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The Science Fiction & Fantasy Quiz Book

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What character did Peter Cushing portray in Star Wars: A New Hope? Who was Arwen Evenstar's mother? According to Isaac Asimov, what is third law of robotics? Which barbarian hero carried a sword called 'Graywand'?

Do you dare face the ultimate test of science fiction and fantasy knowledge? This fun-filled book offers the chance to prove your expertise, with questions ranging from easy to nearly impossible, drawn from the greatest novels, movies, comic books, video games and television shows in the history of the genre.

192 pages, Hardcover

First published September 15, 2015

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37 people want to read

About the author

Joseph A. McCullough

82 books31 followers

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5 stars
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews
Profile Image for Denis.
Author 1 book36 followers
October 29, 2019
I found this at a library book sale in Vancouver. Nice cover, and fun idea for something to do while on a four hour flight home. I enjoyed answering the quiz yet found most of the questions to be so heavy on T.V. and Movies. I was thinking that it, being a book, it would focus more on book versions of scifi and fantasy. Also, with the cover being as retro as it was, I assumed it would also focus more on golden age, or historical scifi and fantasy. There were a few questions there for those familiar with that sort of thing, but it was really more about Marvel, DC comics, Star Trek/Wars, Game of Thrones (which I never watched), Video Games and Dungeon and Dragons. It is broken up into "Easy", "Medium" and "Hard" questions - which I could not determine a specific distinction between them. I would have preferred something like, "Comics Books", "Video Games", "T.V.", "Pre-Golden Age, Golden Age and Post literature" and such.

Overall, an entertaining good find.
Profile Image for Scarlet Cameo.
671 reviews412 followers
September 11, 2016
I really enjoy made this quiz. Was fun and really quick. Even more, my to-read, to-watch, to-learn list get even bigger after read this.

Maybe isn't the deepest book in the world but, for a fan, this will be and awesome gitf.

A digital copy of this book was provided by NetGalley
Profile Image for Christine.
7,253 reviews575 followers
August 8, 2015
Disclaimer: ARC via Netgalley and Osprey publishing in exchange for an honest review.

Okay, I don’t usually review quiz books because, well, you don’t usually read them straight though do you? But, hey this one looked interesting and I was auto-approved on Netgalley.

Let me just say, straight off the bat, that any book that has Red Dwarf questions in it is an automatic winner.

So really, what more do you need to know?

The book is divided, as many such books are, into Easy, Medium, and Hard difficulty levels, though the quizzes in each section get progressively harder. There are also four different types of quizzes. The first is Multiple Choice, and it seems that McCullough knows about the middle and longest answer rule for those types of test because he does try to change it up a bit. There are True and False quizzes. There are short answers quizzes. Finally, there are matching quizzes. The majority of the quizzes are general knowledge, so while there are several questions about, say, Game of Thrones, you can quite easily pass several tests without knowing a thing about that literary series or television series.

The only exceptions to this are the matching quizzes which are themed in a variety of different ways. Sometimes you need to match an actor to a part, a captain to a spaceship, a character to an author, and a variety of other ways.

The easy questions range from wanting to know what type of animal Reepicheep is to Jon Snow’s age. The different ones include being able to finish theme songs.

Of particular importance to readers is the fact that McCullough draws on both film and book versions of various series (Hunger Games, LOTR, GOT) and clearly states in each question whether said question is about the film(or television series) or the book(s). Both formats are covered equally. The same is also true for comic books and the movies based on them.

McCullough also ranges widely. There are questions about current blockbusters (from within the last year) to old time favorites to even little watched movies and films. It is nicely varied.

The illustrations by Miguel Colmbra are funny without being overly cute and reference various titles and genres used in the questions.

