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The Tough Guide to Fantasyland
 
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The Tough Guide to Fantasyland [Paperback]


3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)

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3.5 out of 5 stars (2 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars Funny, and possibly useful, Feb 22 2003
By 
Glen Engel Cox (Columbus, Ohio) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: Tough Guide To Fantasyland (Paperback)
Read the latest Robert Jordan, David Eddings or Terry Brooks door-stop and decide that you could write a fantasy soap opera just as well? Or maybe those authors drive you insane and you want to turn the fantasy genre on its head? The solution to both of these tasks can be found in this strange book from Diana Wynne Jones, better known for writing original children's fantasies of her own. Her secret, contained herein, seems to have been a long study of fantasy literature, and noted what has become cliched. In this book, all the tropes are dissected and cross-referenced. A better title would have been "A Writer's Guide to Fantasy Schlock, with annotations."

As a book to read straight through, it is not as rewarding. The entries are listed alphabetically, with small caps indicating a term with its own entry. Little icons appear in the margins--these don't mean anything per se, but are usually little graphic jokes on the text. The text itself is quite amusing, especially if one is familiar with the subject being pilloried.

I wouldn't recommend this book to all, but fans of fantasy should find enough here for their monies worth of chuckles. Would-be writers will find this an indispensable reference work.

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4.0 out of 5 stars a very telling book, Mar 28 2011
By 
Marc Petrick (Sudbury, Ontario) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Tough Guide to Fantasyland (Paperback)
Ever pick up a fantasy book and feel that you've read it before? This very telling book is a good satire as to how formulaic the genre has become! A fun read!
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com: 4.3 out of 5 stars (54 customer reviews)

61 of 66 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Lighten up! This book is F-U-N-N-Y!, Mar 15 2000
By Gwen Kramer "gwenhwyvar" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Tough Guide To Fantasyland (Paperback)
I think most of the negative reviews are from people whose tongue is not inserted properly in their cheek.Really, guys, who goes around COUNTING cliches and who can really catch every single one when it all comes dowen to it. This book is full of wicked humor and a skewering look at fantasy not to be missed.

True fans of any genre are the ones that can laugh at it. This book is great because it tells writers exactly what cliches to avoid and points out funny facts. (Come to think of it, when HAS a fantasy character, a serious heroic one, mind you, ever worn socks? Tell me if you know!)

Read it, be prepared for initial indignation, then laughter then get on with your life and for heaven's sake don't count how many times these tired cliches have been used! It spoils all the fun


37 of 39 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Funny and Much-Needed, Mar 14 2002
By Brian Libby "Gadfly" - Published on Amazon.com
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: The Tough Guide to Fantasyland (Paperback)
If you like fantasy and have a sense of humor, get this book. Diana Wynne Jones knows whereof she speaks, and she hits many nails on the head. This is a delightful send-up of fantasy conventions and if you don't laugh out loud you will at least smile a lot.

In view of the current resurgence of LOTR (thanks to the movie)this book should be sold in conjunction with Bored of the Rings by the Harvard Lampoon, which I hear is being re-issued after many years. The two would make a nice gift set.

Like another reviewer, I am sorry that even more items were not included--such as Knights--but one author cannot think of everything and the book -is- 300 pages long.

It is fun to imagine what particular authors Ms. Jones might have had in mind as she wrote the different entries (although I don't suggest she is always being "author-specific".) In my own case, I am as it happens finishing up Elizabeth Moon's DEED OF PAKSENNARION, and the entry for "Female Mercenary" really had me chuckling. Hello, Paks!

I hope someone sends copies of this masterpiece to R.J., T.G., and several other people who badly need to read it.


15 of 15 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars Ready to Quest (OMT)?, Jun 24 2005
By David M. Mayeux "catholic teacher geek" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Tough Guide To Fantasyland (Paperback)
The Tough Guide To Fantasy Land

by Diana Wynne Jones

DAW Books, 1996

Diana Wynne Jones has been for me, since an early age, a favorite. Her fantasy stories are entertaining, thoughtful and often quite unique. And now I know how she figured out how to give her stories that unique quality, she cataloged all the cliches of genre fantasy first. Then she avoided using them until she put them in her Tough Guide To Fantasy Land.

This book is a dictionary of every trope and cliche that comes standard with the fantasy genre (OMT). With the pretense that all fantasy novels are actually tour guides of Fantasyland, Jones lists all the sights and events one can expect while on their specific tour. The writer is Management and what you can expect is dictated by The Rules (which SMELL slightly of Campbell).

Each entry is a wonderfully wicked stab at the pulp, and is cross-referenced and littered with Official Management Terms (OMT) which can be found in italics and every pulp fantasy novel ever written. Jones will inform you that SOCKS are simply not worn but amazingly all BOOTS will be without SMELL even after being worn for weeks on end (and they won't wear out either). Fantasyland ECOLOGY is suspicious at best, with no insects or really animals at all except for LEATHERY-WINGED AVIANS who will attack near the beginning of the tour, which of course makes you wonder just what the Management is putting into the STEW (which is mostly all you'll eat).

This book's only problem is a number of typos. It was an occasional distraction that I hope is fixed in later editions.

If you have ever picked up a trilogy of fantasy (for most tours have three legs, if more they become EPICS), you're looking to write a genre fantasy novel, or just want to read them all in one volume, then this will leave you laughing, entertained and ready if you ever make your way through the misting mirror into Fantasyland.
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