Caramel reviews Star Wars Encyclopedia of Starfighters and Other Vehicles by Landry Q. Walker

Readers of this blog probably already know that Caramel is a big Star Wars fan. As such, he has already reviewed three books related to this ever-growing movie franchise: 5-Minute Star Wars Stories by LucasFilm Press, A Jedi You Will Be by Preeti Chhibber and Mike Deas, and Ultimate Star Wars: New Edition by Adam Bray, Cole Horton, Patricia Barr, Daniel Wallace, Ryder Windham, and Matt Jones. Today he is talking about yet another book about this alternative universe: Star Wars Encyclopedia of Starfighters and Other Vehicles, written by Landry Q. Walker, and first published in 2018. As usual, Sprinkles is taking notes and asking questions.

Sprinkles: I suppose it is time to talk about yet another Star Wars book. Right Caramel?

Caramel: Yep.

S: So let us get started. Tell us a bit about this Encyclopedia.

C: It is about the many many ships and other vehicles in the Star Wars universe.

S: So right up your alley, then, no?

C: Yep. I like robots, I like space ships, and I like this book!

S: I am glad you enjoyed reading it. Can you tell me a bit more about the book? How many pages is it? Are there lots of pictures in it? How is the content organized?

C: Wait, that is too many questions.

S: Okay, so I will ask one at a time. How many pages is it?

C: It is 205 pages long.

S: It looks much thicker to me! Maybe the pages are made of thick paper?

C: They are made of thick paper, true.

S: Okay, so tell me about the pictures. Are there lots of pictures in the book?

C: Yes. On every page there are about four pictures.

S: Are they drawings or photographs?

C: They look like photos.

S: But some of these things probably do not exist, no? So maybe some are computer generated?

C: Well, even if the ships do not really exist in our universe, they must have models. So the pictures could be the photos of the models.

S: I see. That makes sense.

C: And some of the images are about ships and vehicles in one of the animated series, so those are more like drawn, by hand or by computer.

S: I see.

S: So how is the content organized? I mean, are there chapters, sections, parts?

C: There are sections on separate types of ships. Like air, land, water, and space. Of course the space vehicles section is the longest.

S: I see. So when you open a page, what do you see?

C: On each page there is a different vehicle. There are some pictures of it and then there is some writing.

S: What kind of information is available on each vehicle?

C: They write about who uses that vehicle, what are its specifications, like how it works, how fast it goes, what kinds of weapons it might have, and so on.

S: So can you tell me some of your favorites? If the book is split into four types of vehicles, tell me your favorites in each category. So what are your favorite air, land, water and space vehicles?

C: Hmm, let me think a bit. For land, it is either an AAT, MTT, or the AT-M6.

S: Well, that does not mean anything to me.

C: AAT is Armored Assault Tank. MTT is Multi-Troop Transport, and AT-M6 is All-Terrain MegaCaliber 6. It is essentially orbital bombardment cannon on the back of a bigger vehicle called an ATAT.

S: Hmm, that is too many acronyms for me. Also a lot of war machines. Are there no peaceful vehicles in the book?

C: Definitely. There are cargo ships, carrier crafts, freighters and so on.

S: Hmm. Let us move on then. What is your favorite water vehicle?

C: The Bongo! TriBuibble Bongo. It is peaceful! It is a small semi-organic submarine that is unarmed.

S: Why do you like it?

C: I think it is interesting. You can find some pictures and some more information on them here.

S: Those do look cool! Apparently they are each unique because they are made individually.

C: Yep. They are cool. I also like the Kamino Submarine.

S: Why do you like that one?

C: It looks neat!

S: Okay. So tell me your favorite air and space vehicles now.

C: Well, it is kind of hard to pick a single space ship, because there are a lot of them that I like…

S: But if you had to choose one…

C: A Fang Fighter! It has a great capacity to make turns that are impossible for other ships. You can see a picture here.

S: I see. That could be quite useful. How about your favorite air vehicle?

C: I like the TIE Striker. But maybe my favorite is the Fang Fighter. It is a space ship but it can also fly in air!

S: That totally makes sense Caramel. Okay, this has been a rather long review. So let us start wrapping it up. I know that you told me that reading this book made you feel peaceful. Can you explain why?

C: Because I like reading about star ships and thinking about other worlds and space and such.

S: That is cool Caramel. Thank you for sharing. So I think we can count peaceful as one of your three descriptive words for this book then.

C: I would add “colorful” and “shipful”!

S: That last one is not quite a word but I will not argue.

C: Please don’t.

S: Okay, so I have a feeling you will be reading and rereading this book for a while, no?

C: Yes!

S: So what do you want to tell our readers?

C: Stay tuned for more book bunny reviews!