Star Wars: Galactic Atlas by Emil Fortune and Tim McDonagh
| Star Wars: Galactic Atlas by Emil Fortune and Tim McDonagh | |
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| Category: Confident Readers | |
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Reviewer: John Lloyd
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| Summary: This book will make any young fan of the franchise able to spout detail like they'd swallowed a whole wiki on the subject. Before that it will look gorgeous. | |
| Buy? Maybe | Borrow? Yes |
| Pages: 80 | Date: November 2016 |
| Publisher: Egmont | |
| External links: Author's website | |
| ISBN: 9781405279987 | |
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At the time of writing this review, people are eagerly tapping away at phones, laptops and screens everywhere to find out what they can about Rogue One, the Star Wars film that's the first live action cinema effort to be off to one edge of the canon, and is five whole weeks away. Perhaps, however, there is a chance that all the many books being released that mention the ability to tie in to Rogue One will let slip something important. The volume at hand includes a map from… said movie, and all the maps here initially seem to feature a huge amount of information. Could valuable secrets be herein?
This is very much what it says on the tin, being a Galactic Atlas to the one far, far away that we all know and love. It appears to be a wispy, diaphanous spiral galaxy, with more than one arm swirling out from the core to the outer edges and beyond. While being full of star systems, the main map of it here is actually full of planets we've come to hear of over the last decades. Breaking the whole thing down into smaller sections, we get a list itemising every key planet, followed by large format double-page spreads crammed with detail.
The issue I would have with the book is that there is just too much detail. I am a child who grew up glued to a well-worn VHS of the first film, but even then I hardly knew my Wedge Antilles from my left Achilles. I doubt I ever clocked on to the people flying with and behind Wedge, like Theron Nett or Jek Tono Porkins. All these and more are on a large diorama of the Battle of Yavin (ie that bit where they destroyed a Death Star, for the first time) – but even with the many small-print captions peppering the pages the real story of the dogfight isn't properly conveyed.
And that wouldn't be a problem, but this book not only aims to portray all the planets, moons and key battle grounds of the whole saga, but all the events that happened. And they're pretty much impossible to read. Opening the worlds up from the cinematic ones to include those in the Clone Wars and on-going Rebels animated series, you get to read data the passing fan might not have come across. But the happenings on Dathomir, chronologically speaking, sweep across the spread from the top right corner down to the lower left. Narrative is scattered across multiple square inches of page, but you have to piece it together from fragments. Other pages have many captions that are just undated.
I loved the Where's Wally?-level of detail in the illustrations, which is why the volume itself credits the illustrator first and foremost. All the spreads look of a piece yet suitably different, and the book is a lovely one to pore over in that respect. But as far as the words go, this is both on the right level for the under-twelve and for the prospective Mastermind contestant, and as a result falls badly between two stools. I know the films and Star Wars lore is rich, which is one of the appealing aspects, but there is such a thing as an abundance of riches. And as for that Rogue One content? Well, did you seriously expect any exclusive spoilers from me?
I must thank the publishers for my review copy.
If you've been out of the loop for a long time, you might need Star Wars The Force Awakens Illustrated Storybook by Elizabeth Schaefer and Brian Rood to gen up before that itself has a sequel some time soon.
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You can read more book reviews or buy Star Wars: Galactic Atlas by Emil Fortune and Tim McDonagh at Amazon.co.uk Amazon currently charges £2.99 for standard delivery for orders under £20, over which delivery is free.
You can read more book reviews or buy Star Wars: Galactic Atlas by Emil Fortune and Tim McDonagh at Amazon.com.
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