Granados "fardreaming writer" (Miami, FL United States) -

Ever since the first Guide to the Star Wars Universe was published in 1984, there have been many reference books written about the characters, weapons, spacecraft, fauna, flora, and worlds of that "galaxy far, far away...." Raymond Velasco's first Guide had precious little to go on back in '84. Bill Slavicsek was luckier a decade later; the Expanded Universe had grown a bit larger with the new wave of Star Wars-related novels, role-playing game guides, graphic novels, and even young readers' books.

But even though Slavicsek's 1994 and 2000 Guides are very well-done, Steven J. Sansweet's huge Star Wars Encyclopedia is a treasure trove of information about the Star Wars saga's details. Following the same format as the Slavicsek "Guides," Sansweet's large and lavishly illustrated one-volume Encyclopedia covers every imaginable topic from the Rebel A-Wing to the Imperial officer known as Zuggs.

Because it was published in 1998, precious little information from the current "Prequel Trilogy" appears in this edition of The Star Wars Encyclopedia. Also, the Expanded Universe has gotten larger, so readers who want to find out about topics covered in the New Jedi Order series will be disappointed. Fans will have to wait until 2006 to see the second, updated edition.

Still, Sansweet's book is considered to be the best reference work, not only for its thoroughness, but because the author is a vice president at Lucasfilm and is the owner of one of the world's largest private Star Wars collections. He also appears frequently on the "Ask the Jedi Council" forum at www.starwars.com.

This volume describes and depicts the various aspects of the Star Wars EU (Extended Universe - movies, books, comics, card games, computer games, etc.). Any fan of Star Wars, whether a movie buff or EU fanatic will enjoy the comprehensive coverage of topics from alien species to specific character biographies, from objects to planets, history to spacecraft. Each entry is referenced to the various sources that include it, whether it be from a specific movie, book, comic, etc.

On the positive side, the Star Wars Encyclopedia is filled with interesting information, stills from the original Star Wars trilogy films, illustrations from various artists, and a nice timeline of events at the beginning. On the negative, this book was published in 1998. It is therefore missing references to most of the interesting aspects of Episodes I, II, and III (ep. III not released at the time of this review) as well as any Extended Universe material since published. I hope that a second edition will be forthcoming following the release of Episode III.

** Additional information for the serious Star Wars geek:

I purchased this book in order to prepare myself for the upcoming release of Star Wars Galaxies, the massively multiplayer online game that is going to be released later. As that game "occurs" during the period of the original trilogy, much of the information needed to familiarize oneself with the environment is present within this work. However, since the game creators are using material from the entire EU, and since so much material has been released since 1998; I was a bit disappointed by the information that is not included (no fault of the author).

If you're a big geekin' fanboy who needs to occasionally bone up on your general knowledge of that "Galaxy Far, Far Away", then the Star Wars Encyclopedia is the best A-to-Z quick reference guide to get. Not only does this giant tome cover subjects from the original trilogy, it also includes tidbits of info from the various Dark Horse comic books, the novels (including the Timothy Zahn trilogy), the Droids and Ewoks cartoon shows, and even the Ewoks TV movies and the infamous `Star Wars Holiday Special'! There's all sorts of characters, weaponry, ships, equipment, planets, and much more between the covers! It's also a wonderful resource that'll help put an end to many of those knockdown-dragout Star Wars fanboy arguments you're always having with your buds! Well, maybe not that Greedo-firing-first debacle in `Star Wars: The Special Edition', but you can't have everything! Also included: a quick-reference timeline so you can see which when each particular story- be it a movie, comic-book story arc, novel, or otherwise- happened in relation to the `first' Star Wars flick, which is designated point zero in the timeline.

Although it's fairly pricey, the book is printed on semi-slick paper, and includes full-color photos & illustrations. Because of these two things, and other stuff that makes this trade-size tome a higher-quality Star Wars book than usual, I think it's more than worth the asking price!

`Late