Read, You Must: Rogue One The Ultimate Visual Guide

DK Publishing creates another must-own book for Star Wars fans! 

Thanks to 200 pages of detailed photos and insightful text by Lucasfilm’s Pablo Hidalgo, Rogue One:The Ultimate Visual Guide offers an expanded experience that goes deeper than the film itself can cover in just two hours.

Rogue One fits perfectly with everything we already know about the Rebellion and the Empire, but also introduces plenty that has never been seen before in Star Wars. Hidalgo’s text gives names to so much of what is new in the film and a context to help readers understand where and how each new puzzle piece fits into the saga.

Who are all those people in the city on Jedha? What kind of alien is that in Saw Gerrara’s group? All of these nuggets of information are here. Readers can explore the various worlds of the movie and learn new character names, alien species, weaponry and more. There’s even a 2-page spread detailing the many different toys in young Jyn Erso’s bedroom!

Books like Rogue One The Ultimate Visual Guide allow readers to “pause” the action of the movie and really get a good look at background characters, droids, props, costumes and more. What is onscreen for only fractions of a second is here in rich detail to pour over and devour.

The only minor shortcoming, and this is also true of last year’s terrific The Force Awakens The Visual Dictionary (also by Hidalgo), is that there are a few characters or items of interest that did not make it into the book. This happens either because they were added to the film after the book was already set for printing, or because some things were meant to be kept a secret until the movie’s release. 

To give an example though would be to spoil one of Rogue One’s many surprises, but now that the movie is out it seems odd those key moments are not included here, as it is odd to not see Luke Skywalker in the first few The Force Awakens-related books.

It’s a small criticism though because what IS here is wonderful and DK’s visual guide books are dense with great stuff for Star Wars fans to enjoy. 

Unfortunately this came out too late to make our “Best Books of 2016” list, but it certainly deserves a place on that list! Highly recommended.

Publisher's Recommendation: Ages 9 - 12

Also by Pablo Hidalgo: Star Wars Rebels Head to Head