Insight Edition launched a few new Star Wars reference books this Fall, and I couldn’t choose just ONE to be our pick of the week, so I’m recommending all of them!
As the Holiday season approaches, we’re bringing back our Geek Pick of the Week. Each week leading up to Christmas, we’ll be highlighting a cool product we’ve found that we feel would be the perfect gift for geeks of all kinds. Use these to help fill in your own wish list or find the perfect gift for the nerds in your life. Click HERE to read more about previous Picks of the Week!
This might be cheating a little bit, but considering how all three of these new books have launched within the past couple months, I think it’s warranted. For one, Insight Editions have a history of delivering some fantastic reference books across the many pop culture licenses they work with. They’ve been featured quite frequently as various Geek Picks of the Week over the years (pretty much since we started them). Secondly, they were kind enough to send me some copies to check out and I can confirm they rule…So let’s talk a little about each of them!
Star Wars Bestiary, Vol. 1 by S.T. Bende and Illustrated by Iris Compiet
First up is this gorgeous new Bestiary. Where the other two books on here are follow-ups to current “lines” of Insight reference books, this one brings a new idea to the table with a mostly comprehensive (it is listed as Volume 1 after all) guide to Star Wars creatures great and small. Pulling from books, comics, video games, shows, and movies the sheer amount of critters included is impressive.
On top of featuring stellar new artwork for each creature along with handy bits of information about them, the neatest aspect is how it’s diegetic. Set within the Star Wars universe, it’s presented as being written by the “Director of Creature Cartography” at the Galactic Society of Creature Enthusiasts. As such, the information about the creatures aren’t merely about their appearance in the various media is presented in relation to how characters would see and learn about them.
Think of it like reading/enjoying a David Attenborough nature documentary through the lens of Star Wars. The result is an informative look at these creatures along with bits of history/lore, and anecdotes only people within Star Wars would be privy to. It’s a neat concept and excellently put together.
Star Wars: Secrets of the Clone Troopers by Marc Sumerak and Illustrated by Alberto Buscicchio
The latest in Insight’s “Secrets of” line of Star Wars books, this time around the focus is put on the Clone Troopers. Like the others, this is written from the perspective of a Star Wars character and features in-universe explanations for things. This time around, our guide is none other than Captain Rex himself, because honestly, who else would know more about the Clones of the Republic?
Honestly, I was surprised at how much specific information is included in this book. While some of the previous books in this series focused a bit more on the lore and history aspects, this one gets far more detailed like a traditional reference book. From details on individual clones, armor types, specialists, plus weapons and vehicles, it’s packed with just about all the information you could ever want. There’s even stuff from this year’s The Bad Batch final season!
I’m not as woohoo on the art this time around as the others, but it’s another solid entry in this line of books. I’m not particularly big on Clone related stuff (I know, I know), but I was impressed at everything included, and it works as a great resource of information.
Star Wars: the High Republic: The Lightsaber Collection by Daniel Wallace and Illustrated by Lukasz Liszko & Ryan Valle
I loved the previous Lightsaber Collection book from Insight (which featured a couple High Republic hilts before the initiative even launched), and my love of all things High Republic is well documented. As such, I was thrilled when this was first announced. The amount of Jedi we’ve met over the past few years are both numerous and amazing.
It’s neat, because in this era, specifically, Lightsabers are incredibly varied. Before the Nihil brought them to war, the Jedi had experienced centuries of peace, and thus were able to be a bit more artistic in how they approached crafting their blades. So there’s a lot of variety to be explored here, along side characters to learn more about (including characters from the most recent Phase III stories).
Two things I particularly like about this release that I feel are worth mentioning. One, there’s the artwork. It has the hand drawn appearance, but the portrayal of all the characters are done in a realistic style. So whether they’ve come from comics, manga, or even the highly stylized Pre-K animated series (Young Jedi Adventures), we get to see how they would look in “real life” or on the screen. I think that’s pretty damn neat and allows me even better visuals in my head when reading these novels.
Two, the character details. Every character is given a brief blurb of information about their history, but what I really enjoyed, was how it specifically mentions where these characters were introduced (or played a significant part). So if you’re not as familiar with the books, and come across someone who strikes your fancy, you’ll know immediately what you can read to learn more about them. Or, if they’re a smaller character you may have forgotten about, you’ll be able to recall where they appeared. It’s excellent in terms of reference material.
All three of these Star Wars books from Insight Editions are available right now both in stores and online (I’ve included links above). You can’t really go wrong with any of them, and if you’re shopping for a Star Wars fan this Christmas, these will make excellent gifts.
[Post includes affiliate links]
