The first eight chapters detail the history of the modern genre from the late nineteenth century through the early 1970s, when Carter was writing, a subject he had previously covered more briefly in Tolkien: A Look Behind "The Lord of the Rings".

(Some of these, like The White Throne and Khymyrium, bear the peculiar interest of being works in progress or projected that in the event were never published in complete form.)

"[2] In a comprehensive discussion of the book, Fritz Leiber focuses on it as a pioneering study of the whole fantasy fiction genre, observing "[a]t last other critics [will] have something to add to or disagree with."

Of the style, he states "Carter writes in a free and easy, bumptious way, discussing his own fiction, written and unwritten, casually scoring points against Tolkien as well as for [him], thumbnail-sketching plots and doing other breezy things calculated to make more portentous critics register shock.

"[3] Cy Chauvin in Amazing Science Fiction calls the book "a fairly in-depth survey," and its final three chapters on tricks of the trade "especially important to the fantasy writer."