Hey everyone, I'm back to review Star Wars: The Rise and Fall of the Galactic Empire by Dr. Chris Kempshall and published by Dorling Kindersley on July 4th, 2024 in the U.K. and on July 9th, 2024 here in North America. Let's get into it.
Dr. Kempshall did a wonderful job writing this book. A lot of Star Wars reference books tend to be dry and textbook, but The Rise and Fall of the Galactic Empire was engaging and insightful throughout. I'm not huge into the Star Wars comics, mostly because I can't keep up with any comic book series, so there were things from the comics that I had to look up because I wasn't familiar with the characters mentioned, that were in the comic. With the exception of Chelli Lona Aphra, who I only knew as Doctor Aphra being I've never read her series (I really want to though).
I love how Dr. Kempshall has managed to fit all of the relevant canon Star Wars movies, TV shows, books, comics, and video games into a decent timeline he possibly could, while leaving wiggle room for the shows and movies to come such as season 2 of Andor, The Mandalorian and Grogu and Starfighter, none of which had come out when the book was written and published. And obviously the two movies haven't come out yet, with Starfighter having just been announced not that long ago.
I also like that he explained the problems the New Republic faced after Return of the Jedi. One of the things I found confusing about all the post-Jedi novels and comics published in the original Expanded Universe, now known as Legends, was how easily things happened for the New Republic. Yes, they almost lost the war with the Yuuzhan Vong in The New Jedi Order, and Darth Caedus, formerly known as Jacen Solo, nearly caused the end of the Galactic Alliance and the Imperial Remnant in Legacy of the Force, but the transition from Empire to New Republic was relatively easy in Legends than it has been in canon material. Especially because there had to be a connection between the end of the Galactic Civil War that we see in books like The Princess and the Scoundrel and Aftermath and what we see in Episodes VII, VIII, and IX with the war between the Resistance and the First Order/Final Order.
I'm also glad that the book highlights members of the Rebel Alliance and the Empire that aren't just Palpatine and Vader, and Han, Luke, and Leia, because too often their iconic status as characters in the Original Trilogy, can end up having authors focus too much on them rather than the other people in both factions, who are running the day to day operations of both.
I do wish more details were given for things like Rebels and other shows and movies that show the events leading up to the state of the galaxy in Episode IV, but given the scope of the subject of the book, I understand there just wasn't enough room for all of it to be included. I do appreciate the amount of material that WAS included in the book. Especially the chapters on Imperial society and everyday life in the Empire, which I'm sure I'll see more of in Andor when I start watching it.
Overall, if you're a fan of Star Wars, a fan of the franchise's in universe history, or just curious to know more about the Empire, I highly recommend reading this book. I think it's the best Star Wars reference book set in the Star Wars Universe that I've read since The New Essential Chronology came out in 2005.
That'll be it for me for today. I'll be back with my review or reviews of Andor. I'm not quite sure how I'm doing that show yet in terms of my reviews, as I might do reviews of each arc, or just reviews of each season. I don't think a series overview style review will do the show justice, but we'll see. It'll all depend on how much I have to say about the show as I watch it. May the Force be with you.
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