Reviews Books The JC Lit Reviews Special: DARTH PLAGUEIS (spoilers)

The book was fantastic all around. It had great prose, dialogue, plot, characterization and provides a lot of context for the events that happen in the prequels. There isn't more I can say hasn't already been said by others in the thread already. It was so engaging that I think I actually read the entire book in one sitting. A great introduction for me to start reading books set in the prequel era.

10/10

 

Average score: 481.62/53 = 9.09

 

"We're not living in an age of giants, Sidious. But to succeed we must become as beasts."

Darth Plagueis was truly a treat to read and a highly recommended, if not required, reading material for fans of the Sith and the Darker aspects of Star Wars. The story is written in an engaging manner and contains many insights on the nature of the Banite Sith, their goals, and the often subtle machinations used to steel the Republic and the Jedi Order toward their inevitable doom. While the title would suggest a character study of Darth Sidious' enigmatic Master, a good portion (nearly half) of the novel covers events from the third-person perspective of Sidious himself. Opening right off the bat following the death of Plagueis at the hands of his apprentice, the novel begins more than three decades before the Battle of Naboo, with Plagueis successfully slaying his Master Tenebrous following a mission to the remote Outer Rim world of Bal'demnic. It ends with Plagueis' death at Sidious' hands, coming full circle. TL;DR at the bottom paragraph.

I found the parts focusing on Plagueis to be the most interesting parts of the novel. His studies on the midi-chlorians, in which he was trying to manipulate them in such a way as to discover a means to cheat death and achieve immortality; his vast knowledge of arcane and ancient Sith history; his deep-seated delving into galactic politics as his public persona of Hego Damask, Magister of Damask Holdings and one of the galaxy's most influential and wealthy Muuns; and perhaps most of all, his relationship with Sidious and his desire to bring the Grand Plan to fruition while sharing power with his apprentice in the new Sith Empire, a sentiment that would prove fatally mistaken.

On the first point, I found Luceno's writing on the midi-chlorians to be an excellent use of a rather unpopular and controversial aspect of the prequels to actually make the concept itself extremely interesting, while retaining the mystery and more nebulous aspects of the Force. Plagueis' ability to manipulate midi-chlorians, to coax them to follow his malevolent will, with his studies ultimately geared toward achieving immortality, the ability to keep others from dying, and eventually toward creating Forceful beings were to me some of the most interesting elements of the novel. The first part of the novel does a good job of describing Plagueis' abilities and the second part further elaborates on his various Dark Side experiments in Aborah and Sojourn, including his #1 test subject, Tenebrous' secret apprentice, Darth Venamis, who would be instrumental to Plagueis' eventual success in manipulating the midi-chlorians to prevent another being from dying. Those passages that delved deeply into Plagueis' studies of the Force, in his role of Sith "mad scientist", were to me some of the book's most fascinating details.

Plagueis' vast knowledge of ancient Sith history highlights one of Luceno's greatest strengths in the novel: his virtually encyclopedic knowledge of the EU and his ability to tie continuity tightly and seamlessly together, while introducing them to new readers in a way that (for the most part) doesn't detract from the overall story but ultimately adds to it. I loved all the references made to various Sith characters of the ancient past and the Old Republic eras, be they Freedon Nadd, Vitiate, Darth Bane and Zannah, even lesser known Sith Lords like Belia Darzu. I especially liked the introduction of Darth Gravid as a Sith Lord who tried to incorporate Jedi Light Side teachings but in the end nearly ended up costing the Bane line dearly by destroying a good chunk of ancient Sith knowledge, much of which would be lost to history. Plagueis' vast repositories of Sith knowledge would be a source of Sidious' desire to learn and achieve the ultimate power of the Sith. Luceno's grasp of continuity would both strengthen and hamper the story, however, as there were times where the novel would get bogged down by exposition related to other works set in the prequel era, like his own Cloak of Deception and the various Darth Maul stories. These issues tended to crop up later on the novel, as it sets up the events leading to The Phantom Menace.

