Last month, a new reference book entitled Star Wars Encyclopedia: The Comprehensive Guide to the Star Wars Galaxy was released by DK, and Laughing Place was recently provided with a review copy of this title. Now that I’ve been able to spend some time with it, below are my thoughts on this volume.
In the interest of full disclosure, I want to start off this review by stating that I personally know a few of the authors of this book, and a number of them have been guests on my podcast. That said, there’s enough material here that I have no idea who wrote what or how the work was divided among the 13 credited writers. I think that uncertainty is enough to avoid any potential conflict of interest, and I have done my best not to allow real-life acquaintances to color my opinions of the content. With that out of the way, the next thing I will say about Star Wars Encyclopedia is that it was immediately larger and heavier than I had expected when I took it out of the box in which it had been shipped to me. My other thought before even opening the book was that this would indeed make a really wonderful holiday gift for Star Wars fans, just based on the cover artwork alone, which features a gorgeous collage of Star Wars characters from every era of the saga by artist Brian Rood, spread across the front and back. A note on the back cover indicates that this is an updated version of Ultimate Star Wars, which was first issued in 2015 (to coincide with the release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens) and then updated in 2019 (when Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker hit theaters). I don’t believe I own that particular tome– though the pile is getting bigger and more difficult to sift through every year– so I’m excited to have this new version of Star Wars Encyclopedia in my collection.
A lot has happened in A Galaxy Far, Far Away since 2019, with many of the most exciting examples having taken place on the small screen, via Lucasfilm’s recent glut of live-action Disney+ series like The Mandalorian, Ahsoka, and Andor. It’s strange to think that none of the new content created for those shows would have been included in previous iterations of this book, but that’s a big part of what makes opening up 2024’s Star Wars Encyclopedia so exciting. Right off the bat, a foreword by Ahsoka star Rosario Dawson points toward how heavily featured the Disney+ era of Star Wars is going to be here, but that’s not to say that the pre-existing 11 movies and several animated series are ignored in any way. On the contrary, this book feels up-to-date because it treats all of that content as equally important in the Star Wars canon (but don’t expect to find anything from the Legends– formerly known as Expanded Universe– timeline in these pages). Another big addition that joined the Star Wars family in recent years is Lucasfilm’s The High Republic publishing, and that stuff comes up pretty quickly in the Encyclopedia, as it is organized by when its entries first pop up in the larger Star Wars timeline. For example, the first section of the book deals with “Characters and Creatures,” so that means we’re introduced to Jedi Knights from The High Republic (like Porter Engle, Vildar Mac, and Matthea Cathley) right up front, before the guide progress through entries from the Star Wars prequel trilogy, animated series like The Bad Batch and Rebels, live-action shows like Obi-Wan Kenobi and Andor, stand-alone movies like Solo and Rogue One, the original Star Wars film trilogy, novels, comic books, and so on across over 400 pages.
The other three major sections of Star Wars Encyclopedia are divided into the categories of “Locations,” Technology,” and “Vehicles,” which cumulatively makes up just about everything anyone would really want to know about this fictional universe created nearly 50 years ago. Major presences in the storytelling like Yoda, Tatooine, or the Millennium Falcon get full-page entries, while those with more minor appearances might get half-pages, quarter-pages, or even smaller blurbs. There’s an index in the back for easy access, or one could sift through the volume chronologically if unsure of the precise name of something, as suggested by co-author Ryder Windham (Star Wars: The Ultimate Visual Guide) in his introduction. The images utilized throughout to illustrate the entries are great-looking and helpful, having been derived directly from on-screen and behind-the-scenes Lucasfilm sources. I’d also say that this thoroughly researched edition works both as an introduction to the Star Wars galaxy for newbies looking to learn more about a new interest, or a handy go-to guide for more practiced veterans like myself who might want a quick reference for, say, the name of Garindan’s species or something of the like. Really the only problem with a meticulously and lovingly crafted book like this is that it’s going to go out of date relatively quickly… it’s already missing entries from The Acolyte and Skeleton Crew, and upcoming Lucasfilm releases like Andor season two and The Mandalorian & Grogu will make it even more obsolete. But I suppose that’s what future updated editions will be for. In the meantime, this is a terrific place to jump aboard the Star Wars hype train or taking an even deeper dive into the ever-expanding lore than you have already in the past.
Star Wars Encyclopedia: The Comprehensive Guide to the Star Wars Galaxy is available for purchase now wherever books are sold.