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The JC Lit Reviews Special: DARTH BANE: RULE OF TWO (Spoilers)
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SuperWatto
Registered:
Sep '00
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Date Posted:
1/27 8:05am
Subject:
RE: The JC Lit Reviews Special: DARTH BANE: RULE OF TWO (Spoilers)
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Planet Of Twilight and Crystal Star were just bad. I would rate those 3 or 4 outta 10.
But this book is just offensive. I despise it. I detest it. So I'll give it 1/10.
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Obilieveinme
Registered:
Feb '05
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Date Posted:
1/27 8:34am
Subject:
RE: The JC Lit Reviews Special: DARTH BANE: RULE OF TWO (Spoilers)
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7.5 out of 10
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Havac
Title: Lit Mod of War
Registered:
Sep '05
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Date Posted:
1/27 10:39am
Subject:
RE: The JC Lit Reviews Special: DARTH BANE: RULE OF TWO (Spoilers)
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Average score: 122.6/17 = 7.21
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chiss_man
Registered:
Jul '02
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Date Posted:
1/27 12:19pm
Subject:
RE: The JC Lit Reviews Special: DARTH BANE: RULE OF TWO (Spoilers)
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For something thrown together in about six months, this was rather good. It really was Zannah's book more than anything, and her transformation from Rain to a Dark Lord of the Sith was handled exceptionally well. I too thought it weird that a fully trained Jedi would have that much trouble with a civilian, but it did mention later on during the battle how his skills were "mediocre" so I'll let it pass. The ending was especially fitting, and a perfect way to resolve what had almost seemed unresolvable. Overall, a very solid effort that kept my interest well. 8.5/10
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Havac
Title: Lit Mod of War
Registered:
Sep '05
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Date Posted:
1/27 1:28pm
Subject:
RE: The JC Lit Reviews Special: DARTH BANE: RULE OF TWO (Spoilers)
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Average score: 131.1/18 = 7.28
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Robimus
Registered:
Jul '07
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Date Posted:
2/6 1:40pm
Subject:
RE: The JC Lit Reviews Special: DARTH BANE: RULE OF TWO (Spoilers)
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OK, so I'm very under educated when it comes to the Dark Horse works set in the ancient past, so my review is just taking the continuing story into account from book one to book two.
I'll open by saying that I think Zannah's fall to the darkside comes across as very unbelievable. I don't believe a ten tear old would be so quick to embrace all that is evil after having had a family and friends and such. At least if she had struggled a bit more with the transition. Zannah is devestated by the loss of her Bouncer and takes revenge, I was fine with that, it made sense enough. But then for her to immediatly turn around and decide to give others the same sense of loss she felt about the Bouncer comes across rushed and weak. Prehaps if Bane had found a four year old it would have worked better, because young Zannah came across as far to grown up to be instantly swayed as she was. Where Bane's fall in book one was very well done, Zannah's is just poor.
Johun was an enjoyable character I could really relate with and I thought his scenes with Valorum were some of the best in the book. Why is it the Jedi are always so quick to pronounce the Sith destroyed? When evidence exists that the Sith may not have been wiped out why the Jedi at the very least not investigate? Farfalla came across as somewhat foolish. It seems like premonitions through the force only count for members of the Jedi council, others that have them seem to be so often portrayed as wrong and are easily dismissed. This seems true in every generation of Jedi I've seen thus far. From Ben Skywalker, to Etain and Jusik, to Qui-Gon to now this Johun fellow. Maybe I'm stretching a bit but it seems like a lot of the galaxies troubles could have been avoided if the elite of the order payed more attention to their membership.
The Hetton character was probably my favorite in the novel, virtually a self tought darksider who actually attained a fair amount of power on his own, with no formal training. This character had a lot of potential, all lost as he was used as a throw away character. Still the idea of a self taught darksider was an interesting idea to be sure.
