Ok Pratchett fans, I finished my complete Discworld re-read and now II'm flailing to find similar style writing to read now. I tried to re-read Hitchhiker's and it was disappointing in comparison. What's a good *Pratchett-esque* author to read now?
Please read my request carefully before replying.
Her stuff is DELIGHTFUL. Different tone but the same underlaying deep love for people and good solid "treat people properly, be a little silly, gentle snark"? Big messy world lots of her stuff is set in with similar zoomed in vignettes and occasional cameos.
I recently read Nettle & Bone. I was pretty skeptical about it based entirely on the premise. But it was altogether charming and engaging. Probably my favorite book of the year (so far).
T Kingfisher’s paladin/swordheart/clockwork boys books are great, and no one is stupid! Everyone is competent! (a little angst but not a lot). I love them.
They’re not Pratchett-esque, but nothing is.
Jasper Fforde [Thursday Next] or Andrew Caldecott [Rotherweird]. You could also try Walter Moers, and I'd even suggest Saad Hossain. But what you suspect is true: there's only one Terry Pratchett.
Everyone recommending T Kingfisher is correct, when you run out of those give Robert Rankin a go. Especially The Brentford Trilogy which runs to twelve books. Also give a go to some Harry Harrison. Nothing is QUITE Pratchett of course.
FWIW I like Dirk Gently more than Hitchhikers so do try Holistic Detective Agency before giving up on Adams. And see how you get on with Robert Asprin.
Yeah I downloaded the D8rk Gently books and I will absolutely eventually read them. I don't hate Adams! I was just surprised because I didn't remember Hitchhikers being so lacking in depth and honestly a little boring.
the thing with the HHGTG books is that they are mostly jokes
like, there IS a plot, but it is a vehicle for jokes
and there are a lot of great jokes! I love them very much! but as actual structured books there isn't much there
Yep exactly. I was really young when I read them and I really didn't notice that. I was just like "wow, reading can actually be fun and not a chore?" But now that I'm a whole ass English major and professional writer re-reading it has been...dissapointing.
I feel like the Dirk Gently series had more structure (in that I felt like there were proper endings) and I leaned towards it for that reason. Fewer sci-fi concepts to joke off, but still very entertaining regardless.
I was thinking the same thing. They're great fun for wordplay and jokes and, while they make the occasional statement, they're not very deep on plot, especially when compared to a masterpiece like Diskworld.
And on top of that the jokes are largely in jokes (knowing where your towel is) or parodying things that happened to him (anger over a long flight delay is why there was a spaceship trapped for centuries), which means less depth.
But the jokes are funny.
the first two hitchhikers books are just him riffing, and then the third hh book and the first dirk gently book are him reworking unused doctor who scripts in fun ways. after that hh goes back to mostly riffs, while the second dirk book feels like the start of what would have been a new career phase
Loved HHGTG as a kid. After jumping into Kurt Vonnegut's body of work later in life, it was pretty clear Adams was emulating him, and ran out of juice after aping Sirens of Titan.
