main character.

 

[Taltos]

Sometimes it's difficult to know who the principal character is in a story in "Startide Rising" is it one of the dolphins, or the token humans? Similarly the chimps in "The uplift war"

With the Brin second Uplift trilogy it's even more complicated, there are at least 10 POV-s fo which 9 are not human and some a given as these species are supposed to think - i.e. poems,etc.

Also there are Poul Anderson Hoka - but I can't recall whether they are main characters or sidekicks.

 

[Stormflame]

When you think of Salvatores whole career as an author, his world is based on adventures of the Dark Elves, who are not human. As mentioned above in another post, it is evident that Tolkeins whole saga also relies on the hobbits, of who if you are really cut and dry, are not human either. Many other writers that form the worlds of Dragonlance and Forgotten Realms are aimed at main characters of other races.

So many are human (lead roles) and I must ask myself why. I draw the conclusion that in each and every writer there is an inward desire to 'make' humanity overcome and prosper if only in a fantasy realm. It makes us smile when a well-written character overcomes a hopeless trial, finds love along the way, and perhaps finds himself setting on a throne over all of humanity and the lesser races. The sun shines over the distant eastern horizon and all seems well for that moment in time.

-Cit

 

[Xwing Mom]

Erin Hunter's Warrior series...all the characters are cats.
Brian Jacques Redwall series ...take your pick -- rabbits, badgers, mice, hedgehogs (gotta love those hogs!), etc.

 

[Karn Maeshalanadae]

I tend to stay away from books where animals are the main characters, myself.......I much prefer humans, elves, dwarves, ogres, that sort of thing. Creatures that are, if not human, at least humanoid.......