If you like Terry Pratchett . . .

[sarahbot]

I want to like fantasy, really I do. But Terry Pratchett skewers the genre so well while writing a decent story that I can't help but feel most sci-fi and fantasy pales beside him. So I know there's some fierce Pratchett love on the board, and I'm wondering if anyone can suggest a sort of "if you like Pratchett, try..." Other than the obvious (HHGG, Neil Gaiman).

I realize I'm asking for recs a lot lately. I think I'm so overwhelmed by having A vacation that I'm forgetting it's about four days long. Ah well, good book recommendations are hard to come by.

[Lissa]

Well, there's Stroud's Bartimaeus trilogy. I've only read the first one, but it's sort of like "Terry Pratchett writes Harry Potter" in a vague sort of way. Not a rip-off (and there's one hysterical footnote about Harry Potter), but more like you can tell Stroud was influenced by Pratchett and Rowling.

That's about the best I'm coming up with as far as similar to Pratchett. But I can't recommend George R.R. Martin and his Song of Ice and Fire series highly enough. What a story! (Although it is not funny overall and there is much sex and violence.)