Customer Reviews

The Writer's Complete Fantasy Reference

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I honestly can't believe some of the detractors of this book who go on and on about it not having enough detail to suit them. This book covers more than it's fair share of topics. I think the nay sayers are simply confused about it's purpose.

"The Writers Complete Fantasy Reference: An Indispensable Compendium of Myth and Magic" isn't meant to be academic text simply because it's title has the word "complete" in it. I'm amazed that any fantasy writer would take things so literally. Instead, this book is meant as a concise writer's reference, an overview or compendium of various bits of knowledge for those who are just looking for a fast fact or a short reference on something interesting that they can further research themselves. It's more a book for ideas and a brief explaination of topics than anything else, but that doesn't make it any less valuable. In fact, much like "Everyday Life in the Middle Ages: The British Isles, 500 to 1500" -- another book I've reviewed that seems to get confused with indepth works of academia -- not having to search through mounds of college level text just to find a small bit of knowledge makes it that much more valuable to some of us.

I'm a writer of a dark fantasy series based in a feudal society and I've found this book not only invaluably helpful but also extremely easy to handle. Let's face it, there are just times we writers want a quick fact about etiquette, dress, manner, magic, etc and not an entire lecture. That's when I pick up this book, page to the correct section, and 9/10 times will instantly find what I'm looking for. It sure beats scanning mountains of academic text to find a simple fact or two.

The introduction by Terry Brooks explains most of this. The book is easy to handle and extremely easy to use with chapters written by various fantasy authors covering everything from fantastic creatures, dress, weapons, armor and armies, magic, witchcraft, castles, world cultures, various traditional fantasy cultures, and so much more! There's something for everyone and that's a rare find in fantasy reference books for writers today. I didn't expect, nor did I want, each chapter to go into excruciating detail on every topic presented. One or two pages of explaination are enough for me. After all, I'm a big girl. If I find something of interest I'm perfectly capable of researching it further on my own. I don't expect the authors to do my work for me, they've already helped me too much the way it is. Besides, if you're like me, then it'd take the fun out of writing because one of the reasons I write fantasy is to discover new facets about my world as I go. I LIKE to research, because that's when I learn.

"Complete Fantasy Reference" is really the perfect starter (primer) for those just beginning or considering the possiblities of a series set in a magical Medieval society; or, like me, for those of us who are already in the midst of their series and just looking for a touch of realism or a new idea to explore. I always have it close by when I'm writing. I honestly don't know what I'd do without it now. Highly recommend.

There are plenty of desperate people out there, but perhaps none are more desperate than writers seeking their first big hit.

With this in mind, a book like "The Writer's Complete Fantasy Reference" comes along and hits average fan fiction writers right where they live. And that's a shame because plenty of writers out there will think a book like this will be helpful. Truth is, it is anything but.

The word "Complete" in the title is about as hopeful as hopeful can be. Consider this: the book ends with a single paragraph describing a trebuchet, a very important piece of medieval weaponry. One lowly paragraph. How would anyone writing fantasy in that time period get anything from one paragraph? Just 276 pages in a trade paperback size does not a complete reference make on even one of the many topics addressed here. I wrote a paper in college on medieval weaponry that put this book's section on that topic to shame. This is true for almost any topic. Werewolves? Half a page. The Incas? Two and a half pages. The Holy Roman Empire? Three quarters of a page. By trying to be all things, this book gives no writer any reference worth using.

This book is cobbled together from several sources, so its flow is stilted. Illustrations are sparse and not from a single illustrator, so there is no uniformity. The chapters are written by various authors and the topics covered include:
*Traditional Fantasy Cultures
*World Cultures
*Magic
*Witchcraft & Pagan Paths

*Commerce, Trade, & Law in Contemporary Fantasy
*Fantasy Races
*Creatures of Myth & Legend
*Dress & Costume
*Arms, Armor, & Armies
*Anatomy of a Castle
Still, any writer worth his salt has to do far more research to make his world believable than what can be derived from this work. For that reason, what purpose does this book serve? None that I can see.

Writers Digest books publishes dozens of helpful books. This is simply not one of them.

Once upon a time, I decided to try my hand at creative writing, and began a long search for books that would help me. I go to a local Border's bookstore and come across this book. After casually flipping through it, I figure that it'd be worth buying. As with just about every book I've purchased, I underestimated the power of this book. It's a valuable resource for fantasy writers as it gives information about magic and the various races and creatures of myth and fantasy. If you're into historical fiction (Especially concerning the Middle Ages), no problem. This book outlines the structure and daily life of a castle as well as help formulating your own armies and battles. Another valuable component is the presentation of a diverse range of cultures from around the world, allowing fantasy writers to get inspiration from places other than Europe (a traditional muse for the genre). Writers everywhere, I cannot stress enough how much this book should be a part of your reading materials.

This book is a wonderful reference for any fantasy writer who is writing in a mideavel-related era. As Terry Brooks himself states in the introduction, it helps you add realism to your novel, which the readers can then relate to (publishers are constantly looking for novels like these).

