one of the best reads in the last five years I really enjoyed the motives and the tie ins that were offered, though some of it was name dropping . Character of Damask was excellent. Political analysis was fantastic especially Valurom, Palpatine, Dooku. I only got a little annoyed at the indirect results of Plagueis experiments, it was not diffinative. I irked at the very end Prince XIXOR , iyt's supposed to be XIZOR. Gritty in most places. Could have done some more force powers/skills.
Is there a Star Wars author out there who does more EU research than James Luceno? I mean, wow, in the past it was always gratifying to get the references and connections he would sprinkle throughout his stories, bringing together this wider universe, though arguably making it a little too small at times. It happens again here, in this long awaited lead-in to the prequel era and this time it seems to be turned up to 11. Not only is it at a greater scale than before, though, but here it really works. In many ways, this is the story for which we have been waiting for some time and structurally, Luceno executes it really well. All of the buildup to Episode I novels, short stories, comics, and background material we have seen from various sources over the years are tied together so well, with, as we’ve suspected, Sidious and Plagueis having their hands all over it. It’s solidifying a mythology we have had the pleasure of piecing together in our own minds for years and seeing it all wrapped together. It’s as if we’re getting that long episode of The X-Files or Lost that not only explains everything, but has it make a sense that satisfies (something neither of those shows arguably did). And much of that is simply the last third of the book. Honestly, that final part was the strongest, IMO, with its greater focus on Sidious and the two Sith’s machinations that led to the events we see in and after Episode I. It provides an even greater complexity to the events we had seen unfold not only in that movie and what followed, but in the materials surrounding it. It even has its share of surprises. I, for one, had not expected Plagueis to be alive well into and nearly to the end of the events of TPM. The previous sections of the book, focusing on Plagueis forging his own path following his murder of his master and his early years meeting and training Palpatine, have their merits, but don’t have the movement of the story we later get. Looking back, it seems almost entirely as setup rather than a strong story all its own. My major issue with the first two sections, and particularly the first third of the book is the pacing. The plot kind of just plods along and it took me some time to gain momentum while reading it. To be sure, there are some complex and heady ideas in it, but it was hard for me to develop much interest in Plagueis himself. It’s interesting to some extent to see Plagueis’ considerable resources and the early indications of attitudes that would lead to actions taken by many of the players in Episode II, but I think the story dwells a little too long on some of the early backstory. It just seemed to me like the overall plot could have been a little tighter early in the book. Overall, though, the book is an impressive entry in the EU and a rich exploration of the rise of Star Wars’ greatest villain and his intriguing master. 7.8/10
9/10 The continuity in this novel was truly excellent, as we have come to expect from the master of continuity, James Luceno. The Yinchorri crisis (Jedi Council: Acts of War), Eriadu summit (Cloak of Deception) and the use and expansion of characters like Veruna (mentioned briefly in TPM) and Pestage (ESB deleted scenes) are all great examples of this. It just enhances the novel to have it full of great connections to the wider EU and makes the universe seem much, much fuller for what is a stand-alone novel. Some issues I had were the deluded belief that Damask thought Palpatine would really make him co-Chancellor. That just seemed like a plot convenience to me. Secondly the story, imo (many will disagree), waned a bit in the middle of the novel, though eventually got going again for an ending which I thought was brilliant. The Palpatine not appearing 'the master' Sith Lord and Maul being an self-important assassin issues were fine by me.
10/10 The extent to which I love Darth Plagueis cannot be overstated. DP literally brought me back to the EU after a 6-month-long burnout. Luceno weaves a web of corruption, conspiracies, and continuity that ties together 30 years of lore and characters. While I at times wished that we got to see a bit more of Plagueis and his experiments, the way that this turned out to be the Palpatine novel actually mirrored the story- particularly the climax- itself, which is actually quite clever. Everything about this novel left me wanting more from Luceno, more on the Sith, more on Plagueis, more on Dooku, and I'm normally not even one of the Sith junkies around here. This novel could have easily gone very wrong- delving into Palpatine's backstory, using him as a point-of-view narrator, runs the risk of ruining the mystique and menace associated with the ultimate villain of the Star Wars universe. Instead, Luceno absolutely enhanced my perception of Palpatine, and revealed just how brilliant of a manipulator Sidious really was. I suspect that the whole co-chancellor thingy was a mandate from on high, and to be honest I wasn't too bothered by it. It's a shame that TCW has convinced Luceno to wait a while before even considering a Tyranus novel (per an interview with Roqoo Depot), because if Plagueis is any indication, Tyranus would blow my mind. In any case, DP was an incredible read that brought me back to the Star Wars Expanded Universe, and I eagerly await Luceno's next outing.
