The Star Wars Book Is the Companion Guide You’re Looking For

Lucasfilm/DK

My family thinks of me as the resident Star Wars geek among us, and one Christmas they all chipped in to buy me one very expensive gift: The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia, a three-volume set of tomes that contains entries on everything that existed at that time within the massive history of Star Wars lore. Even though I’m not much of a collector, it’s one of those iconic pieces of memorabilia that I very much treasure.

As of April 2014, however, much of the material contained therein was no longer considered part of the Star Wars canon. Everything from that point onward is considered canonical in a more tightly woven continuity managed by a story team working for Lucasfilm, whose intent is for everything to be equally canon or noncanon. (The former Expanded Universe had a hierarchical system in which contradictions between media superseded one another: books trumped games, movies trumped books, and the words of George Lucas took ultimate precedence.) For the more invested fans of the films, TV series, and beyond, there has long been a need for an updated comprehensive companion guidebook akin to The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia to communicate the key characters, themes, and events that compose the present canon. Happily, a book published by DK in October 2020, called simply The Star Wars Book, offers just this.

Penned by Star Wars lore experts Pablo Hidalgo, Dan Zehr, and Cole Horton, The Star Wars Book covers virtually everything of import within the canon. Whereas the previous book was arranged alphabetically like a real-world encyclopedia, the new one organizes items by category: “Science & Technology,” “The Force,” “The Skywalkers,” and so forth. Each chapter gives detailed information on each prominent item within the category, and I find this to be a much more convenient arrangement, as it helps to define how all the elements of Star Wars mesh together.

A look inside The Star Wars Book. Lucasfilm/DK

If I have a criticism, it’s that the archives are incomplete. Most notably, many of the less prominent aliens are absent—among them my favorites, the Umbarans—but if I’m being honest, everything that is truly important to the larger picture is here. Also, the two-page spreads that introduce each chapter of the book use black text against a deep red background, which I found somewhat bothersome from a graphic design standpoint, even though red happens to be my favorite color. Apart from these minor criticisms, I’m very happy with how this book turned out.

One of the authors, Dan Zehr, best known as the host and owner of the Coffee with Kenobi podcast and fan news site where I first learned about The Star Wars Book, has been interviewed about his experiences writing it. If you’re interested in a deeper look at what this book is and how it came together, you can listen to episode 365 of Coffee with Kenobi wherever you listen to podcasts. By day, Zehr is a high school literature and writing instructor, and his perspective on Star Wars as a modern myth we can draw real-life meaning from is something that deeply resonates with me.

Whether you’re a longtime Star Wars fan who appreciates the complex tapestry of this galaxy far, far away or a newcomer looking to catch up, I recommend The Star Wars Book as a useful companion to the sometimes daunting scope of this franchise.