A Guide to the Star Wars Universe

'A Guide to the Star Wars Universe'

by Bill Slavicsek

Random House 1994

One of the best 'guides' in print. Takes the form of a dictionary, with entries in alphabetical order. Slavicsek definitely knows his stuff, and the information comes from a HUGE number of sources, including the Original Trilogy movies, TV specials and animated series, radio dramatisations, novels (up to and including Zahn's 'The Last Command'), 'Dark Empire' comic series, sourcebooks, West End games, and more. Basically anything he could get his hands on before 1993. Each entry is annotated with its source, so you can decide what you will accept as 'canon'.

There are also a few basic illustrations - not particularly artistic, but still helpful (eg. picturing a particular droid).

Other useful stuff includes:
- a starfighter sublight speed comparison chart
- several lists at the beginning of the book, eg. weaponry, droids, aliens, etc.

Buy it? - this is a very popular source book among writers, professional and amateur alike. It's also very handy for trivia games! But the 3rd edition is due out October 2000, so you may wish to wait for that (altho' copies of the 2nd edition are, obviously, cheaper).

Rating -- 6 out of 10 (low mark 'cos it's about to be superceded)

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