Star Wars: The Essential Reader's Companion

[MattG]

I like this idea...an 'Essential Guide' to all Star Wars fiction written so far. Only details so far seem to be via one of the contributors...

there will be original content. Although this book is not being written from an in-universe perspective as the other Essential Guides are. The book will detail all the novels, young adult novels, short stories, and ebook original stories that have been published since 1976 while also providing behind the scenes information about many of the stories along with other fun things. And the book will feature original full color paintings by Jeff Carlisle and Chris Trevas. I'm really excited about it and thrilled to be working on it with Pablo, Jeff, and Chris. And I'm lucky and blessed that Sue Rostoni agreed to continue working on this book in a freelance capacity. The book chronicles so many of the stories she helped shape for 20 years that to have her knowledge and experience available to Pablo and myself is a priceless resource for a project like this

[Reverend Strone]

I'm friends with Pablo Hidalgo and Jeff Carlisle, so I had heard of this book, but wasn't aware it was public knowledge yet. I think maybe someone might have spilled the beans early!

That said, the little I was able to wheedle from Jeff and Pablo at SDCC sounded very cool. It should be a beautifully book and knowing Pablo, well researched and comprehensive.

[Anaria]

Our copy arrived a little while ago - it's a fantastic book for anyone who reads the novels, or interested in the expanded universe. Including all novels, Insider magazine short stories and even children's novels (up to early 2013), information is presented in historical order (with publication date and author lists in the back). New artwork is scattered through out, which I love. Well worth picking up

Each entry has the date in the SW timeline, publication date, author, characters, planets visited and a summary of the plot -

[Buzz Bumble]

The problem with this book, and similar encyclopedias and guides, is that they're still creating stuff, so the books are out-of-date befoer they even finish rolling off the press and will have to be continually updated, and we then have to keep buying each new version - there are already some of the DK books that are on the third version and the old "Essential Guide" series seems to have just disappeared. It's expensive enough without having multiple copies of the same book with a few extra entries.

It would be better to wait until there are no more books / comics (which will happen one day), and in the meantime use a website or easily updateable, cheaper digital version.