SOLVED. Adult/ YA? Fantasy, read in mid-80s to early 90s, Dystopian/ post-apocalyptic society; includes scene set in "onstabula" (a constabulary with letters fallen off the sign); MC is humanoid but not human. [s]

[Jeremy]

I'm trying to remember the title of a fantasy novel I read in the late 80s/early 90s. The story takes place decades or centuries after the collapse of a more advanced society, and the current culture has just recovered past the subsistence stage and is beginning to make progress toward relearning past skills and technology.
The main detail that sticks in my head is at one point, the main character is accused of a crime and dragged off to the "onstabula", which is actually a constabulary but some letters have fallen off the sign.

[Rainbowheart]

Is this book for kids, teens, or adults?

Can you remember anything more about the main character? Male or female? Age?

[Sarah]

This might be completely off, but something about your description made me think of Stephen King's The Waste Lands, published in 1991. It's postapocalyptic fantasy and features a city with rudimentary remains of old technology. I don't remember anything with an 'onstabula', but they have 'god drums' that are actually an old drum track tape and they talk about 'not-sees' (nazis).

[Jeremy]

Hmm... my memory of the book is sketchy at best. I think it was an adult fantasy novel, but might have been YA.

It definitely wasn't Steven King, although the setting of the book I'm trying to recall had a similar feel to the Dark Tower series.

If I recall correctly, the protagonist was human-like, but not human. Maybe an ogre?

[Jeremy]

bump

[Lobstergirl, au gratin]

Jeremy, you must add plot details to your topic header. Even if you only know a little, you must add what you know. We close threads with headers that don't have plot details.

[Jeremy]

Lobstergirl wrote: "Jeremy, you must add plot details to your topic header. Even if you only know a little, you must add what you know. We close threads with headers that don't have plot details."

I don't really remember any of the plot other than the two minor snippets I mentioned, but I added those details to the topic header.

[Becca]

Aquamancer by Don Callender? Not sure if the other details fit, but it has an Onstabula:

“You'll soon change your pretty tune, me sweet cuddle, when we reaches the Onstabula,” he sneered.
[...] They came to a low, moss-covered stone building with a low-pitched roof half caved-in, and reeking, even from a distance, of stale beer, old tobacco smoke, and long-unwashed bodies, among other unpleasant things. A faded sign over the entrance had originally said Constabulary, in large, gilt letters but now it read ONSTABULA, the C and the RY having long ago lost their grip and fallen away.

[Rose]

The rest of your post (post apocalyptic, moving from dark age to new skills) made me think of Riddley Walker by Russell Hoban which also uses phonetic vocabulary based on forgotten English words but not "onstabula"...wondering if two books got conflated?

[Jeremy]

It's possible that I managed to combine the details of two separate books in my original post.
Becca's response nailed it with Aquamancer. (Thanks, Becca!)
The other detail I recalled about a non-human protagonist must be from another book/series.

[Kris]

Glad you found your book, Jeremy. Thanks for the update.