DWJ Reread: The Tough Guide to Fantasyland
“SLENDER YOUTH. A Tour COMPANION who may be either a lost PRINCE or a girl/PRINCESS in disguise. In the latter case it is tactful to pretend you think she is a boy. She/he will be ignorant, hasty and shy, and will need hauling out of trouble quite a lot. But she/he will grow up in the course of the Tour. In fact she/he will be the only Companion who will change in any way. Quite often, she/he will soon exhibit a very useful TALENT for MAGIC and end up by hauling everyone else out of trouble. But this will not be until midway through your second brochure.”
- The Tough Guide to Fantasyland, Diana Wynne Jones
The Tough Guide to Fantasyland was first published in the UK in 1996, and reads a bit like TV Tropes for those big fat fantasy trilogies that were so popular back then. I don’t read a lot of this particular brand of fantasy, but I’ve read enough that I find most of the entries immediately recognisable.
Using the conceit of being a guide book for tourists visiting Fantasyland (which could be the setting of nearly any sword & sorcery book of the time), The Tough Guide sorts entries on everything from HORSES (“They are capable of galloping full-tilt all day without a rest. Sometimes they do not require food or water. They never cast shoes, go lame, or put their hooves down holes, except when Management deems it necessary, as when the forces of the DARK LORD are only half an hour behind.”) to STEW (“the staple FOOD in Fantasyland, so be warned…. Stew will be what you are served to eat every single time.”) in alphabetical order.
I own two copies of this book - a UK edition which is in a pocket hardback size, and includes illustrations, and a US edition which is in paperback and more comfortable binding/layout for reading. I’ve been dipping in and out of this book, as is probably the best way to experience it. But for this reread, I finally went about reading it from cover to cover, which made me very grateful to have the US paperback. The US paperback includes an explanation at the end on how this book came to be: Diana Wynne Jones was helping out in the production of The Encyclopedia of Fantasy with Chris Bell, when she came to the realisation that “most of these books are so much the same that I could write the guidebook for the country they happen to be in.”
As someone who has about three different encyclopedias of fantasy on my shelves (unfortunately, none that DWJ worked on), it is easy to see how The Tough Guide is particularly appealing to me - even if I hadn’t read The Dark Lord of Derkholm long before discovering the existence of this book, and therefore thought of it as a clever spin off!
Reading this again now, from A to Z, makes me think that it really isn’t the ideal way to enjoy The Tough Guide. Plus, (1) there are places that catalogue cliches online now; (2) this book was published in 1996 (the US edition I own is from 2006, and is slightly updated), so it doesn’t take more modern fantasy novels into account; and (3) some of the entries might not be considered “YA appropriate” now, even though this book is published as YA. These aren’t really things that bother me while reading, but if you’re wondering if this book is worth picking up, I think they’re points worth considering.
That said, I still find most of the entries amusing, and cleverly written. And this book leads to the even more brilliant The Dark Lord of Derkholm, which plays into the whole idea of Fantasyland tourism. The Tough Guide to Fantasyland is a book by Diana Wynne Jones, so I’m automatically biased for it - not that I need to be, because her sense of humour is apparent even in the most matter-of-fact entries. I especially loved the attention given to the ECONOMY (“Here we have a large civilised area in the centre of the landmass, with a vigorous Economy, large building programmes, faultless engineering, and full employment. But no Industry. How is this managed?”) and ECOLOGY (“To start with, there are few or no bacteria. We can see this by the way REFUSE and other pieces of SQUALOR lie about in heaps which fail to rot down.”), poking at the holes often found in the fantasy novels’ worldbuilding. Sometimes, the book adds its own personal headcanons which had me laughing out loud reading, like the bit on how Fantasyland horses are bred.
Is this a book that everyone will love? I doubt it. Is it something you need to read from cover to cover? Probably not - it might work better as something you dip into every now and then. But if you’re a fan of sword and sorcery novels, this is definitely something worth checking out.
DWJ Re-Read no. 50 | The Tough Guide to Fantasyland (1996)
previous read: The True State of Affairs
next read: Deep Secret
- The Tough Guide to Fantasyland, Diana Wynne Jones
The Tough Guide to Fantasyland was first published in the UK in 1996, and reads a bit like TV Tropes for those big fat fantasy trilogies that were so popular back then. I don’t read a lot of this particular brand of fantasy, but I’ve read enough that I find most of the entries immediately recognisable.
Using the conceit of being a guide book for tourists visiting Fantasyland (which could be the setting of nearly any sword & sorcery book of the time), The Tough Guide sorts entries on everything from HORSES (“They are capable of galloping full-tilt all day without a rest. Sometimes they do not require food or water. They never cast shoes, go lame, or put their hooves down holes, except when Management deems it necessary, as when the forces of the DARK LORD are only half an hour behind.”) to STEW (“the staple FOOD in Fantasyland, so be warned…. Stew will be what you are served to eat every single time.”) in alphabetical order.
I own two copies of this book - a UK edition which is in a pocket hardback size, and includes illustrations, and a US edition which is in paperback and more comfortable binding/layout for reading. I’ve been dipping in and out of this book, as is probably the best way to experience it. But for this reread, I finally went about reading it from cover to cover, which made me very grateful to have the US paperback. The US paperback includes an explanation at the end on how this book came to be: Diana Wynne Jones was helping out in the production of The Encyclopedia of Fantasy with Chris Bell, when she came to the realisation that “most of these books are so much the same that I could write the guidebook for the country they happen to be in.”
As someone who has about three different encyclopedias of fantasy on my shelves (unfortunately, none that DWJ worked on), it is easy to see how The Tough Guide is particularly appealing to me - even if I hadn’t read The Dark Lord of Derkholm long before discovering the existence of this book, and therefore thought of it as a clever spin off!
Reading this again now, from A to Z, makes me think that it really isn’t the ideal way to enjoy The Tough Guide. Plus, (1) there are places that catalogue cliches online now; (2) this book was published in 1996 (the US edition I own is from 2006, and is slightly updated), so it doesn’t take more modern fantasy novels into account; and (3) some of the entries might not be considered “YA appropriate” now, even though this book is published as YA. These aren’t really things that bother me while reading, but if you’re wondering if this book is worth picking up, I think they’re points worth considering.
That said, I still find most of the entries amusing, and cleverly written. And this book leads to the even more brilliant The Dark Lord of Derkholm, which plays into the whole idea of Fantasyland tourism. The Tough Guide to Fantasyland is a book by Diana Wynne Jones, so I’m automatically biased for it - not that I need to be, because her sense of humour is apparent even in the most matter-of-fact entries. I especially loved the attention given to the ECONOMY (“Here we have a large civilised area in the centre of the landmass, with a vigorous Economy, large building programmes, faultless engineering, and full employment. But no Industry. How is this managed?”) and ECOLOGY (“To start with, there are few or no bacteria. We can see this by the way REFUSE and other pieces of SQUALOR lie about in heaps which fail to rot down.”), poking at the holes often found in the fantasy novels’ worldbuilding. Sometimes, the book adds its own personal headcanons which had me laughing out loud reading, like the bit on how Fantasyland horses are bred.
Is this a book that everyone will love? I doubt it. Is it something you need to read from cover to cover? Probably not - it might work better as something you dip into every now and then. But if you’re a fan of sword and sorcery novels, this is definitely something worth checking out.
DWJ Re-Read no. 50 | The Tough Guide to Fantasyland (1996)
previous read: The True State of Affairs
next read: Deep Secret