If you loved the Star Wars movies, this is a must have book for you! It takes you to many places lime Tatooine, the Death Star, Alderaan and so much more. The illustrations are amazing, the descriptions from Kevin J Anderson take you to these worlds in a way the movies couldn't do! You will find yourself looking through these pages again and again!

good book about star wars.

This is the definitive Star Wars art book. Filled with master Ralph McQuarrie's inspiring paintings and coupled with Anderson's excellent prose, this is one that any Star Wars fan should have on their shelf. Seriously, if you own just one Star Wars book, make sure this is it.

Absolutely beautiful and so rich in texture and world-building.

Of all the Star Wars books (excluding graphic novels) I own, this one is perhaps the one I like the most. It truly is an Expanded Universe book that goes heavily into the Star Wars back story. It covers all the main planets (Tatooine, Hoth, Endor, etc.) from the original trilogy and has beautiful pictures that you can't see anywhere else that I know of. Along with the amazing images, a fictional author writes some kind of report on the planet and its environment that is detailed and surprisingly, makes the place come alive. I'm not sure how easy it is to track this book down nowadays, but it is one of the best ones a Star Wars fan can own.

Christmas 2008 - parents

YAYAYAYAYAY Omigod I love the illustrations!!!! SO SO SO REALISTIC AND "STAR-WAR-ISH!!" :D All these pictures and omigod....I'm in love. <3

Good book. The illustrations are beautiful and it is very well written. Great read for science fiction and star wars fans.

Is it wrong to long for a fictional world so much it makes you want to cry? I'll admit, this book did that to me (especially Alderaan, sob.) Anderson's prose and Ralph McQuarrie's paintings brought the planets featured in the original trilogy to life in glorious, sumptuous detail. It's literal worldbuilding and I loved it.

Okay so what do you do while you wait for your computer to repair itself - in my case grab a book and read.

This book has been sitting on my shelf for a while now - yes this is one of those titles I picked up over the years as it was going cheap but never really got round to reading it (its scary how many books I own that fall in to that category) Anyway having seen references to the book - but with a different cover - I thought I should give it a go.

Now one of the reluctancies for reading this is that there are SO many Star Wars books out there and only so much original material. When that runs out (or I wonder if the author cannot think of anything more and the publisher cannot afford any more) they start to recycle. This may come in the form of artwork, or storylines or even characters.

And this is where I start to lose interest - I think its not limited to star wars at all just that the sheer numbers draw attention to it. After all Ralph McQuarrie only did so many pieces - you are bound to find some repetition.

But not here - which I will admit surprised me. The book focuses on 8 of the most famous worlds from the original trilogy. You have here reused concept work along with brand new pieces. Although you can quickly guess which piece comes from where you dont really mind as they do work very well together. The text also is interesting and holds your interest.

Now with the ever increasing number of films being realised there is a constant stream of new information and I guess this book needs to be updated otherwise it will become quickly outdated (for example there is a chapter on Bespin the Cloud City. Now we are soon to see the Han Solo standalone film and I am sure Bespin will feature in it at some point but who knows).

However as a piece of sheer nostalgia its great (it even has that old book smell to it when you open the pages, how satisfying is that).

Very thorough exploration of the various planets and species in Star Wars filled with wonderful illustrations.

really liked it, surprised there were more pages than goodreads said, really submerges you into the realm of the star wars universe.