Fantasy with Friends is a weekly meme hosted by the good people over at Pages Unbound. Fantasy with Friends poses questions each Monday about fantasy, either as a genre as a whole or individual works.
This week’s prompt is:
Has reading a fantasy book ever inspired you to do further research into something else?
Not really–I mean, Fantasy is pretty much about beyond reality, right? I mean, occasionally, I’d do a quick web search to check for a detail or two on a notable fae or mythological figure–just to make sure I remembered them correctly. I did that with Grossman’s The Bright Sword when it came to a knight or two, and some of the characters in Strange Practice by Vivian Shaw. That’s as close as I can think of when it comes to research.
Well, I mean–there’s looking into the backlist of a new-to-me author.
This prompt did made me think of How to Slay a Dragon: A Fantasy Hero’s Guide to the Real Middle Ages by Cait Stevenson.
What should you ask a magic mirror? How do you outwit a genie? Where should you dig for buried treasure? Fantasy media’s favorite clichés get new life from How to Slay a Dragon: A Fantasy Hero’s Guide to the Real Middle Ages, a historically accurate romp through the medieval world. Each entry presents a trope from video games, books, movies, or TV—such as saving the princess or training a wizard—as a problem for you to solve, as if you were the hero of your own fantasy quest. Through facts sourced from a rich foundation of medieval sources, you will learn how your magical problems were solved by people in the actual Middle Ages.
Divided into thematic subsections based on typical stages in a fantastical epic, and inclusive of race, gender, and continent, How to Slay a Dragon is perfect if you’re curious to learn more about the time period that inspired some of your favorite magical worlds or longing to know what it would be like to be the hero of your own mythical adventure.
Were I the sort to be inspired, I think that many of the questions I’d want to research were touched on by this book. Honestly, I was disappointed in the book–I really didn’t think it lived up to the premise. But still, there were some entertaining bits. Obviously, your results may vary. It wasn’t research per se–but it’s me looking into various and sundry fantasy tropes.
I’m really looking forward to some of the other posts in response to this prompt, if only because I expect a good recommendation or six.
Krysta
I’ve definitely been inspired to look up legends and folklore after reading a fantasy book! I think it’s interesting to see how the story sometimes diverges from more traditional takes. And I like learning about figures/monsters/magical creatures that I was unfamiliar with!