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The Writer s Complete Fantasy Reference | 
 enlarge | Author: Writers Digest
Publisher: Writers Digest Books
Category: Book
List Price: $16.99
Buy New: $7.33
You Save: $9.66 (57%)
New (24) Used (22) from $5.97
Rating:  31 reviews
Sales Rank: 55367
Media: Paperback
Pages: 304
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 9 x 6 x 0.9
ISBN: 1582970262
Dewey Decimal Number: 808.38766
EAN: 9781582970264
ASIN: 1582970262
Publication Date: November 15, 2000
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews: Read 26 more reviews...
 A very basic and decent resource January 9, 2009
Gypsy November (Southern USA)
I will say right off the bat that this book is not for fantasy writers who consider themselves in any way experienced. It is well-written and interesting enough, but all of the information can be found very easily in other, much more detailed books and some of the information provided is something that most serious fantasy writers will find that they already knew to a point.
That being said, the author has a good idea, and I do have it on my self for an occasional look-through...you never know what will inspire, after all. There is nothing wrong with this book, it is nice for what it is, but I really think that anyone buying it because they think it will vastly improve their writing will be left disappointed.
Buy it for a very basic reference book, and realize that you will have to do much more of your own research...as you should, anyway. This book can help point you in the right direction, certainly, but it can't do much more then point.
not appropriate for individual world-building December 9, 2008
Merrifield Winters (Seattle, WA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
The only thing I would add is that the book is limited in its scope. Sure, the book covers a very broad range of fantasy concepts and creatures/weapons/armors/cultures, but these things are all from the framework of the middle ages of Europe, Prussia and Britain and also what we can read in popular books.
The book is nearly useless for someone who wishes to create as new fantasy world without Tolkien-like characters/animals/spirits/castles and so forth. This book was helpful to me because it helped me to understand the fantasy worlds of David Eddings, Lloyd Alexander, Tolkien and other great writers of fantasy. I do highly recommend it, but I gave it three stars because I thought it could have been a bit more adaptable to any fantasy world
 Not a Bad Place to start a little Research July 13, 2008
Tim W. Hillebrant (Boise, ID USA)
This is a great general reference guide. It gives you a place to start so you know what direction to go in if you want to delve into a topic further. I liked the generic descriptions on witchcraft, which for being Christian, I found very benign and non-threatening concerning a topic that can get heated very quickly.
The book had good general descriptions, but didn't get too deep in any one area. This lets me decide if I want to research something further.
If I had to say something I didn't like; it would be that I wish the book were longer, so it could cover more, and go into greater variety of the topics it covers.
A Good Place to Start June 30, 2008
Laura Lehman (PA, USA)
I wouldn't call this an in-depth reference, but it is a good place for fantasy writers to start research. When I'm stuck for ideas, I'll often browse the pages and see if something catches my imagination, then take off. The sections do remind the fantasy writer of different aspects involved in world building.
Good reference for beginners April 21, 2008
Cerankoman (Austin, Texas)
If your young, or new to fantasy writing this is a good reference book. It details many subjects that you cant find in normal reference material or that would be hard to find. Clothing, nobility, ancient forms of magic and their use, dark age life ect. Many people have given this book a bad rating but I found it very interesting and helpful. It is not complete, true; but finding a book with everything you need to know about fantasy and ancient times would be impossible to find. This is the basics and I think it was worth every penny. Get it at a discount here on amazon. I love this site !
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