The Fantasy 101 › Books Like

Books Like The Land of Laughs

J. Carroll, 1980 · #71 on the Epic Fantasy 101 Booklist · 73/120

A teacher goes to the small Missouri town of his favorite children's author to write the man's biography. He finds the town's people may be his characters.

Mood8Theme7Structure7Further reading4Creative details7Real-world blend9Divine influence3Climax and fights3Epicness2Genre standard3Originality8

Its strongest scores: real-world blend and mood. The five books below have the closest scores across all eleven criteria.

If you liked The Land of Laughs, read:

  1. The Owl Service

    Garner, 1967 · #42 on the list · 83/120

    Three teenagers in a Welsh valley find a pattern of owls on a dinner service. They are forced to replay a tragedy from the Mabinogion.

    Close on mood, theme, structure, creative details.

  2. Puck of Pook's Hill

    Kipling, 1906 · #25 on the list · 89/120

    Two Sussex children summon Puck, the last of England's fairies. He brings them Roman soldiers, Norman knights and other figures from the island's past.

    Close on mood, theme, structure, creative details.

  3. Thursday Next

    Fforde, 2001 · #45 on the list · 81/120

    In an alternate England where literature is a national obsession, a literary detective chases criminals into the plots of classic books.

    Close on theme, structure, real-world blend, divine influence.

  4. She

    Haggard, 1887 · #46 on the list · 81/120

    A Cambridge scholar and his young ward follow an ancient potsherd into Africa. They find Ayesha, an immortal queen who has waited two thousand years.

    Close on mood, theme, structure, creative details.

  5. Harold Shea

    de Camp & Pratt, 1941 · #47 on the list · 81/120

    A psychologist uses symbolic logic to travel into the worlds of Norse myth, The Faerie Queene and other legends, where magic runs on rules he can learn.

    Close on structure, creative details, real-world blend, originality.

Featured pick

Acenes of Sparta: The Dragon Slayer

Manolis Tsongas, 2026 · #5 on the list · 101/120 · for adults and mature teens

A dragon is the real reason King Leonidas and his three hundred died at Thermopylae. Sixty-two years later the gods send a Spartan boy of the agoge to kill it. The book takes lessons from tragedy and the cost of sacrifice, as is the Greek way.

How the scores work: each book is rated 1 to 10 on eleven criteria; real-world blend and climax and fights count double, for a maximum of 120. See the full Fantasy 101.