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 - What a Disappointment. This book has very little content, just random facts that lack any sort of overall cohesion. The chapter on Africa talks only about ancient Egypt. The chapter on trade, commerce and law has nothing on trade. It's also boring. Rating: - No no no....The entire concept of writing fiction of ANY kind is to use your imagination mixed with the things that you know. A book to TELL you how to write fantasy does not make a bit of sense! If you are building a world, use common sense and round it out, smooth the edges, be as 'realistic' as you can for a Fantasy story. The problem with Fantasy these days is that all Elves are the same; all Dwarves are the same, all Goblins are the same...every book written is basically a carbon copy of the last one. These races DO NOT EXIST in our world, therefore you cannot say they MUST be one way or another. Get back to IMAGINATION - just use the sense you were given. TRUE old fashioned imagination has created the BEST books ever read. Rating:  - Not as Complete as the Title SuggestIt's definately a good starting point for a reference library, yet it still seems to leave a lot out. For example, it does little to explain world-building and gives less-than-detailed examples in a lot of the book's sections. Most of the info in the book can be found with a search engine. I recommend it only for those of you who want to build a decent reference library. Rating:  - Much better than other complete referencesMy inital review of this was 4 stars, but upon further analysis I belive it deserves 5. This covers a variety of topics, similar to other "complete" fantasy writing books (The Complete Guide to Writing Fantasy). This is far more detailed than the others and is an excellent reference. The sections on clothing, arms, armor, and castles ave instructional pictures. There are long lists of common jobs for the rich and poor, as well as a surprisingly thorough (for the amount of space) run down on creatures of myth. The magic section is fascinating, and covers topics such as what animals symbolize, the Freemasons, and astrology. There's a nice chapter on world cultures that looks at their government, military, religion, economy, arts and science. Without a doubt, this is the best book of its kind. Rating:  - An amazing resourceThis book is quite an amazing resource. Written by a collection of fiction authors, this book sets out to give the fantasy writer information on what he or she will need to build a fantastic world and culture. Everything is covered in here from politics to commerce to warfare, and it looks in depth at magic and witchcraft and fantasy creatures. Now, as you might expect with a book that tries to be all things to all people, since it cannot have an infinite amount of information on all subjects, this book functions as an introduction, giving the reader (and writer) enough information to understand the concepts presented. In fact, I must say that the sections on magic and witchcraft were quite excellent and highly informative. Therefore let me just say this, if you are a fantasy writer, either actual or aspiring, then this is a book you *must* read. I have found this to be a great source of information and ideas, and I know that you will as well. Get this book!
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