"The Essential Chronology," by Kevin J. Anderson, Daniel Wallace, Bill Hughes [Del Rey, 2000]

[image=http://www.theforce.net/books/images/essentialchron_med.jpg]

Summary:

When this book first hit print, many Star Wars fans felt a great disturbance in the Force. Not the bad, millions-of-voices-crying-out-in-terror kind of disturbance, mind you--more like a galactic sigh of relief as two Star Wars vets finally dared to compile a comprehensive chronology, a book ambitiously subtitled "The Definitive History of the Star Wars Universe." And Kevin J. Anderson and Daniel Wallace don't disappoint. Their accurately named Essential Chronology satisfies all but the most rabid fan-boy needs, cataloging every significant event from the Golden Age of the Sith (roughly 5,000 years B.B.Y., Before the Battle of Yavin) through to the exploits of the Young Jedi in 24 A.B.Y. (immediately preceding the events of Del Rey's New Jedi Order story arc).

In encyclopedic style, the duo have compiled the periods and players from what's become a sprawl of comics, computer games, newspaper strips, "audio adventures," and paperbacks. Some niggling details, of course, slip through the cracks, but the end product succeeds admirably, proving to be both entertaining and useful. The icing on the cake? Solid illustrations by Bill Hughes, an era-by-era timeline (including every major book, comic, computer game, and movie), and--thank the Maker--an index.

Read the TF.n Book Staff Reviews!

 

It's a good book. Too bad that it, along with the other Essential Guides are REALLY out of date.

But they're getting updated!

Oh, yeah.

10.

 

Perfect.
I can't wait for the new one, whenever it comes out.

10

 

I'm of two minds about The Essential Chronology. In some respects, it was a great reference for reading about parts of the EU I have not read.

However, I absolutely HATED the forcing of events that should have been just ignored, plus some of the minor retconning. I'd give examples, but don't want to be set upon by a pack of completists.

5/10

 

"However, I absolutely HATED the forcing of events that should have been just ignored"

I don't understand what you mean by this.

 

He means some of the earlier EU stuff, such as the "Glove Of Darth Vader" series.

 

Ah.

Well, until they are marked as Infinities, the authors of things like these really have no choice but to include them.

 

Well, I don't find them bad, and I'm really glad how they managed to work them into the whole canon thing with this book.

 

I give this wonderful book a 9.

I purchased this well before I even delved into the Expanded Universe and many of the parts confused me until I read such series as TOTJ and The Jedi Academy Trilogy. Nevertheless despite it leaving out pet peev details of mine and having obscure skeletal descriptions of the era between AOTC and Episode 3 (resulting in the 9) I thought it brought you through the GFFAs' history touching on induavidual stories and minor confilcts amzaningly.

The Author's must of slaved to get all this infomation in chronological order regardless of the fact Anderson wrote about 30% of the history. The illustrations also where very handy.



<[-]> Saber

 

i read that whole damn book and it was great i gave it a 10

 

10.

It has everything that's essential in the SW timeline(before NJO and AOTC came out).

-Evan

 

8. It was good, but not comprehensive enough for my tastes.

 

A very good history book. I voted 10.

 

I personally think this is an excellent jumping on point for people who are just starting to read EU. This came out shortly after the NJO started, and it's a great way for people who've never cracked a SW novel before to get up to date if the NJO was their first EU experience.

9/10

 

10

This book is great for newbies and oldbies alike. Newbies get summaries of most of the books they haven't read yet, while oldbies can pick up on new little tidbits of info scattered throughout, such as the Grand Admirals, how the Rebel Dream got captured, what happened to Daala, etc.

 

10
Recently purchased this book, and it's an excellent read. A great way to reread and remember what various stories were about and to see them all fit together in one gigantic story... just like the Star Wars EU is supposed to be.

Although I still would've liked some more information about the 1000-3000 BBY era, but the authors can hardly be blamed for that.

I wonder how KotOR is going to fit in the new Essential Chronology...

 

A great book in fact I was reading it like 2 hours ago refreshing my memory on a few things.

I cant wait for a new one to come out with the NJO in it and the clone wars.