Det här låter som John Varleys Gaean Trilogy ( Titan , Wizard , Demon )
Denharlevandeluftfartyg:
“That’s our way off this cliff,” he said. “His name is—” he pursed his
lips and whistled three clear notes with a warble at the end, “—but
I see that’s awkward to use mixed with English. I call him
Whistlestop.”
“You call him ‘Whistlestop,’” Cirocco repeated, numbly.
“That’s right. He’s a blimp.”
“A blimp.”
He looked at her oddly and she gritted her teeth. “He looks more like
a dirigible, but he’s not, because he doesn’t have a rigid
skeleton. I’ll call him and you can see for yourself.” He put two
fingers to his lips and whistled a long, complex tune with odd
musical intervals.
Ochcentaurerna:
The Titanide found them while they were taking down the tent prior
to moving Bill. It stood on the top of the bluff where Cirocco had
been the day before. Cirocco waited for it to make the first move,
but it seemed to have the same idea.
The most obvious word for the thing was centaur. It had a lower
part shaped like a horse, and an upper half so human it was
frightening. Cirocco was not quite sure she believed in it.
It was not as Disney had envisioned centaurs, nor did it have much
to do with the classical Greek model. It had a lot of hair, yet its
dominant feature was pale naked skin. There were great
multi-colored cascades of hair on the head and tail, on the lower
parts of all four legs, and on the creature’s forearms. Oddest of
all, there was hair between the two front legs, in the place where a
decent horse—which Cirocco’s mind kept trying to see—had nothing
but smooth hide. It carried a shepherd’s crook, and but for a few
small ornaments, wore no clothing.
BlimpsandCentaurs"talar" ett mycket musikbaserat språk, men det är antydat att det kan ha en telepatisk komponent.
Den första boken, Titan, är en ganska enkel äventyrshistoria. Den andra boken Wizard är mer av en "quest" -typ av historia. Den sista boken, Demon, är en post-apokalyps / revolution / krigshistoria med en liten social kommentar som kastas in. Från OP-frågan låter det som om de kanske bara har läst den andra boken. Även om den tredje boken har mer av de post-apokalytiska händelserna, har den också en ... större än livet tecken som skulle vara ganska svårt att glömma.