In ‘Star Wars – On the Front Lines’ Daniel Wallace investigates the military aspects of the history of the ‘Star Wars’ universe ranging from the Clone Wars to the rise of the First Order. He explores some of the most important battles that have occurred and takes a look at the weapons, armor, tactics, and heroes of each of these. Not only that, but each of the battles discussed here comes with amazing illustrations which showcase various portions of what was involved.
For context, the book covers the Battles of Naboo, First Geonosis, Christophsis, Ryloth, Coruscant, Scarif, Yavin, Hoth, Endor, Jakku, and Starkiller Base. The book itself covers what is currently considered canon so if you’re a fan of the Extended Universe, I’m sad to say you won’t have anything to enjoy here. This isn’t the first book out that covers military history in the Star Wars universe though and if the EU is what you crave, you might want to check out the 2012 release of ‘Star Wars: The Essential Guide To Warfare’.
Some of the information here could be comparable but without references to events which now have no longer happened.
While it was beautifully illustrated and is a great book to have in the collection, much of the information is a little condensed. Obviously, any of these great battles could have had a complete book to cover each one individually so it shouldn’t be too surprising that you aren’t getting every detail under the sun. However, it still felt a little too light. That isn’t to say it didn’t fully cover what happened, it just felt as if a few areas were almost cut short for sake of the glorious art to be included.
I don’t want to sell the art short here. It really is spectacular for both showing off details and the two-page spread representing each war that concludes every chapter.
I think another full page’s worth of text for each battle might have fleshed it out just enough to work for me. One aspect that did work though was talking about major players for each of these wars. There will be plenty of familiar names here from the Star Wars saga and a few new ones as well.
This is clearly a must have for ‘Star Wars’ collectors. It won’t be giving you much in the way of new details but it is great for a great looking quick reference guide.
Star Wars – On The Front Lines
By: Daniel Wallace
Titan Books
July 18th, 2017
