Read, You Must: THE Book for The Mandalorian Fans!

While no official novels or comics directly connected to The Mandalorian have been announced (yet), there is one book that fans of the wildly successful streaming Disney+ show should have in their collection: The Bounty Hunter Code.

The title alone should be familiar with viewers of The Mandalorian as the "code" is mentioned several times in the first season. But what about the "guild", or the many specific references to Mandalorian culture? All of that and more is detailed in this book.

The Bounty Hunter Code is part of a series of In-Universe books from becker&mayer!/Chronicle Books, collectively known as the "Secrets of the Galaxy" series. This series includes The Jedi Path, The Book of Sith, and more recently The Smuggler's Guide and The Rebel Files. Each book is an industry-specific guide book or training manual presented as though it actually exists in the Star Wars galaxy, complete with handwritten notes from notable Star Wars characters, as though passed from person to person over time.

The only official The Mandalorian book yet

 

2013 Deluxe Edition

The Bounty Hunter Code was released in 2013 initially in a deluxe packaging set. That included a very cool case, data card, a Kaminoan saber dart, a wanted poster and an extra booklet still unavailable elsewhere. The following year it was released on its own, just the book. While it is not specifically a book for young readers, fans who are already watching the The Mandalorian will be able to handle any of the concepts presented here.

Inside what you get is a copy of "The Bounty Hunters Guild Handbook", the guide you may need to start your career in this profession. Instructions and advice follow on how to find work, how to capture and contain targets, how to collect rewards and more. What equipment to use, what weapons and vehicles too, can mean life or death in this line of work, so it's a good idea to read carefully!

Some of the bounty hunting methods like trackers and pucks are a little different in The Mandalorian than what is written here, but remember that the series takes place after the fall of the Empire, while this handbook was put together well before the Empire then updated during the height of the Emperor's reign. Generally it feels like the creators of the TV series were all told to read this book before they started writing.

This book is subtitled "From the Files of Boba Fett" and was presumably written some time before Boba Fett was born. Some of it would not be considered "canon" in Star Wars, most notably the references to Boba Fett having a daughter named Ailyn Vel, a character not established in the official timeline. For the most part though, it is very relevant to the show and the current Star Wars galaxy.

While there's no Child here (aka "Baby Yoda"), the final part of the book is filled with concepts seen in the show: included in this book is a 30-page history of Death Watch, which covers a lot of Mandalorian warrior culture and history. What is Beskar? What is a Mythosaur? These things and more are mentioned in the show but not really explained in detail. The Bounty Hunter Code elaborates on both, enhancing the understanding of what's going on screen.

The Bounty Hunter Code was collectively written by Daniel Wallace (The Jedi Path), Jason Fry (The Weapon of a Jedi) & Ryder Windham (Adventures in Hyperspace), three of the most prolific authors of Star Wars books, and wonderfully illustrated by a variety of artists. 

Ryder Windham elaborated on some of these ideas of the working life of a bounty hunter in his novel Star Wars Rebels: Ezra's Gamble, where Ezra encounters the infamous bounty hunter Bossk.

Until there is an official tie-in book series for The Mandalorian, fans of the show can find plenty to enjoy here in The Bounty Hunter Code.

Catch up with Star Wars Rebels!

If you are new to Star Wars Rebels, or just hungry for more Rebels while waiting for Season 3, check out a few terrific books you may have missed when they first appeared.

Obviously watching the season 1 and 2 episodes is top priority for getting caught up. Season one has been available for some time and season 2 will be released on DVD & Bluray on August 30 (N. America). 

Over the past two years many entertaining books were also released to expand the experience, particularly for younger fans. Here’s just a few recommendations:

Ezra’s Gamble is a middle-grade novel by Ryder Windham that introduces the main character Ezra before he meets any of the Ghost crew. What was his life like before Ezra met Kanaan and Hera? Find out in this book. Highly recommended! Our review here. 

Star Wars Rebels: The Visual Guide & Star Wars Rebels Visual Guide: Epic Battles  If you want to dive deeper into the details of Rebels, these books are your best bet! Loaded with full-colour pictures from the episodes and all kids of information from author Adam Bray you may not catch watching the show. 

Ezra’s Journal & Sabine: My Rebel Sketchbook are two books “written by” Ezra and Sabine themselves! Ok, not really (cartoons don’t usually write real-world books) but that’s the idea here and the reader can get inside the mind of the characters in a whole different way with these middle-grade books. Review of both here.

Draw Star Wars Rebels from Klutz Books is a great place to start if the show inspires you to create your own Rebels adventures. Step-by-step instructions and even comes with art supplies! Our review here.

Rise of the Rebels is a chapter-book retelling by Michael Kogge of the short videos released before the Rebels show premiered. You can see these shorts online and on the DVD or Bluray or enjoy them expanded upon in this book.

For younger readers Ezra’s Wookiee Rescue Book & CD is a shortened version of the debut special Spark of Rebellion, this storybook comes with a CD reading of the book along with music, sound effects and actors from the show. Very entertaining!

