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Quick answer: If you loved Xanth, read William Goldman's The Princess Bride, then Douglas Adams's The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency, then Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman's Good Omens, and Nicholas Eames's Kings of the Wyld and Kevin Hearne and Delilah S. Dawson's Kill the Farmboy. All are punning, whimsical fantasy.
Piers Anthony's Xanth series is a long run of pun-filled fantasy novels, starting with A Spell for Chameleon. These picks share its humour.
Table of Contents
Quick Picks at a Glance
| Book | Author | Ages | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Princess Bride | William Goldman | Adult | readers who want laughs |
| The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy | Douglas Adams | Adult | readers who like absurd humor |
| Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency | Douglas Adams | Adult | more Adams |
| Good Omens | Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman | Adult | readers who want laughs |
| Kings of the Wyld | Nicholas Eames | Adult | readers who want humor |
| Kill the Farmboy | Kevin Hearne and Delilah S. Dawson | Adult | fantasy parody |
| The Last Dragonslayer | Jasper Fforde | 10–14 | quirky British fantasy |
| Artemis Fowl | Eoin Colfer | 10-14 | readers who like clever heroes |
| The Eyre Affair | Jasper Fforde | Adult | readers who love books |
| Stardust | Neil Gaiman | Adult | readers who want a gentle fairy tale |
| The Hobbit | J.R.R. Tolkien | 9-14 | a classic dragon story |
| The Land of Stories: The Wishing Spell | Chris Colfer | 8-12 | fairy-tale fans |
| The Phantom Tollbooth | Norton Juster | 8-12 | readers who like wordplay |
| Half Magic | Edward Eager | Ages 8-12 | wish-granting coin |
| Legends & Lattes | Travis Baldree | Adult | readers who want low-stakes comfort |
1. The Princess Bride by William Goldman
Westley and Buttercup face Prince Humperdinck, Inigo Montoya and Fezzik in a funny, romantic story. A cult classic.
Best for: readers who want laughs.
2. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
Arthur Dent escapes Earth's destruction and has a very odd tour of the galaxy. A comic classic.
Best for: readers who like absurd humor.
3. Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency by Douglas Adams
A detective who believes everything is connected solves a murder. Funny and clever.
Best for: more Adams.
4. Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
An angel and a demon who have grown fond of Earth try to stop the Apocalypse after the Antichrist is mixed up at birth. A comic fantasy classic.
Best for: readers who want laughs.
5. Kings of the Wyld by Nicholas Eames
A band of aging mercenaries reunite for one last job. Funny and rock-and-roll.
Best for: readers who want humor.
6. Kill the Farmboy by Kevin Hearne and Delilah S. Dawson
A farmboy sets out on a quest and constantly runs into fantasy cliches. A silly parody of the genre.
Best for: fantasy parody.
7. The Last Dragonslayer by Jasper Fforde
A teenage orphan runs a magical employment agency while the last dragon is dying. Offbeat and very British.
Best for: quirky British fantasy.
8. Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer
Twelve-year-old criminal genius Artemis Fowl kidnaps a fairy to steal its gold. Clever and high-tech.
Best for: readers who like clever heroes.
9. The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde
Thursday Next, a literary detective, enters books to catch a villain. Clever and witty.
Best for: readers who love books.
10. Stardust by Neil Gaiman
Tristran crosses the wall into the land of Faerie to retrieve a fallen star for the girl he loves. A fairy tale for adults, short and charming.
Best for: readers who want a gentle fairy tale.
11. The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
Bilbo Baggins leaves his comfortable hole to join thirteen dwarves and the wizard Gandalf in reclaiming treasure guarded by the dragon Smaug. The original dragon quest and a good read-aloud.
Best for: a classic dragon story.
12. The Land of Stories: The Wishing Spell by Chris Colfer
Twins fall into a fairy-tale world and meet Cinderella, Red Riding Hood and more. Funny and fast.
Best for: fairy-tale fans.
13. The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster
Milo drives through a magic tollbooth and visits lands of words and numbers. Witty and full of puns.
Best for: readers who like wordplay.
14. Half Magic by Edward Eager
Children find a coin that grants half of any wish. Funny and clever.
Best for: wish-granting coin.
15. Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree
Viv, a retired orc mercenary, opens a coffee shop in a fantasy city. Small stakes, big heart.
Best for: readers who want low-stakes comfort.
How We Chose These Books
Every pick is a real, widely available book that shares something specific with Xanth: its tone, its themes, its pace or the kind of characters it puts at the center. We mixed well-known favorites with a few less obvious titles, and we noted who each book suits best so you can match it to the reader. Where a book belongs to a series, we list the first volume so you can start at the beginning.
If you are not sure where to begin, start with the first three picks in the table: they are the closest match to Xanth. The rest of the list moves further out, so it works well once you know which part of the original you liked most.
How to Choose
For funny fantasy, read The Princess Bride or The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. For comic quests, try Kings of the Wyld. For YA humour, pick Artemis Fowl.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Who wrote Xanth?
Piers Anthony.
How many books?
More than forty.
Is it for kids?
The early books suit teens.
Which book here is best for readers who want low-stakes comfort?
Try Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree, which suits readers looking for readers who want low-stakes comfort.