Realms of Fantasy [Hardcover]

Malcolm Edwards (Author), Robert Holdstock (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: Collier Books; 1st Collier Books ed edition (March 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0020847661
• ISBN-13: 978-0020847663
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #9,163,777 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars The fantasy genre as it was in the early 80's, December 30, 2000

By 

Alex (College Park, MD) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Realms of Fantasy (Hardcover)

"Realms of Fantasy" is an overview of the chief classic fantasy mileaus, of the most stolid and conservative fashion. It is a large, heavy book that starts out by attempting to define the genre and follows by classifying fantasy into several sections (fantasy set in the past, far future, alternate Earths, lost worlds, etc.). Of course, this is all absolute nonsense. Nevertheless, the controlled, easygoing tone and the parallels drawn between works in the genre make this useful, even slightly enjoyable reading.

After the introduction there is one of the most important pages in the book: a listing of the works set in the mileaus described within, complete with authors. I have yet to see a more useful list of reading suggestions in the sub-genre of classic fantasy.

And, finally, the bulk of the pages is occupied by the sections on the settings themselves. Sections on Middle Earth, Atlantis, Lost Worlds, Peake's Gormenghast, Urth, Earthsea, Thomas Covenant's the Land, Moorcock's Elric, and Robert Howard's Conan stories, cover the setting's idealogy, works of literature set in these mileaus, the author's mindset, and detail the chief events outlining these settings. Accompanying illustrations seek to further elucidate the settings. Oddly enough, several cornerstone settings are inexplicably absent (most noticeably, McCaffrey's Pern and Zelazny's Amber).

In a nutshell, these overviews are tepid invitations to enjoy the genre of fantasy. This book serves out its purpose well.