Highly recommend for sci-fi and fantasy fans.
Profile Image for Marjolein (UrlPhantomhive).
2,497 reviews57 followers
November 19, 2015
Read all my reviews on http://urlphantomhive.booklikes.com

I don't usually review quiz books because do you actually read them? Not from A-Z or in one sitting at least. However, when I was browsing Netgalley I was intrigued by this particular one and secretly I also wanted to know where I stood on my science fiction and fantasy trivia.

The questions are divided into three categories, ranging from easy to hard. And although the questions in general indeed seemed harder in the more difficult categories, I think it really depends on whether or not you're familiar with a certain book/series/world.

The questions were a great mix between old and new, books, movies/tv and games. There were different sort of quizzes like multiple choice, false/true and open questions. Every so often there was a themed match something to something else quiz.

Recommended.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!
Profile Image for Glire.
826 reviews623 followers
September 29, 2015
This is, literally, The Science-Fiction and Fantasy Quiz Book. You have a bunch of questions about every geeky thing you can think of. And nothing more. I kept expecting to find some kind of explanation, something besides that one page of answers with 4) a and 51) d. Just more.

My bad.

I had never read a quiz book and was expecting something else. Still, it is entertaining.
Profile Image for Kathryn Patterson.
Author 4 books8 followers
September 27, 2015
"The Science-Fiction & Fantasy Quiz Book" by Joseph McCullough is a fun and entertaining book to read. Mr. McCullough covers everything from television shows, to movies, to comic books, to short stories, to novels. In the first few sections alone, I saw questions about "Star Wars", "Star Trek", "Buffy the Vampire Slayer", "Game of Thrones", and the old "Battlestar Galactica".

I could easily see a bunch of geeks sitting around a table, drinking home-brewed beer, and using this book to play a homemade game of trivia.

Also, I like that the questions range from multiple-choice, to short answer, to true or false, to matching related things, e.g. captains with their ships.

I give this book 5 out of 5 stars for entertainment value; and I recommend this book to any fans who like to test themselves on trivia.

Disclaimer: I was given a copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Profile Image for Bekah.
432 reviews44 followers
October 13, 2015
I love Science-Fiction and Fantasy. I even took a course dedicated these two expansive genres in college. So when I saw this on NetGalley, it was a no-brainer to check it out, if for no other reason than to take the quizzes myself and see how I stacked up. It was loads of fun. Split up into Easy, Medium & Hard, it also has varying test formats (multiple choice, true or false, matching & short answer) and covers books, television, and films. A perfect gift for a fan, but also a fun book to have on hand as an ice breaker or game night with friends.
Profile Image for Paul Harmon.
252 reviews28 followers
August 29, 2015
I received this From Netgalley

Ive Never reviewed a quiz book before but as I received this from netgalley for a review I will give it a shot.
It's Awesome!...There reviewed :)
The book is divided into three levels of difficulty and are up to date questions about every possible area of geeky goodness you can imagine and covers not just the basics idea of Sci-Fi and fantasy but delves into great books and video games and anime and everything else I can think of.

There are Multiple choice, True-False, Short answer, and Matching quizzes. I decided to not just read this book but put it to use so over the last few weeks I had friends and family gather with a few drinks and play our own version of Geeks Who Drink...while actually watching the TV show during these sessions for even more fun. I have to tell you we had a blast the questions are varied enough to challenge some and not frustrate others and it was just fun.

