I’m a fleet junkie.
Sure, the lightsaber duels, the Jedi versus Sith battles, and political games were neat, but that wasn’t my favorite part of the Star Wars mythos growing up. It was the blaster fights. The showdowns between X-Wings and TIE Fighters. The sight of the Death Star looming in the distance. Military warfare in this universe has always held a special place in my heart, which is why Jason Fry and Paul R. Urquhart’s Essential Guide to Warfare was one of my most anticipated Expanded Universe titles of 2012*.
*Which isn’t to say that there’s nothing about the Jedi and Sith in this book. There are a great many words were written about them.
It’s worth pointing out that the creative staff could have simply compiled abridged Wookieepedia-type articles, slapped some new artwork on it and I would have been moderately happy. What we lucky readers got instead was a product that cleared that bar by a staggering margin. While I was mostly looking forward to the new artwork in the book (and that is more than enough to justify a purchase), it was the written content that pushed EG to Warfare over the top and elevated it to must-buy territory for casual to hardcore Star Wars fans alike.