87 Books Like Maskerade

I first encountered Douglas Adams when I caught The Hitchhiker’s Guide on late-night radio, and I was hooked. The novel is slightly different, with Adams giving a bit more consideration to plot and logic, but it has the same wonderful, rapid-fire dialogue style, which has seldom been replicated.

I absolutely love Arthur Dent’s ludicrous accidental odyssey, meeting characters like Zaphod Beeblebrox and the wonderfully named Slartibartfast. The Guide sits in the background, popping up to provide superbly funny explanations of the history of the universe, humanity’s obsession with money, and a lot more.

For me, the thing that sets this apart from a lot of SFF humor is its ‘Britishness’—there’s a distinct feel of the surreal comic legacy of, for example, Monty Python and The Goon Show.

This is the most Terry Pratchett-y book I’ve come across that wasn’t written by Terry Pratchett! It’s often hilarious, but also hides a deeper commentary on war, selfishness, and human nature. This is a short, quick read, but well-told and engaging—once I started, I couldn’t put it down until I finished it.

T. Kingfisher writes in a number of different styles, and this is the funniest of her books that I’ve read, just beating Swordheart.

This book is a parody of a certain story set in a galaxy far, far away, and does a wonderful job of sending up the franchise. Low humor throughout, but I enjoyed every minute of it.

My absolute favorite aspect of the book is how, every now and then, the typeface changes and something new and ‘polished’ is dropped into the text, just like a certain director remastering the original movie and inserting modern CGI special effects, effects which looks totally out of place compared to the older non-CGI material.

I loved the Red Dwarf TV series (at least, the early ones), and this book captures the spirit of the show, no question. It expands the world and characters, and provides a giggle a chapter, if not per page. I found I couldn’t help but ‘hear’ the dialogue being spoken in the voices of the TV characters.

The TV series is perhaps losing its luster (it has been going for a looong time), but the books still rock it for me.

Like the other authors on my list, Pratchett is outright funny, endlessly inventive, and he finds a way to weave a satisfying plot through all the absurdity.

This is a fantasy that takes place in a world that is a disc, not a globe. In this context, there’s a lot of room for satire and commentary on the foibles of mankind. Since the main character is a policeman of sorts, the book features crimes, villains, and mysteries. Part of a series, some of which I really enjoyed, others I didn’t.

This book had me laughing from the moment I read the description! The characters were engaging and complex, and I found myself caring deeply about all of them. This was not a typical murder mystery story, either, which I found refreshing. With plenty of action and suspense, it kept me hooked from the first page until the last. 

I really love Lily Harper Hart’s wit and voice. This light reading with a hint of romance was exactly what I was in the mood for. This first book in the series was such a treat, and I can’t wait to devour the rest. 

Terry was not only a master at reflecting true human nature and touch upon many current issues within his Discworld novels but also a true wordsmith. Thoroughly entertaining, filled with an array of wonderful characters but now also, just when I thought his books could not get any better, vampires. This book has one of my all-time favourites characters in it namely Granny Weatherwax, the best witch that ever lived. She and her fellow witches and a befuddled priest take on the bloodsuckers who threaten the peaceful town of Lancre but be aware you will find yourself laughing out loud while reading this or any other of the disc world novels and incurring worried glances from the strangers around you. A great series to chase away the blues.

This latest compilation of the records of the Salem witch trials is a must for anyone researching any aspect of the trials. 

Its importance lies not only in its comprehensive documentation of the events of 1692, but also in its inclusion of several documents newly discovered since previous publications offering such records. It also provides corrections that have been made in previous collections, dating to the work of the WPA in the 1930s.

The records are arranged chronologically, but also well indexed, along with a general introduction, linguistic introduction, biographical notes, and bibliography.  

Liking Terry Pratchett is a bit like liking pizza: not terribly remarkable.

Pratchett is a master storyteller who commands not only tropes but the idea behind them with such skill that I can read one of his books and never realize I’m getting the most profound lesson of my life. I could have recommended any of his books, and more to the point, any of his City Watch books, but I single out this particular book for a reason. I’m a humanist, like Pratchett, and this book explores his humanism most effectively.

And it’s also an amazing mystery and incredible comedy. 

When it comes to fantasy books, it’s hard to narrow things down to only one book in Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series.

He was a master of satire and the use of asides to parody the tropes of fantasy while also telling compelling stories and building a world you could imagine visiting. If we’re going to annoy the people trying to ban LGBTQ+ books, though, I’d have to recommend starting with The Fifth Elephant.

As the kingdom of dwarves is in disarray over the disappearance of the Scone necessary to crown their king, a group of Night Watch detectives from a distant land must work together to solve the crime while dodging evil werewolves.

One of the detectives on the case is Cheery, a dwarf who causes waves for openly identifying as female (the dwarves follow logic similar to J.R.R. Tolkien’s dwarves in that every dwarf has a beard and gender… show more.