A book that can entertain multiple geeks at once...that is a no brainer and a sure winner...I do suggest buying a paper version VS an electronic version when in becomes available just for convenience since the answer key is in the back.
494 reviews10 followers
September 29, 2015
The Science Fiction & Fantasy Quiz Book by Joseph A. McCullough- This slim volume of questions from the Science Fiction and Fantasy realm can be very entertaining, if that is something you like. There are over a hundred questions; true/false, multiple choice, etc.. with answers easy to access. It can be an added challenge jumping back and forth from question to answer, but the way it is set up becomes easier as you go through the quizzes. Also there are different levels of difficulty: Easy, Medium and Hard. So you can build yourself up to the hard stuff by conquering the easy questions first. As far as the material goes, I found a good mix of both genres, featuring: Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, Star Trek, Game of Thrones, Harry Potter, Dune, Marvel & DC, and Video games such as Resident Evil. There are also question involving classic Science Fiction and Fantasy authors and their works. Several times a question can just be a list of characters and another list of sources and you are required to match the correct entry. This can be a fun way to spend so time and test your memory.
Profile Image for Paul Franco.
1,374 reviews12 followers
November 4, 2015
Books, movies, TV shows, video games, comic books, and others I have no idea about are all included here. There’s such a wide variety of genres—I knew a lot more science fiction than fantasy, for example—that there’s no possible way anyone should be near perfect (and if you are, go take a walk or see a football game). I don’t watch Game of Thrones, so I didn’t even attempt the “match character to actor” game; same with Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, and Lost. There are three levels: easy, medium, hard. On the first two quizzes I got 9/10, then a perfect 10 on the third. By the sixth things were getting harder, and by the tenth my average had fallen to 7/10. At 20 quizzes I was at 62%, still in the easy section, kinda my last hurrah.
The thing that most struck me was how good I felt when I got one right that I wasn’t anticipating getting right, like when I got a perfect score for Star Trek species. At times it was positively addicting; “Just one more and then I’ll go sleep, promise. . .” though considering some of my scores, I shoulda left it till morning.
So my final score was 434 out of 1040. I find myself simultaneously annoyed and relieved that it wasn’t higher.
Profile Image for Magda.
300 reviews52 followers
November 20, 2015
How would you like to check your knowledge about sci-fi and fantasy movies, books, TV shows, graphic novels? Now you have an occasion to do so. It's quite fun :D.

Book is split to 3 parts - easy, medium and hard questions. The truth is if a you know the answer, the "hard" questions are easy and if you don't - you won't answer the "easy" question anyway, so in my opinion it should more likely be split to the general questions and the detailed ones.

The book quiz isn't something you read in one sitting. You do some questions now and then, go back to it from time to time. All in all it's a good fun, something you can maybe share with your friends and make it even more fun :).

By the way, the cover reminds of the "Zathura" game box from the movie :). I like that movie. And Jumanji too.


I received this copy from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Profile Image for Solfreedom.
279 reviews4 followers
October 3, 2015
I received this book from Netgalley and Osprey publishing, in exchange for my honest review. Thanks for all the fun times!
If you are a fan of SCI-FI or Fantasy, try your knowledge here. I thought I knew some stuff, these quizzes made me realize, I only knew so little. I loved stumping my family, we had game show night and used these as the questions. It was a blast!!
There are different levels of difficulties. The quizzes are up to date with the genres and has an interactive answer page, that you can just tap on to take you there. Answers are pretty straightforward, with not a lot of extra explaining ( maybe a little expansion would be nice). You really need to know your stuff. I would recommend to the masses.
Profile Image for Ron.
4,099 reviews11 followers
June 12, 2016
In The Science Fiction & Fantasy Quiz Book, Joseph McCullough provided 104 quizzes grouped by degrees of difficulty. There are true and false, multiple choice, short answer and matching quizzes. The subjects covered by the quizzes range from famous authors, television actors matched with shows, matching authors with imaginary books that feature in their fiction, film directors, anime, and many other obscurities of SF&F geekdom. My son and I went through the quizzes together which added to the fun since pooled brains means more right answers and crowing over who knows what. The book could be a great way to break the ice at parties or just a trivia contest among friends. But do be prepared to learn obscure details when the answers are revealed!
Profile Image for Courtney.
710 reviews8 followers
October 2, 2015
This was actually quite fun. I discovered I am a little more of a geek than I thought. This seemed to be more heavily saturated with Science Fiction than Fantasy though. I would have preferred more Fantasy questions and less Star Trek/Star Wars, but that is just the opinion of one geek. I loved that the digital book had links to the answers. It made checking/cheating a lot easier. It had a mix of multiple choice, true/false, matching, and short answer. It was very comprehensive in its content, from books, including comics, to movies to TV shows, all platforms were represented. I had a lot of fun with this quiz book.
Profile Image for amomentsilence.
327 reviews58 followers
December 11, 2015
What Sci Fi and Fantasy nerd wouldn't want something like this to have at any social gathering of like-minded individuals? I'm planning on buying this the instant I have some cash. This book was great.

