This essay demonstrates how we can gain critcal insights into a fantasy world by reading its accompanying map, using Ben McSweeney’s map from Brandon Sanderson’s The Rithmatst as an example. An analysis of the map’s topography, linguistc signs, and surround elements is carried out in terms of Denis Wood’s propositon that all maps have authors, subjects, and themes. The results show that even without reference to the text, the map comments on the fantasy world’s technological level, its colonial history, and the central conflict of the story. Interpretng the map also invites a broader examinaton of the relatonship between the fantastcal and the actual. © 2018 Liverpool University Press. All rights reserved.