Just re-read everything by Douglas Adams, really love his writing style, especially in HHGTTG. Anyone know a similar author/book(s)?
Terry Pratchett is a fantasy writer known best for his Discworld series, I’ve heard him compared to Douglas Adams many times. Give him a shot if you haven’t already, I would suggest starting with The Colour of Magic .
These two authors get compared a lot, for legitimate reasons. For what it’s worth, here’s a writer’s look at them. Note that I’m going to use terms (Parody/Satire) that are subject to a lot of different definitions. I’ll set my definitions of them specifically for this comment. Also, to get it out of the way, I personally prefer Pratchett—though I like both authors, and think that Adams has a higher level of ‘genius’ quality writing in his books.
When I look at Adams, I see a deep and meaningful satire of the human condition combined with a healthy dose of surrealism and a lot of absurd imagery. The books tend to involve less of a focus on plot or character and more on the ideas, the satire, and the surrealism. They make for tripy, yet intelligent, reads.
Pratchett began writing with more of a focus on parody—which I’ll define here as spoofing a specific genre, along with its tropes and cliches. The more broad satire of the human condition was there, but it was placed behind a parody of fantasy novels. I think this is the reason you often see people suggesting that one skip the first few Pratchett books. They’re great when you ‘get’ him and his writing, and some people enjoy them right off. But for some readers, the trappings of a fantasy parody novel (ala Bored of the Rings ) strikes too close to something akin to “Scary Movie” rather than true satire, which (by these limited definitions) is more thoughtful and intellectual.
As Pratchett hits his groove in later books, he drops much (but not all) of the parody and replaces it with satire and, in many cases, a stronger plot and characters. You get sympathetic protagonists working toward important goals, mixed with some good, deep satire, some clever wit and puns, and still some good fantasy novel insider jokes.
When Pratchett is on, therefore, he’s doing some of what Adams does. However, the books also often involve an interesting mystery of some sort. (This is particularly evident in the guards books.) Plot was always a problem with me for Adams—I loved reading them, but felt a little at sea, wishing I had more of a story to go along with the ideas. (This is why my favorite of his was Dirk Gently .)
Pratchett does sometimes hit pure brilliance, like Adams often did. The books are not as surreal, however. And you’re often getting a hybrid dose of a mystery and a satire, which means that he can’t do either as deeply as a single book dedicated to one of the two. For this reason, plot/characters end up feeling trite to some, and the satire isn’t prevalent enough for others.
I still think you should give him a try. He is probably my favorite living fantasy author, and am often blown away by all the things he can pack into a single novel. (I suggest people start with The Truth , personally.)
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