Book Review: 'Star Wars: The Complete Visual Dictionary' (2018 Edition)

© 2018  Dorling Kindersley (DK) Publishing and Lucasfilm Ltd. (LFL)

Since the late 1990s, Britain's Dorling Kindersley (DK)  Publishing has been releasing lavishly-illustrated reference books related to various aspects of George Lucas's Star Wars movie trilogies and, since 2015, the Sequel Trilogy and Anthology films produced Lucasfilm, the production company purchased by the Walt Disney Company after Lucas's retirement in the fall of 2012. These reference books run the gamut from Star Wars: Complete Vehicles and Star Wars: Incredible Cross-sections to Star Wars: The Ultimate Visual Guide. 

In addition to these works, DK also publishes Visual Guides or Visual Dictionaries that tie in to specific films, starting with David West Reynolds' 1998 work Star Wars: The Visual Dictionary (which encompassed the Original Trilogy era) and continuing over the years with either Visual Dictionaries or Visual Guides for each of the new Star Wars films shortly after their theatrical release.

Heavy on pictures and light on writing, the individual Visual Dictionaries and Guides are slim books, around 64 to 80 pages each. I know this because I borrowed the Star Wars Visual Dictionary from my late friend Richard de la Pena about a year before Star Wars - Episode I: The Phantom Menace premiered in May 1999. I also owned a copy of the Visual Dictionary for The Phantom Menace but held off on buying any more of the individual film tie-ins in favor of the larger Star Wars: The Complete Visual Dictionary that came out in the fall of 2005.

The cover to the 2008 edition of Star Wars: The Complete Visual Dictionary, which is a revised version of the original 2005 book. © 2008 Dorling Kindersley Publishing and Lucasfilm Ltd. (LFL) 

The 2005/2008 editions of Star Wars: The Complete Visual Dictionary compiled the four separate Visual Dictionaries then in existence; at the time, George Lucas was still in charge of Lucasfilm and no new live-action films were slated for production. The only addition to the Star Wars franchise was the then-new Star Wars: The Clone Wars TV series; it, too, got the DK treatment in a Visual Dictionary, but either Lucasfilm or the publisher decided not to mix material from the animated show and the live-action Saga films.

10 years after DK's reissue of Star Wars: The Complete Visual Dictionary, the company published a new edition, expanded and updated to include material from:

• Star Wars: The Force Awakens
• Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
• Star Wars: The Last Jedi
• Solo: A Star Wars Story

This comprehensive visual dictionary is the perfect Star Wars(TM) book for getting to know the galaxy far, far away.

Packed with more than 1,500 stunning images, it showcases major and minor characters (such as Princess Leia and Luke Skywalker), creatures, vehicles, weapons, props, and items of tech in unparalleled detail. Beautiful photography and engaging text written by Star Wars experts examines the finer points of Padmé Amidala's costumes, displays Boba Fett's array of weaponry, studies Darth Vader armor, and reveals the lesser-known background stories to many of the characters. Find out who Poe Dameron's idol is, discover the tech behind BB-8's rolling motion, and much, much more! Fully updated to include the latest installments of the Skywalker saga--Star Wars The Force Awakens and Star Wars The Last Jedi --this invaluable reference guide incorporates all the latest stories and characters. The definitive companion to the Star Wars movies, Star Wars The Complete Visual Dictionary is a must-buy for the beginner and the die-hard Star Wars fan alike. - Back cover blurb,  Star Wars The Complete Visual Dictionary

This 2018 edition of The Complete Visual Dictionary is a revised, reorganized book which spans half a century's worth of galactic history. Divided into three sections (The Prequel Trilogy Era, The Original Trilogy Era, and The Sequel Trilogy Era), Star Wars: The Complete Visual Dictionary features text by the quintet of writers who created the individual Visual Dictionaries and/or Guides. Per the book's title page, they are:

• James Luceno
• David West Reynolds
• Ryder Windham
• Jason Fry
• Pablo Hidalgo

Additional material was created by Robert E. Barnes, Don Bies, John Goodson, Nelson Hall, and Mike Verta. Photography (new and old) was credited to Alexander Ivanov. 

My Take

The 2018 edition of Star Wars: The Complete Visual Dictionary is a canonical reference work that builds on the material from previous editions but presents it differently. From my perspective, it doesn't merely reissue the content of the 2008 edition of Star Wars: The Complete Visual Dictionary and tack on stuff from the four new Star Wars Visual Dictionaries/Guides with a new book cover. For this version, DK Books' editors decided to follow the existing volumes' format but tweaked the presentation so as to not incur the wrath of readers who would have protested "reheated leftovers."

© 2018 Dorling Kindersley Publishing and Lucasfilm Ltd. (LFL)

Published on September 18, Star Wars: The Complete Visual Dictionary is a "coffee table" format hardcover. It has "in-universe" entries on many topics, including galactic politics, planets and star systems, individuals of great importance (Sheev Palpatine, Darth Vader, Luke Skywalker, Padme Amidala, Jabba the Hutt, Mon Mothma) and seemingly minor ones (Watto, Jar Jar Binks, Rose Tico) who each "struts and frets his hour upon the stage" of galactic history.

As in previous Star Wars Visual Dictionaries, each item described in the book is presented as an archeological find. That's because David West Reynolds' original concept was to treat the book as if it were an archeological guide to the various civilizations and factions that existed "a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away." Items as significant as, say, an Incom T-65 X-wing fighter or Darth Vader's cybernetic suit of armor share the literary and visual spotlights with humble doodads as a leather pouch that once hung on Anakin Skywalker's Jedi-issue equipment belt, or Han Solo's customized DL-44 BlasTech blaster pistol. 

Star Wars: The Complete Visual Dictionary is, as I said earlier, lavishly illustrated with over 1500 images. Most are photos of props and costumes used in all 10 of the Star Wars live action films, as well as publicity/studio photographs of the many characters of the Saga and Anthology movies. And though there are no major images from Lucasfilm Animations various projects that are co-equal in canon to the main Saga, the editors snuck in at least one reference to Season Five of Star Wars: The Clone Wars. 

Is the book perfect? Sadly, no. Overall it is nicely written and full of details, but it does have a few goofs. For instance, the backstory for Rebel general Airen Cracken given in Star Wars: The Complete Visual Dictionary differs with the account given in another Star Wars reference work, The Star Wars Rebel Field Book. In another goof, Boba Fett's EE-3 carbine is incorrectly labeled as an EE-3 blaster rifle. 

On the whole, however, the book is nicely done and will give you many insights into the mythology and characters of one of the most successful fantasy tales ever to grace the silver screen. Star Wars: The Complete Visual Dictionary is one of those books that is intended for a young audience yet is written in a way that older fans will enjoy. And, who knows, maybe once the Sequel Trilogy is complete we'll see a revised edition that fixes the goofs in this 2018 edition. Four out of five Death Stars for Star Wars: The Complete Visual Dictionary.