It’s been a little while since I last had the chance to review a Star Wars book with my sons, most of the reviews that have been posted recently were reviews written a few months ago. But when The Clone Wars Character Encyclopedia showed up, I knew it was going to be a big hit – my kids both love that show. And this is a book that shouldn’t fail to disappoint any fan of the series, no matter your age – and at just over 200 pages, with one page per character – well, that’s a lot of information.

Every character you can possibly think of from the first two seasons of The Clone Wars TV show is represented here, from the major players to minor characters I’ve long since forgotten. There are multiple Astromech droids, from R2 and Goldie, to Katie – as well as many other droids (did you know each of the trio of IG-86 droids that accompanied Cad Bane on his season finale mission to rescue Ziro the Hutt had a name? They each get a page here). I mention this because the droids are always popular with my kids, those entries along with the Clones were the most popular.

Speaking of the Clones – I had no idea there have been so many who’ve been named in the series. Again, this book covers all of them, from ones who made a single episode appearance, ones who died, and even to ones who’ve made multiple appearances but I hadn’t recognized it as being the same character. This is where things pay off for the fans (as opposed to the kids) – a number of times I caught myself re-reading something or kind of having a “ah-ha!” moment as I read this to my kids.

For instance, the pages devoted to the Mandalorian Warriors (Death Watch) as well as the other characters from those episodes this season, continue to provide background information on the Mandalorians during this time period – again attempting to reconcile all the facets fans of the EU thought they knew about these people. It’s well done, and I actually believe things are starting to come together as well as they can in this newly revealed aspect of their history.

But there were other moments of surprise as well. Like the fact that Ambassador Kin Robb (who aligned with Dutchess Satine and the pacifists) represents the planet Taris – which should be very familiar to fans of the Old Republic era. Then there’s the mysterious Sionver Boll, from the Zilo beast episodes, who looks a lot like a member of the Rakata (an ancient race believed to be extinct at the time of the Old Republic) – here we’re told her homeworld is unknown as is her species. Mysterious, and gives credence to the idea (first mentioned in the Unknown Regions RPG book) that the descendants of the Rakata may still exist.

This encyclopedia even manages not to commit what I feel are the biggest mistakes of many of these kids books – it does NOT assume the reader already knows that Darth Sidious is Chancellor Palpatine, and it therefore treats them as separate characters. With every enemy, every Jedi, every droid, and every character I completely forgot, this is an extensive book with enough information to be worth a look for any fan.

Review copy and preview images provided by DK.