Customer Reviews

Star Wars, The New Essential Chronology

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4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book is problably the most complete guide ever made. Has entire sections of time not discussed in movies (The Golden Age of the Sith, The New Jedi Order, etc.). Also includes many little-known Clone Wars battles that are very interesting (The Dark Reaper Project, Battle of Kamino, Defense of Naboo, The Battles of Lianna and Tehr, Fortress of Axion, Muunilnist, Brentaal,Null, Haruun Kal, the list goes on). Goes from up to 100,000 years before battle of Yavin to 36 years after. Also, the art is wonderfully done by Tommy Lee Edwards and the portraits look like pictures by Mark Chiarello. Just an excellent book that I'll problably read about 50 times or so. Definitely, a MUST buy (and well worth the cover price too.)

The authors have done an EXCELLENT job of compiling the VAST amount of information presented in both the films and the expanded universe. They have seamlessly and consistently intertwined the information to create what is the equivalent of a history textbook of the Star Wars universe. The information is concise, while being thorough and informative. This book is perfect for those like myself who love everything about Star Wars, but don't want to set and read every single novel and comic or play every single video game. This book is also perfect for those who have read everything, but may need their memories refreshed. So, in conclusion, I guess you could say this book is perfect for ANY fan!

Now that George Lucas has completed Episodes I, II, and III of the "Star Wars" saga, it is time to take a moment and put together all of the pieces into a comprehensive chronology that account for everything in the "Star Wars" universe from the Pre-Republic Era to the Killik Expansion (so the chronology goes 35-36 years beyond the end of the original "Star Wars" movie). The six movies are at the heart of everything, but there are all those novels, comic books, and graphic novels, not to mention references to historical events that can be fleshed out. Putting everything in order is what "Star Wars: The New Essential Chronology" is all about. With text by Daniel Wallace, with Kevin J. Anderson, this "new" version is updated for "The Phantom Menace," "Attack of the Clones," "Revenge of the Sith," and the new Jedi order. It also has dozens of full-color illustrations by Mark Chiarello, Tommy Lee Edwards, and John Van Fleet, who distinct styles certainly complement each other.

Ever since the hologram of Princess Leia named Obi-Wan Kenobi as her only hope and mentioned the Clone Wars fans of "Star Wars" have been trying to expand their knowledge of that galaxy far, far away in a time long ago. The history of the "Star Wars" universe is divided into a dozen parts: (1) Tales of the Ancient Republic; (2) The Fall of the Republic, which includes films I-III; (3) The Empire and the New Order; (4) Profiles in History of Han Solo, Lando Calrissian, and the Skywalkers; (5) The Galactic Civil War, which covers the original trilogy; (6) Birth of the New Republic; (7) Empire Resurgent; (8) The Return of the Jedi Knights; (9) Uprisings and Insurgencies; (10) A Lasting Peace; (11) Generations of Jedi Knights; and (12) The New Jedi Order. The attempt by Wallace, with Anderson, is to write history rather than tell stories, although the result falls pretty much somewhere in between. If you want to now what happened before, in between, and after the two movie trilogies, then this chronology certainly does tells you what you need to know.

The dating convention employed in the chronology uses the Battle of Yavin as its zero point, treating the destruction of the first Death Star and the dawning of "a new hope" for the people of the galaxy as the symbolic beginning of the current society. Therefore events preceding that point in time are indicated B.B.Y., and those afterwards as A.B.Y. The only real complaint here is that you have to go to the "Star Wars" web site to track down the extensive list of historical resources, so unless you are as well versed in the various "Star Wars" novels, comic books, and computer games as you are in the twin movie trilogies, you are not going to know where Wallace and Anderson are getting all of the puzzle pieces. So you have a couple of hoops to jump through to even find out whether there is a story about the Battle of Dreighton or the death of Zsinj to track down let alone to read. There is a four-page index, so that if you already know about the Kaiburr Crystal or want to see everything there is to know about Chewbacca or Mon Montha, you can find what the chronology has to say about them.

