Book Review of Lego Star Wars: Chronicles of the Force

This month I had a great opportunity and an exciting time reading and reviewing Lego Star Wars: Chronicles of the Force written by Adam Bray, David Fentiman, and Cole Horton, published by DK Publishing. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little hesitant in reviewing this book and for good reason: How exactly do I review a Lego book? Are there going to be any words to read? I have never once bought, owned or was given any Legos as a gift. Well, that may change after reading this book. This book was pure unadulterated fun—an absolute joy. It doesn’t matter if you like Star Wars or not, or like Legos or not, one can enjoy this book as long as you’re a fan of one or the other.

Upon first look, embedded inside the front cover is an Exclusive mini-figure, and with the turn of a few pages, just after the books table of contents, it reveals the figure to be Unkar’s Brute—one of the thugs that tried to steal BB-8 from Rey in The Force Awakens. The cover art is fantastic! There is a great mixture of classic, prequel, and sequel characters. Inside we “DISCOVER THE STORY OF THE LEGO STAR WARS GALAXY”  
        

There’s a great introduction that mimics the opening crawl of the films—it sets up the story of the Star Wars galaxy in a way that can seem mocking, but in reality is fun and lighthearted. Next up is the Timeline—the timeline has color coded circles labelling important events of all seven films, Crisis in the Republic, The Clone Wars, The Rebels Era, The Empire Era, and The New Republic Era. These are great; easy enough for kids to follow, yet interesting enough for us older fans. I must admit for someone who is distracted by various bright colors and bold graphics, I eat up these pages with vigor. Next, there is a cool section that helps you determine whether you are a noble light sider, a moisture farmer who just wants to stay unnoticed, a cutthroat pirate, a ruthless bounty hunter, or an evil dark sider.

After this the rest of the book is divided up into 2 chapters: Light Side and Dark Side. There are fun lists throughout the book like Top 4 Force Power Rankings (which I don’t entirely agree with, which makes this book that much more fun), Top 6 Lightsaber hilts, Top 4 Leia Hairstyles, and Top 4 Worst jobs for an Imperial Officer.  There is a section called The Evolution of Han Solo, which made me wonder if they’re laying clues down for the upcoming Han Solo movie.

Another cool little tidbit I thought was really helpful, especially for people like me who have never owned a Lego set before, was strategically placed throughout the book were “force numbers” and “brick-sized facts” that would give some information about certain sets and the set number with them to make it easier to find the set when you wanted to purchase them. For example if one wanted to purchase one of “two Lego sets that featured Wookiees flying their handmade vehicles: Wookiee Attack (set 7285), or Wookiee Catamaran (set 7260).” Chronicles of the Force also mentions where figures have been released in prior sets and how many different versions there were. There are just so many different facts in this book it’s impossible to list them all here.

There were a couple of discrepancies—typos, whatever you want to call them. In chapter 2, in a section called The Sith of Legends, it calls Darth Malgus, Darth Maulgus. Unless there is a new Legends Sith Lord I’m not familiar with, this is a typo. On the following page, it states that Count Dooku was “eventually defeated in a lightsaber duel with Yoda.”  I know this book is geared towards kids ages 6 and up, but I’m a Virgo and a stickler for detail; Dooku escaped Yoda in Episode II, and then was defeated by Anakin in Episode III. This is funny because a few pages later it does correct itself when it says “Count Dooku falls in battle with Anakin Skywalker above Coruscant.”

Please do not let this deter your decision to buy this book. It’s meant to be a fun read, and that’s exactly what it is. Chronicles of the Force is a book that can be re-read and re-visited time and time again. There’s so much to take in, that something new will present itself every time the book is opened. I must admit just looking at the cover now makes me want to flip through it again as I write this. If you’re looking for a Star Wars book that is lighthearted and that doesn’t take itself too seriously then do yourself a favor and read this.

I want to say thank you to DK Publishing for providing a copy of this book for review purposes. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and thanks to this book I am probably going to start collecting Star Wars Legos.  

By Eric Onkenhout

@EricOnkenhout (willshatter82)

Facebook.com/eric.onkenhout

The Bearded Trio - The Site For Steven Spielberg, George Lucas and John Williams

THE BEARDED TRIO ON FACEBOOK
THE BEARDED TRIO ON TWITTER
THE BEARDED TRIO ON GOOGLE+
THE BEARDED TRIO ON PINTEREST

CLICK HERE FOR FACTS ON STEVEN SPIELBERG
CLICK HERE FOR FACTS ON GEORGE LUCAS
CLICK HERE FOR FACTS ON JOHN WILLIAMS