Also, this book helps you be more descriptive when the main character or character comes face to face wih a mythical creature or even a castle. It meticulously describes the form of a castle, castle life, and how a fortress goes under siege. Also, it explains the different names and purposes of a large number of soldiers. It describes every part and function of a suit of armor, and also provides a visual.

Wether you wish to use this book to help you understand real magic, castles, fantasy races such as elves, or anything else you can imagine, buy it - you won't be sorry. This reference is truly indespencable, and will help anyone writing either about fantasy or medieval and renaissance times.

Anyone who allowed this book to go to press should be ashamed! (They should also try reading some fantasy.)

This book is so obviously hastily and carelessly thrown together, before you have finished the first chapter you will want your money back. The best you can say about this book if you are an aspiring fantasy writer is, "I wish I had written it." In a very specific market where demand far exceeds supply, this book will continue to sell copies for years, and the editor will be invited on a never-ending speaking tour/convention circuit listed as "an expert in the realm of fantasy and ground-breaking author."
And the only thing more hastily produced and included in this book was Terry Brooks' shameful introduction to the book. I don't know if he was friends with the editor, his/her agent, or the publisher, or if he just needed money for summer vacation. That introduction is one of the worst pieces of writing I have seen since I gave up on teaching high-school.

If you already read fantasy avidly enough to try your hand at writing in the genre, this book will do nothing for you. At best, it is like a pocket thesaurus for fantasists, where a real thesaurus was quickly cannablized and all the other words simply deleted. If for some reason, you have never read fantasy and want don't want to dive into it unprepared, you could read this book so that the terminology would look familiar to you when you encountered it; however, the terminology would not be in any way CLARIFIED, as this is a thesaurus, not a dictionary, as previously stated.

I do not go into specifics to complain about this work (and if I did, it would be to include quotations of Terry Brooks stretching to put a good face on this book in his night-before-the-deadline submission) because that was done so well by a previous reviewer...Also, I was shocked to see this listed at 4 stars, which prompted me to write a review, something I have done only 3 times to date. Then again, when I try to read fantasy novels that are also rated at 4 stars, I can begin to understand how these things happen:

4 stars for a fantasy novel is about as low a rating as a fantasy book can receive from the fiercely loyal fantasy fanbase, of which I am one--despite a degree in Literature from the same place that Dennis L. McKiernan and Margaret Weis are from, fantasy is all I read. And if you don't believe me about the 4 stars "worst rating", try to look up some of the worst fantasy books you have ever read (with a major author or publisher or even cover artist) and peruse their ratings.

I believe this is why Amazon does not allow for "0 Star" ratings, because if 0.1% of a book's fans log on to give 5 star reviews, or even 4 star reviews, they will far outweigh the votes given by the 0.1% of the dissenters who take the time to give their 1 Star. Loyal fans will always outnumber the apathetic critics like myself who rarely want to spend an hour of their time to talk about a book they hated. A book which receives as many 5's (Enraptured with the book) as 1's (Disgusted with the book and burned it) will end up with a THREE STAR RATING. And a book with twice as many fans logging on as critics will end up with a 3.67 Star rating, which rounds to FOUR STARS. That is to say, 4 stars for a book that ONE-THIRD of the readership hated.

Don't buy books with less than a 4.5 star rating!

Every so often I am griped by the strange delusion that I am an author on the verge of writing a great novel. It was in one of these states that I ordered "The Writer's Complete Fantasy Reference. Upon receiving the book my first thought was that it was much thinner than I had imagined it would be. My worries that the book was less than complete were confirmed in reading just a few pages. I recognize that one book could not hope to fully cover the various worlds of high fantasy and the background necessary to create a viable fantasy world. Yet I had hoped for so much more than what was presented here.
The book seems to suffer from many problems the most prominent is that it has a very bad case of bad editing. The book is obviously a collection of articles that have appeared elsewhere and they lack any sort of overall cohesion.

The chapter on medieval Europe, the traditional fantasy setting, is severely lacking. It begins with a discussion of feudalism, leaving out the fact that feudal monarchies differed in structure and power from place to place. The feudal system of twelfth century Bavaria looked nothing like the system in place in England. Worse the book provides the impression that the singular kind of feudalism presented was the only governing system in use. The chapter includes a short list of titles of royalty but there is no indication of how these various personages would fit together to form a ruling class. What exactly is the difference between a Baronet and a Viscount? Who has more power a Marchioness or a Duke? What kind of social or economic benefits do these titles provide? None of these questions were answered. Additionally there is no indication of hierarchy among the nobles. Three is no indication of how nobles might interact with those of lesser stations. Would the lady of the manor speak directly to the goatherd or would she speak through an intermediary? Missing entirely is a discussion of day to day activities for peoples of various classes.