Be advised... it's a TRIVIA BOOK. Don't expect an info-guide on the ins and outs of SCIFI&FANTASY now. You're not gonna get it. Think of this as a Q&A for those social gatherings when the inevitable question is asked, "Now what?" Whip this baby out and you'll have an hour or more of geeky, fun quizzing and discussion of existentialism. (Or something...)

PS - UPDATED.... DID BUY BOOK. Hardcover. Smaller than expected, but still a worthwhile purchase.
Profile Image for Nichole.
984 reviews21 followers
August 19, 2015
I received a copy of this from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This is the first quiz book that I have read for review. Since it is about my favorite genres, I couldn't resist. I thought I would have done better, but I did not do well at all!! I really enjoyed taking the quizzes, there were questions about some of my favorites. George R. R. Martin, Robert Jordan, and of course Tolkien. I think the part I failed the worst on were questions about Star Trek and some of the comics. Overall, it's a fun book.
Profile Image for Nia Ireland.
405 reviews1 follower
November 6, 2017
This book really highlighted some grey areas in my knowledge though and reminded me that I really do need to sit down and get round to watching Battlestar Galactica at last, and that I need to rewatch everything Joss Whedon ever made.

I can imagine this book being a perfect Christmas gift or brilliant on road trips with similarly nerdy friends. The questions cover a whole range of TV shows, films, books, comics etc. and the answers vary between True/False and short sentences.

One thing that I would mention though is that this book is an absolute bitch to navigate on a Kindle paperwhite, which isn't really designed to flip backwards and forwards between question and answer pages so I'd really recommend either a print copy or a fancier Kindle than mine.
Profile Image for Maggie Hesseling.
1,367 reviews13 followers
August 29, 2017
It feels a little weird reviewing a quiz book, but I have to say this one is quite amazing. I got through the quiz's quite quickly and really enjoyed the questions as well as the set up of them. I thought I would do quite poorly (I've read a little in the genre and watch a bit of tv) but I was pleasantly surprised about the questions. There was everything from Star Trek to Buffy to Battleship Galactica. And even in the easy questions there were some I found quite difficult.

There's a little of everything for every kind of fantasy/Scifi buff. And it'll keep you busy for quite a while.
Profile Image for Soulinpages.
279 reviews15 followers
June 3, 2020
* Book given by Bloomsbury for a review. *

Storyline: This is a non fiction quiz book with pop culture references. It's not suitable for people of all ages. That is main drawback that held me back from opening the book again and again. As a gen Z, person of color, I didn't know most of the references.

Writing: I would have preferred having explanations or references to the answers.

Final Verdict: It's an okay book for expanding your pop culture knowledge.