The political aspects of the novel were also very strong, with Plagueis' public persona of Magister Hego Damask manipulating and shaping galactic events such that he and his apprentice could rise to power. Even action was meant to foment distrust and discontent in the Republic amongst its citizens, stirring conflicts in the Outer Rim while encouraging corruption and decadence in the Senate and the rest of the government in the Core Worlds. The Gatherings at Sojourn to me seemed like meetings between members of the Illuminati in the real world (as described by those who believe they exist), where the key players had great influence in shaping major galactic events. Here we see familiar characters like the Hutt crimelords Gardulla and Jabba Desilijic Tiure himself. But where the political machinations really takes off is after Plagueis meets a young Palpatine. A kindred spirit, extremely potent in the Force and even more scheming and manipulative as Plagueis, Palpatine would be the impetus, the final puzzle piece, Plagueis realized would allow the ultimate goal of Grand Plan to be achieved within his lifetime. Palpatine's charisma and political skill would eventually allow him to become Supreme Chancellor, while Plagueis would be the one behind Sidious once the Republic was overthrown. But unbeknownst to him, Sidious had his own plans for power...

The book begins to focus more on Palpatine/Sidious starting in Part 2, and takes the time to explore events in his perspective, following a couple of time skips detailing important events that set up the prequel films well. Starting with the murder of his whole family which completed his seduction to the Dark Side, and later his rise into politics as the ambassador of Naboo, and eventual Senator, following the assassination of the previous one. All the while both Sidious and Plagueis must contend with political opponents desiring to eliminate them permanently. There were moments where both got to display their awesome powers and mastery of the Force, and those scenes were definite highlights. Throughout the book, the political landscape was subtly being shaped to what would occur in TPM. Sidious himself even meets Nute Gunray for the first time and positions him as the leader of the Trade Federation.

I also liked a number of cameos from other Force users, like Dooku as a Jedi Master, Qui-Gon Jinn, and Sifo-Dyas. Dooku’s appearances were interesting, though I felt that they focused a bit too heavily on his growing discontent with the Order to the detriment of what could have been other, more positive qualities. However, Sifo-Dyas’ appearance was more intriguing. Apparently, it was Damask who manipulated the Jedi Master into eventually ordering the clone army, first through initial suggestions of the growing conflicts in the Outer Rim and the potentially emerging threats from without, and then bringing up the cloners at Kamino. I didn’t really like how easily manipulated Sifo-Dyas was, after only two conversations spaced a couple of decades apart. But it made sense that he would seek out a Jedi who voiced concerns about the direction the Republic went to manipulate. I also enjoyed the introduction of Darth Maul, who was given to Palpatine as an infant by the Nightsister Kycina when the Sith Lord was visiting Dathomir. Maul is described as little more than a highly trained Sith assassin, rather than a true Sith apprentice though, which I didn’t really like. It’s clear from TCW’s characterization of Maul that Sidious did train him to be a truly diabolical, scheming Sith-wannabe.

With Palpatine’s Supreme Chancellor-hood in sight, Plagueis decides to celebrate his apprentice’s inevitable victory against Valorum, he makes the key mistake of getting drunk and sleeping for the first time in years, while his apprentice drones on and on with his acceptance speech. It is then that Sidious finally makes his move against his Master, evoking the sacred tenet of the Rule of Two that Plagueis intended to abolish: that the apprentice must always kill the Master when the time is right. Through this pivotal scene, Sidious engages in a villainous monologue, a Hannibal Lecture, claiming that it was he who influenced Plagueis and manipulated his Master into doing everything he desired. “Everything has transpired according to my design” and all that jazz. I felt the ending was a bit weak thanks to the lack of setup; everything Sidious says clashes with what he “thinks” throughout the novel, but Luceno did attempt to maintain the future Emperor’s aura of sinister mystique and didn’t delve too deeply into his mind throughout; he innermost thoughts remain hidden from even the omniscient narrator. It does fit his into his film characterization as an insidious schemer, the one destined to complete the Sith Grand Plan and transcend all limits, like the legendary Sith’ari.

Wow, I just realized I wrote a ridiculously long wall of text. TL;DR: In short, I found Darth Plagueis to be an fantastic novel that covered many aspects of the Rise of the Empire era that lead seamlessly into the prequel films, and provides the setup for the Clone Wars and the rise of Palpatine from simple beginnings to eventually become the most powerful man in the galaxy. It’s a novel not without flaws, such as sometimes being bogged down from excessive exposition and a number of character appearances and characterizations that may have been a little out of place, but for the most part the prose was superb and the text was engaging; it was a good read. I’d ultimately give this novel a 9.5/10.

 

Average score: 491.12/54 = 9.09

 

Darth Plagueis answers many questions. It reveals Palpatine's backstory and the truth about Sifo-Dyas and the Palpatine face debate is settled.