The Tough Guide to Fantasyland - Diana Wynne Jones
A mock tour through the tropes of the Tolkien-imitating high fantasy genre, The Tough Guide to Fantasyland is a gem of a book, poking fun at the homogeneity and general lack of commonsense that tends to prevail in Fantasyland. (How does the economy support itself? What's happened to all the wildlife? and so on.) I do think it rewards cover-to-cover reading, which makes the read richer and funnier, although dip-in dip-out works just as well. It also reminded me of those deliciously campy choose-your-own-adventure books I used to borrow by the armload from the local library when I was smaller. And it's a good way of nostalgically reliving all the bad fantasy books I read when I didn't know any better, without actually having to read them again.
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