Struggling with directions

I m really bad at understanding directions, may it be in real life, in video games and when they’re described in books.

I read mainly fantasy books, which involve a lot of different places and journeys. Usually, I look up for a map whenever there’s one so I can situate the most important places towards each others, then, I try to focus on the characters and events, and let my imagination run wild for the rest.

But the books I read involve a lot of combat, and the surroundings often plays key roles in the strategy of the battles, and the maps don’t always include every places.

So when I imagined a place a certain way for the three quarters of the books, and then, the environment is suddenly described differently during a battle scene, I bug.

I just spent one hour, without exaggerating, on two pages, because a place was somewhere else than I thought, and I really struggled to figure out the environment in my head.

So I had to check for more maps, google the place, etc, but there aren’t really illustrations of it. I spent one hour until the time I figured out, an headache, which can kills a bit my enjoyment.

Any tips ?

by Fine_Entertainment20