The chapter on commerce, trade and law contained NO information on trade or commerce. Information about goods and raw materials valuable enough to justify the cost of shipping them across a continent are sadly lacking. There is a rather extensive list of occupations characters might have in a fantasy novel, the list is in fact the bulk of this chapter. The discussion of law was limited to a list of possible punishments one might expect to endure. We are provided with no clue as to what crimes might be connected to these punishments. What was a flogging offense compared to what constitutes and death sentence? There exists no discussion of just who enforced the laws, what sort of court system existed and the like are ignored. Most disappointing of all is the lack of information on the connection between the religious sect of society and the legal system.

Orson Scott Card in his highly recommended book "How to Write Science Fiction &Fantasy" provided more information of magic and magical systems in one sentence than this book managed to provided in 67 pages. His one sentence was "What is the price of magic?" Novels of high fantasy are overrun with magical systems, many of them making no sense what so ever, yet the complete reference book does not address this issue in the least. In the sections on magic we are treated to yet another lengthy list of Native American power animals, forms of divination, possible magical powers your wizards could have and the like. In a book seemingly devoted to being a reference of high fantasy writing I had to pause to wonder why I was reading about the modern Neo-Pagan religion. There was page after page devoted to information on Wicca, Wiccan ritual structure, Gerald Gardner, the Church of All Worlds, Neo-Viking traditions and other modern Pagan organizations. What these have to do with sword and sorcery fantasy writing is beyond me. My only thought is that the editor's felt the book was to short and had this article just lying around.

The chapter on fantasy races seems more a half hearted run down of what famous authors have envisioned races such as Dwarves and Elves would be like. A discussion of history or mythology of these races would have been far more useful.

The chapter on creatures of myth and legend is yet another list of magical creatures. The list is neither informative nor very helpful.

The book is a collection of disjointed articles and their sum does not make a whole. The pieces are disconnected in style and substance.

A long time ago I thought that fantasy would be the easiest genre in which to write--boy was I wrong! Readers want believable worlds and characters with which they can identify, and that means doing your research to base the fantastical on the realistic. This book is a wonderful place to start.

Do you think armored warriors can just ride their horse at full gallop for hours on end? (Try more like one charge.) Do heroes wearing full armor go around decapitating their foes with one swing? (Think again!) What about government, religion, or a believable system of magic with consistent rules that work?

The fact is, very few of us are familiar enough with the eras of the past often drawn upon for the setting of fantasy novels to completely paint a convincing, enticing picture of the worlds we imagine. That's where this book comes in as it examines a number of the most common elements of fantasy universes and discusses their roots and proper employment.

Like any writing reference, this one won't make you an instant bestselling author, nor can it substitute for lack of familiarity of the genre itself for would-be writers. It can and does however offer a starting point that answers many common questions and points out frequent blunders beginning writers may have. It can't replace a library of mythological and historical references, but for a start and the price, it's a great addition to any writer's horde of books.

The two best things about this book are the title and the cover artwork. This book is exceptional only in its mediocrity. Anyone who has read much fantasy and/or played fantasy role-playing games will find this book somewhat unhelpful. The contents deal mostly with medieval customs and clothing, as well as modern witchcraft. If, however, you know next to nothing about fantasy writing and would like to try writing it, this would be a reasonable book among others to buy...though I can't imagine why someone in such a situation would attempt to write fantasy in the first place.

This book is absolutely wonderful!! As a huge fantasy fan and aspiring writer, I constantly refer to it. The chapters Traditional Fantasy Creatures, Magic, Fantasy Races, and Creatures of Myth and Legend are my personal favorites. Terry Brooks, et al, have written an excellent guide to fantasy.

As some have noted, there are very few pictures in the book, but that does not take away from the rich information provided. Buy this book!!

I'm surprised by some of the negative reviews I see here. This book wasn't perfect, but it was very entertaining to read -- and, more importantly, is definitely helping out my writing.

References are important for fantasy. Bestselling author Terry Brooks cautions in his introduction that writing without basis in fact is one of the worst mistakes an author can make. Running away with your imagination is -not- a good thing. This is a much more helpful tidbit than saying something to the effect of "the sky's the limit" on your imagination. A completely imaginative fantasy novel would make no sense, and readers would be unable to relate. There aren't that many out on the market today -- publishers would turn down manuscripts like that. So, in essence, one -needs- references.

Hence, the Writer's Complete Fantasy Reference. It's entertaining as well as informative -- but very informative. The first thing I learned was about feudal titles -- Baronet, Viscount, Marchioness, as well as more common ones like Duke, Count, and Baron. This will prove to be extremely useful to a fantasy writer with only mediocre knowledge of feudalism -- I've already put it to use. But there was still so much more the author of this segment could have written about.

That seemed to be the main flaw of the book -- it was good, but it wasn't long enough. So much more could have been elaborated on. Sure, I learned a lot...but couldn't more have been included? Especially about magic. This was a fantasy reference guide, but most of the book was on medieval culture and fighting. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with it. There's too much magic in modern fantasy, and not enough of the gritty medieval details. But I still felt more magic could have been included.

If you want to learn about how to write a workable magic system -- don't get this. Get Orson Scott Card's "How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy". But if you want to learn tips to better your writing, by referring to existing cultures and conventions, or how to write about costume, by all means, get this book.

I'm certainly glad I did.