The Rise and Fall of the Galactic Empire Review

spoilers ahead!!!!!

"From the ruthlessness of Darth Vader's campaigns to the horrors of the Tarkin Initiative, this book offers fresh new insights into the dark entity at the core of Star Wars."

The Rise and Fall of the Galactic Empire by Dr. Chris Kempshall is written as an in-universe historical/political text discussing the beginning, reign, and collapse of the Galactic Empire from the perspective of resistance soldier/historian Beaumont Kin in 35 ABY. It's not the first time a book has been published as an in-universe text — the journal-type books have been doing it since at least 2010 — and I eat it up everytime. Because of my interest in both in-universe and out-of-universe Star Wars politics, this book is one of my favorite things to come out of Star Wars this year; Kempshall does an amazing job of exploring the fictional politics of the Star Wars universe with real-world political language.

Because this book is essentially a compilation of events and storylines that have already occured in other Star Wars media, there is very little new story content to analyze. That being said, what little content there is is very interesting. After the Final Order was defeated in the Battle of Exegol, Kin leads the Exegol Excavation Project, and is able to access such detailed accounts of imperial and Sith machinations through his discoveries on the Sith world, specifically from a place called the Arcane Library. His physical location of being on Exegol as a non-force user creates an air of intrigue as he attempts to decipher arcane secrets without the force to guide him (though he does have some baseline knowledge about the Sith order from his previous research as an academic before the war).

The actual research of the book is written as if it were a real-life textbook, which I, a huge fucking nerd, adore. The chapters, section titles, introduction, and conclusion really add to the immersion. My favorite part of this (again, as a huge nerd) is the in-universe footnotes. Kin references "Imperial archives," "Rebel Alliance archives," and occasionally just gives further context which is so awesome to me. I love noticing a reference to the events of a book I read and then reading the footnote and seeing that it came from an interview with a character from the New Republic archives — how fun! I ended up underlining a lot of sentences and writing "(blank) mentioned!!" or "peak!!" whenever I found a reference to a character or event that I liked, which made my reading experience a lot more fun. I love whimsy!

Another thing that I love about the book is the tone of the writing. Beaumont Kin is an in-universe historian, and every event he discusses actually happened, meaning that the events of every piece of Star Wars media is treated with the exact same seriousness. In the same chapter Kempshall could reference a whimsical moment from season one of Rebels as well as something from Andor, which I just think is really cool. In a similar vein, the prominence of characters and events to us isn't equivalent to the in-universe prominence of said characters and events, meaning that things that don't seem super relevant to us are focused on in a unique way. My two favorite examples of this are Grand General Cassio Tagge and COMPNOR, which both have limited canon appearances but wide-reaching in-universe implications. Examples such as these really lend credence to the idea that this book is written by a historian, because of course Kin wouldn't give preferential treatment to big-name characters, events, and organizations — he isn't writing for a reader that has watched Star Wars, but a reader who has lived in the universe.

In addition to taking events really seriously, Kempshall doesn't shy away from discussing the often looked-over parts of the Galactic Empire's reign. He dedicates entire sections to "Prejudice and Discrimination" and "Atrocities and Genocides," which emphasizes the truly horrific aspects of the Empire's rule. Furthermore, Kempshall writes Kin as a realistically pessimistic character at times, with the historian frequently struggling to find hope while shrouded in the darkness of historical reality (though a part of me wonders if this pessimism is a result of being on an ancient Sith world for an extended period of time). Despite Kin's valid concerns about the future of the galaxy, he retains optimism of the will in his belief that people will fight back against tyranny in all its forms.

Overall, I greatly enjoyed everything about this book, down to the feel of the hardcover (which I think has something to do with the fact that it was published by DK instead of Randomhouse Worlds, but that's not too important). It's definitely a long haul book — it took me a while to get through just because the text feels really dense at times — but it was totally worth it. The myriad references to my favorite Star Wars projects made the book rewarding to read every night, and the political context through which the entire Star Wars saga is analyzed through provided great insight into the way Star Wars reflects real-world politics. This isn't a book for anyone looking for an exciting, new adventure, but a book for those willing to commit to delving deep into the political and philisophical machinations of the Galactic Empire. Super enjoyable (and almost perfectly tailored) for me, 10/10!