Ah, another poorly written, content lacking book review. Aren't we all so excited? I can just feel the ecstasy...
So, as many of you (should) know, Darth Plagueis was the Sith Master of Darth Sidious/Palpatine, the one time senator turned supreme chancellor turned emperor of the galaxy.
The first mention of Darth Plagueis is in Star Wars: Episode III Revenge Of The Sith, when Chancellor Palpatine tells Anakin Skywalker the story of Plagueis and his demise.
If you want the long version of my review, where I describe events and certain parts of the book, stick around, I'll give it. If you want the short version, where I give just my blunt and short opinion of how the book was written, you are going to need to skip to the end where the red line is. Or just suffer through this. SUFFER. I mean it. If you don't want to skip to the end...SUFFER. It's your decision anyway.
Down to the review:
This book does something that I have only seen in a few others; it starts out with the 'ending' so to speak.
You know the outcome of the book by reading the prologue, and this does two things that I can see. It drains the whole mystery of the story for me, even though we hear about what happens in Revenge Of The Sith.
Also, it simply doesn't seem to fit right. I mean, who knows, it may be the new thing in a few years, but right now, it doesn't work that well. If they plan to do this more, they need to work on the presentation.
When you reach the first chapter, you get a taste of action right off the bat.
Starting with Plagueis and his master Tenebrous supervising a mining operation being done by some droid miners, when something goes wrong with the droids where they stop obeying the commands being sent by the control station, and keep drilling towards a pocket of volatile gas that has the potential to destroy the entire facility. Having realized they have no chance of stopping said droids, they start running to escape through a series of tunnels when the gas ignites and creates a massive explosion, causing some damage. Plagueis seizes his chance and brings the ceiling down upon his Bith master, mortally wounding him. Thus ending Plagueis's reign as a Sith apprentice, and propelling him into the position of master-to-be.
From then on, the book focuses on Plagueis escaping the planet they were stranded on(Their ship was destroyed in the explosion) and finding his way to Muun where his alter ego Hego Damask resided as the influential business owner of Damask Holdings, and finally starting the search for an apprentice of his own.
On his mission he, to his shock and chagrin, encounters another Sith apprentice trained by Tenebrous, a Bith named Venamis. After defeating Venamis, Plagueis takes him to a laboratory where he puts the Sith wannabe in stasis for a study on midichlorians.
After his encounter with Venamis, Plagueis starts hunting down other force sensitive beings and putting them in his laboratory for additional study on his quest for eternal life.
Morbid. Awful. Downright creepy. Yep, he's a Sith alright...
So after a long while of searching for a powerful enough being to become his apprentice and eventual successor, he meets Palpatine.
Palpatine, still in the Politics For Dummies Academy, was not aware of his Force sensitivity, although he was able to inadvertently use it to sway debates his way, and use it to help him with the all around political junk.
Being somehow attracted to the political genius of this young man, Plagueis continued to interact with Palpatine, slowly drawing more of the politician-in-training out of his shell.
However, Palpatine's father did not approve of Plagueis, even going so far as to lightly threaten the Sith.
Palpatine's relationship with his father was not a good one, for there were major differences in political opinions and the like, and this sparked many arguments that got more heated as the years went by.
Ah, finally we reach the turning point. The point that every Sith must sacrifice something they love.
A mysterious(yeah right) circumstance ended up switching Palpatine's flight plan, and putting him on the private shuttle his family was on.
After a escalated fight with his father, Palpatine then proceeded to murder everyone on the ship with the Force. Blunt, I know, but that is what happened. His entire family, murdered by his powerful rage.
Initially, Palpatine was horrified at what he had done, and started to panic. He needed help.
Who do you think the first person he contacted was? Yep, that's right, Plagueis.
After calming Palpatine down, Plagueis set a rendezvous for them to meet 'soon'.
A week later, the two finally met and started talking. Plagueis eventually revealed that he was Sith, and that he had high expectations for Palpatine. He then gave Palpatine his Sith name: Darth Sidious.
The book then goes on to detail some of Sidious's training on various worlds in various situations, leading up to halfway in The Phantom Menace where Plagueis is finally killed. I know, if you are like me, you are probably shocked that Plagueis was alive during that time! Good stuff...
This review is getting very long as I am mostly just explaining the events. I think I will start giving my opinion and explaining some of the writing style.(Red line time)
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If I was to give this book a rating up to 5 stars, I would give this a 2-3. Let me explain why.
From the very start, even with the action it introduced, it was heavily political. They took time to explain every detail of every political situation(And believe me, there were plenty of those...), there was a lot of talking and debating which, for me, kind of took away from the enjoyment.
I think that the politics were necessary, but to a point. They carried it on way too much, and pretty much destroyed the enjoyment value.
Although you can argue that it adds a massive amount to the story, which it does, but like I said, the politics bleed a lot of the enjoyment out of it.
I still recommend this book if you plan on borrowing it, and if you are a die hard fan, well, go ahead and buy it if you must. It will look cool on the shelf if nothing else.
Well, there you have it folks. The longest blog post I have ever written, and probably the dullest. Sorry about that, but at least you have the red line! Hmm, that might be something I will include in posts down the road...
Thanks for getting this far! And if you skipped...well...go back and suffer. :D
Wilson 1.
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