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There's always Plagueis calling it a "perversion of the truth" in the Plagueis novel.

 

You read correctly, yes.

"As Darth Bane instituted the Rule of Two, so will I begin the Rule of One."

(From memory, I think I quoted more parts from that section earlier in the thread, probably January or so last year when I was the only person with it and teasing everyone with choice extracts.)

 

Well, yes and no. Under the Rule of One, there shall be only Palpatine, who shall rule the galaxy forever, and everyone else is nothing more than a tool, only given so much training as they need in order to carry out his will.

Even Vader he only describes as an expendable tool, who can be replaced if needed.

 

Pretty much.

He may not mention Starkiller in particular, but it's pretty clear Palpatine no longer gives a toss what someone calls themselves, as they're no longer a threat to his eternal reign of darkness.

 

I think that's the expensive boxed set version, in a plastic "Holocron" that opens at the touch of a button, with some other stuff.
did not know that there was a simplified version. it would be cool to have the holocron version though. somedya i will find it in a bargin pile at BAM and grab it for $20

 

Picked it up a few days ago and just finished it. I enjoyed The Jedi Path better -- it had more varied commentary and I think it dug into the subject matter a little more -- but this was a lot of fun. Luke's voice in his commentary was very good, the Sith history from Sorzus Syn was intriguing, and the Plagueis section was great for revealing his attitude. The collection of multiple sources was a cool concept, but I could have done without Malgus's and Talzin's sections. Malgus's little war diary didn't do much, and Talzin's section was pretty interesting, but felt out of place and like a distraction from getting more meaty Sith material. Overall very solid, though. I didn't notice a ton of new continuity or retconned connections outside the Syn section, but there was an interesting hint at a possible connection to Padme's death -- Plagueis says that negative emotion, like the loss of hope, can induce cellular necrosis in the midichlorians. Best part was the Triclops reference, though.

 

Vader's handwriting is the best.

He has trouble seeing, so naturally his handwriting would be almost illegible.

 

I wonder if any handwriting analysts have tried analyzing the entries..

 

It must be a Sith thing.

Mothma obviously wrote her annotations while under the influence of Exar Kun.

 

who is Mothma? Can't be Mon Mothma. She was not sith

 

Oh, so your thread getting locked wasn't clue enough? Ok then -- good bye.

 

This will not end well.

 

"Fear attracts the fearful…
the strong…
the weak…
the innocent…
the corrupt.
Fear. Fear is my ally." ―Darth Maul.

The Book of Sith is the companion piece to the Jedi Path sourcebook I reviewed here. As the Jedi Path discussed what made up the Jedi Order with scribbled-in notes from various movie and EU characters, so does Book of Sith do the same with their opposite number. Supposedly, this volume would unlock the secrets of the Dark Side just as the previous one did the same for the Light.

It doesn't.

Not really. The problem with Book of Sith boils down to the fact it's all over the place with its Expanded Universe references. It also doesn't really give us any real details into their philosophy. There's some stuff about their techniques but nothing really meaty on what makes the Sith the Sith.

I question a lot of their choices in the book and think it would have been better to have a tighter focus on its subject. For a book about the Jedi Knighthood's dark reflection, a substantial number of pages are spent discussing the Nightsisters and midiclorians. Even the choice of margin commentators is a trifle off with Yoda, Luke Skywalker, Mace Windu, and Quinlan Vos joining the ranks of various Dark Side practitioners from the SWEU. I mean, would it have killed the author to cut down the Jedi to one or two? Also, why isn't Starkiller, Cadeus, or Darth Krayt here? They're some of the few actual post-ROTS Sith Lords.

My least favorite part of the book is the section devoted to Darth Malgus discussing one of his military campaigns. Aside from telling us that Darth Malgus was a badass, which we knew, and a military strategist, ditto, no new insights are given to either him or the Sith Empire. The only part of it I liked was Darth Vader wondering how his relationship with Eleena the Twilelk ended. It's kind of tragic knowing, for readers of Deceived, that Malgus ended up killing her like Vader did Padme.

