"She may not look like much ... but she's got it where it counts." (quote by Han Solo), and the same to true of this book. I refer of course to the Haynes volume Millennium Falcon: Modified YT-1300 Corellian Freighter - Owner's Workshop Manual. An official Star Wars product, drawing on the numerous skills of author Ryder Windham, and lavishly illustrated by Chris Reiff and Chris Trevas, this 125 page technical manual is for the most part pleasing and offers much on what is probably the galaxies most famous flying junkyard. Who among us does not know the Falcon, or the exploits of Captain Solo and his Wookiee first mate - but can we say the same of his transport, the Millennium Falcon? The book not only introduces us to some of the Falcon's background, but it attempts to explain her 'stock light' status and some of her design ancestry. Certain details have been taken from canon sources, including the novel entitled "Millennium Falcon", the West End Games series of galaxy guides, various commentaries and other stories as well as the movies in which she made appearances - but it is the technical diagrams which drew me to this volume and for the most part I was not disappointed.

Rather surprisingly the authors choose to include "toys" which were offered with certain large toy versions of the Falcon as supplemental vehicles in their book, most notably the F-LER (which I have never heard of and I am a collector) and the non-canon "Mini-Fighter" which made its debut with the "new millennium falcon" toy. The book includes some nicely rendered computer generated images of the Falcon in profile, showing considerable surface detail, a series of monochrome line-drawings of her interiors both in isometric and flat-plan formats. There is a section detailing the layout of the various instrument panels and functions found in the cockpit; some pages on how Solo made excellent use of the Falcons maneuverability at the Battle of Yavin, the Battle of Hoth (and with Calrissian in command) the Battle of Endor. The vessels remarkable and souped-up propulsion system, weapons and sensors are also discussed, as are other aspects of her operation and design. In fact, in closing my only real regret is that the producers of this book did not carry on detailing everything that there is to know about the Falcon - but such a volume would have been many centimeters thick. I also recommend you look for another book by these fine authors and artists - and this is Star Wars: Millennium Falcon YT-1300 - A 3-D Owner's Guide - also available from Amazon - you will not be disappointed, I guarantee it!