A Guide to the Star Wars Universe (Paperback)

by Bill Slavicsek (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
How did Exar Kun nearly destroy Luke Skywalker's Jedi academy? When did Han Solo first meet Chewbacca and Lando Calrissian? Where was Mara Jade when the Emperor died? What are the secrets of the terrible super weapons--the Death Stars, the Sun Crusher, and the World Devastators? What are the Qom Qae? How powerful is the Black Sun criminal organization?

Looking for facts about the characters, starships, weaponry, droids, alien species, and historic battles in the most amazing adventure of them all? From airspeeders to N-1 starfighters, Coruscant to Tatooine, Nom Anor to Leia Organa--you'll find the whole universe of Star Wars covered here:

 ¸  The original Star Wars trilogy movies
 ¸  The novels--from Star Wars to Vector Prime
 ¸  The animated TV series Droids and Ewoks
 ¸  National Public Radio dramatizations
 ¸  Young Adult novels
 ¸  The Star Wars comic-books
 ¸  Role-playing books
 ¸  Video games and CD-ROMs
. . . plus sourcebooks, storybooks, sketchbooks, portfolios, and more!

Featuring new material on Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace . . . the latest Star Wars series: The New Jedi Order . . . and the entire thrilling saga!


From the Inside Flap
Looking for facts abut the characters, armament, starships, planets, alien species, or battles in the most exciting adventure of them all? You'll find the whole universe of Star Wars covered in this fully revised and expanded second edition, including: the original Star Wars movies, National Public Radio dramatizations, Role-playing games, sourcebooks, storybooks, sketchbooks, and more. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 596 pages
• Publisher: Del Rey; 3 Rev Exp edition (October 3, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345420667
• ISBN-13: 978-0345420664
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 6 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (34 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #269,072 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book is awesome, January 24, 2004

By	Kristen Saunders "Scaper Saunders" (MS, USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I got this book around the time it came out, and 3 years later it is still the first book I go to for Star Wars look ups. Its biggest problem is that it is dated and cuts off right after Vector Prime, so it is not much help for looking up things in the New Jedi Order. That being said, it is still very valid and apart from the NJO and various newer comic book series, it covers pretty much everything. This book is a must for any serious Star Wars reader, and I highly recommend it as such. I would like to see a new edition with up-to-date material released after Episode III comes out.

16 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars This third edition is truly a rip-off!, October 5, 2000

By	Nathan Blumenfeld "mastadge" (Wilmington, DE United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

OK, what have we got here? To cover six years worth of Star Wars continuity since the last edition of the Guide, we get around 100 pages of new materiel. Except it isn't new. The author made a point to include materiel fom The Phantom Menace and Vector Prime, but other than that it seems nothing released in the last 2-3 years made it in here! No material from Allston's X-wing books, no Union, no prequel-era stuff except for the movie itself. While there is a bit about Kyle Katarn from the Dark Forces game, nothing about his role in the sequel, Jedi KNight, which came out about four years ago. There are virtually no new pictures, most of them are merely lifted from the Essential Guides.

But perhaps the biggest problem is in the organization. Gone are the categorical indeces of aliens, droids, ships, planets, creatures, etc... which were so helpful at the beginning of Edition 2, gone is even a rudimentary timeline, absent is the galactic map which has been gracing most of the more recent Star Wars fiction. Also gone is the neat seperation in the earlier edition between "canon" materiel -- that established in the movies and their novelizations -- and just about everything else.

For about twice the price of this book you can get the Star Wars Encyclopedia, which has more materiel, many, many more color photos and illustrations, and better organization of materiel. I recommend that you do. This book is a waste of time and money. It was three years outdated when it came out, overpriced at that.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent reference to the Star Wars Universe, December 5, 2002

By	Andrew (Vermont) - See all my reviews

The Guide to the Star Wars Galaxy is a handy reference for any fan of the books and movies. Because it was published in the year 2000, it came after a wave of new books and a new movie, thus making it up to date up until that time.
While not as complete as the Star Wars Encyclopedia, it has information that SWE did not cover. However, it does not contain the wealth of information that SWE has, and the illistrations are black and white, whereas the Encyclopeida's are color.
The Guide covers new information in the Han Solo Trilogy, the X-Wing series, Episode I: The Phantom Menace, the New Jedi Order (Just Vector Prime) and several other novels.
So, this is just right if you are a fan that likes up to date information.
However,it is already out of date and does not contain everything that is new. There is nothing about the second and third parts of the X-Wing series, nothing beyond Vector Prime and several other books that are already out. Hopefully there'll be a new editon in the near future.