Empire of the Vampire, Daughters War (kind of), Terry Brooks’ Armageddon novels, Anthony Ryan’s stand alone(Feeders?)
I'm looking for fantasy books set in a world where humanity has gone nearly extinct, humans are extremely rare, or other races believe humanity has completely gone extinct.
And the story should primarily follow non-human species living in or exploring a world where humans once existed.
Things I'm looking for:
- Non-human characters discovering or studying the ruins of human civilization.
- Humans being extremely rare, believed extinct, or treated almost like a mythical lost race.
- Humanity's disappearance or near-extinction being a significant mystery.
- Discovery of human history, culture, technology, religions, governments, magic, and everyday life through artifacts, stories, and ruins.
- Misinterpretations of human culture, technology, magic, or history by non-human characters.
- Archaeological exploration, investigation, and uncovering humanity's legacy.
- Ancient human cities, kingdoms, artifacts, weapons, or magical creations being discovered.
- A sense of wonder, discovery, and piecing together a lost civilization.
P.S. I doubt there's a book that matches what I'm looking for exactly, but anything that's similar would be great.
Empire of the Vampire, Daughters War (kind of), Terry Brooks’ Armageddon novels, Anthony Ryan’s stand alone(Feeders?)
Shades of Grey - Jasper Fforde This hits on most of your points but it's firmly comedic/parody in tone which may not be what you're after.
This is manga, not a novel, but I think it hits one exactly the themes you're after: "Houseki no Kuni" / 宝石の国 / "Land of the Lustrous" by Haruko Ichikawa. A lot of what you're looking for is information that is discovered slowly throughout the series, but it's there. It's basically Buddhist, existential horror. There is also an anime adaptation of the first few volumes, which is really good (the sub, not the dub) and quite beautiful.
Short Story - Arthur C Clarke's "History Lesson" and "Rescue Party" Clifford Simak's " City" - Tales the dogs tell at night. Saturn's Children by Charles Stross Breed to Come by Andre Norton Spider World series by Colin Wilson Moonbound by Robin Sloan Not a book, but the adventure game "Inherit the Earth" deals with anthropomorphic animals with vague legends of humans. The 3 MC are a fox, an elk and a boar.
Some of the Brightmoon Saga books are around rediscovering magic - they have an influence of romantasy, but some bookd have a bit of "what the hell is this old magical thing???", one of them disappears stuff, others grant magic abilities etc. Marie Andreas did a Lost Ancients series where it is basically humans digging up and chasing non-human ruins in almost a competition. Some people are using the powers for good. others bad. We follow a FMC, her 3 drunk (and later armed) fairies and a bit of an on/off love interest as they sneak around trying to discover or steal lost artefacts from rivals and try not to get killed or kidnapped. Good fun!