Like so much recent Star Wars product, this book is pretty po-faced, but because it's presented as a sort of in-universe geography text book, its seriousness is all part of the act (unlike DK's recent Star Wars Encyclopedia, which was needlessly boring), so there is a certain underlying/unintentional humor at play here. And if the text isn't necessarily as outrageously fun as a romp in a trash compactor or a skirmish on a skiff, it's really only present to support the art that overwhelms each page of this large, hardcover book. There are star maps and landscapes and planet diagrams and, by far the best of all, wonderfully detailed cross-sections. When I was a kid I loved poring over pictures like these, and the kids who have always been the real audience for Star Wars should get a kick out of these. There are some perverse choices, such as the decision to give us a cross section of that big fin thing in Cloud City (which apparently includes a subway for Ugnauts!) instead of the main, burger-shaped city itself, but a few zigs when zags were expected is always welcome in the overly familiar Star Wars zone.