I've been watching some of the SW movies, out of sequence, in 40-ish minute "chapters" every evening to wind down. I just had AOTC on. Did this happen to anyone else? When it got to the reference to Sifo-Dyas, which I had kind of forgotten was even there, I laughed out loud! It dove-tails so perfectly with DP, Luceno has completely altered that scene, lending it a dark comic note. In my mind, once Plagueis was finished using Sifo-Dyas, he got rid of him somehow. The movie never says "he died in action" and I forget if there's anything abt him in the novelization; but in light of the book it seems all too likely that Palps devised some way to get rid of him. Anyway that was great & totally unexpected!
Yeah, I know I'm not just late to the party, the party ended long ago and I just showed up. I think I should point out that I managed to remain almost completely unspoiled. This book is the epitome of Luceno's strengths and weaknesses. Luceno weaves a massive web of continuity orders of magnitude beyond what we've seen in any other novel. The sheer depth of detail is truly incredible. Unfortunately, the sheer mass of these references really weigh the story down and imo severely restricts the potential for storytelling. Luceno's consistently weak prose is unable to overcome this restriction. CHARACTERS: Darth Plagueis: I find him so disappointing, so uninteresting, so dull. The mad scientist part of him was an excellent idea, however the execution was never brilliant. I found him suitably powerful, but again the execution was weak. His action scenes were poorly described and his growing power in the dark side basically summarized instead of actually put into action. His philosophy was especially disappointing, there was never a profound moment of enlightenment for me, I never went "Wow, that's brilliant." His Grand Plan was full of solid Sith scheming, but kind of standard in a way, with no surprises, nothing I haven't seen before, nothing I didn't expect. I actually really liked that he was not omniscient, that he was caught off guard a few times, surprising the supposedly master planner was a great way to take him down a peg. His downfall absolutely makes sense with ROTS and is set up reasonably well by his occupation with the etheric world of the Force and blindness in the physical world, but unfortunately the foolishness he displayed mandated by ROTS was not particularly offset by moments of brilliance earlier in the book. Sadly, Darth Plagueis is not a character worthy of having his name stamped on the cover of a novel and falls far short of what I expect of Palpatine's master. Palpatine: I think Luceno's portrayal of him was very solid overall. Again I find Luceno's execution lacking, but I thought his origins and the murder of his family were strong choices. The charming manipulation was expected, his flirting however was a very nice surprise. His turn at the end wasn't really set up as well as it could have been, and I thought that moment was very weak, however it very much fits the character on a basic level. A few comments on minor characters. Darth Maul: Having him show up on Palpatine's door step in a basket was jarring. I actually approve of Maul's child/animal-like relationship with Palpatine, I prefer Maul to be nothing more than a mindless weapon, rather than a true Sith Lord in the waiting. Dooku: His portrayal was solid and a nice reminder of what I originally saw in the character in AOTC, but nothing extraordinary. Still, this is the Dooku I was looking for. Sifo-Dyas: He actually impressed me more than any other character in the book. His grounded perspective and foresight were both impressive and believable. Nute Gunray: A very minor character, but I'd like to point out a strange comment from Palpatine that said Gunray was "immune to intimidation". Darth Gravid, Darth Gean and the rest of Bane's line: Only a few mentions, but enough to make me want the rest of Bane's line fleshed out, Gravid and Gean especially. PLOT: Plagueis' near fatal mistakes, the results of the Force striking back, were badly needed moments of drama. Plagueis and Palpatine unbalancing the Force by meditating was lame and just mentioned as an afterthought. The Chosen One basically being Neo and the Force being the Matrix was also tacked on and is terribly frustrating. Luceno's political machinations were as delightfully Machiavellian as ever. However, I think this being a prequel to the prequels made the Grand Plan seem less than amazing because the endgame was a matter of common knowledge. The ending was really weak and even contradictory. The idea itself fits, but was terribly executed. The epilogue was a painfully obvious sledgehammer to the skull, I'm not sure why it was even included. PROSE: Plain. Flat. The nonstop references to other works, even his own, overwhelmed the book, preventing it from being a story of its own. I've already read most of the stuff Luceno referenced, I didn't need it summarized for me again but with Plagueis in the background. It's like Luceno just went "Hey, remember everything that happened before and leading into TPM? Yeah, Plagueis was there for all of it." The book is a collection of Wookieepedia pages, it's an encyclopedia, it's the Essential Chronology leading up to TPM. The obsessive compulsion to reference every bit of EU possible hurt this book far more than it helped, imo. For a character study, I found the lack of emotional content stunning. The intellectual aspects didn't go nearly as deep as I would have liked. The philosophy is something I really look forward to in these kinds of books, but I found it lacking. The Score: This was disappointing. Mind you my expectations probably weren't nearly as high as others, if they were I would have read this long ago. The first 150 pages or so were shockingly dull and the last 50 pages were a bit rushed, with HUGE moments brushed over. What a waste of pages. The only redeeming qualities were Luceno's "bad guy" politics (which are always a million times better than most of the good guy politics, which are usually nothing more than idealists giving sappy speeches) and epic use of continuity. Luceno really manages to make Star Wars feel like one cohesive story, but unfortunately that wasn't enough to make up for the lack of original work here. I would say that there's not a lot of "art" to this book, but I guess Luceno's mastery of continuity is an art form of its own. 7.2/10 This is the second time Luceno has let me down when given such a huge opportunity (the first being Dark Lord), it makes me question his status as the go-to writer for the Sith.
