justthatstarwarsbookgirl's reviews
54 reviews

This book is an enjoyable Star Wars read. It, and the information presented in it, ties in very well with information also presented in Ryder Windham’s Wrath of Darth Maul about Maul’s early upbringing and the explanation of how he became an official Sith Lord, including details on his training. The book follows a clear course from Point A to Point B from the beginning of his intro in Episode 1: The Phantom Menace right up to the part where he cuts out of the movie, with the book being wrapped from a different outsider POV in a summarized ending. The events are easy to follow and understand/read in relation to their occurrences in the movie and novelization of Episode 1. The book is definitely more of a Legends read due to the information, certain pieces of it especially (such as Maul’s home planet) being different than the later-released Canon version of this information mainly presented in the 2008 Clone Wars Animated TV Series. Some of the facts also relate very well and are directly referenced to other Star Wars Legends material, such as the Jedi Apprentice Series, also by the author Jude Watson, about Jedi healing techniques and methods. The book also does Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn a great honor with their explanation of his fighting and dueling skills, diplomat skills and life overall as a Jedi Master, whereas it hasn’t really been mentioned or honored much overall in other stories and books in the Star Wars Universe, especially with him only being in Episode 1 as a movie. Overall the book was highly intriguing and interesting as a short, summarized reading of Episode 1’s events from the Sith’s perspective.

I REALLY, REALLY enjoyed this book!! It was very fun and exciting to read, I didn’t want to put it down/couldn’t put it down even though it’s a nonfiction science book, and I’m not very big into science itself as a topic. The book had a lovely introduction page written and explained very clearly how this book mainly if not always focuses on the material from the movies alone, which completely made the book more understandable. The book is a good, average length, not too daunting and overwhelming, not providing too much information but providing at the same time an abundance of facts and information to enjoy reading and think about the subjects. The book had a clean looking cover beautifully and simply laid out with bright and darker contrasting colors. I immensely enjoyed the related quotes at the beginning of almost every section, however some of the quotes I don’t remember so I’m thinking they were assumptions of lines potentially spoken because usually I remember every line spoken and if I don’t remember one that’s highly unusual for me. The book was extremely concise, with the information and facts laid out clearly and easy to understand the concepts presented. I like how the book was separated into different sections of information, with the darker toned pages separating each section urging you forward with the reading, and with a clear chapter list. The book made the subjects and topics of Physics easy to understand and easy to grasp even for those who haven’t studied Physics on a larger scale/level. I enjoy how even when a subject/topic and aspect of Star Wars is explained that it won’t work in real life as depicted in the films, the author attempts to explain a way or method that that aspect of Star Wars could work in real life. I also like how the author is completely down-to-Earth and realistic about each topic in the book and its possibility of existing here on Earth. The author writes in a very personable and relatable way and tone of voice. The appendix’s of both Star Wars and Physics terms were explained very clearly and in great detail to foster better understanding of terms, places or things you aren’t familiar with. I liked how there were two separate appendix’s for both of them each. I enjoyed how most of the terms were described beyond just a couple of sentences. Some of the only criticisms I have include: that where it explains where each subject/topic takes place in the Star Wars Movies some of the descriptions of the scenes and characters are inaccurate/far too broad and could be worded differently and include more characters and specification to focus more on a specific scene that the topic/subject represents, as well as that some of the character’s last names weren’t included in snippets where they were featured and I thought to be thorough they should’ve been written, but overall the book is very extremely thorough for the subject (Physics) which it is based on. Lastly, some of the subject’s names and descriptions, such as the name of The First Order and New Republic, weren’t mentioned/laid out as clearly as they should’ve been, or referenced properly in their wording. Overall I REALLY enjoyed this book, it was one of the first in a long while that I truly couldn’t seem to put down even with the subject matter not being my usual type as described, I was thrilled to purchase this book from the thrift store and take it home to read. It’s a beautiful book inside and out and I flew through the pages, absorbing the information quickly. Others on Bookstagram would call this book a “guilty pleasure” for me, one of my first of those within the books I’ve read lately. I LOVE this book. Only rated 3 stars due to the probability that I won’t pick it up again to reread, but will definitely keep as a very unique book in the range of Star Wars books in my large collection. 

