Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I was excited to read (or in this case, hear) an in-depth analysis of how Appendix N literature influenced D&D, and you do get that. But the author laments that a lot of more "modern" fantasy is bad because it "forces political agendas into the story," while forcing their own political views into their analysis. The author unironically, seriously uses the term "gook" to refer to Vietnamese (when using the Star Trek: TOS as an example of a political agenda being "forced" into "modern" sci-fi and fantasy) The author also espouses that using a woman as just a reward for male character's success makes for better writing. They literally say that Arwen not being important or even very present in LotR, and is just a reward for Aragorn to get at the end, is GOOD storytelling. If you don't mind racial insensitivity and patriarchal ideas of what is good, then by all means, you'll probably enjoy this exploration of the literature that influenced D&D. If you do mind that kind of stuff, then I wouldn't really recommend getting this.