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The first official books linked to the spectacular events of
THE FORCE AWAKENS have finally arrived in bookstores, with DK's titles stylishly leaping out from the starting gate- their VISUAL DICTIONARY surely being at the top of fandom's must-have list. LUCASFILM veteran and now key story development official Pablo Hidalgo provides the vital and surely challenging job of penning this all eyes primed book, and I have to say its been very well thought out and written, giving us all the info we need, and more, on the new movie, whilst crucially filling in the vital back story to so many characters, historical incidents, planets and technological changes forming such a crucial part of that massive, all-new-to-be-explored gap between RETURN OF THE JEDI and EPISODE VII, as well as cunningly giving us some potential plot points for EPISODE VIII if you know where to look! It's so detailed, there's easily ten years worth of build-up original novels, short stories and other spin-off material to be mined from just this movie! Alongside the always pleasing interior design standard to this beloved continuing series, the book has a superb selection of photographic material finally going beyond the standard 26 images or so that have been constantly printed in the media this last eight months, plus some intriguing deleted scene shots that we hope will make it to the Blu-ray in 2016.
AFICIONADO RATING: 5 out of 5
Star Wars: The Force Awakens Visual Dictionary: Amazon.co.uk: DK: 9780241198919: Books
With
THE FORCE AWAKENS pleasing fusion of old and new STAR WARS imagination and design comes the equally important INCREDIBLE CROSS-SECTIONS book, giving us a striking and prized look at the story's new and old vehicles, weaponry and technology that will become so important and part of the mythos for the next three films (and beyond). In all there are twelve art pieces: new ships showcased include Kylo Ren's vicious looking, bat-like command shuttle, the immense
Finalizer Star Destroyer, the Resistance's B-wing-esque transport, scavenger heroine Rey's unique Jakku speeder, a mysterious freighter whose owner we won't yet spoil whilst the film is still in release, and a deleted scene enemy vehicle which you'll know when you see it, then wish it had made it to the final cut! And let's not forget the classic craft given a new lease of creative life: the tried and trusted
Millennium Falcon, the lethal and more aerodynamic First Order TIE fighters and the Resistance's sterling X-wing fighter warhorses, especially dashing pilot Poe Dameron's unique craft,
Black One. The book's artwork, from Kemp Remillard is superb (I truly envy his abilities!), Jason Fry's notes are, as usual (being a veteran STAR WARS wordsmith), accomplished and thoroughly informative, and the spreads of new still images from the film make me wish that someone out there in publishing land would do a large format type book devoted just to the on-set photography alone.
AFICIONADO RATING: 4 out of 5
Star Wars: The Force Awakens Incredible Cross Sections: Amazon.co.uk: DK: 9780241201169: Books
Finally, for the younger fans, there's the ULTIMATE STICKER COLLECTION book, full of things to do and film information for them to interact with, as great images, scenes and artwork are transformed to sticker form, importantly showcasing its quickly iconic new heroes (BB-8 being a particular standout!), boo-hiss villains, and the wonderful Legacy cast of 1977-1983, in a fun way that's just in time for delivery into Christmas stockings.
AFICIONADO RATING: 4 out of 5
Star Wars: The Force Awakens Ultimate Sticker Collection: Amazon.co.uk: DK: 9781409336600: Books
