Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader

Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader
by James Luceno

Seduces, deranged, and destroyed by the machinations of the Dark Lord Sidious, Anakin Skywalker is dead … and Darth Vader lives.

From the site of Anakin Skywalker’s last stand, where he sought to destroy his friend and former Master, Obi-Wan Kenobi, a fearsome specter in black has risen. Once the most powerful Knight ever known to the Jedi Order, he is now a disciple of the dark side, a lord of the dreaded Sith, and the avenging right hand of the galaxy’s ruthless new Emperor.

Meanwhile, on the Outer Rim world of Murkhana, Jedi Masters Roan Shryne and Bol Chatak and Padawan Olee Starstone are leading a charge on a Separatist stronghold, unaware that the tide has turned against them. Although the three narrowly elude execution, the deadliest threat still rests in the hideously swift and lethal crimson lightsaber of Darth Vader – behind whose brooding mask lies a shattered heart, a poisoned soul, and a cunning, twisted mind hell-bent on the vengeance. For the handful of scattered Jedi hunted across space, survival is imperative if the light side of the Force is to be protected and the galaxy reclaimed.

Here it is. The final book in the Revenge of the Sith trilogy I’ve been working on.

It’s a good book, but I think it falls flat in the wake of Revenge of the Sith. I wasn’t fond of Vader’s point of view; he was struggling with his new identity and that wasn’t anything I was interested in. Folks tend to get a bit mopey when they question themselves like that and mopey!Vader is just not my cup of tea. I did start to like his sections more towards the end of the book, when he was more sure of his new role and really actively started suppressing Anakin Skywalker, but I think the whole story would have been stronger without his personal thoughts.

Because the heart and strength of this book isn’t in Vader himself – it is in the idea of Vader and how the galaxy perceives him during his rise to power. The narration is strongest when Shryne and Starstone try to figure out who he is during their encounters and in the Moffs perceptions of a “civilian” of such high rank and in stormtrooper commanders trying to sort out precisely how they should be reacting to his orders. If this had been a book solely focused on how his deeds took him from a man with no rank and no addressed authority to the feared right hand man and executioner for the Emperor without stopping to check in on how he felt about it, then I would have been much more interested overall.

That being said, I did like the character of Roan Shryne as a Jedi who has been doubting his connection to the Force and has been more jaded with the universe than the other Jedi he has regular contact with. I also liked the few other Jedi who survived and how they survived, which supported some theories I had about the clone troopers and how the Jedi Temple ran missions. I thought the siege at Kashyyyk was very powerful and provided some useful set up for bits of the original trilogy and extended universe in the same era. And I liked the chapters with Bail Organa and how he was coping with the threat of the Empire overhead and the pressure from Mon Mothma to start opposing that threat as he keeps Leia safe and secret.

Again, overall, it’s a good book. I just think I was expecting more out of it. I would still recommend it to Star Wars fans if they have read Labyrinth of Evil by James Luceno and the Revenge of the Sith novelization by Matthew Stover. It does round out that story arc as a set up for the original trilogy and is a pretty good closing chapter on Anakin Skywalker.

Labyrinth of Evil

Labyrinth of Evil
by James Luceno

On the planet Neimoidia, Jedi Knights Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker set out to capture a treacherous ally of the Sith. Though they come up empty, their daring efforts yield an unexpected prize: intelligence capable of leading the Republic forces to their ultimate quarry, the ever elusive Darth Sidious, whom they suspect has been manipulating every aspect of the Separatist rebellion. In the escalating galaxy-wide chess game of sabotage and retaliations, Sidious stays one move ahead. Then the trail takes a shocking turn. For Sidious and his minions have set in motion a ruthlessly orchestrated campaign to divide and overwhelm the Jedi forces – and bring the Republic to its knees.

I am always surprised by how much I like books that take place during the Star Wars prequels. I mean, I’m a huge Star Wars nerd. Star Wars is my thing. But the majority of the prequel movies were not my cup of tea. (And by the majority, I mean about one-third of The Phantom Menace and pretty much all of the next two movies.)

The thing that immediately struck me with this book is that it was information that the audience should have known going in to the Revenge of the Sith. Labyrinth of Evil takes place immediately before that movie and sets up most of the situations that are crucial to the main plot. It’s all the politics and war and behind the scenes stuff that make the events in Revenge of the Sith interesting and meaningful.

It explains things that you might not have even known you were wondering about. You get to learn who Grievous is and why he becomes such a ruthless killing machine. You get to learn Dooku’s background and what tempted him to become an apprentice of Sidious’. There’s information about the battle tactics of both sides of the war and how the trap for the Jedi was laid out over the course of many years across the galaxies. And I think the most interesting thing is that you get to know other Jedi members like Mace Windu and Shaak Ti better, so they become characters you actually care about when Revenge of the Sith rolls around.

I’ll admit it. Reading this book made me want to watch the prequels again to gain some perspective on what was going on exactly and the culminating moment of Revenge of the Sith made so much more sense and meant so much more with this book behind it. You really get to see how exhausted and frustrated the Jedi Knights are and how clouded everyone’s judgment is by the influence of the Sith on the events taking place. You get to see exactly how close some characters came finding out the truth.

After reading this book, I can honestly say that I don’t know how I managed to get through the Return of the Sith movie before. I definitely recommend it if you are a Star Wars fan. It’s compelling and intriguing and fills in a lot of the holes in the last prequel movie. I have a new appreciation for the story being told there.

And I’m still excited about having read this book because it’s meant to be the first book in a trilogy along with the Revenge of the Sith novelization and Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader. I will be reading and reviewing both of those books as well, so we shall see if these prequel supplements continue to amaze me.