The New Essential Guide to Vehicles and Vessels: Star Wars [Paperback]

The New Essential Guide is something less than new. The full color illustrations are the best part of it- especially those that depict vessels not shown in the previous work. Additionally, there's some background on vehicle manufacturers, famous battles, and comparisons between vessel sublight and hyperspace speed.

Other than this, however, the book falls short of its previous incarnation. The schematics largely tell you things you could have inferred just by looking at the picture (The ship has a hull?! No way!) and the text is watered down for a younger audience. There's not as many hard facts or numbers, including no comparison at all of shield or hull strength (something I, a long-time SW space sim player, was hoping for). There is a simple explanation of the basic technologies at the start, appropriately titled 'A Layperson's Guide to Technology.' It seems the author and publishers aren't aware that most kids nowadays are more familiar with technical jargon than adults.

Aside from these minor complaints, there is one major issue I have with this book. That is, only a handful of new ships are shown, and most of these are from the prequels. Frankly, other books like the Incredible Cross Sections series have covered these vehicles better than the Essential Guide could hope to. There's also the issue of beating a dead horse. If you don't know what an X-wing looks like by now, you probably won't be buying this book. Why recap material that's been published a dozen times already? There's a whole load of new ships in the New Jedi Order series alone (i.e. the Bothan Assault Frigate, Star Defender, Ranger Gunship). Why not present those?

The New Essential Guide to Vehicles and Vessels does have some cool features, but aside from the updated color illustrations, it is less than 'new' and hardly 'essential.' I would recommend the original Essential Guide over this one, and advise those that already own it to check out other guides first.

The first guide featured an outline schematic and pencilled illustration of each ship or vehicle. The NEGVV has each entry in full colour and textured detail that wonderfully brings them to three-dimensional life. Not all entries have optimal camera angles, and some weren't positioned too well at all. A single standardised view looking down at each ship would have afforded better detail and more to look at.

The entry specs was a welcome improvement over the sparse information the first guide had. Knowing the length of a ship is what these guides are all about, but when applicable, even the height was added. Good stuff. Some quotes were creative, others just bland, while the max speed was initially confusing, as the "G" at the end looks very much like a number, seemingly adding an extra digit to the speed! The NEGVV finally names the Chiss clawcraft and Republic Cruiser, which does have you wondering why no one has bothered to give them a simple name till now.

The guide features a short summary on what looks like every SW manufacturer in the galaxy, complete with their own individual insignia. A nice touch, though Kuat's is reminiscent of Zelda's Triforce because it is. Important ships systems and functions are also explained, in case you aren't aware what turbolasers, navcomputers and hyperdrive are. The inclusion of a speed and hyperdrive rating bar was commendable, which is always pertinent for the true fanatic. The battle maps were useless. Most buyers are movie fans who already know the major battles of the movies, and a flat map doesn't present anything new.

But hype only excites so far, and beneath the shine and sparkle lurk enough small but serious mistakes to grease a Hutt uphill that have cost this NEGVV the quality it could have had.

Only the most popular and used ships are given entries, so where was the Bothan Assault Cruiser? Its absence was the biggest disappointment of all. A single entry collectively describing the new warships of the Black Fleet Trilogy would have been nice. The A-wing was not developed by the Empire, it's doubtful that the Techno Union's starship would be unarmed, the TIE Defender's tractor beam was still omitted, as was the weapons complement of the Super Star Destroyer, only that it has "over a thousand weapons", and why the hell the Naboo N-1 fighter still has no name is criminal. The XJ3 X-wing with all its new modifications over the original was ignored, and the Naboo Royal Cruisers have no name, as if a monarch would not name their own royal flagship. Still no Golan battle station or Floating Fortress.

The Vong warships of the NJO series has hardly been given any detail in 19 books, and just like their one-dimensional people, here too there is no detail. Readers rarely know how long they are and their armament, but that doesn't change here. The Vong have just four entires, all of them just as light in detail and depth as the books. Many more Vong ships are found in the appendix, equally obscure. The coralskipper was glossed over. If the dovin basal gravity creature controls both propulsion and shielding, how many grav holes can it generate? The fighter has just a single gun? Why no mention of its communications deficiency? Or its unique way of being flown? Or how everything allegedly becomes transparent to the pilot?

Overall, this is still one slick present and well worth getting by any legal or otherwise means. An enjoyable read, just one that could have been sharpened better.