The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Fantasy

by David Pringle

Book Overview

This essential reference book details everything the novice needs to know about the genre and everything the well-read fan is calling out for. Lavishly illustrated and expertly informed, it is edited... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0879519371
• ISBN13: 9780879519377
• Release Date: March 1999
• Publisher: Overlook Books
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 2.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 9.4" x 11.4"

Customer Reviews

Not Free SF Reader

A recent update of this publication, it seems. Taking a slightly different approach to the Science Fiction version of this that I have seen (which admittedly is older), this book takes a broad media look at the fantasy genre, and covers movies, television, books, role playing games, and computer games. I think for a reasonably shallow, graphics and pictures heavy book this is a pretty good idea, and being reasonably familiar with a lot of this it appears to be done pretty well. If you are looking for literature heavy bibliography, look elsewhere. Being of the pommie variety there are a few digs at American junk (admittedly some of them well deserved), and probably less at cheesy UK equivalents, particularly as far as movies and tv goes. There are also sections on famous fantasy characters, and famous fantasy plaes - e.g. Conan, Middle-Earth and that sort of thing. All in all, rather well done, and should be interesting to most, and really useful for someone coming in brand new to get some ideas of where to start. 4.5 out of 5

Fun, informative book

I've really enjoyed this book so far, it's very informative, and is beautifully designed. In 250 pages you can only cover so much of the fantasy universe, but I think they did a good job.I did notice that there are a lot of opinions, but there are many more facts, and the opinions make for a slightly more interesting read than just facts, as long as you take them with a grain of salt. I didn't notice overly negative opinions though, I saw a mix of positive and negative. And face it, a lot of pulp and mass-produced fantasy entertainment isn't of the best quality, that's just reality; I don't think it's unreasonable to call those types of items 'derivative'.In summary, definitely a fun book to browse through; even extends into gaming (learning the origins of D & D, etc was very cool). I never would've thought that I'd learn the origins of the name 'Wendy' from this book!

Fun, informative, and a visual pleasure

Though "ultimate" is an overstatement, there is much to enjoy here. This book is nowhere near as comprehensive as Clute and Grant's Encyclopedia of Fantasy, but it does have its own virtues. It is lavishly and colorfully illustrated (note especially the stunningly beautiful full-page painting opposite Terry Pratchett's foreword). It has entries for most well-known fantasy authors of the past and present. There are sections on types of fantasy (fairy tales, animal fantasies, Arthuriana, humorous, heroic, etc.), movies, TV, fantasy characters and entities, games, and fantasy worlds (Middle-earth, Narnia, Discworld, Earthsea, etc.). This is an entertaining, informative and visually appealing book for anyone who enjoys fantasy.

I think it's a great book!

I came across this book at the library, and checked it out right away. From just skimming thru it I can see that there could be more on the subject, but I still think it's a great book. The photoes are great too. I'm going to buy my own copy as soon as I get some extra money.