The new edition of Critical Survey of Science Fiction & Fantasy Literature, previously published as Magill’s Survey of Science Fiction & Fantasy Literature and Classics of Science Fiction & Fantasy Literature, provides descriptions of hundreds of famous and well-regarded works of science fiction and fantasy, summarizing plots and analyyzing the works in terms of their contributions to literature.

Organization & Format

Each article discusses an individual book or series and often comments on other works by the same author. Individual articles open with basic information in a ready-reference format: author’s name, his or her birth and death dates, identification of the work as either science fiction or fantasy, subgenre, type of work (such as drama, novel, novella, series, or story), time and location of plot, and date of first publication.

The main body of each essay contains two sections:
The Story
offersa brief summary of the work’s plot and identifies major characters, while
Analysis
offers a critical interpretation of the title and identifies the literary devices and themes used in the work.

Works featured in this compilation include essays on such classics as Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, The War of the Worlds, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, and the Lord of the Rings trilogy, as well as entirely new articles on recent titles such as American Gods, Singularity Sky, Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, Cloud Atlas, Boneshaker, Area X: The Southern Reach Trilogy, City of Stairs, and many more.