Narnia explored Book

The quality of his selections is top notch, and after flipping through these 100 entries, I must admit that my 'wish list' fattened up a few more pounds. David Pringle has done wonders writing about the classics of genre fiction, some well-known, others nearly forgotten, and here he keeps his analysis minimal, giving the reader brief synopses and brief rhetoric to what makes the novels so important in modern fantasy. However, there's one thing that gnawed on me was his willingness to drop spoilers, not minute ones, but conclusive ones that may spoil the read entirely. I don't know if he was assuming most readers of this book would have already read his selections, but it was a bit grating. For me, these type of 'best of' books are great for discovering gems, not revisiting them. Anyhow, it's all about his diverse scope of entries. Ramsey Campbell's 'The Hungry Moon' alongside Tolkein and Poul Anderson, rubbing shoulders with Michael Shea's 'Nifft the Lean' and Ken Grimwood's 'Replay', this is a near-must for bookworms, and thankfully one that rises above the stereotypical fairyland tales and sword & sandal epics. Truly shows how the genre label of 'fantasy' has an incredibly wide scope. So close to a 4-star read.