Review: Secrets of the Force: The Complete, Uncensored, Unauthorized Oral History of Star Wars

Secrets of the Force: The Complete, Uncensored, Unauthorized Oral History of Star Wars Secrets of the Force: The Complete, Uncensored, Unauthorized Oral History of Star Wars by Edward Gross
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I was provided with an e-copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley.

I think "complete" might be the most apt word in that long book title. That's certainly not a bad thing, but it lead to a very long read. The writing was rather dry as well, with the main narrative from the authors being little bridge paragraphs to connect the quotes from directors, authors, actors, writers, critics, and production crews.

That said, there were fascinating bits throughout this book. The insights from Lucas and the primary players (on camera as well as behind the scenes) were invaluable. This is a great tribute to the body of work that is Star Wars, covering the phenomenon from its earliest draft beginnings to the present day Disney Plus productions. No stone was left unturned.

I can just think of two things I would have liked to seen. One, it would have been great to get George Lucas's comments about the sequels, though I suspect that to be something he's quite tight-lipped about. Two, it would have been nice if the authors left their personal political beliefs out of the narrative. It only happened a couple of times, but it was jarring, especially when they contributed such a small amount of personal insight to the book as a whole.

Overall, this was worth the time for a Star Wars buff, though I probably wouldn't recommend it to the casual fan. It was easy to skim over the parts that weren't as interesting and then slow down and soak up the good stuff.

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