As soon as I started this book I noted glaring flaws inside of it. I really enjoyed the first Volume of Star Wars: Episode 1 Manga so I couldn’t understand why I enjoyed this book so much less and found so many more flaws within it, I’m unsure if possibly the illustrator or author just got bored with the project and rushed to finish or not, or something else as another reason to why this book was such lesser and lower quality of writing than the first. However there were still many items to enjoy in this book, including: the depiction of Jabba the Hutt and the gong scene in the beginning of the Podrace, the slight alteration of Qui-Gon’s line to Shmi about Anakin’s chances of becoming a Jedi, the depiction overall of Shmi’s outfit from head to toe, the depiction of the scene where Obi-Wan Kenobi meets Anakin for the first time, the way the Jedi Council’s scenes were laid out to feature each known member of the Council at that time including lesser known members such as Yareal Poof, Oppo Rancisis, Even Piell, Depa Billaba, Eeth Koth, and Yaddle, including the large panoramic scene of the Council featured in the center of the two page span, Yoda’s character depiction, the Senate scenes with Queen Amidala and Palpatine looking just like the movie’s scenes, the artwork of the scene when Queen Amidala calls for a vote of no confidence in Valorum,  Sidious’s hologram depictions, Captain Panaka’s character depiction/design, the design and detail of the Queen’s white outfit with the pearl accents, all of the variety of Amidala’s outfits and the details put into them, the female characters (especially Padme) and also Anakin’s eye design, Padawan Obi-Wan Kenobi’s character depiction and hair/eyebrow design, Boss Nass’s outfit design, the “textured” look of the skin of all Gungans, Captain Tarpals, Jar Jar and Boss Nass’s character depictions, Sabé’s red and black outfit’s contrasting colors, the maroon handmaiden outfit depiction, the scene art of the group kneeling before the Gungans, the Gungan Kaadu’s designs, all of the main character group shot scenes, the depictions of the Droid Tanks and Battle Droids, the Lightsaber Blade Thinness and Hilt Depictions, the Duel of the Fates scenes (especially the facial expressions of the key players), Obi-Wan’s facial expression reaction to Qui-Gon’s death, how child Anakin looked in piloting goggles, and the design of the Jedi Robes worn by Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon. Some of the things I did NOT enjoy, however, included the fact that Anakin’s Podracer’s Sabotage scene with Sebulba was left out, the depiction of Senator Palpatine’s face seemed inaccurate to me, the face was far too aged and the chin and nose too large, Mace Windu’s depiction looked too young for his character at this time, some of Obi-Wan’s facial expressions, such as surprise, were too far overexaggerated, there were too many face close-ups as scenes used in this book (such as eye or mouth close ups), and some of the depictions of Maul make his face and head look fatter than they should be. I also thought lots of text in the bubbles in larger portions and servings compiled together made it more difficult and harder to read, as well as some of the lines were missing and skipping details and large sections/portions of the dialogue making it harder to understand and hard to read if you know the movie by heart. Also there was major confusion/unclearness about Qui-Gon’s death scene, and the book barely, if at all depicted Qui-Gon’s funeral scene, the images shown barely if at all made it clear that that was a funeral they were showing. Other times things are made so obvious that they’re captioned with words like “grab” but other times inconsistently the scenes are so unclear and confusing (2 occasions I can think of this happening on) that you can barely understand what has happened/what is happening. Especially the Battle Scenes are difficult to follow. However the book amazingly and phenomenally conveyed all of the sensitive emotions and great sadness and emotional pain over Qui-Gon’s death within, to me, only the one depiction/image of Padawan Obi-Wan holding Qui-Gon’s body. That one scene conveyed it all for me, even better than the movie somewhat. The ending scenes of the Naboo Celebration felt very brief and greatly shortened, with little to no emphasis put on the ending and overall resolution of the story. I did like how each main character for the ending was put side by side in panels in the depiction of the Celebration though. I did not like how the book ended with the last two panels being of the planet Naboo as seen from space. I thought the black coloring of the starscape did not represent the happy and hopeful ending of the story or even the mysterious aspect of it if that was what the designer was going for possibly. The book overall definitely seemed based around, assumed and appeared to be designed around expecting there to be Sequels to these Volumes (such as Episodes 2&3 in Manga like Episodes 4, 5 & 6 were made) but as far as I’m aware they were never made, even with the open-endedness of this book. 

