I've been reading The Complete SW Encyclopedia now for a few weeks and I feel ready to give a first review, based on what I've already read.

I must admit that my expectations for this book were low. I wasn't really a fan of the first edition so I feared that this edition would simply be a rehash of the original. I skipped the original encyclopedia because it copied information that I already had read in other books. Since I've read almost every sourcebook of SW, you cannot fool me with 'new' information about the movies and the tv spin-offs. I know immediately when certain information is new or when it isn't.

The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia surprised me, simply because it contains totally new information. Information that is published or confirmed in The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia for the first time ever in public.

Positive
* The biggest positive point to me is that the book contains new information. Of course the amount of new info compared to the amount of already existing information is minimal, the book does contain some interesting new updates and new confirmations. I hope to find much more new information because it'll take awhile to read the book from A to Z (literally).

I keep all the new information and new confirmations at the book's page on Yodapedia. It's in Dutch but you'll get the general idea what it's all about.
http://nl.starwars.wikia.com/wiki/The_Complete_Star_Wars_Encyclopedia

* Another positive point is that the book is up to date about the Clone Wars and The Force Unleashed, two recent important additions to the SW Saga.

* The book has a few new pictures that I had never seen before.

* The book finally clarifies some confusing issues such as the identities of Wooof and Klaatu.

* The book as a beautiful lay-out. No doubt about that.

* I wonder if my blog entry about Lieutenant Blount might have influenced his entry that finally stated that he was part of the Falcon crew during the Battle of Endor. Wouldn't that be nice? http://blogs.starwars.com/teekay-421/67

Negative
* My biggest problem with the book is that it contains way too much info on the NJO and the YV. I think that out of 20 entries, almost 6 to 8 are about the NJO, which is disturbingly high. Ask someone who doesn't know anything about SW to read a few pages and he'll ask for sure: "Those YV must be the central characters in SW, aren't they?". It does speed up my reading because I'm now skipping every entry with the letters YV in them.

I think it's sad to see certain unimportant characters from these novels are getting an entry while there are items and characters that appear in the movies who don't have a proper entry in the book.

* Entries from the post-RotJ EU always are very extensive and compared to entries from the movies they are too long.

* The entries of the species and creatures are very short. I know you can always check the New Essential Guide but that goes for every entry.

* Don't think that the book is free of mistakes. I have discovered some mistakes like the gender of Corporal Beezer or that the skull of the Ewok Battle Wagon is from a Bantha. I never knew that the horns from a Bantha were tusks? I thought they grew on the forehead of a Bantha.

Positive and Negative
Certain issues in the Encyclopedia are neither positive nor negative in my opinion.

* The encyclopedia has a very 'clever' way of adding entries indirectly in the book. For instance Sar Labooda is mentioned in Depa Billaba's entry but she doesn't have a proper entry herself (alas). A consequence of this is that the book can be very difficult to search for a certain item. When it is named but not as a proper entry, you will need a lot of time to find it in other, linked articles.

* As an editor myself, I know it must have been very difficult to decide what pictures would be used. But sometimes there are too few pictures in the book and certainly for fans that don't know source info well enough. For instance when you mention 'Baragwin' and you don't add a picture, fans who don't know what Baragwins are, will not know this by just reading the entry. So it's better to read the book and combine it with Wookieepedia (or Yodapedia) to check the pictures. I have no problem with it myself but I think it could be troublesome for others.

* Some 'equal' entries are treated unequally. For instance two characters with the same amount of screen time can either have a very short entry (5 lines) or a very extensive one (half a page). And it doesn't always have to do with the background that is already available. Sometimes the characters have the same amount of background and still the length of the entry can be totally different.

* The omitted sources of the articles are also neither positive nor negative. The positive side to this is that you don't have a series of Sourcecodes than nobody can decipher. The negative side to this is that you have to look further (in other sources) to check the true value of this entry.

* Changed spelling: I have noticed that some spelling concerning the Droids cartoons has changed. Ogger Baobab became Oggem Baobab and the Shamunaar turned into the Chamonaar. I have no problem with the new spelling but what's the reason behind this? I'm happy that the Droids Cartoons are treated rather well in this book. I hope to find some new info about them, such as the Argo Moon.

Conclusion
Once again keep in mind that have not finished reading The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia by a long shot. At this point, the book gets my thumbs up because it simply has new information. This means that the authors knew what they were doing and didn't just want to copy things like the monks did during the Middle Ages. It may sound like a silly point but when you already have read all the existing info, it's a very important issue, trust me. Paying almost ? 100,00 for a book with no real new info would have been a bit painful.

The book is always interesting to read because you know there can be new information anytime, which makes it inviting to continue your reading.

If I could have changed anything about the book - which of course I couldn't - I would have replaced 80% of the NJO entries with every known entry that appears in the movies (characters, creatures, species, weaponry, technology, whatever). I would also have created more new information about things and characters from the movies that still don't have a proper name.

I guess that for people who have not read all the sourcebooks, The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia has loads of new information but trust me, only the peak of the iceberg is new. But isn't that exactly what we notice?