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Fiction is something I find a bit hard to get into. I generally find myself picking up a book, not being interested and putting it back down, but I do find myself with a desire to find a book that I do like.
Partly it's becuase I'm curious about learning to write fiction- and yet I don't read fiction. I think that will not do.
I can tell you that I tend to like children's media and I like nonhuman characters, think anthros, aliens or fae or creatures of some kind.
As to reason why I like children's media, I'm not sure, but I like Helluva Boss (planning to watch Hazbin Hotel), so it's probably not necessarily child-friendliness I'm looking for, but an "over-the-top-ness", "fantasticalness" quirkiness and strength of aesthetic that is more likely to be present in children's media but not necessarily.
I'm not certain I want adult books, but try me.
As for inhuman characters, I'm not sure if it's anything to necessarily to do with their inhuman-ness but becuase they also tend to have a greater amount of over-the-top-ness and fantasticalness.
I can't help but feel human main characters would reduce the chance that I even try a book. - I am biased against them at this point, I always seem to find human characters uninteresting and too mundane and I like fantasy creatures.
So I'm looking for high fantasy I guess, only my idea of "high fantasy" is Sonic, My little pony :FIM, Rayman, Strange Magic, Helluva Boss. The Hobbit and Harry Potter is pretty mundane to me.
The Locked Tomb Series. I have liked everyone of the books released. And while the last one wasn't my favorite it was still and enjoyable read. I just ate them up. Will be buying physical copies.
I suggest Pratchett, but i nearly always do ;) the main characters are human but inhuman side characters and very grounded world despite being full of magic and trolls and stuff. His work is extremely popular, if you want to learn about fiction writing he is one of the best.
The Wee Free Men: a tween aimed book about a young girl who decides to be a witch, discovers the Wee Free Men (tiny blue wild men) and all sorts of other magical creatures, goes on an adventure to save a prince.
Thud: an adult murder mystery, lots of trolls and dwarves, some weird magics
Monsterous Regiment: sort of similar to mulan in plot, very good feminist themes, non human side characters
I've thought of a few recommendations that fulfil some of your requests, but none fit all of them:
Piranesi by Susanna Clarke only has human characters, however its setting is very fantastical and aesthetic (it's a 3 story house with infinite rooms, the lowest floor is underwater, all of the rooms have statues and some have bones). It's also a short book (between 100 and 200 pages iirc) so you might find it easier to finish. Out of my three recommendations this is probably the most serious and adult one, though.
The house in the cerulean sea is about an orphanage for "weird" kids, such as a gnome, a wyvern, a werewolf (who's actually a Pomeranian) etc. Some characters are human though. I thought it was too cheesy but still enjoyable.
Finally, the hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy by Douglas Adams. It's more sci-fi than fantasy, but it has inhuman characters (aliens, robots, very intelligent rats) although some of them are human shaped. It's a comedy and quite absurd, very over the top. It's a series but all of them are pretty short. I think this one has the best chance for you to enjoy, and it will probably get a few laughs out of you
I hope this helps
I loved Piranesi.
It's been my favourite book since I read it. So different to anything else I've read...
She also wrote Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, which I liked, but not quite as much as Piranesi.
Hmmm. Well, I guess you could try Mercedes Lackey's Arrows of the Queen novels? They feature some pretty cool animal characters. They're geared towards young adults. There's Jennifer Roberson's Shapechangers, which is old but good. You could try Martha Wells' Raksura books starting with The Cloud Roads; she's one of my favorite authors. Naomi Novik did a series about dragons starting with His Majesty's Dragon, which is also a fun read. Best of luck to you
Of all the things, I'm recommending some George Martin.
Since House of the Dragon is all the rage, I recommend reading the book it is adapting: Fire and Blood. High fantasy, it's an in-universe book written by biased individuals in the world writing about history long after it happened.
I love Good Queen Alyssanne, and will promote my Good Queen to everyone. Highlights of my Good Queen's life include:
Also worth checking out is the Dunk and Egg short stories :] Also set in Westeros, before the events of Game of Thrones, and after House of the Dragon, Dunk and Egg stories follow a young prince, Aegon, traveling with some random petty knight, Duncan, across the land going on adventures. They're worth reading for the high fantasy of the chivalrous knight standing up for the people unable to stand up for themselves, and also Duncan is so dumb, we call him Dunk the Lunk, thick as a castle wall.
Fun fact, my beloved Brienne the Beauty is descended from Dunk the Lunk. His shield is hanging in Brienne's father's hall :]
Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones, maybe? There's human characters, but they (especially Howl) act over the top. I know she wrote other books as well, for younger readers, which could also be worth looking into.
Another recommendation would be Stainless Steel Rat by Harry Harrison. It was also ridiculously over the top and funny. But they're written long ago and I read them as a teen, I suspect there might be heaps of male chauvinism I didn't register back then.
It sounds also that you might have easier time finding what you're looking for in visual media, like comics, graphic novels, animation. But here I can't come with any recommendations as I don't usually read comics myself.
The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making by Catherynne M. Valente might fit what you're looking for? It's definitely more on the kid's side, but it's also enjoyable for adults, I think, especially as the series goes on. It's certainly fantastical, and I would say it has a very strong aesthetic appeal. It's been several years since I read it, but several of the scenes still stick with me because they were described so well.