I had trouble slogging through some of the prose even as someone who likes political intrigue. I had that same issue with Cloak of Deception. I liked Plagueis as the wealthy businessman who focuses on Naboo as a place to build his financial empire and milk more profit, and starts out by essentially buying the rulers there. Maybe I'm a cynic but I see far too many real-world parallels here. I also liked the idea that he was a good enough strategist to decide that the Sith would take over again, but in a way that the Jedi would never expect, by infiltrating the political system of the Republic. And he was able to sniff out Palpatine, the college student with the brilliant political mind, heavy resentments towards his family, and cynicism towards those currently in power on Naboo, and use him for his own ends. I really disliked the mad scientist angle with Venamis; the manipulating midichlorians to create life concept is one that I try to excise from my brain when I watch the PT anyway, and I couldn't really tell what the hell Plagueis was trying to do there: create life from cells in test tubes? Keep people alive when they are an inch from death--and if so, to what end? Keep himself alive? On Palpatine--I thought his character was done really well; I felt sorry for him in a couple of places but for the most part he really creeped me out, which I think is the intention. I wish Luceno had pursued why Palpatine only went by his last name though; I assume Lucas himself would have to give Palpatine a first name but that question was still left hanging. His Sith training by Plagueis was really horrifying, with Plagueis making him tell the story over and over again of how he killed his family; leads me to wonder if Palpatine did the same to Anakin, made him retell over and over how he killed the younglings in the Temple and the Separatists on Mustafar until he became as callous to the idea of killing as Vader was in ANH. To me the best part of this novel was how arrogant Plagueis was and how Palpatine out-manipulated him and beat him at his own game every step of the way. The appearance of Maul was one of those, with Palpatine secretly training him as a full Sith while pretending in front of Plagueis that he was only training him as an assassin. One of the best scenes, one in which I was LMAO, was the one with Dooku, Sifo-Dyas, and Qui-Gon, in which Qui-Gon embarrassed the hell out of Dooku by talking back to Plagueis. And the later scene when Plagueis went into completely ape**** panic mode upon learning that Qui-Gon had found the "Chosen One," and ordering Qui-Gon killed immediately, was also fantastic, as was Palpatine's reaction to that news: 'WTF? He spent the night at my place last night and I didn't sense anything.' I know it was left ambiguous as to whether Plagueis "accidentally" created Anakin, but I'm very thankful that Luceno didn't go the route of having Plagueis sneaking into Shmi's hovel and putting some embryonic Anakin science experiment into her uterus. I was afraid that he would. Other background characters: Was King Veruna a ****head or what? Rude personality? Including the Hutts into his political circle? I had felt sorry for him for getting assassinated before I read this novel but no more. Padme's parents running the Refugee Relief Movement: that was no surprise. It's too bad that they were so immune to Palpatine's manipulations but that's true of nearly every character in the next 40 years of the timeline. I thought it was creepy, although not surprising, that Palpatine almost singlehandedly manipulated Padme's ascension to the throne of Naboo. Ronhar Kim: I didn't think he gave a very good impression of the Jedi, made them look cold, and I felt sorry for his father. The ending: Maybe I'm a jerk but I thought it was hilarious. All that arrogance from Plagueis, his assumption that Palpatine was still under his thumb and that he would be Palpatine's Vice Chancellor and continue to tell him what to do behind the scenes--and Palpatine gets him completely wasted and then kills him. Dude, if you're familiar with the Sith Rule of Two, you might want to watch the alcohol consumption around your apprentice. Taking off one point for the prose and two points for the mad scientist angle. 7/10
Reading this right now - 1st EU I've read in ages. LOVE IT and can't wait to come back to this thread to see what everyone else thinks, and to throw my two cents in. Thread followed.
Not to be a buzzkill, but this isn't really a discussion thread. It's strictly a review thread only. Here is the thread for discussion.
