Star Wars The Secrets of The Jedi, a light side primer

If Star Wars, The Secrets of The Jedi were a football playbook it would be 90% focused on the defensive side. For younger fans of The Force, especially given that The Rise of Skywalker is nigh, this is a great literary jumping on point for those that know a little bit about this famous family. The cover of The Secrets of The Jedi gives the Star Wars initiated a quick preview of what’s inside, or namely, what’s not inside. There aren’t any dark force characters on the book’s cover. There are a couple pages inside that hint to their evil, but the deep-dive to the dark side is left to another book.

This book has a narrator that anyone over 8 will know, Luke Skywalker. I know, he died in The Last Jedi and that fact is cleverly handled in the book. Oh, spoiler alert if you were unaware that Luke didn’t make it (supposedly) to the ninth film.  The Secrets of The Jedi treat readers as if they know very little about the Star Wars universe. It starts with The Force, explaining the Light Side and Dark Side, plus how it works in daily life to make the world go around.

There’s a little bit of the government view that covers The Old Republic. Thankfully from there we meet Anakin Skywalker, the Jedi Masters & Knights, the weapons that protect a Jedi and the powers that the Force allows them. The book also sets up Kylo Ren and introduces Rey to us. Luke readily admits that he was hesitant to train her, but realized that she had the fortitude to make a Jedi warrior.

What makes The Secrets of the Jedi work are the illustrations and the interactivity of the book. Every page has multiple, classic Star Wars scenes that feature characters or scenes that fans will know drawn to loving detail. Some of these illustrations are glossy, which make them appear to pop off of the page to some degree. Other elements are actually 3D and able to be pulled out, like the pull-out information sheet on The Inquisitorius or the pop-out, mini-page that informs readers about Holocrons.

The Secrets of the Jedi is an oversized book that young to middle elementary students will enjoy looking at, but might have trouble reading or following along to. The sweet spot for this book are those 10 year olds and up that want to enjoy Star Wars; already enjoy the films or those old-school Jedi Masters that want to have as much of the Star Wars pool as possible.

Its detail is obvious throughout the book and appreciated. The paper it’s printed on has an ancient, marbled appearance to give off the vibe of a sacred text. There are also some ancient Jedi writings written on the bottom of some of the pages.  I’m sure that some reading Secrets will be able to read the Jedi text without looking at the online dictionary, but that’s not me.

Star Wars The Secrets of The Jedi retails for $24.99 from Insight Editions. There’s also a detachable poster at the back of the book that’s identical, but slightly bigger, than the front cover illustration.