The Tough Guide to Fantasyland is a nonfiction book by the British author Diana Wynne Jones that humorously examines the common tropes of a broad swathe of fantasy fiction.

While hospitalized in 1994, she and Chris Bell worked on projected entries for The Encyclopedia of Fantasy (Clute & Grant, Orbit Books, 1997).

[1][d] There was a hardcover Science Fiction Book Club edition in 1999 (US) and Gollancz issued a "mini-hardcover" in 2004 (UK).

About two dozen symbolic silhouettes in the margin identify "Food" (a fork and knife), "Cliche" (the letter 'C'), and so on.

The new front cover design mimicked some guidebooks, with "The Essential Guide to Fantasy Travel (Revised and Updated Edition)" along the top edge and a mock rubber stamp "Dark Lord approved!"

[6] Jonathan Palmer reviewed The Tough Guide to Fantasyland for Arcane magazine, rating it a 7 out of 10 overall.

[7] Palmer comments that "Although there are some audible chuckles to be had, the Guide is not a side-splitter (unlike Henry Root's World of Knowledge, to which it owes a considerable debt), but it is welcome fillip to those who feel that Fantasyland has become a little predictable.