The Nightsisters section elaborates on the religion of the Dathomir witches, showing they worship spirits and anthropomorphize nature. This is all fascinating but wholly irrelevant to the Sith, even if Darth Maul hails from their territories. On the plus side, it does confirm that Ventress was a Nightsister first then sold to Rattataki slavers. About the only thing interesting about this section is the idea Mother Talzin and other Force-users have met the Celestials from The Clone Wars "Mortis" arc before.

Another part which doesn't work is Darth Plagueis' lengthy treatise on the scientific nature of the Force. After a promising beginning, it devolves into explaining why there's an afterlife and the Force works like magic. It rather undermines Plagueis as a character since he can't process what is plainly true in the Star Wars universe while distracting from what is the "orthodox" Sith view on the Force (i.e. the Force functions like magic). About the only thing I liked was the discussion there's no difference between the Netherworld (Heaven) and Chaos (Hell) but the mindset of the wielder.

About the only parts of the book I enjoyed are the margin notes and its discussion of Sith techniques. The margin notes are hilarious, showing the vastly different perspectives of the Dark Side a collection of different characters have. While there are too many Jedi, I can't say I'm displeased with the comments. I just wish they'd made the majority of commentators to be actual Sith.

The author manages to get everyone's "voice" right and I am particularly pleased with how they handle Luke Skywalker. He sounds like a wise and noble Jedi Master for 90% of the work but there's just enough of the Farmboy bush pilot leftover to make sure you know whose talking.

The notes on Sith techniques are not particularly interesting but are informative. We get a number of Sith fighting styles, weapons, and abilities which all have previously shown up in the Star Wars EU. My only disappointment with this section was the discussion of Sith lightsaber techniques. Apparently, the Sith practice only three techniques versus the Jedi's seven. It's rather disappointing and makes me think the book could have expanded that considerably.

In conclusion, I find the Book of Sith to be disappointing. It's all well-written but the relevant content regarding the Sith is miniscule. Too much time is wasted on the Nightsisters, Darth Plagueis' treatise, and Darth Malgus' military campaigns. If you want a detailed guide to the Sith, this is not the book for you. There's just too much random stuff without much relevance to the book's ostensible subject matter.

5/10

 

I've recently finished reading The Book Of Sith and ,don't give me wrong,I really enjoyed it but i thought it contained a lot of biological and scientific information which i found interesting but a bit boring.Also, I think that instead of Mother Talzin(perhaps they wanted to advertise the clone wars) perhaps they should put the writings of Darth Revan,Malak,Naga Shadow or even Darth Traya's.What's your opinion on The Book Of Sith and do you agree with mine?

 

Talzin was an interesting, recent addition to the EU. Most of the Sith you mention are old characters which are too tied-up in the Rule of Two to have anything really interesting to say. Also, I don't think that Kreia would leave a Holocron.

 

I have returned from the netherworld that is life!

...because I have a friend who needs a question answered, and Dan Wallace and Lit are her only hope!

The fonts used in Book of Sith: are any of them available (even if not freely) or are they all in-house ones that were made specially for the book?

I accept stuff like Sidious's handwritten notes in the margins are probably in-house, but she's incredibly fond of the script for the front cover and some of the other internal handwriting, and wants to use something like that for a project she's doing, but sadly I couldn't remember the names of any of them (if indeed any are available)?

 

Got this as a surprise present and sort of randomly flipped through different sections for about an hour or so, it was pretty fun read, now I know how to choose an apprentice! There is this one section about various Dark Force powers and there's one that involves a force shove or something and written in the margin in Quilan Vos with "No way I'm trying this. Okay, tried it. Dislocated my shoulder." The funnest stuff was also seeing Palpatine writing in the margins about how awesome he is and how he'll never give up his reign. The Plageuis section has a page or so on essence transference with Plapy scrawling a note that is bascially "Hmmm! Good idea!" If you can get over the central conceit of Star Wars characters scribbling in margins like a high school notebook / journal, it's a pretty immerse read, even if sometimes it delves a bit too deep into various EU rabbit holes. But the book certainly feels like a "real" artifact from a galaxy far far away, which is a lot harder to pull off than it sounds.