Now for the Jedi. I don't know why the Rule of Two Sith had to wait thousands of years in hiding when it was apparent Bane could wipe out the whole order by himself, with his Orbalisks. In the first novel Bane came across as powerful, but not godlike. He barely defeated the Sith sword master and used his cunning to destroy the Brotherhood. Now he is able to face down the Jedi's best almost with ease, with the only thing able to harm him being his own power redirected by the Ithorian. He came across as way to strong for my liking. A Superman Sith=boring for me.
Zannah's Sith magic seemed like it belonged in another universe, not the Star Wars universe. Living, breathing creatures turned to robots came across the same. I personally like the force to have some limitations, making Zannah out to be a Dathomir witch type character didn't work for me. I don't like the force projections in LOTF for the same reason, they seem to go against what has come before and what I enjoy about the force. All I'm reminded of is Luke's Jedi apprentices joining hands and using the force to throw Star Destroyers across the galaxy. For me the force needs to be a bit more grounded.
The ending left much to desired for me as well, again the Jedi come across as fools who seem to have the force sensetivity of a Bantha. " Yup, the Sith are destroyed again, lets all go home now OK". If there is a third book I'll be really even further down on the Rule of Two, as carrying a character like Johun over to a third book would have really worked well. Instead any further installment will be starting over from scratch on the jedi end.
3.5 out of 10 for me. 
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Ulicus
Registered:
Jul '05
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Date Posted:
2/6 1:58pm
Subject:
RE: The JC Lit Reviews Special: DARTH BANE: RULE OF TWO (Spoilers)
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Robimus posted:
Now for the Jedi. I don't know why the Rule of Two Sith had to wait thousands of years in hiding when it was apparent Bane could wipe out the whole order by himself, with his Orbalisks. In the first novel Bane came across as powerful, but not godlike. He barely defeated the Sith sword master and used his cunning to destroy the Brotherhood. Now he is able to face down the Jedi's best almost with ease, with the only thing able to harm him being his own power redirected by the Ithorian. He came across as way to strong for my liking. A Superman Sith=boring for me.
Dude. Bane destroyed a huge temple with a single Force push in PoD.
If anything, Bane came across as weaker in this book than the last because, even when he was going "all out offensive", he still was incapable of taking the Jedi down with any sort of speed. He was also being hit by their sabers all the time.
Sure, he had the orbalisks, but it's definitely a sign that his skills with a blade had - in fact - atrophied over the years.
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Robimus
Registered:
Jul '07
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Date Posted:
2/6 2:13pm
Subject:
RE: The JC Lit Reviews Special: DARTH BANE: RULE OF TWO (Spoilers)
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Ulicus posted:
Robimus posted:
Now for the Jedi. I don't know why the Rule of Two Sith had to wait thousands of years in hiding when it was apparent Bane could wipe out the whole order by himself, with his Orbalisks. In the first novel Bane came across as powerful, but not godlike. He barely defeated the Sith sword master and used his cunning to destroy the Brotherhood. Now he is able to face down the Jedi's best almost with ease, with the only thing able to harm him being his own power redirected by the Ithorian. He came across as way to strong for my liking. A Superman Sith=boring for me.
Dude. Bane destroyed a huge temple with a single Force push in PoD.
If anything, Bane came across as weaker in this book than the last because, even when he was going "all out offensive", he still was incapable of taking the Jedi down with any sort of speed. He was also being hit by their sabers all the time.
Sure, he had the orbalisks, but it's definitely a sign that his skills with a blade had - in fact - atrophied over the years.
I seem to recall him pulling down the Temples entrance but I haven't read PoD in a long while. You may be right, yet pulling down an old rock Temple doesn't seem that wild to me somehow.
I don't see how he came across as weaker, without his Orbalisks he certainly would have fallen to the Jedi, on this I agree. Also the Jedi were no match for him without the battle meditation aiding them. Certainly the story presented, even by Zannah, was that he was invincible with the Orbalisks. She even mentions that she has to find a way to get them off of him to ever have a chance of defeating him. In this book he was a Super Sith, now that he prehaps doesn't have the Orbalisks he wont be. He still personally killed 3 Jedi Masters, 9 Jedi Assassines and a Dark Sider with seeming ease., Again, only his own Sith Lightning did him any real harm.
