REVIEW: Secrets of the Force

 Secrets of the Force
Author: Edward Gross, Mark Altman

I was 9 years old when I waited in line with my parents and my Weird Old Uncle Bob to see the first Star Wars movie. It was the first time I ever remember there being a line of people halfway around the building all wanting tickets. In 1977 in small town America, theaters had one screen and one showing a night....if the movie sold out you had to come back another day. Star Wars had people lining up, even in middle-of-nowhere Kansas. Luckily we got there early and managed to get seats. My Weird Old Uncle Bob had talked my parents into seeing the film, promising that it would be one of the most wonderful movies ever. My dad wasn't sure. I remember him mumbling that he didn't want to go see some "silly space thing.''  When we left after the movie, my father said that it had been a great movie. It was one of the only times he admitted Weird Old Uncle Bob was right about anything. (But then again, Weird Old Uncle Bob thought if you turned your car off when going downhill and restarted it at the bottom of the hill that you would save gas. This sort of thing was why we called him weird.)

That silly space thing is still a big deal for many, even after 44 years. I kinda fell off the Star Wars band wagon with the prequel movies. Jar Jar Binks just killed it for me. Ugh. Jar Jar is the Scrappy Doo of the Star Wars Franchise. Barf. My love came back with the newer movies and the new Mandalorian series on Disney+. One look at Baby Yoda and I forgot all about Space Scrappy Doo.

So, of course I wanted to read some trivia and reminiscences about the movies! In fact, I'm still reading this book! When the book blurb says this book tells the story of the Star Wars Franchise in "one exhaustive volume'' it means this is one gigantic 570+-page gi-normous tome of Star Wars lore. Gi-freaking-normous! This book talks about the movies, the actors, extras, games, toys....everything Star Wars from Alderaan to Yoda (I couldn't come up with a SW word that started with Z....but it's probably in this book somewhere!)

The information is entertaining, interesting, supremely nerdy and nostalgic! I'm reading my way through a little bit at a time and enjoying every minute! This is one review copy that definitely got me to add the physical book to my must-buy list. 

And, it just proves that Old Weird Uncle Bob was right (once). Star Wars is wonderful! 

**I voluntarily read a review copy of this book from St. Martins Press. All opinions expressed are entirely my own.**