The back of the book includes a map of the galaxy, so you can find Hoth and Bespin in the Outer Rim, trace the Corellian Run and the Perlemian Trade Route, and distinguish the Core Worlds from the Colonies and those of the Inner Rim. "Star Wars: The New Essential Chronology" is one of seven volumes in this series of reference books, the others being: "Star Wars: The New Essential Guide to Characters," "Star Wars: The Essential Guide to Droids," and "Star Wars: The Essential Guide to Planets and Moons" (all of which are also written by Wallace), along with "Star Wars: The New Essential Guide to Weapons & Technology," "Star Wars: The New Essential Guide to Vehicles & Vessels," and "Star Wars: The Essential Guide to Alien Species." At face value this volume is the best of the bunch because it is the most useful in terms of putting all of the pieces together. Of course, if you are interested in adding your own stories to the "Star Wars" galaxy, you would probably need the entire library to make sure you have yourself covered. You would not want to have R2-D2 colored the wrong way or something.

After reading the Star Wars: The New Essential Guide to Characters, I was really looking forward to getting my hands on the The New Essential Chronology. As far as I'm concerned, Daniel Wallace did a great job compiling all the important bits and pieces of Star Wars history into one complete volume.

A great book for those of us that do not necessarily have the time to read every single Star Wars novel in the market. I'm one of them. RPG gamers would also benefit from this book as it details the major events of the Star Wars timeline, making it a highly resourceful book for Players and Game Masters alike.

I enjoyed it tremendously and would not hesitate to recommend this book to fans of Star Wars or those who would like to know more about George Lucas' masterful sci-fi creation. In my opinion, this book is much easier to read compared to the Star Wars Encyclopedia.

This is the best New Essential Guide I've seen. It is comprehensive to say the least. Unlike some other guides, they waited until the saga was complete. It covers absolutely everything up to the Swarm War (Dark Nest Trilogy).

The illustrations are unique and beautiful.

Everything you want to know about Star Wars history is right there, organized and easy to read.

This is a great book for the Star Wars fan! The information fills in the inevitable gaps between the movies and the books. Well written and illustrated.

Fills in all of the holes in the SW timline that existed in the first Chronolgy, from the Clone Wars, to the construction of the Death Stars, to the New Jedi Order.

A must for SW fans.

I just received my copy of this book the other day and I can't put it down. It is extremely thorough for a book of this size. It covers every major (and most minor) aspects of Star Wars history in a clear and concise manner. The galaxy map at the end is very nice, and like the text, up to date. The only problem I have is with some of the artwork. Most of it is nice, but some of it I would consider mediocre. The book is also great source material for anyone playing the Star Wars roleplaying game. I highly recommend this book to any fan of Star Wars!

I would have been alot happier with this book, if the author, while describing the Star Wars history, gave a reference to each event as it took place in each book and movie.A lot of what takes place in the history of Star Wars are the poorly cross referenced serial novels that make up 90% of the Star Wars Universe.If the author just gave the title of each book,as it takes place in the Star Wars Universe, and then gave a description of the events in each book,(and movie)- this book would have been great.Instead he attempts to tell a very complicated story as it evolved,and, fails to tell us where we can find each event in the library.
I have read most of the Star Wars books (so I know where the events take place)and find that there are very few authors, that write just Star Wars novels.They are newspaper writers and novelists,journalists that will write Star Wars Novels from an outline given to them by LucasFilms.Charactors get lost, decriptions of familar places change from author to author.In fact I find that very few of the books are correctly cross referenced.Each author has his own version of Star Wars history.
This book is no different,it gives you an outline of what happened,but nothing more.If you compare the writers that wrote this saga, to,Tolkien and Lord of the Rings, you'll find the cross references of the books, make the Star Wars writers look like fools,running an errand.The Star Wars Movies may be the greatest science fantasy series of all time.But the books are always disapointing.Tolkien spent decades inventing his books.Most of these books are written in the space of 3 or 4 weeks.Can you imagine if these books had been written with the same passion that LOR was?
In short,buy this book, but don't expect a complete overview of the saga.

As a fan of both the Star Wars movies and the expanded universe this book is very helpful on finding where all the major events and books fall. I use it to keep the time line straight on what I'm reading. It is cheap enough so why not give it a shot?