STAR WARS: THE NEW ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO VEHICLES AND VESSELS

STAR WARS' other "Haden" writes a good book

By Chris Wyatt     September 25, 2003

No, he's not Hayden Christensen... He's W. Haden Blackman. But he is linked to the STAR WARS universe, thanks to his incredibly well done book, THE NEW ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO VEHICLES AND VESSELS. As you might imagine, the book collects and describes every STAR WARS ship, including ones from EPISODE II and the NEW JEDI ORDER book series.

Blackman's text, which is accompanied by full-color illustrations by Ian Fullwood, includes impressive detail, and yet is never overly-technical or dry.

Can one make complaints about the book? A couple. Sometimes Fullwood's drawings show the ships at strange, obscure angles (like an A-Wing presented at a three-quarters back profile). Also, nowhere in Fullwood's text is there clear notation about which book or film is the source of the vehicle in question.

Still, these problems aside, the book is fabulous fun. "Essential" may be a bit of a marketing exaggeration, but this Blackwood's guide is undisputedly out-of-this-world.

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