>In a publishing world where popular success often equates to ill-written or hackneyed work, Pratchett’s novels, although in a racy, readable style, were constantly witty, with many cultural, vernacular and literary references. You never quite knew where the next association was coming from: you would find sideways references to HP Lovecraft, William Shakespeare, Beachcomber, Sellar and Yeatman, Thomas Hughes, Peter Shaffer (a good joke about Salieri), JRR Tolkien, Egyptology, vampirism, dragons.
An obituary is not a neutral take; in fact many criticized Pratchett for this. And Pratchett was both cleverer and less jarring about it (and fundamentally, "jarring" is less of a problem in a comedic work). His allusions would engage with something and use it to enhance the meaning, not just "name this throwaway character after that other character even though it would be a major story change if they were to actually have anything in common with them".
