The Writer’s Complete Fantasy Reference: An Indispensable Compendium of Myth and Magic from the editors of Writer’s Digest Books
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
The Writers Complete Fantasy Reference is a non-fiction title for writers. It covers aspects of the genre that will help the writer to create a believable fantasy world.
The Cover: This is a beautiful cover and screams fantasy, however if it were not for the title and other elements on the cover, I would not have picked it as a non-fiction book. The cover designer made good choices with these additional elements to consolidate the genres.
The Good Stuff: This book is packed with useful information for a fantasy writer. Ever wondered what the parts of a castle are? Look no further. Need to know what weapons were around in the middle ages? This is the book for you. What did peasants wear? It’s all in this book.
The Bad Stuff: It is only a non-fiction title and with such a great cover, I wanted more. The book is informative, but a lot of the details are common knowledge. Did I really need this book? Probably not. Will I ever refer to it? Probably, now I know what’s between the covers it will be easy to refer to if I need more details. It could even be used for some inspiration.
Overall, this is a good reference guide. It covers different cultures across our evolution and will certainly make you think a little more about things when you are writing your next fantasy novel. I appreciate the content, but reading a reference guide is a little boring for me, better suited as a reference, but it’s kind of a catch 22, without knowing the content how do you know what to refer to? I think there is value in this title and it certainly reminded me of the deeper level of thought required when planning your novels. For that reason I’m ranking this one 3 out of 5 golden bookmarks.
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Allan Walsh writes Fantasy and Horror. If you’re looking for something new to read in these genres, why not check out his books here. You can also find his titles available in libraries.
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Good it worked as a reference guide, even if a lot of it is common knowledge. Great review!