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The Tough Guide To Fantasy Land - Diana Wynne Jones
Here be dragons - and a useless map to guide you
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March 17, 2005
By Theresa Smith
The Tough Guide To Fantasy Land
Diana Wynne Jones
(Gollancz/Jonathan Ball)
This should have been called The Indispensable Guide to the Fantasy Genre. Fantasy fans are going to fall off their chairs laughing when they read it, especially when you realise how true it rings.
It's a spoof on travel books which professes to give you a traveller's insight into different countries.
It starts off suggesting you find the map. This is good advice.
No tour of fantasy land is complete without the map at the front of your brochure, quite near the page that says who the book was written for.
That's usually followed by a short gnomic utterance (that's the traditional utterance culled by management from the mighty collection of wise sayings, usually compiled by a sage. It has nothing to do with gnomes).
By the way, management is the body who has arranged the tour ... look it up if you want to know more.
There's all sorts of useful information on how to read the map, but that's qualified by the author saying "
... the Map is useless, but you are advised to keep consulting it, because it is the only one you will get. And, be warned. If you take this Tour, you are going to have to visit every single place on this Map, whether it is marked or not. This is a rule."
No tour through fantasy land is complete without some hiccups such as dragons or poison, but that's okay, simply page through the Toughpick section, find the correct entry and there'll be advice on handling it.
This is the second time this book's been published. The first time it was in paperback, but this time around it's a smaller hardcover with the subtitle: Actually very little to do with The Lord of the Rings.
Diana Wynne Jones is a prolific and award-winning fantasy author who knows her stuff. This is her take on the hilarious inconsistencies fantasy fans ignore because they make twisted sense while you're reading.
  
 
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