The Ultimate Star Wars Pop-Up Book!

If you haven't explored the world of modern pop-up books you owe it to yourself to look at Star Wars: The Ultimate Pop-Up Galaxy.

The latest Star Wars pop-up book from the incredible paper engineer Matthew Reinhart is an impressive marvel to explore and animate.

Star Wars: The Ultimate Pop-Up Galaxy (2019 Insight Editions) takes things up another level (literally) from Reinhart's previously released Star Wars: A Galactic Pop-Up Adventure (2012) and Star Wars: A Pop Up Guide to the Galaxy (2007). Not only are there 5 major spreads, there are 24 pop-ups in total as each corner has it's own smaller but no less imaginative pop-up.

But that's not the end of the excitement: the entire book can be basically turned inside out and laid out as a massive table-topping 37" x 44" 3D diorama!

Diorama is a fitting word as this is almost as much a playset as it is a book. There's plenty to do, to make happen, and really the closer you look into the details the more nuggets you'll discover. There are hidden gems and little surprises everywhere. For example, despite the focus on the films, fans of Star Wars Rebels will notice a very familiar ship make an appearance.

Reinhart is the author here as well as the designer, taking us through a chronological retelling of the Star Wars films, including moments from Rogue One and Solo. The final pop-up is a space battle moment from The Rise of Skywalker.

The artwork is all by Kevin M. Wilson, so the whole book has a more "realistic" look than the previous Reinhart Star Wars pop-ups which were far more stylized.

The only drawback with the book is the construction of it. Once you completely open it up to create the full diorama, it never really holds together as well as it did before, making repeat read-throughs kind of awkward. That's a small price to pay for a book that is a really an experience to be had. The mechanics of the movement is really delightful here!

Speaking of price, this is not an inexpensive book by any means and is not necessarily even a children's book as many of the pop-ups are very delicate. However for fans young and old this would make a wonderful gift, and great way to explore the Star Wars saga together!