‘Star Wars Star Pilots: A History of Space Combat’ by Dr. Chris Kempshall Book Review

Share this with a friend!

Star Wars Star Pilots: A History of Space Combat is the latest in-universe book by Dr. Chris Kempshall. In the same vein as 2024’s Rise and Fall of the Galactic Empire, Star Pilots covers the history of the Galactic Civil War and the rise of the New Republic through the eyes of its pilots.

These books read as if they are taken from the in-universe canon and offer a unique look at Star Wars through the characters themselves. Dr. Kempshall’s return in this latest novel marks him as one of the most prominent Star Wars historians and shows how well he writes and collates historical fiction as if it were in-universe fact.

Star Pilots: A History of Space Combat is written in-universe by Wedge Antilles, a rather well-known Star Wars character. He’s one of the only pilots in the saga to survive from the Battle of Yavin to the Battle of Exegol over 30 years later. Hence, being a perfect choice as the author of the novel.

The setup for the book is that Wedge was asked by the author of Rise and Fall, Beaumont Kin, to work on something dedicated to the pilots of the galaxy. This leads Wedge to revisit an old New Republic idea of creating a museum for Star Pilots named “A History of Space Combat.”

The museum never went ahead for reasons listed in the book, but Wedge has managed to collate a series of interviews from pilots of both the Rebellion and the Empire originally for the museum. He brings them back years later to help him with this book.

The main draw and difference of this book compared to the last in universe one, is the inclusion of these interviews that are spread throughout the book; they include pilots from both sides of the war, adding a very interesting spin to the book, lending a look into how the Empire differed from the Rebellion as well as how the pilots could be similar in their personalities.

Dr. Kempshall does a wonderful job of making every interviewee feel unique, with their characterizations shining through; some of them are characters from the movies and shows, some are from the books, with some even being brought back from legends. A few of them are new pilots to Star Wars.

All of those interviewed provide excellent info, whether truthful or not, and help flesh out what the galactic civil war was like for both sides. Some pilots from the Empire provide a lot of great information into how the Empire operated and how they felt as pilots when the war finished.

We also get some information from those who defected from the Empire, such as Wedge himself, who provides more evidence after the interviewees’ sections, helping to piece together what happened as well as whether pilots are being truthful.

Star Pilots is laid out very similarly to that of Rise and Fall, in that it is split into different chapters that cover different parts of a pilot’s life in either the Rebellion or the Empire. These all come with separate sections within those chapters to really help make little points and give historical context throughout.

Similarly, there are also footnotes, with these being given by a droid who is recording Wedge as he puts together the book. M-3PO provides some hilarious footnotes in the book; he is a droid that served in the Rebellion and through to the Resistance, just like Wedge. The footnotes help really show that he is just a droid, but also provide a little more information on where the interviews come from and who interviewed them.

There are three interviewers from the past that interviewed the different pilots; footnotes provide additional information into what the interviewers thought of the pilots being interviewed, adding some insight into them too.

Dr. Kempshall is a master at collating and collecting footnotes, knowing exactly where to put them in and how many there should be; they are used differently within Star Pilots: A History of Space Combat, and I enjoyed the droid’s reactions to a lot of what is being said in interviews.

I feel a lot of them are just used to make notes of the interview; however, picking and choosing which footnotes to read becomes part of the book too, and did prove a little disappointing when no other information could be established from them.

One of the more interesting aspects of Star Pilots, and a part I wish was expanded on more, is that of the pilots during the New Republic era. Most of the book deals with how they acted during the war. It was fascinating to see how these pilots coped with no war or fighting during the time of the New Republic. It’s still an era in Star Wars that hasn’t been explored much, and any new information is greatly received by fans, so Dr. Kempshall had his work cut out for him.

Star Pilots: A History of Space Combat covers many struggles the ex-pilots faced after the war, as well as what veterans do when they were on the wrong side, such as Imperial pilots. I can only think some of this would be taken from real life and how pilots or soldiers from losing sides of the war went about remembering and taking in their losses.

It becomes more interesting considering that the Star Wars galaxy is so large and the Empire was so vast that ex-Rebellion and ex-Imperials are a lot more likely to run into each other. It proves to be a captivating read and, along with Rise and Fall, helps establish even more how the New Republic was doomed to fail as the next state in the galaxy.

But as with Rise and Fall, Star Pilots suffers from coming out whilst new stories arrive. For example, with Ahsoka season 2 and its rise of Thrawn, which will see a lot of fighting and dogfighting from the New Republic and Thrawn’s Empire. This is obviously not covered in the book, but it seems like a glaring omission from what may be an important part of galactic history going forward.

I can only assume in the years to come that these books will get expanded editions as new in-universe information comes to light for these Star Wars historians. Dr. Kempshall works wonderfully with what he knows so far about the galaxy, weaving everything in together so well.

Star Wars Star Pilots: A History of Space Combat book rating and final thoughts

​Overall, Star Pilots: A History of Space Combat is definitely a worthy addition to this brand of in-universe historical material. It doesn’t feel as hefty or as genre-defining as Rise and Fall of the Galactic Empire, which covered so much about the galaxy under the Empire and New Republic. But Dr. Kempshall does a fantastic job of becoming Wedge Antilles as well as several other characters all through short interview snippets about piloting during the galactic civil war and beyond.

The book collates so much from the wider world of Star Wars, creating a definitive look into the Galactic Civil War, from the incredible dogfights we see on our screens or read about elsewhere.

There is something fun about reading a book as if it comes from the universe, such as with Marvel and the book written by Scott Lang. But with Star Pilots, it takes it a level further and ultimately becomes a source for the galaxy and for us as readers to contend with. It both sides of history to the forefront, and it’s up to us to choose whether to believe some stories given by both sides (which Dr. Kempshall states in his acknowledgements).

I hope Dr. Kempshall gets to return for even more of these books as they fully become such important texts for the time. If nothing else, hopefully both Star Pilots and Rise and Fall of the Galactic Empire can be expanded on when new games, books, shows, or movies come out.

Star Pilots makes a great companion piece to Rise and Fall but is more than worth a read on its own, even if you have never read a historical book before. I highly recommend it.

Share this with a friend!