Star Wars: Timelines
Chart the history of Star Wars in this stunning guide, from the time before the High Republic to the First Order.
An indispensable companion for all Star Wars fans, this premium quality book displays visual timelines that chronologically map key events, characters, and developments, and mark their significance.
Track crucial conflicts across the years that affect the galaxy in profound ways. Follow the Skywalker lightsaber as it passes through the generations and witness the evolution of the iconic TIE fighter across different eras. Trace the movement of the Death Star plans over the years and uncover multiple branching timelines that break down important battles.
See essential events at a glance arranged by era and drill down into details to discover major and minor events, key dates, and fascinating insights all chronologically arranged. Pore over intricate timelines on nearly every page.
Authors: Kristin Baver, Jason Fry, Cole Horton, Amy Richau, Clayton Sandell
Page Count: 352
Publication Date: April 7, 2023
ISBN: 9780744060874
The history of the Star Wars galaxy not only spans almost half a century here on Earth, but in the worlds of the GFFA it stretches from 26,000 years before the Battle of Yavin to 35 years afterwards. Unlike the three-plus decades of the EU there are currently plenty of empty spaces in those millennia, but Star Wars Timelines makes a strong fist of laying out in a very effective and easy-on-the-eye chronology the events we currently have in canon.
Firstly, the book has a very strong writing team. Jason Fry is a name that should excite any reader of supplemental material (hey, he co-write the frikkin’ Essential Atlas, a book that is looooong overdue an update) and he is joined by Kristin Baver, Cole Horton, Amy Richau and Clayton Sandell. That (along with the stellar work done by DK and the design team) gives the book a crisp layout with confirmed and estimated dates, broken up by dedicated pages that give even more depth to key historical events as well as character biographies and much more besides.
We kick off with the establishment of the galaxy as we know it, the beginnings of the Jedi and the Sith and within a page quickly transfer from 26,000 years ago to the construction of Theed 832 years before Yavin. That’s a frustration far beyond the control of the writers – a decade in, canon is only dabbling with the early timeline (mostly with educated guesses at dates and events) and we can but hope that the James Mangold Dawn of the Jedi project takes root and gives us many more defined historical moments that a second edition of this book can really go to town with by giving us deeper detail.
Next, 500 years BBY and The High Republic, an ever-growing, flourishing era that through books, comics, animation and television is growing by the week. Here we have what is arguably the Canons most defined era (beyond even the Sequel Trilogy) with numerous characters, locations (many of which still requiring specific locations), vehicles (241 BBY The Halcyon first launches) and more. Incredibly, in a 352 page book we’re into the Prequel Trilogy era by page 42. That said, that era is the most elegantly crafted and intricately designed of the entire saga as Palpatine makes his play for the galaxy.
The book isn’t necessarily designed to deliver brand new information, but rather to compile it into a timeline and chronology that places each event into an historical frame of reference, something the book does very well. It has the aforementioned pages that go into deeper detail, while the bulk of the book drops single paragraphs to give a flavour of what happened and when, and encourage the reader to go and learn more. Books like this are vital, especially to newer fans of the GGFA who may not know the who what where and when’s of the Star Wars story, especially how live action and animation overlap.
Star Wars Timelines is a very handy guide to canonical galactic events, one that’s ripe for updating as the years roll on.
