Xena Warrior Princess: Complete Illustrated Companion

Rating:
Summary: Great Book!
Review: Hello All,
I GOT THIS BOOK TODAY AND IT'S GREAT U KNOW...
YOUNG XENA

Rating:
Summary: Depends on how picky you are...
Review: It's been two years since the series came to a close and ended it's shooting, and we finally have a complete illustrated companion to go along with it all.
With all the time we spent anticipating this book, I believe that it left a bit to be desired. The author of the book either did not do his or her homework very well or did not pay too much attention to detail when the episode guide was written. Each episode review was only three or four lines long, and there were a few mistakes on the episodes scattered throughout. IE-In One Against an Army, Gabrielle was shot by an arrow BEFORE Xena took refuge in the armory. This was actually a rather large point in the plot of the story, but the book states that Xena went to the armory and then Gabrielle was shot. For the episode "Many Happy Returns" the book explains that Xena and Gabrielle enlisted Aphrodite's help to help Genia "enjoy worldly pleasures." Weren't they trying to teach her to live her own life? You may like the episode guide better than I did if you aren't so picky, but I definitely recommend online fan written episode guides over the one in this book. They are usually more in depth and more accurate.
The rest of the book was alright. It has the genesis of Xena, a production history, an episode guide (both for the series and when Xena would guest star on Hercules), character reviews, a behind the scenes look at costumes, makeup, stunts and special effects, Xena's journeys across the globe, a Greek Mythology encyclopedia to help you keep the characters straight, and even a chapter just for the fans of the show. I've been a very avid Xena fan and collector since Xena was first on Hercules in 1994, and if you're like me then you've seen and read all of this before (not to mention having already known all of the information from having memorized every detail of every episode of the show *big grin*). It's nice to have all this in one book, but it's not anything new or exciting to those that have been fans all along. BUT it is one of those things that every xenite should have. I recommend it to all Xena fans, but with the warning of not to have your expectations set too high and the advice that almost everything (if not everything) from this book can be found online.