The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Fantasy | 
| Creators: Terry Pratchett, David Pringle
Publisher: Carlton Publishing Group
Category: Book
List Price: $27.95
Buy New: $17.12
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Avg. Customer Rating:  10 reviews
Sales Rank: 285397
Format: Illustrated
Media: Paperback
Edition: Updated
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 304
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2.9
Dimensions (in): 14.5 x 9 x 0.8
ISBN: 1847320732
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN: 9781847320735
ASIN: 1847320732
Publication Date: May 1, 2008
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Product Description
With a foreword by Terry Pratchett, this essential reference has been revised and updated for 2008. Lavishly illustrated and expertly informed it details everything the novice needs to know about the genre and everything the well-read fan is calling out for. This encyclopedia divulges just what constitutes fantasy and where the parameters lie, and celebrates the finest and lesser-known works that make up the genre, be they books, movies, television shows or iconic images.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 5 more reviews...
Be sure you know what this book is about first. January 8, 2008
In it's own right, this book is spectacular. The information is thorough and the pictures are considerably exceptional. Here's the thing. Don't be fooled by it's title. It most definitely is NOT an encyclopedia of fantasy creatures and the like. What it does detail on are movies, books, and other media that include such creatures. Personally I was looking for a book that details on the fantasy creatures themselves, and this book absolutely failed to do that. Look for another book to do that.
 Not Free SF Reader December 29, 2007
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
 Eh, alright...I guess. August 11, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This book isn't all that great. When I got it, I thought it would be about mythical creatures and things and people in fantasy. Such as, witches, wizards and so on. But instead this book is about a Fantasy Media. So it tells you about things such as fantasy movies, books, and video games. But it is also kind of old, and I've noticed that it doesn't have anything before 1997, and maybe even before. So it doesn't even talk about classic shows like: Charmed, Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, Supernatural, Smallville, or anything else. It doesn't even have the classic Harry Potter books! So, if you're looking to remember old time movies and books in fantasy, then this is the book for you, if not, don't get it.
Fun, informative book October 20, 2001
3 out of 6 found this review helpful
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!
Overly critical June 28, 2001
9 out of 12 found this review helpful
Though the effort, layout and content are commendable I find one key problem with the book as a whole; it's just *FAR* too negative in it's mini-reviews of fantasy material (particularly film and t.v.). The amount of negative comments is so pervasive that I wondered, at times, if the authors even enjoyed fantasy, period. Virtually every fantasy classic is bashed for being anything from contrived to tawdry to banal. Yes, it's a work of opinion but (and I feel this is obvious) anyone who would pick up an Encyclopedia on any specific genre and to read so very much negative review was extremely off putting to me.
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