What is this book about?
Thousands of years before the rise of Darth Sidious and Darth Vader, the Old Republic was rife with the evil Sith, who were a constant thorn in the side of the Jedi. But greed and hunger for power were eating away at the Sith Order, destroying it from within. In the midst of this rose a new Sith, Darth Bane, who recognized that the Sith Order would fall if nothing was done. Thus it was he who, learning to cultivate patience and cunning, hid from the strife until it was over, and then rose to become the most powerful Sith Lord ever.
This is the story of the transformation of Des, a young miner, into the legendary Sith Lord Darth Bane. Des - like many of the disenfranchised who live on the Outer Rim - is disillusioned with the stagnancy of the Old Republic. When the Sith unite to bring the Republic down, Des is one of many to join their cause. His heroism and skill in battle - along with his remarkable connection to the Force - draw the notice of the Sith Masters, and Des eventually finds himself studying at the Sith Academy on Korriban. He takes the name of Bane and, amidst the deception and back-stabbing of the other students, he learns to unlock his latent dark-side talents. As his power grows, Bane realizes the Sith have lost their way. Under the leadership of Lord Kaan and his Brotherhood of Darkness, the Sith have turned their back on the true nature of the dark side. Through manipulation, cunning and strength, Bane destroys Kaan's Brotherhood and wipes out all the other Sith so he can found a new Order based on the rule of two: one Master, one apprentice.
A short review:
I really enjoyed reading this book as it gives a deeper insight into the lore of Star Wars. It was especially fascinating to dive deeper into the history of the Sith and how they came to be as we know them in the movies.
Drew Karpyshyn also does an amazing job at expanding Star Wars’ environmental world building. From Ruusan’s lush forests to Korriban’s desolate wastelands it was a treat to read about each new planet and picture it in my mind.
The characters are interesting, and even though they are the bad guys in the Star Wars Universe, it’s still a lot of fun to follow them through the story.
What I especially liked:
I really liked the characters, and it was particularly interesting to follow the main character’s journey from Des the miner to becoming Bane the apprentice to finally turning into Darth Bane, Dark Lord of the Sith.
What I didn’t particularly like:
When writing a story, it is important to give your characters obstacles to overcome, however in this case I found some of those obstacles Bane has to overcome tedious to get through and I wasn’t sure all of them really served his character arc.
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