Kaethe

Jones was working on a fantasy encyclopedia with some other guys, and they kept making jokes about fantasy tropes. One of them said she should write her own encyclopedia. So she did. And then, after that, she used the idea of other-world fantasy tourism as the basis for the two Derkholm books, which amused me no end.

So I like the ideas here (Food: it's always stew, never a steak, never an omelet), and I agree with Gaiman that if one were to write a work of fantasy it'd be a good idea to go through this first, to make sure you're not relying on the stereotypes.

But for sheer reading pleasure? Well, no, not really. Dip into it from time to time, but don't try to read it straight through, that'll bore you rigid.

Library copy