SOLVED. YA Dark Fantasy. Short stories or Encyclopedia of non-traditional Monsters plus dragons, often involves death. Sea slug covers people in goo. Desert bugs ambush people. Grey Wardens? humanoids use whips. 3-legged beast, etc. Read ~early 2000s.

[Andrew]

Read this book when I was very young so the specific details are gone, however some facts about the monsters do stand out due to how unique they were. None of the monsters were traditional or generic aside from dragons, which were listed at the end and had sky blue bellies so they could be camouflaged when flying. Another part of these stories was that they were all dark and often included death, so not a silly or romanticized children's book

Other bits i remember are;
An underground sea slug that would cover people in goo that would harden into a bone like substance, a very creepy poem went along with this story about a little girl and a baby slug
A species of Desert bug like creatures that would feel your vibrations in the sand and ambush people. I recall there being a giant hoard of treasure in their nest
Humanoid monsters that went by the name Grey Wardens i think, they were emotionless and would use whip like weapons that would give blisters on people they were hunting, it was mentioned that female wardens had never been seen before
Two types of monsters that lived together in semi-symbiosis, one was a more cowardly group of human sized creatures that could rub their legs together and make a harsh screeching noise, and the other was a huge, almost like a t-rex, monster that had an accordion like neck that would stretch above the trees and catch birds. the smaller monsters would worship the larger one like a god, and the larger monster would occasionally eat the smaller ones if it wanted.
Last monster are three legged beast that are dumber than rocks, i remember a story about how they would see an apple on the other side of a cliff and the entire herd would run at it, falling into the space in between until there were enough bodies for the rest of the herd to cross, like i said pretty dark and morbid.

Don't remember any details about the color of the book or who it was written by but the stories were very unique and specific.

[Becca]

It might be on the Bestiaries list if it's more of an encyclopedia than a short story collection.

[Michele]

Any chance it was one of the Dungeons and Dragons Monster Manuals?

[Andrew]

@Becca, unfortunately the books in that list are more traditional monster types. cool list tho thank you

@ Michele, Def not anything D&D related

[Kris]

Andrew, I added some details to the header/ topic title. Feel free to edit it.

Are there illustrations you can describe?

Would you call these horror stories? Was the term "bestiary" used?

[Andrew]

Hello! After rummaging my brain every few months or so I finally found the series and figured I'd close this out.

The specific book is called The Deltora Book of Monsters, and is a supplementary book of a larger fantasy series called Deltora Quest.

Super unique monster designs, and looking through the illustrations of it, it has definitely shaped my own imagination and gave me a big ole love of creepy critters. The Deltora Book of Monsters

(hello i also don't know how to close this and change the status to solved or if that's even a thing I can do)

[Kris]

Great! Glad you found your book, Andrew. Thanks for the update.