This was my first Star Wars Manga book that I have read. I thought the Manga was easy to understand and easy to read as a whole. I enjoyed the artwork, although it takes some getting used to the style. Two of the characters depictions in the style of the artist that I was slightly critical of were one of my favorite characters, Qui-Gon Jinn (as played by Liam Neeson), in my opinion it didn’t really look like him or even the actor, the nose was too large and long with the eyes (especially the eyes) and facial hair (mustache and goatee) too small and thin. I also had trouble identifying Shmi from her depiction on the cover art, she looked more like a male character to me, possibly like Obi-Wan, and her age was overexaggerated in her facial lines, her character was given a lot more depressing of an aura and vibe as compared to her character played in the movie by the actress. The other thing I was critical of in the artwork was some of the expressions were WAYYY overexaggerated, such as anger or excitement, such as with the depictions showing a large row of teeth or the face being scrunched up. Overall this book got me excited to read the other half of the Manga but it took me a day to write this review and pick up the second book, so I was able to wait if that speaks to anything. I’m excited to read further Star Wars Manga from the other artists of the Original Trilogy Volumes. Basically this book was a good depiction and adaption of the original film and Terry Brook’s official novelization of Star Wars: Episode 1: The Phantom Menace, and fits well with other Phantom Menace related works fitting for telling the origin story of a young Anakin Skywalker, depicting him as a young and adorable child, especially as I recall in the scene where he purchased the Pallies. 

This book was an interesting, fun and enjoyable read. I particularly enjoyed the way the facts and information contained in the book were laid out in different sections such as Do’s and Don’t’s, Bar Graphs, Pie Charts, Step by Steps, Key Phrases, At a Glance, and more. I also enjoyed how the book’s different sections were laid out by subject using the different chapters and overall headings of the different topics and their relation to one another, making it easier to navigate. The book was a nice hardcover edition and I really enjoyed the full color illustrations and images included in the book. The book was cleverly worded and artistically laid out, with a bright and eye catching cover design. Would definitely recommend, but rated 3 stars due to the fact that I most likely won’t pick it up again. A great addition to any Star Wars fan’s collection and an informative compilation of information from facts of the Star Wars Universe.  

This book was a medium-paced read for me, not too fast but not too slow. I was able to finish the book within one night after picking it up the same day. It’s a beautiful book, with an intriguing and clever layout and illustrations on the pages, a great arrangement of the different facts being presented here so as to change it up once in a while instead of just being the same page layout with facts over and over again. The small illustrations are cute. It’s worth every cent spent on it, although many if not most of the facts I already knew or had heard before. It was interesting to hear the facts again to be presented for fans who may have not known them or know less than I did. Some of the facts were unknown to me though, and some of them were so unbelievable to me that I’m not sure if they’re true still, a day after reading the book. There was never a fact repeated and each fact had enough consistent backstory and explanation that you wouldn’t be lost if you hadn’t seen the Star Wars movies recently/was unable to replay their exact events in your mind. The ending was a bit blah to me, it just ended off with another simple fact and not even a goodbye message, it would’ve been nice to have led up to some super large or shocking fact or a send off message. I really enjoyed reading through the book, making quick and achievable progress, and was very happy to have received it as an Easter present. Well pleased, rating an A+. The 3.0 rating is only due to the fact that the book doesn’t appear to be one I will reread. I highly recommend this book for a casual read for any Star Wars fans. 

