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29 of 29 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great Book, April 4, 2000
This review is from: The Essential Chronology (Star Wars) (Paperback)
This is a great Star Wars book, but after waiting several years for it, my expectations of it grew huge, hence the 4-star rating. This book is being released now pretty much to bring all the new Star Wars readers who are starting with the New Jedi Order series up to speed on all the Bantam books and comics, and it does a very good job. Although it does focus just a little too heavily on the movies, that's come to be expected. But where this book really comes in handy to Star Wars fanatics like me is the little between-the-scenes stuff, filling in details about what was happening politically and in the big picture between the books. This book is also filled with a bunch of incredible (and a few not-so-incredible) illustrations by Bill Hughes. These illustrate key scenes and characters which we haven't seen before. What this book does not try to do is fill in what was happening day by day like so many online timelines, rather it sticks to a history-textbook like feel so that we get the "whole picture" instead of a bunch of little unrelated incidents. Also, this is good because Kevin Anderson's writing style and Wallace's previous writing experience are more suited to this. While Anderson's SW novels seemed condescending at times because he made everything too obvious, here that's the point. I definitely recommend this book to any star wars fan, new or old.
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38 of 40 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
This really is an 'Essential'book for Star Wars Fans., April 25, 2000
This review is from: The Essential Chronology (Star Wars) (Paperback)
I was really anticipating the release of the Essential Chronology, as I was looking forward to an official effort to define the flow of the often cumbersome Star Wars Universe. I was not disapointed. This book fits all the puzzle pieces together, from KJA's Sith comic books to Episode 1 to Shadows of the Empire and beyond. One of the really helpful aspects to me, is it 'finishes' a lot of stories. The authors were allowed to fill in the gaps, and so we now know what happend AFTER The Truce at Bakura, and just where those awful young adult novels involving Tricolus fit in. As other people have mentioned, the book is very brief in its descriptions, and really leaves out a lot of detail that would be nice to have. This is not to say that the authors skipped massive parts of the expanded universe, just that there are small bits missing. As one reviewer noted, little to nothing of the Rogue Squadron comics were included, while Kevin J Andersons own Tales of the Jedi have entire chapters devoted to them. More than making up for these gripes is the effort put into getting as much major information in as possible. For example, readers of the now defunct Star Wars Adventure Journal may remember the Pentastar Alignment, but how did it form, and what happend to it? Now we have the answers. Also corrected are the discrepencies between the Sith as presented in the Tales of the Jedi, and in Episode 1, and the explination is very interesting, as it also ties in elements from the game Dark Forces II Jedi Knight.While the text can get a bit oppresive if you try to read it through, it works great as a refrence, just look up the period you want to know more about. All in all, I have to say this is a great book, all that is keeping it from the full four stars is the lack of details in some parts, and the attempt to include the young adult books at all, they should have been dropped along with the Ewok movies. Other than that, I would reccomend the purchase of the book, it is quite worth. 4/5.
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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Almost Esential, June 19, 2001
This review is from: The Essential Chronology (Star Wars) (Paperback)
One of things I have always admired about Star Wars in general is the fact that the universe is for the most part internally consistent, that is one story doesn't contradict one that preceded it, (Phantom Menace notwithstanding). Even in the Expanded Universe-the all-encompassing title given to that which takes place outside of the current four-film mainstream, the continuity is generally pretty tight, which is a major feat considering the number of authors involved. Characters created by one author often appear in stories written by others, instead of treating each book or series of books as a closed environment, rather agreements have been made between writers to make use of each other's characters, places, or events i.e. Michael A. Stackpole using Mara Jade in "I, Jedi" or Zahn using Corran Horn in "Specter of the Past/Vision of the Future". The history of Star Wars or the Galactic Republic encompasses 25,000 years, plus an unknown time of pre-history, the period before the Republic. Recorded Terran history is only 10,000 years and even if rendered down into a brief missive on the events in that time it would fill volumes. Condensed here in a little over 190 pages is the "Essential Star Wars Chronology" which ends precisely at the point that "Vector Prime" and the New Jedi Order begins, which is odd because the New Jedi Order began in 1999 and the "Essential Star Wars Chronology" was published in 2000. And given the importance of the New Jedi Order, one would think that they at least would have added information on the first three books by Salvatore and Stackpole. "The Star Wars Chronology" covers only about 5,000 years of galactic history, beginning with the Dark Horse Comics excellent "Tales of the Jedi" series and the rise of one of my favorite characters, Nomi Sunrider. It deals with the beginnings of Naga Sadow, Freedon Nadd, Ulic Qel-Droma and Exar Kun, of Jedi Knights Cay Qel-Droma and Tot Doneeta. It adds some clearer information on the background for LucasArts' masterpiece, "Dark Forces II: Jedi Knight", explaining how the planet Ruusan a battleground that led Kyle Katarn there centuries later to free the thousands of trapped Jedi spirits there after defeating the Dark Jedi, Jerec. Where the universe falls apart, and this is not Chronology author's Kevin J. Anderson's fault, is that it shows that the Jedi seem to be perhaps more of a hindrance than a blessing, and that very nearly every problem in galactic history is related to some Jedi falling to the Dark Side and causing problems. If every era is plagued by some resurgence of the Sith or a cabal of Jedi who fell to evil, why wouldn't the public at large demand the removal of the Jedi as a precaution? Simply put, guys like Exar Kun, Ulic Qel-Droma, Palpatine, and Darth Vader seem to happen an awful lot, leading to massive conflict and loss of life. Is the risk worth the existence of the Jedi Order at all? I feel that it is, but I also feel that too many authors are obsessed with the Dark Side because they think it's `cool', and so they write it without considering that so many others are doing it also. Lastly, however well written and laid out the book is, the art goes beyond bad. Bill Hughes' pencil sketches of squat, square jawed characters and their angular features, gives the innards of this book a rushed and cheap look. Given the shear number of quality artists producing material for Star Wars, why in the name of the Force did they select this guy? Why not Dave Dorman? Why not R.K. Frost who did the wonderful art for the "Essential Guide to Alien Species"? Kevin J. Anderson and Daniel Wallace's writing must also be credited for making this book a breeze to read and locate information. For the most part this is a very good source for finding out what and when. The Force will be with you, always.
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