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Havac
Title: Lit Mod of War
Registered:
Sep '05
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Date Posted:
2/6 2:31pm
Subject:
RE: The JC Lit Reviews Special: DARTH BANE: RULE OF TWO (Spoilers)
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Average score: 134.6/19 = 7.08
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Sniper_Wolf
Registered:
Nov '02
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Date Posted:
2/6 3:35pm
Subject:
RE: The JC Lit Reviews Special: DARTH BANE: RULE OF TWO (Spoilers)
- Date Edited:
2/6 3:36pm (1 edits total)
Edited By:
Sniper_Wolf
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Finished this up in a few days. Several things stood out in my mind.
Karpyshyn provides the definitive Sith EU novel characterization. Both Bane and Zannah are far more interesting Sith to read than the others protrayed. They are evil no doubt, but they are not mindless "Eat babies, bathe in virginal blood" Sith that populate the majority of the novels. Very great change.
Add me in the group that enjoys seeing odd and bizarre Force powers on show beyond the standard I've turned evil so I can automatically shoot Force Lighting. Bane and Zannah came off as legitmately threatning. Very nice change.
Yes, the Jedi did not act like they were Ivy League graduates. On the other hand they are nowhere near as useless or passive as their counterparts in Luke's order. Luke's Jedi would probably spend five novels meditating and doing nothing before trying to eliminate the Sith. Having active protagonists and antagonists is not a bad thing at all. Makes for a much more fulfilling read.
Did notice a few typos and small errors in the text that should have been fixed with better editing. Considering this was written in a sixth month time frame and how badly edited many of the other novels currently written are this is a testiment to Drew's skill.
All in all this was an enjoyable enough read. I give this an 8.25/10.
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Havac
Title: Lit Mod of War
Registered:
Sep '05
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Date Posted:
2/6 5:13pm
Subject:
RE: The JC Lit Reviews Special: DARTH BANE: RULE OF TWO (Spoilers)
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Average score: 142.85/20 = 7.14
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MistrX
Registered:
Jun '06
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Date Posted:
2/8 1:05pm
Subject:
RE: The JC Lit Reviews Special: DARTH BANE: RULE OF TWO (Spoilers)
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Fairly enjoyable and fast paced, though it did sometimes seem like a very basically written story, and while Karpyshyn did a competent job in that regard, he still has a long way to go. The book does delve into quite a bit of continuity which makes sense seeing as this is a major crossroads in SW galactic history. The focus on Zannah was interesting, though it was a bit surprising that we get a little less Bane than I thought we would. At least we're getting reasons why the Jedi believed that the Sith were extinct "for a millennium". It was also somewhat entertaining to see the little bits where it was clear that the writer in this book had written the KOTOR video games. How many other places would you find a Jedi use Force Stasis?
And I'm sure a few of the people angry with the last book for acting like no Sith of importance had existed between Revan and Bane were at least somewhat appeased to find Bane going after Belia Darzu's holocron.
7/10
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DarthAdamentum
Registered:
Jan '08
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Date Posted:
2/8 2:03pm
Subject:
RE: The JC Lit Reviews Special: DARTH BANE: RULE OF TWO (Spoilers)
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I didnt enjoy it to be honest. Preferred PoD than this. The only good points in this book was Zannah's transformation to a Sith Lord.
About the ending I'd wish she just kill off Bane & sets the plan in motion. Quite hanging actually with the ending...
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Havac
Title: Lit Mod of War
Registered:
Sep '05
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Date Posted:
2/8 3:16pm
Subject:
RE: The JC Lit Reviews Special: DARTH BANE: RULE OF TWO (Spoilers)
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Average score: 149.85/21 = 7.14
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Lord-Traya-07
Registered:
Dec '07
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Date Posted:
2/11 8:01am
Subject:
RE: The JC Lit Reviews Special: DARTH BANE: RULE OF TWO (Spoilers)
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While I enjoyed most of the book i also felt Hetton's character was underused...
I think he had a lot of potential as a villain and seemed a waste in the novel
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