True to form, this DK book follows in the footsteps first embedded in our Star Wars landscape in 1999 when DK first published The Visual Dictionary of Star Wars - The Phantom Menace. And though there have been some subtle changes in the format, Pablo Hidalgo successfully continues the legacy of David West Reynolds, Jim Luceno and Robert Barnes.

The crimson boldness of the Praetorian Guard on the cover jumps out at you and threatens to pummel you to the ground if your don't open the book up quickly. If you have time to absorb some of the cover's other graphics you'll get a glimpse of what else in contained within: character updates, vehicle information, droid data, weapon notes and accessory description to tease but a few.

Within is "info about The Last Jedi and facts you probbably [sic] didn't know about it", summarises Son of LEGOscum. But what, exactly, does he mean?

At its core, according to DK, it is a "definitive guide to Star Wars: The Last Jedi, revealing the characters, creatures, droids, locations, and technology from the new film." by which they mean it is a book chock full of high resolution photographs that are accompanied by informative annotations, printed on quality paper and bound in a thick hard cover.

The book opens with a contents list that roughly follows the movie's chronological order, before jumping in to a double spread of the aftershocks felt by the galaxy following the destruction of the New Republic's capital world Hosnian Prime, and its neighbouring planetary system. This section is probably the most important as it sets up the state of the galaxy - something that hasn't been touched on by any of the Journey to Star Wars: The Last Jedi book series.


The section on the Praetorian Guard proved to be his favourite "because it showed every weapon of theirs, and their helmets." He was particularly impressed to learn that their weaponry is impervious to lightsabre attacks because they have ultrasonic generators creating a mini lightsabre in front of the weapon's edge. I have to wonder why - considering the knowledge that lighsabre users were few and far between - this modification was developed.


Personally I liked the unexpected reveals, like finding out that the bombs that were dropped on the First Order dreadnaught were propelled by electromagnetism. You thought it was space gravity didn't you? It's little treasures like this that makes me keep turning the pages.

Not all of your burning questions will be answered though. After finishing the book Son of LEGOscum was still wondering why porgs have such large eyes. His conclusion was that they are nocturnal. Mine is that cute sells.

Son of LEGOscum took note that on the whole it was easy to absorb, though some sections - such as the one on the fish nuns of Ahch-To - were a little harder to digest. He doesn't see this as a negative however and points out that overcoming challenges is good for his reading skills.


If you want to learn all kinds of little details hidden in The Last Jedi then this Visual Dictionary is for you. And while this book won't change your life it might give you a chance to change your opinion of The Last Jedi by quashing some of those niggling doubts you've had about the movie.

Available online and from all good bookstores, Star Wars: The Last Jedi Visual Dictionary is priced US$22.99, CA$29.99, GBP15.99, EU€19.00 and AU$19.00.

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		Price : $22.99
		Pages : 80
		Pub Date : 15 December 2017
		Age Range : 9 - 12
		Grade Level : 4 - 7
		Format : Hardback
		ISBN : 1465455515/978-1465455512

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Thank you to the staff at DK Australia for providing Son of LEGOscum with this copy to review. Be sure to check out the review on TheForce.Net too!