By Amy Ratcliffe

Chronicle Books, out October 30

An alphabetical guide to the women of the Star Wars universe – in all media..

Between this and its Doctor Who equivalent (The Women Who Lived), genre fans are going to be well-served this holiday season. Parallel evolution accounts for the two guides coming out near-simultaneously: like the Who book, this examines the female characters who have been central to the unfolding story, with material that isn’t purely in-universe (and look how carefully the entries for those involved with the ongoing trilogy are presented), but delving behind the scenes as well.

This book covers the many different media in which Star Wars has been told over the past 40-plus years, so in addition to those you’d expect from the three trilogies, there’s also information on the characters from the canonical TV shows (Rebels and Resistance), as well as the Marvel comic books, and the new novels – with the art giving us a pictorial representation of some of the characters from Chuck Wendig’s enjoyable Aftermath trilogy of books. The one downside is not seeing anyone from the “Legends” universe – so those hoping to see Adrienne Wilkinson’s Mara Jade are out of luck.

The art comes from a dozen or so female or non-binary artists, who bring the characters to life in varying different ways – some are almost photographic in their representation, others are more idealised – but there’s none that feel out of place.

Having not really dived into the extended universe that much, many of these are characters new to me – but in many cases, the descriptions have very much piqued my interest…

Verdict: A beautifully presented guide. 9/10

Paul Simpson

Watch out for a chance to win a copy of Women of the Galaxy coming to SFB later this week