I love the combination of pragmatism and common sense in the face of magical nonsense. Think Morwen in the Enchanted Forest Chronicles, Digger from Ursula Vernon, Granny Weatherwax from Terry Pratchett.
The more the vibe is a gentle eye roll, rolling up sleeves, and going "well, let's get this sorted then" the better.
by LoneLantern2
9 Comments
Well, you already have Terry Pratchett…
you could add Xanth and Thursday Next
Jack Sprat’s Nursery Crime’s probably your best bet
Singularity Sky
Differently Morphous
If you don’t mind a short book from a series,
**”The Flowers of Vashnoi”** is a 2018 [science fiction](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science_fiction) novella by [Lois McMaster Bujold](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lois_McMaster_Bujold), part of her [Vorkosigan Saga](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vorkosigan_Saga).
Second Thursday Next and add Chronicles of St Mary’s
Legends and Lattes + Bookshops and Bonedust by Travis Baldtree. An orc opens a coffee shop and helps a struggling bookstore.
An older one: The Complete Enchanter by Fletcher Pratt and L. Sprague deCamp.
You might enjoy the Penric and Desdemona series by Lois McMaster Bujold. Some of the novellas get more serious but there’s a very fun dynamic of magic/practicality where sometimes the ancient demon is the practical one and sometimes the guy she inhabits is. The first one is really fun.
Tress of the Emerald Sea – Tress is extremely pragmatic, actually thinks through her plans ahead of time
Howl’s Moving Castle is the first thing that comes to mind. It’s a pretty short read. If you’ve seen the movie, there’s quite a few differences that make it feel like a completely different story altogether. Sophie is a very practical young woman and an even more practical old woman.
Thank you for the Morwen reference!
Try Magic Kingdom for Sale: Sold! by Terry Brooks. A burnt out lawyer buys the kingship of a magical land through a luxury catalog. He’s essentially like the straight man in a comedy troupe of insane pigeons (except the pigeons are kobolds, an inept wizard, kelptomaniac gnomes, and a protocol officer who was turned into a soft coated wheaten terrier).