This book wasn’t as fast a read through as your average children’s book due to being a DK reader. I read the end pages describing accurate and really wonderful ways parents can interact to help their children to learn to read, sound out and learn the different and new words, and use the different fact files as well as supportive commentary and compliments to help boost their child’s confidence. That entire section is definitely research tested and from the point of view of a girl who was a large reader from early on due to great encouragement from my parents, I think some if not all of those key strategies would work great on todays kids, and we definitely need more parents willing to do those things to actually help their children rather than ignore them. Some of the strategies may be overkill to me or would’ve been when I was a kid but that’s just me personally and does not reflect every other kid out there, especially kids nowadays. I like the gloss of the pages and I think they smell great. The pages have beautiful full color designs with pictures and images directly from the various Star Wars movies and shows including the animated series Star Wars: Rebels Seasons 1-4, the Original Trilogy Episodes 4-6, Rogue One: A Star Ware Story and the Sequel Trilogy’s Episode 7: The Force Awakens. The book included a great variety of the many different eras of the Star Wars Rebellion and later the Resistance, traveling in timeline order, each section/era having a major mission as a part of their section. beginning with the Rebels 2014 Animated Show Era (taking place after Episode 3: The Revenge of the Sith and before Episode 4: A New Hope), introducing each member of the Ghost Crew, from Ezra Bridger and Sabine Wren to Hera Syndulla, Kanan Jarrus, Zeb and Ahsoka Tano, smaller fact files for lesser-known allies, including Clone Captain Rex, and introducing their more well-known and significant mission, such as the Sith Temple on Malachor. The next stop in the timeline for the different eras of the Rebellion is the team for the Scarif Mission of stealing the Death Star Plans, led by Jyn Erso and Cassian Andor, flanked by Bohdi Rook, Chirrut and Baze Malbus in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. The next era is the Original Trilogy Era, Episodes 4-6, where Luke Skywalker, Leia Organa, Chewbacca and Han Solo are introduced, as well as the Battle of Hoth at Echo Base being mentioned, and the second mission being mentioned as the Destruction of the Death Star. Luke’s two Jedi Mentors, Obi-Wan “Ben” Kenobi and Yoda each have their own fact files. Rebel Leaders Mon Mothma and Admiral Ackbar are also briefly mentioned. The Millennium Falcon has its own 2-page layout of interior blueprints, there is also a layout of all of the different Rebel Starships, including A-, B-, U-, X- and Y-Wings, and the lineup of Rebel Pilots has its own 2-page spread. A layout of all of the previously known Rebel and Resistance Bases is also spread across 2 pages, and all Rebel/Resistance Droids, such as K-2SO, C-3PO, BB-8, Chopper (C1-10P), R2-D2 are on a layout as well with little fact blurbs. The last portion of the book is dedicated to the Sequel Trilogy’s new Resistance, and highlights the characters of pilot Poe Dameron, Finn “FN-2187”, and Rey of Jakku, as well as the mission of Starkiller Base. The book was produced before the last 2 movies of the Sequel Trilogy, and so does not contain any information from the last two movies (Episode 8: The Last Jedi and Episode 9: The Rise of Skywalker), only including information about events from Episode 7: The Force Awakens. I also liked about the book that it included an informative index, glossary and question section, the questions were easy enough for me to answer off the top of my head and were worded wide and broad enough that any general combination of words related to the direct answer is a good and correct answer. I also like how the answers to these questions were not simply on the next page so that you may accidentally see them and flip to them before finishing all the questions in your head rather they were placed many pages after and in a small, unnoticeable box at the bottom of the page. The answers were general enough as well so that with any combination of related words you had come up with in your head as your answer was correct and made you feel accomplished for answering them correctly off the top of your head. I also like how DK books are separated by level, I think that makes them great for sorting into categories on a bookshelf or collection, especially with the colored spine versions of them. The rows of the same levels look nice and organized in a straight line. I think accomplishing all the levels of Star Wars books would be a great goal for anybody, including me. I have rated this book 3 stars only due to the fact that I would not like to pick it up again for a full reread. I think it’s a one time read for me, however I will be keeping it in the collection for certain. 

This book took a light amount of time to read through. I was really excited when my Mom brought this book home that I read it on the same exact day. It’s a beautiful book with nice solid hardcovers and beautiful glossy pages that smell great. The cover artwork is beautiful and unique with great colors, it’s simple enough to not overwhelm but related to the book and not underwhelming. The pages have great coloring and exact images from the movie. The book is an odd size but not a bad size, just makes it stand out a bit. It’s larger than your average hardcover but not as large as a usual visual guide or storybook. The book is really informative. It’s pretty cool how the different main important characters each have large fact file boxes catered to facts specifically about them (usually with up to 4-5 facts that are numbered easily for separation and distinction). The book includes information on the different creatures, droids, Starships and vehicles of the movie as well which was a good aspect since they’re so important to the movie as much as any other aspect. The book even included information on important planets to the movie including their climate and atmosphere. It was fun to take the yes/no quizzes for “which character you would be” or “what planet you’d like to vacation on?” I learned a lot from this book I feel and I truly enjoyed reading it. One of the most important things I learned were individual facts about the different Knights of Ren, including their weapons, how they like to fight or their personalities. I even learned which Knight pilots their ship. You don’t really hear the Knights of Ren mentioned very often as they’re such minor characters and they’re hardly seen or mentioned for only a few moments on screen. I honestly didn’t even know there WERE facts and personalities to each Knight of Ren out there because they’re so minor. The book also included some facts about minor Resistance characters and leaders not mentioned or seen very often in the movie. The rating on this book is a 3.0 due to the fact that I wouldn’t pick it up to read it again but I do recommend this book to any Rise of Skywalker (or just Star Wars in general) lovers to learn some new facts in a quick and enjoyable read. The book leaves off on a hopeful ending with a joyous and dedicated quote at the end about the Resistance and its members. The book does not reveal how the Rise of Skywalker movie ends or the climax and major fights, rather focusing on providing you with the basic facts and knowledge about the different factions (Resistance vs First Order, Jedi vs Sith) and characters as well as creatures, droids, vehicles, starships and machines to explain the advantages of the First Order over the Resistance. The book tends to want to help you make your own conclusions as to if the Resistance or the First Order will triumph over the Galaxy-Wide Conflict. By not revealing the ending the book makes you want to hope for the Resistance to win in their struggle against the First Order. The book leaves off where the Resistance Team’s mission on Pasaana ends and has some short facts about Kef Bir and Jannah before ending out on the hopeful note. 

