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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Neither broad nor detailed enough to be truly useful unless you've never read a resource like this before. ( )

My reaction to this book was pretty mediocre. This book is not a fantasy reference for writers; it is a guide for beginning writers that just happens to discuss these topics in a fantasy context. Along with that is a compendium of dubious information that seems more suitable for planning your next RPG campaign than writing a fantasy novel.

The book makes the assumption that your fantasy novel will probably have a medieval European setting, but it does lip service to other cultures as well. It also discusses the stereotypes of elves and dwarves and other fantasy races at a level that is exceeded in pretty much any D&D sourcebook.

My dissatisfaction with this book stems from its built-in assumptions that (a) the reader is a novice writer who read some fantasy, liked it, and now wants to write some; and (b) the reader is going to put out the same kind of uninspired, mass-produced fiction that represents the lowest common denominator of fantasy.

Recommendation: If your kid read some fantasy and wants to know more about how it's written, maybe. Otherwise, skip it. ( )

A great beginner's guide of need-to-know information for authors, artists, and others interested in the world of fantasy. This book covers everything from the layout of a castle (important for that end-of-action siege in the later chapters) to what sort of garments would be worn.

For most authors or artists this book will only be a starting point, but the information contained within is a valuable place to find basic ideas and concepts to research before beginning that fantasy masterpiece. ( )

This was interesting. I was perhaps expecting a lot more reference material, but the book covers a lot of information sometimes a little shallowly, with information on medieval and historical cultures from a few countries which you could find perhaps more thoroughly documented elsewhere. However, it is helpful to just browse through with simple line drawings intermittantly dispersed through the book - which might provide some inspiration if it's lacking.

I would classify this more as a historical reference. There are a couple of chapters on mythical and fantasy races. ( )