I thought this book was great. It is perfect for the armchair military wannabe and the author did a great job comparing fact to the fictional world of Star Wars.

There isn't much to be said regarding this book - it's an elaborate and well-done exploration into the military aspects of the Star Wars universe, as seen and interpreted by a seasoned and knowledgeable military man - who made a name for himself by writing non-fiction books specializing in business and popular culture.

The book covers various topics regarding the military, some more interesting and important than others, as well as fascinating info and insights into Star Wars. As such we have chapters dedicated to women in the military, why Jar Jar Binks should have never been "promoted", and why Ozzel failed as an Admiral... there's a lot of ground to cover when it comes to the military strategy in Star Wars and the author covered most of them. Of course, the military science is a broad subject that can take over a thousand pages, so it's unreasonable to expect everything to be in one book. But the author did a good job in converting the basics into a short and interesting read (320 pages) that anyone can understand. Anyone interested in this topic, that is.

With that being said, I don't see a lot of people enjoying this kind of literature. I do not enjoy it most of the time, either. It’s the kind of book that requires a specific mood to be read - when you need a break from the fictional novels and enjoy a chapter or two of something you’re passionate about. But it's a lot of info about a very specific topic and it does get tiring to read after a while. Not something to be read in one sitting. 

And I definitely wouldn't recommend it for Star Wars fans who are not interested in the military science as they will get bored to death by it - this is purely informational, with the intent to educate SW fans on how military tactics work. And it's not for those interested in the military science but they don't like (or aren't interested in) Star Wars, as Star Wars is, obviously, the main focus of the book and the author further immerses readers in its history and mythology.                                              

Luckily, I'm interested in the military science and have a tremendous amount of Star Wars knowledge so this book was spot-on for me. It filled in perfectly the space that other Star Wars authors left open because, well, most fans prefer action, dialogue and character development over paragraphs and paragraphs of why they did that, why this was a bad idea, this is what they should have done instead, etc. It's a great filler for people who want to read this kind of book.

This is a really fun book, but one which makes me ask who the audience is--people who already know military organization and analysis complain that science fiction doesn't follow "real world" conventions and people who read space opera for fun don't really care if the rank structure is flawed. Beahm straddles both worlds to explain how Jar Jar probably should not have been put in command of anything, and applies CGSC battle analysis to the Battle of Hoth, which makes for an amusing reframing of familiar scenarios for both camps.