Customer Reviews

The Wildlife of Star Wars: A Field Guide

5 star:		(28)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Not only is this tome THE book of the year -- if not the decade -- for Star Wars enthusiasts (such as myself), but it will also go down well with biologists (such as myself).

Extremely well thought out, the authors draw parallels with animals found on Earth to make the creatures of the Star Wars universe realistically believable. For example, the size relation of the nuna's egg to the adult female is also found in the kiwi, and the multiple embryos coming from that single egg are similar to the multi-spawning eggs of some parasitic wasps. The similarities between banthas and elephants are copious, and the mouth-breeding behaviour of the opee sea killer will be familiar to any avid aquarist.

There are also many wonderful and enchanting "background" details in many of the drawings, like Bib Fortuna looking to purchase a Nightsister's rancor, an Ewok being carried off by a condor-dragon, and some Tatooine anoobas picking over the remains of the late podracer Teemto Pagalies (those are DEFINITELY his goggles).

The book is arranged in chapters by planet. (Naboo has three chapters for its various macroenvironments: terrestrial, deep aquatic, and swamp.) The ecologies of the worlds and the niches of the native creatures are all highly detailed and superbly explained. Great care and effort was put into expanding the range of Star Wars wildlife knowledge, using conceptual sketches and some apparently original animals to flesh out the bestiary to a fantastic extent. The images of the creatures themselves are -- and I have NEVER before used this term outside of describing food before, but it is now necessary -- sumptuous. The people responsible for the content of this book deserve to win awards. Lots of 'em.

Understandably, there are a few creatures which push the credibility envelope, such as the thrantids and practically anything over 40 meters in length. But they're all still nifty, and even the mind-boggling space slug was given a decently credible internal anatomy. And considering that here on Earth, there are bacteria which live miles below the crust, eat rock, breathe iron, and excrete gold, a little leeway for plausibility is permitted. };D

This would not be a Star Wars book review without the requisite (complaining) that any such work seems to engender. So here it is. The book's too short. It would have been nice to learn more about the creatures that were marginalized, like the oft-mentioned but never focused-upon snapping bivalve nyorks of the Naboo swamps and the tiger-striped giraffe-like creature which appears in the endpapers and at the Coruscant Livestock Exchange and Exhibition; an animal which is visually arresting, but not even so much as named. There are a few beasts in the size-comparison endpapers which do not appear in the text (which is a shame, because they look quite interesting), such as the fin-backed, tusk-jawed crocodile-thing at the front of the book. While variant species of bantha, krayt dragon, thranta, mynock, and tauntaun were presented, it would also have been nice to see the differing forms of nerf. Another whole chapter devoted to "exotics" such as Kowakian monkey-lizards, ghests, and the various types of gundark (only two kinds are shown, and only one of those is labelled as a gundark) would have been very well-received and worth the extra price such a section would require. As far as mistakes go, I could only spot two: the rock wart described as an "unknown" species of worrt prey, and a representation of a Dug diplomat. (Dugs are definitely NOT the diplomatic type.)

So, to sum up, any Star Wars library is woefully incomplete without the superlative "The Wildlife of Star Wars". This is the best Star Wars book to come along in quite a while. I could go on and on about this book, but I'll have to settle for summing up in four words: BUY IT THIS INSTANT.

This is one of those books that appears every so often, and if you don't buy it you regret for years to come. The book is packaged in a textured synthetic dewback hide so be aware that no Dewbacks were hurt in the making of this book!! The illustrations are rich, and full of life, and color. The simple line sketches along with the reserved amounts of colors truly bring the creatures to life. I certainly hope that amazon will allow some of the pictures to be seen so that the reader can witness just how beautiful these drawings are! The authors, and artists explore some of the more well known, and some new creatures that inhabit the star wars universe, and do so in an intelligent, and also educational manner. The book is a little pricey for the mildly interested, or younger buyers, but it is a book that can, and hopefully will be treasured for years. A true winner and well worth a 5 star rating!

