This might be a sign that I’m obsessed: I just bought a “Star Wars” book about “Star Wars” books. To a non-fan, this might seem as silly as Kramer’s coffee table book about coffee tables on “Seinfeld,” but the initiated will understand the appeal of “The Essential Reader’s Companion.”
Author Pablo Hidalgo has given “Star Wars” bookworms a definitive, exhaustive reference guide to fiction comprising the adult novels (145 of them so far!), the young-adult non-picture books and all the short stories from official “Star Wars” magazines and websites. Originally, Hidalgo planned to write a chronicle of all “Star Wars” fiction, but he quickly realized he had to drop the comic books and children’s picture books for space. Even as it is, the “Companion” weighs in at 486 pages. It’s a large-format paperback priced at $29.95.
The book proves that the printed page still has value in this age of Wookieepedia and podcasts (not that there’s anything wrong with podcasts, of course; one of my favorites is the Star Wars Book Report). Hidalgo organizes things chronologically, with eight chapters ranging from “Tales of Ancient Jedi and Sith” through “Legacy.” In the back, he includes the stories in publication order (this list makes it clear that the publishing schedule exploded in 1994 and hasn’t slowed since) and lists every author’s “Star Wars” bibliography (this is especially handy for tracking down those pesky, hard-to-find short stories). And for each entry, he lists not only the planets in the story, but also the coordinates of those planets on the maps in “Star Wars: The Essential Atlas” (2009) (also on my short list of great “Star Wars” reference books).
Paging through the “Companion” (that’s all I’ve done so far, but I look forward to delving into it more deeply), I have ideas for two more publications. First, Hidalgo needs to do an equivalent volume devoted to comics. This “Companion” includes sidebars about comics if they relate to a novel, but that’s only scratching the surface. Dark Horse put out the “Star Wars Comics Companion” in 2006, but it only included summaries and it left out several titles (I paged through it once and wasn’t too impressed, although I might try to find a used copy).
Second, Del Rey should gather up all the once-published short stories so lovingly compiled here and package them in a series of “Tales from …” books. Bantam Spectra did a bit of this with “Tales from the Empire” (1997) and “Tales from the New Republic” (1999), but I’d guess a half-dozen more volumes could be compiled. Although I’m a longtime subscriber to Star Wars Insider and I have all the Star Wars Galaxy Magazines, I don’t have the Star Wars Adventure Journals or Star Wars Gamer magazines. Besides, I’d rather read these stories in book form than magazine form.
My only complaint about “The Essential Reader’s Companion” is that Hidalgo’s summaries are a bit longer than necessary and the behind-the-scenes information is shorter than it could’ve been. Also, since this is an official publication rather than a fan publication, Hidalgo doesn’t go around praising or criticizing specific books, so we’ll have to stick with the Star Wars Book Report and other podcasts and blogs for that, I guess (non-sanctioned guides such as Ted Edwards’ “The Unauthorized Star Wars Companion” from 1999 have pretty much disappeared from bookstores, no doubt due to the rise of the Internet). On the flip side, if there’s a blatant timeline or continuity error in a story (this has happened more and more in the last decade as George Lucas has produced his prequels and TV episodes), Hidalgo points this out.
The most pleasant surprise — and, arguably, enough reason to buy this book even if it didn’t have Hidalgo’s words — is the artwork. Split between six illustrators, the art is universally gorgeous, often the quality of a painting I wouldn’t mind hanging on a wall. We know what the movie, TV and comics characters look like, but not so much book characters (although, of course, there is cover art and Wookieepedia provides reference art). The “Companion” really puts a face to names such as Mara Jade, Jaina Solo, Darth Bane and more obscure book-only characters.
In short: All “Star Wars” book lovers should pick up “The Essential Reader’s Companion” immediately.