tar Wars: The Essential Chronology is the latest entry in the "Star Wars: Essential Guide" series. It's a narrative timeline of events in the Star Wars universe from ancient history to the early years of the New Republic. The authors, Kevin J. Anderson and Daniel Wallace, use the book to collect and summarize the numerous Star Warsstories told across several media, including comic books, novels, young adult books, games and, of course, the movies themselves.
This comprehensive summary covers every Lucasfilm-approved story that has appeared in continuity, all told "in character" as the collective, ongoing work of the New Republic Historical Council. To help arrange the information, Anderson and Wallace create a dating system that pivots around the Battle of Yavin and destruction of the first Death Star. Thus, the book begins with the Golden Age of the Sith at 5000 B.B.Y. (Before Battle of Yavin); the battle itself occurs at 0 A.B.Y. (After Battle of Yavin); and the book ends with the ascension of new Jedi Knight apprentices under Master Luke Skywalker in 24 A.B.Y.
In addition to pure story summary, the book includes extensive biographies of Han Solo and Lando Calrissian, and a short, combined biographical entry for Luke and Leia Skywalker. Following the main body of the book, a helpful (if cluttered) map of the galaxy covers a two-page spread, presenting a rough spatial relationship between star systems. Then a timeline lists all the chapters and major sub-heads from the book in an easily digestible format. The timeline also shows the original source material from which the authors derived the summaries. Finally, a thorough index closes out the book.
So it's a big Star Wars book report
Star Wars: The Essential Chronology delivers on the promise of its title, but it bogs down doing it. Projects like these are a balancing act between summary and storytelling--the writer must communicate a certain amount of rote information, but present it in an entertaining way. Unfortunately, there's precious little new material here, and the authors err on the side of too much detail rather than too little. A more readable, less exhaustive treatment would have been better.
Details about events during Episodes II and III, however, are unsurprisingly scarce. When this point in the narrative arrives, the historian mouthpiece quickly shuffles onto the scene, muttering about historical archives destroyed during the Clone Wars. He claims, "It is hoped that new information on this era will soon come to light." Give it about five years, history buffs.
In addition to better storytelling, a glossary of names would have helped to keep the cast of thousands sorted out, especially later in the book when several characters are running around with the name "Solo."
The black and white art varies from decent to poor in quality. The illustrator, Bill Hughes, has good technical skills, but his character likeness is sorely lacking. One drawing depicts the marriage of Han Solo and Leia Organa, but only the timely intervention of a caption makes that fact clear. The portrait of Darth Maul looks like a bulldog who had a terrible accident with his spiked collar.
Probably the most useful part of the book is the timeline at the end. It doesn't quite double as a bibliography, but net-savvy readers can use the information to track down the original stories if they're intrigued by what they read.