The drawings in this book are very amazing. The creatures in this book can keep you reading for hours. I would suggest this book to anyone who likes Star Wars

From the fertile imaginations of Whitlatch and Carrau comes this immense coffee-table book. This book is a detailed bestiary
of the living creatures that inhabit the planets of George Lucas's Star Wars saga. Rendered beautifully in color and formatted in the style of a naturalist's field journal.
the book showcases animals seen in the films and (finally) gives
images to other creatures formerly only described in print.
Mating habits, social interractions, hunting techniques, and
life cycles of Banthas, Dewbacks, Rancors,and Kadus are shown.
As well as others who only made brief appearances or just named in print such as: Womp Rats, Nerfs, or that trash compacter Monster (Dianoga) which I finally saw what that eye belonged to.
Fauna are represented planet by planet and each new world gives
a brief but informative introduction on the ecosystem.
This lavishly illustrated and beautifully rendered book makes a
excellent companion to the Illustrated Star Wars universe. As well as the books of the conceptual art. For any fan this is an
essential volume and a most welcomed addition to one's personal
library. A pity that George Lucas does have an introductory
statement printed to acknowledge or at the very least give kudos to the splendid work Terryl Whitlatch and Bob Carrau have done in giving form and life to the creatures that inhabit his universe.

The Wildlife of Star Wars is a Audubon-like field guide to the creatures and species of many of the classic and episode I-II planets.

The illustrations are lavish watercolor-type drawings including several views of each creature--parents with their young, face on, running in their environment, etc. Some include internal drawings of internal systems.

Text is somewhat sparse, but I do feel that too much text would have drawn the attention away from the superb illustrations.

Drawings are extremely well done, but the list price seems somewhat high. The cover and backing look quite sturdy and the pages are of high quality paper. ....

This book is quite possibly the most masterful artistic compilation relating to Star Wars that has been put out in recent years. From the "dewback hide" covers and through every page in between, the reader finds himself immersed in a vision of the Star Wars universe that is so lavish and full of life that he may not want to leave. Clearly, the people who put this book together were not working on a project, they were building a labor of love, and it shows on every page. And yes, it really *is* an excellent wildlife reference too!

If you're buying this book for yourself, it will stand out as the pride of your Star Wars library for years to come. If you're buying it as a gift for a fan of any age, prepare to be showered with gratitude. The book is so endearing that even people who may not necessarily be fans of the genre will certainly come to admire it. The Wildlife of Star Wars is well worth every penny.

I bought this book not because i am a starwars fan but because i am a fan of conceptual design of creatures and species. Starwars has some of the best conceptual designers in the business. This bookcase shows an enormous amount creatures from the star wars saga. The species have information about each species; from how they breed to how they fight. Every single page has amazing art front and back. This a book i could not live without.

This has to be the best Star Wars book I've ever read. I am an animal lover and I had been looking around for this kind of book forever. Beautiful beautiful beautiful pictures. Great writing. Just amazing. Anyone who likes Star Wars or animals should get this book.

This is a great book! And the giraffe thing in the back is called a zeer, and the sailed back thingy is a (coincidentally)
fanback.however, you might want to now about the following:Chuba,
zeer, fanback, gorgodon, acklay, nexu, reek, bark rat, duracrete slug, duracrete worm, conduit worm, spider roach, stone mite, buboicuular, gullipud, hohokum, pedooku cat, fire crab, kell dragon, star dragon, and I can go on and on and on with my resources. Anyway, a great book! I LOVE it!!!

Length:: 0:26 Mins

Although you may not feel it from the cover art, this hardcover is actually texture-pressed with scale patterns from a creature I can't identify. It's a nice touch -- pun intended.

This is a field guide to the wildlife from the Star Wars planets. It's organised by planets and the included ones are Tatooine, Hoth, Dagobah, Naboo, Bespin, Endor, Yavin 4 and Coruscant. There's a short introduction describing each ecosystem -- fiery, freezing, vaporous, etc.

The illustrations are actually sketches drawn with pencils and colour markers, supposedly by a zoologist in the field, but is actually from Terryl Whitlatch. They are all wonderfully detailed showing the creatures in their natural habitat, be it hunting, caring for their young, chilling out, or -- gasp! -- on sale at some market on Coruscant. The attention to skin textures is very nice. You can almost get a feel just by looking. Beautiful colours also.

Besides the paintings are field notes filling in on information like feeding patterns, mating habits, herding instincts and defensive mechanisms of these fascinating beings.

I didn't know that the giant space slug is really that huge at 900 metres until I looked up the size of a blue whale for comparison, which is 33 metres. The space slugs gets nutrients from asteroids and you can see how the intestines work. Some of the designs you'll see are inspired by Earth animals. The Opee Sea Killer has characteristics from lobster (shell), frog (long sticky tongue), anglerfish (that glowing forehead tip) and the arowana (breeding little dudes in the mouth).

Some of the designs might look a bit far fetch but hey, this is Star Wars, this is science fiction. I guess anything goes but many are believable for the most part, in art and concept.

This is a very good book for all fans of Star Wars and animal art.

(More pictures are available on my blog. Just visit my Amazon profile for the link.)