Terry Pratchett

Terry Pratchett wrote forty-one Discworld novels and a shelf of other beloved books before his death in 2015. The Discworld series spans subgenres within itself — the City Watch books are detective fantasy, the Witches books are folklore satire, the Death books are philosophical, the Tiffany Aching books are YA. Underneath the wordplay and footnotes is some of the genre's most serious moral thinking. His collaboration with Neil Gaiman, Good Omens, sits adjacent. The prose is sharp, the satire is precise, and the humanity is the actual subject.

For readers who want fantasy with wit and weight in equal measure. Spans every age tier — the Tiffany Aching books are middle-grade, most Discworld novels are accessible adult fantasy. Content stays remarkably restrained for the breadth of subject — violence handled with care, sexual content minimal, language clean. The reading experience is a writer thinking out loud about the world, beautifully, and you keep underlining lines. Pick this shelf when you want fantasy that earns laughter and tears in the same chapter.

• Wit and weight in equal measure
• Subgenres within Discworld for every mood
• Lines worth underlining on every page
• Humanity as the actual subject