Returning this week is another father and son review of the DK Readers book, Star Wars: The Clone Wars - Forces of Darkness. This is a level 3 book, meant for children who are reading on their own, with complex sentences and a substantial glossary of words at the end of the book. It’s also a lengthy book, at nearly 50 pages, chock full of information on the scum and villainy of The Clone Wars series. For the full review, click on the link.

Just like when I was a kid and the Empire was cool, so too are the bad guys from The Clone Wars for a new generation of kids (namely, my own). I first realized this when General Grevious became one of my son’s favorite characters – with me searching out the hard to find Galactic Hero toy for him as a birthday present. I’d still say he loves the droid army, the bounty hunters, the Sith and the pirates, and this book delivered.

You get a two page spread dedicated to each important Separatist leader, different types of battle droids, and some of the equipment they use. There’s a spread devoted to Hutts, which really wound up being a great introduction to that species for my son. There are more complicated ideas like Spies and Traitors, which covers those characters from the first season who betrayed the Republic – but it definitely took some explaining of those concepts to a 5 year old.

And General Grevious shows up a number of times, between his own two page spread, the Malevolence, and his lair – well, these were all highlights of the book for my son. Cad Bane also put in an appearance – and since season 2 recently started, he’s started getting a lot more attention from both of my boys.

But I should talk about the writing. It’s top notch in this book, like an interesting encyclopedia (at least at a beginner level of reading) that actually manages to inform without being boring. This is a book my sons have both gone back to time and again, it’s like a resource book instead of just an episode adaptation, and I have to say I really liked this one too. If you’ve got little ones you’re buying Star Wars books for, Forces of Darkness is definitely a good one to keep in mind.

Review Copy courtesy of  DK Publishing.