The_Force_Awakens_Visual_Dictionary_coverBy Pablo Hidalgo

DK, out now

A guide to much of the revised Star Wars universe – with many surprising secrets revealed…

The interest in The Force Awakens has been rekindled by the release of the home entertainment versions, and this book is far more than simply an encyclopaedia repeating the information that was in the movie. It sets out its stall in the first spread, noting the “endless speculation” about what occurred between Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens, and promises that “The Visual Dictionary starts to answer some of those questions.”

And indeed it does. Starting on the very next page, you get more backstory for the movie than Alan Dean Foster provides in the whole of the novelisation (which is not perhaps surprising, given that this book was written by one of those at the heart of the creation of the revised universe). We learn about Poe Dameron’s childhood, find out who Lor San Tekka actually is (Max Von Sydow’s character at the start, in case the name doesn’t mean anything), and discover the origin of Kylo Ren’s lightsaber. And that’s just in the first 14 pages…

If you want to know what happened in the aftermath of Return of the Jedi, then you need to be reading Chuck Wendig’s trilogy (the first volume of which is out in paperback soon); if you want to know the backstory of The Force Awakens, then buy this book.

Verdict: Indispensable for anyone wanting more information on the changes in the galaxy far, far away… 10/10

Paul Simpson