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10 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Ambitious, fascinating, packed with info
26 Feb 2011
Format:Paperback
The worldbuilder has a lot on his or her plate. From deciding whether the planet should be Earth-like or something completely different, to creating continents with their own geology, climate, flora, and fauna, to peopling the world with new cultures of humans (or something else), to inventing religions, histories, systems of government...not to mention things like magic, psychic abilities, advanced technology, and other deviations from the mundane world. Rosenfelder addresses all of these areas in this volume, offering insightful and often surprising details and points of advice. He even manages to cover mapping and illustration.
The book seems to focus on steering the reader away from cliches and other mistakes, sparking creativity, and providing a range of options in places where the reader might get stuck. The amount of details provided is remarkable, but the level of detail is uneven--in a given subject, we might get a general overview, a fine level of attention to certain specifics, or sometimes both at once (determined, apparently, by the author's interests and level of expertise). This is probably unavoidable, given the ambitious scope of the book, which is both its strength and its weakness. Rosenfelder's last book, The Language Construction Kit, was devoted to the single subject of inventing languages, so it shouldn't be surprising that a book on inventing "everything else" should have some gaps. I wonder, for example, if he would have been better off doing one book on planets and another on cultures.
A word about the section on illustration and 3-D modeling: first of all, this section covers pages 298-347, so keep in mind (if this stuff doesn't interest you) that before you get to that section, there are 297 pages worth of content devoted to other subjects. The illustration section is aimed at people who want to draw pictures of their world, but have little or no artistic ability. I think this target audience will find it useful; others probably won't.
Overall, consider this a crash course on a ton of different subjects that one should know about in order to create a fictional world the right way. If that's what you are looking for, then I recommend this book. It has its flaws, but overall I consider it a good resource and a good value.
A personal note: I'm in the later stages of creating my own fantasy world. I did it the hard way--which involved spending several years researching nearly all of the subjects this book covers. If that appeals to you, then you can probably skip this purchase. As for me, I don't regret doing the legwork, but if I had had this book a long time ago, I could have focused my research more effectively, and saved myself a lot of time and effort!
The book seems to focus on steering the reader away from cliches and other mistakes, sparking creativity, and providing a range of options in places where the reader might get stuck. The amount of details provided is remarkable, but the level of detail is uneven--in a given subject, we might get a general overview, a fine level of attention to certain specifics, or sometimes both at once (determined, apparently, by the author's interests and level of expertise). This is probably unavoidable, given the ambitious scope of the book, which is both its strength and its weakness. Rosenfelder's last book, The Language Construction Kit, was devoted to the single subject of inventing languages, so it shouldn't be surprising that a book on inventing "everything else" should have some gaps. I wonder, for example, if he would have been better off doing one book on planets and another on cultures.
A word about the section on illustration and 3-D modeling: first of all, this section covers pages 298-347, so keep in mind (if this stuff doesn't interest you) that before you get to that section, there are 297 pages worth of content devoted to other subjects. The illustration section is aimed at people who want to draw pictures of their world, but have little or no artistic ability. I think this target audience will find it useful; others probably won't.
Overall, consider this a crash course on a ton of different subjects that one should know about in order to create a fictional world the right way. If that's what you are looking for, then I recommend this book. It has its flaws, but overall I consider it a good resource and a good value.
A personal note: I'm in the later stages of creating my own fantasy world. I did it the hard way--which involved spending several years researching nearly all of the subjects this book covers. If that appeals to you, then you can probably skip this purchase. As for me, I don't regret doing the legwork, but if I had had this book a long time ago, I could have focused my research more effectively, and saved myself a lot of time and effort!
8 of 10 people found the following review helpful
pretty cool, but...
30 Nov 2010
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Being new to con-worlding, I think this book is a pretty nice introduction to that specific hobby. It gives good advices on what not to do (copy Lord of the Ring, medieval England and modern USA) and lots of interesting information on pretty much everything.
But while it makes you ask yourself the right questions about how countries and cultures work, it doesn't always gives you much to answer those questions. Most of the information given is trivia, and you still have to do lots of research to really find how to make things works.
And there's that part on drawing and 3D modeling. I... really wish that part of the book didn't exist. It's one thing to draw for yourself and show it to people and say "I did this". But if you want to tell people how *they* could draw, you need to be good, really good. And while Mark Rosenfelder is talented in many things, his drawing are far from perfect and I'm not sure I want any kind of drawing lessons from him.
As for the 3D modeling part... yeah. No. Using textures? I don't think that was needed. I would have liked the book much more if those two chapters hadn't been there and if other parts had had more pages (like the Astronomy&Geology part which was too short for my tastes)
Still, a nice book, full of ideas on how to make your world work, and that's all I wanted.
But while it makes you ask yourself the right questions about how countries and cultures work, it doesn't always gives you much to answer those questions. Most of the information given is trivia, and you still have to do lots of research to really find how to make things works.
And there's that part on drawing and 3D modeling. I... really wish that part of the book didn't exist. It's one thing to draw for yourself and show it to people and say "I did this". But if you want to tell people how *they* could draw, you need to be good, really good. And while Mark Rosenfelder is talented in many things, his drawing are far from perfect and I'm not sure I want any kind of drawing lessons from him.
As for the 3D modeling part... yeah. No. Using textures? I don't think that was needed. I would have liked the book much more if those two chapters hadn't been there and if other parts had had more pages (like the Astronomy&Geology part which was too short for my tastes)
Still, a nice book, full of ideas on how to make your world work, and that's all I wanted.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
How to do world-creation
1 Oct 2011
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
This is a must for those in the business of creating their own world for fantasy/SF/RPG or their own pleasure. It includes many non-European medieval cultures and examples - which is a breath of fresh air. In addition, the author includes many examples from his own world, Almea, but that is a bonus, since his world is quite different from the usual run-of-the-mill fantasy setting. His chapter on drawing was fairly good, though his art is not more than OK. His chapter on map-making is the weakest link, and as this is such an important component to world-creation, I have been forced to give this one less star than the rest of the book deserved.
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