Superior pocket guide to fantasy that is sorely in need of an updating. ( )

This book does quite a competent job of summing up the fantasy genre as it existed up to the time of publication (1982) , describing both major and minor authors, with helpful lists of their works, lists of the winners of British and American fantasy awards, a sensible attempt to define the fantasy genre and differentiate it from science fiction and horror (though it does include a far amount of what I would call horror) and something of its historical background. The only significant error I have caught is that it spells Doctor Dolittle "Doolittle" in its discussion of Hugh Lofting. ( )

Yes, this is dated. It was published in 1982, so you won't find JK Rowling's Harry Potter series or Stephenie Meyer's Twilight saga or George RR Martin's A Song of Fire and Ice cycle or Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series or Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth series or Terry Pratchett's Discworld series or Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy or Anne Bishop's Black Jewels books or Christopher Paolini's Inheritance cycle or books by Neil Gaiman, Brandon Sanderson, Mercedes Lackey, Louise McMaster Bujold, Jacqueline Carey or Naomi Novik.

Whew. Yeah, a lot not there because since the 70s the fantasy genre exploded. The other side of the coin is that a lot of the books recommended and listed in this book are going to be out of print. So would I recommend this to someone wanting a guide to fantasy today? Probably not. But it's staying in my library (with lost cover and taped and falling apart) because it was worth its cover price alone for the "Seven-League Shelf" of must-reads. Some even of those such as Jane Gaskell's Atlan Saga, H. Rider Haggard's She books and C.L. Moore's Jirel of Joiry stories might be hard to find. But oh, so much good here and it's this book that pointed me to them. Loses a star only because it badly needs updating. ( )

useful guide to major writers of fantasy thru 1970s

A guide to what was available in the days when science fiction outsold fantasy 10 to 1. ( )