The Servants of the Empire series – In the first season of Rebels viewers met Zare Leonis, a young Imperial cadet with a secret agenda, who befriends Ezra in the episode “Breaking Ranks”. Zare hasn’t appeared much in the show since, but is the main character of the Servants of the Empire series of middle-grade novels written by Jason Fry.

Do you have a favourite Star Wars Rebels book, toy or game? Did we miss something awesome? Post a comment below!

Read, You Must: Star Wars Rebels Visual Guide: Epic Battles

For anyone who has read my previous reviews of Star Wars books from DK Publishing you’ll notice I often use words like “beautiful” and “gorgeous”. At the risk of repeating myself, here’s yet another title from DK that is worthy of those adjectives!

In this case most of the beauty in Star Wars Rebels Visual Guide: Epic Battles should be credited to the talented artists who make Star Wars Rebels though. This book is page after page of key scenes from the Disney XD show including some parts of Season 2. If you want a collection of detailed images from Rebels, this is for you!

However there’s much more to it than a visual feast as author Adam Bray (Star Wars Rebels The Visual Guide, What Makes a Monster?, Ultimate Star Wars) provides the insights, trivia and commentary alongside the action.

This 144 page hardcover book gives an in-depth look at the events of Rebels Season 1 and even provides several peeks at characters, ships and action from Season 2. For some places (like here in Canada) the second season just finally started, so there’s more than a few moments here that haven't even aired yet!

The 1st Rebels Visual Guide

My only complaint, and it's a minor one, is the title: beyond being more than a mouthful, there really are no "epic battles" in Rebels. It is a show about how a small rebellion begins to grow into a larger, galaxy-wide Rebel Alliance against the Empire. So far viewers have certainly seen conflict, but calling anything so far in Rebels an "epic battle" makes it hard to imagine how to then describe the Battle of Geonosis or the Battle of Endor! Now THOSE are EPIC!

Forget the title, just enjoy the show and enjoy this book! Highly recommended for fans of Star Wars Rebels of any age!

Also by Adam Bray:

 

Did you know author Adam Bray was a guest on our podcast? Check out this episode from last year!

Who ELSE will be in Star Wars Rebels Season 2?

Season 2 of Star Wars Rebels is almost here and that means more awesome television featuring the crew of The Ghost: Kanaan, Hera, Ezra, Sabine, Zeb & CHOPPER! Before the new season starts it’s fun to imagine what familiar Star Wars faces could show up.

Remember that Star Wars Rebels takes place about 4-5 years before Luke joined the Rebellion, so any character who was alive then is a "maybe". Plus, Season 2 will apparently have almost twice as many episodes as Season 1 - so a lot can happen!

In an earlier article I posed some ideas of how or why we could see the likes of heroes like Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia or Han & Chewbacca. Check it out and see if you agree with any of those ideas.

Darth Vader and a few beloved characters from The Clone Wars have already been announced to appear (if you don’t know yet, check out the videos at StarWars.com!) …but who else? Let’s look at some of the possible villains who just might turn up…

Boba Fett

Wouldn't it be cool to see Boba Fett face the Rebels, especially Sabine? Fett made several appearances on The Clone Wars as a youngster. Seeing him as a young but skilled bounty hunter would be pretty awesome. How did he become the fearsome bad guy that he is? How does Vader know about him to hire him in The Empire Strikes Back? While we’re at it, Bossk and Dengar also made appearances on The Clone Wars so we could see them in Rebels too! 

 

 

Cad Bane

 

Cad Bane may be close to retirement by the time of Star Wars Rebels, or may have met one too many bad guys already, but it sure would be cool to see more of the ultra-serious Bane from The Clone Wars. Ok, I just really like this character. 

Jabba the Hutt

Even though Jabba made a very big “big screen” debut in 1983’s Return of the Jedi, was added to A New Hope years later, then had a small part in The Phantom Menace, it wasn’t until The Clone Wars that we really started to learn a lot about him. Turns out Jabba has a son and some very untrustworthy family members!

Jabba has already been mentioned in Star Wars Rebels when Ezra first met Agent Callus, he gave the fake name of “Jabba the Hutt”. Perhaps we’ll actually see him in his slimy glory, and hopefully as the feared crime-lord he was, not the guy whose tail you can step on.

 

Greedo

Greedo had a tough time in A New Hope. Han Solo clearly wasn’t scared of him in the Mos Eisley cantina, but Jabba apparently had enough faith to hire him. Somehow Greedo was a bounty hunter despite having laughably terrible aim with a blaster. Star Wars creator George Lucas apparently wanted to explore Greedo’s past because there was a young Greedo scene filmed for Episode I (which can be seen as a DVD Deleted Scene). He later appeared in The Clone Wars too. Perhaps there’s more to this Rodian than we thought?

Darth Maul

You may wonder how it’s possible Darth Maul is still around after losing his fight to Obi-Wan Kenobi in The Phantom Menace. Let’s just say you need to watch The Clone Wars! Maul is alive and dangerous as ever by the end of that series though what happens next for him is never quite resolved. Could we see Darth Maul face Kanaan, or better yet Maul vs. Darth Vader? 

There are many other characters who COULD show up in Star Wars Rebels Season 2 and beyond. Who would you like to see? Who do you hope to never see? Comment below…