Originally reviewed on 23 February 2017.
Profile Image for Daniel Kukwa.
4,780 reviews126 followers
October 6, 2017
It does what it says on the cover, and it does it extremely well. Nothing remarkable or groundbreaking, but it's geek-cred testing goodness to the maximum. And the cover itself is pure pulp SF-style gorgeousness.
Profile Image for Daniel.
2,811 reviews42 followers
December 10, 2015
Profile Image for Montzalee Wittmann.
5,287 reviews2,353 followers
December 18, 2016
The Science Fiction and Fantasy Quiz Book is what has been missing in my sci-fi library! It is every sci-fi nerds dream book. It stretches the mind to remember things from videos, movie series, movies, comics, cartoons, and books. It has easy, medium, and hard questions. There are multiple choice, matching, short answer, true or false, and others. It is so much fun to dig up those memories. I wanted to call my friends and ask them for help when I got stuck. It would be a perfect book for get togethers or parties. I enjoyed it alone but I sure wanted to share the fun. The answers are in the back for those who wanted to give up; quitters! I have lived and breathed sci-fi as long as I can remember, but this old lady got many of the easy and medium right. Lots of fun, a book for the fantasy and sci-fi fan in your life! I was given this book for a honest review and boy am I glad I got to review this one!!!
9,222 reviews130 followers
January 2, 2016
A most successful little book – no editorialising, just questions, that do suitably progress from the easy to the specialist. You might prefer the very jumbled, random style here – classic novels up against the latest manga or US TV – or you might wish for more categorisation, but what you get is a healthy dose of trivia puzzling. The answers too often devolve into a list of ABCDBCCA etc, rather than let you find things out quickly, and it needs a question master or a lot of writing paper to get through, but with that comes the satisfaction of a whole-hearted and intelligent challenge. Worth more than four stars – my niggles are minor.
Profile Image for Danielle's.
Author 1 book169 followers
January 18, 2016
Loved this quiz book. Easy to use with a good variety of questions. There's something for every type of geek. I especially liked the fact there is an Anita Blake question just to top it off.
I have to admit I'm not very good at quizzes or general knowledge but this book was fun and made me feel better when my other half didn't get all the questions right either (the pro in my family).
Light hearted entertainment and could be used when meeting up with friends/pub quiz 5* recommend

*An advanced copy of this book was given to me via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review*
Profile Image for D.
229 reviews1 follower
August 7, 2016
Wow, anyone who loves science fiction and fantasy will love this well informed text. Any teacher who wanted to find out if a student actually read the text, well here is a tool for you. This book is full of interesting trivia and questions that may stump any enthusiast. A fun book to have on the shelf, stump friends or even that person who always seems to know it all!
The book is set up so that you have several ways to view, check out favorite titles or just work your way through it. Definitely a fun read, and one to share with others.
1 review
December 29, 2016
**I received a copy of this book as an ARC from NetGalley and Osprey Press**

Ever think: man, I wish I could set up the perfect trivia night with my friends? Or even, ugh, these trivia questions at the bar are getting so stale! Well look no further! Either as a great gift to your local trivia host or to yourself for a fun night with friends, this geeky book has it all! Some great true or false questions, multiple choice, and amazing questions you would never think about. You'll surprise yourself with how much you actually know and have fun filling in what you don't!
Profile Image for Tabby Shiflett.
1,067 reviews16 followers
August 8, 2015
4.5 Stars
A perfect gift for any dedicated Sci-fi/fantasy fan! This quiz book includes books, movies, television shows, and games in different difficulty levels. Almost every cult classic has at least one question. The question types mix true or false, multiple choice, and open-ended questions. What can I say, it's fun. Geeky, but fun. This book would be great for trivia night. I suggest the print copy so you can flip back and forth easily from the quizzes to the answers.

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Profile Image for Arlene Arredondo.
566 reviews11 followers
September 26, 2015
This is like geek heaven!
Great way to spend the evening and make a family night out of it (or a date night).
I got to bond with my teens battling with which had more knowledge of Sci-Fi. It is a very fun compilation of quizzes from movies, books, series, and so on.
I can imagine the gang from TBBT (The Big Bang Theory) playing this game.
Note: I received a copy free from Netgalley for review purposes.
Profile Image for Ally Web.
489 reviews23 followers
September 24, 2015
This book really made family night a blast. There are questions from all fandoms in it. We have a very diverse family when it comes to our fandoms, so there was a question for everyone. What I didn't like was that the answer key was in the back. If you have the ebook it's tough to keep flipping back and forth. If you're thinking about buying this, get it in paperback.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews

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