The first thing I truly noticed about this book as soon as I opened it was the artwork. It completely blew me away with just how beautiful every image was and how long I wanted to sit there and absorb every detail on each page. The style of artwork is just so beautifully detailed for a children’s book, it’s amazing. The colors of the book are gorgeous, bright and vivid as well as completely accurate to the storyline and movie of Star Wars. The characters are the most beautiful yet simplistic and completely accurate pieces of work on the page. Another thing I love about this book is something I would have major difficulty doing, and so therefore have amazing and great appreciation for the skill of: the author’s retelling of the Revenge of the Sith movie is completely accurate, and concises all of the most important details of the plot and storyline really amazingly, especially since The Revenge of the Sith is one of if not the most complicated Star Wars movie, due to all of the politics and the motives for Anakin turning from the Light to the Dark side of the Force. I think the author of the retelling also did a FANTASTIC job keeping the highest rated Star Wars movie (PG-13) completely child-friendly with little to no detailing or mention of the frightening or scary moments seen in the movie (I mean, admit it, we all watched Anakin catch on fire on the lava bank as a young child and got the s*** scared out of us as well as scarred for life). The burning and injuring of Anakin is mentioned only in passing as a small detail and the choking of Padme is not even mentioned. No aspects of childbirth were mentioned and the term “pregnancy” wasn’t even mentioned, Padme was said to be “expecting a baby” and that’s about it. Completely kid friendly, like I said. I like how solid the covers of this book are and how thin yet nice feeling the pages were. I love how short and fast paced the book was. The only detriment, I personally feel, is that the author’s name is not mentioned on the front cover. It’s only mentioned on the first page in the inside of the book AFTER the cover. I feel like for such a good job the author should definitely get clearer credit for his retelling. However I guess that’s just how Little Golden Books goes. But that’s the ONLY flaw to the entire book, and is clearly not even a fault of the author’s. So I loved this book!! I’d definitely recommend it for kids of ALL ages, and as a fantastic bedtime story to climb in bed with your kiddo and snuggle close under the blankets as they fall asleep. It’s definitely told in a comforting way as a bedtime story overall. Plus the book is super small and an average size, so easy to store but the perfect size for your kid’s little hands to grab and hold. Another small flaw that is not the fault of the author is I feel like with kids the pages are so flimsy I feel like any mess that would get on them (drinks, food, etc.) would definitely not come off and would soak in. I myself found major comfort in this retelling of this story. 

I didn’t really enjoy this book. As soon as I finished reading it I thought “really? That was so stupid.” The entire book really, truly has no point. It leads up to a climax that has a big, soggy, blah ending. I don’t really like to leave bad book reviews, but this one really had me like “what the heck did I just read?”. The book is definitely a kids book, but it’s not even enjoyable for me, and most times I enjoy other kids books that are Star Wars. I think the one-word pages were fairly worthless and no emphasis was put on why the words were said, their use or point in the book. It felt like every word was basically worthless, right up until the end. The entire plot of the book was overall really silly. The one redeeming quality of this book is the art and imagery, I didn’t like the depictions of the little children or the monster masks but I did however like the selection of Darth Vader. However for many children the good thing is the diversity of the different races of the children, there were children representing all sorts of parts of the world, super diverse, so that every child feels represented no matter where they’re from. The background was really dark, it was a nice backdrop but I think it gave the entire book a very dark, moody tone just from looking at the pages. I also think the overall size of the book is way too large for any average sized shelf and especially too large for anybody to take anywhere on the go as many people; especially children like to do. It’s definitely a bedtime-story reader sized book with the overexaggerated sizing. The book itself is also a garish bright yellow color; highly unattractive. The author’s photo is a photo of a vintage Star Wars action figure, which I thought was really clever and cute, but only works if you know about the vintage figures. I think it’s kind of not very accurate to not put an actual photo of the author himself on there, but that’s just my personal opinion. The book, since having no real content inside, also has no words on the back as an informative blurb, the back of the book is basically plain. Overall I wouldn’t recommend but I am keeping as part of my collection just because it’s a Star Wars book.