Luceno, James: Star Wars: Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader
Star Wars: Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader (2005)
Written by: James Luceno
Genre: Science Fiction
Pages: 322 (Hardcover)
Series: Star Wars
Why I Read It: I'm on a mission to catch up on all the Star Wars Expanded Universe novels that I missed since late 2005. The first step is to read all of the books I bought but never read, and then once I catch up with those, I'll go and buy the books I missed and then read those. Whatever happens with the movies now that Disney's in charge, Star Wars was my first SF-nal love, and I've missed these books and these characters.
The premise: ganked from BN.com: Throughout the galaxy, it was believed that Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker-the Chosen One-had died on Coruscant during the siege of the Jedi Temple. And, to some extent, that was true. Anakin was dead.
From the site of Anakin Skywalker’s last stand-on the molten surface of the planet Mustafar, where he sought to destroy his friend and former master, Obi-Wan Kenobi-a fearsome specter in black has risen. Once the most powerful Knight ever known to the Jedi Order, he is now a disciple of the dark side, a lord of the dreaded Sith, and the avenging right hand of the galaxy’s ruthless new Emperor. Seduced, deranged, and destroyed by the machinations of the Dark Lord Sidious, Anakin Skywalker is dead . . . and Darth Vader lives.
Word of the events that created him-the Jedi Council’s failed mutiny against Supreme Chancellor Palpatine, the self-crowned Emperor’s retaliatory command to exterminate the Jedi Order, and Anakin’s massacre of his comrades and Masters in the Jedi Temple-has yet to reach all quarters. On the Outer Rim world of Murkhana, Jedi Masters Roan Shryne and Bol Chatak and Padawan Olee Starstone are leading a charge on a Separatist stronghold, unaware that the tide, red with Jedi blood, has turned suddenly against them.
When the three narrowly elude execution-and become the desperate prey in a hunt across space-it’s neither clone soldiers, nor the newly deployed stormtroopers, nor even the wrath of the power-hungry Emperor himself they must fear most. The deadliest threat rests in the hideously swift and lethal crimson lightsaber of Darth Vader-behind whose brooding mask lies a shattered heart, a poisoned soul, and a cunning, twisted mind hell-bent on vengeance.
For the handful of scattered Jedi, survival is imperative if the light side of the Force is to be protected and the galaxy somehow, someday reclaimed. Yet more important still is the well-being of the twin infants, Leia and Luke Skywalker, the children of Anakin and his doomed bride, Padmé Amidala. Separated after Padmé’s death, they must be made safe at all costs, lest the hope they represent for the future be turned to horror by the new Sith regime -- and the unspeakable power of the dark side.
Spoilers, yay or nay?: Yay. And I also want to point out: there will be spoilers, at any given moment, for the entire run of Star Wars books up until the date the current book was published. So if the Star Wars are something you want to get into, stop now and read THIS instead. I don't recommend anyone reading this review unless they've read the book I'm reviewing now, due to aforementioned spoilers, so stop now or -- if you have read the book -- carry on!
Discussion: I knew reading this one would be interesting. It's a self-billed, must-read sequel to Revenge of the Sith, and let's be honest, in my mind, the TRUE sequel is A New Hope. But the idea of seeing Vader rise to power once he becomes Vader was an interesting one, and I was curious to see what Luceno had to offer.
The book picks up right before that fateful moment when Order 66 is issued. We watch as a group of Jedi Knights handle a dispute along with their Clone Troopers, and we get to know each Jedi a bit before the order is given. But something surprising happens: one squad refuses to accept the order, as it seems at odds with their mandate: to serve the Jedi in preserving the Republic. This allows three Jedi to escape, and news of the escape reaches Vader, who's tasked to put the Clone Troopers in their place.
On one hand, you wouldn't think this would be a very interesting conflict. After all, we know, based on the movies, who survives Vader's purge: Obi-Wan and Yoda. But the books have always found a way around that -- people who were Force sensitive but never taken by the Temple, people who were born after the purge who had the gift. So it was a curious wonder to see who among these previously anonymous Jedi would survive, if any. After all, this book is called The Rise of Darth Vader. It would stand to reason that Vader would kill every Jedi in his path.
Yet, while this is about Vader coming into his power as a Sith -- something I thought previously accomplished in Revenge of the Sith -- it's really about the remaining Jedi who are struggling to stay alive and trying to find their place in the world. Our hero, Roan Shryne, has always had a slightly tumultuous relationship with the Jedi. He's a good Jedi, but he turned down his original position in Acquisition (being the one who takes Force-sensitive children from their families) and has been doing less-than-glamorous jobs for the Council ever since. He's lost two Padawans to the war, and he's not looking to lose a third. Joining him are Bol Chatak (who is not long for this world) and her Padawan Olee Starstone, who kind of becomes Shryne's Padawan by default, and who's more devoted to the order than anyone. She believes they can still save and preserve the Jedi Order; Shryne feels like there was a reason the beacon was telling all the Jedi to run away and hide.
Compounding this conflict is the utter and sheer coincidence (though it plays out nicely) that the smugglers who are hired to take him and Starstone out of harm's way are led by a woman, Jula, who happens to be Shryne's mother. That was quite a lovely twist. We see all the angst of Anakin being taken away from his mother in the movies, but we really never get a chance to delve into the concept outside of Anakin's clearly doomed fate: does attachment truly lead to the dark side? I never wondered what it would be like to never know your parents (and know you weren't supposed to) and then suddenly meet them, but now that I've had this carrot, I want more! I want to see Obi-Wan run into a relative! I want Luke Skywalker to meet a descendent of a famous Jedi (obviously, not a DIRECT descendent… more like, "Hey, I'm Obi-Wan's nephew, yo). It's a great conflict, one I wish could've been explored more, but the text divides its time between Shryne and his decision to join his mother's band of smugglers, Starstone's attempts to round up fugitive Jedi and keep them safe, and of course, Vader's struggles in adapting his body and his Force abilities to this god-awful, bulky, not-very-well put-together suit he has to wear. Oh, and learning how to become a Sith while reconciling the fact he's been manipulated from the start. And hunting missing Jedi. You get the idea.
Starstone's story is pretty straight-forward: she manages to rescue a handful of Jedi, only to land them into EPIC TROUBLE on Kashyyyk, home of the Wookies, where we learn how the entire race was enslaved by the Empire (thanks, Tarkin and Vader!). We meet Chewbacca, and for a moment I was certain we'd see him get captured, but he escapes to live another day before he will get captured and then rescued by Han. But Wookies building the Death Star? Nice touch.
Vader's story was both interesting and trying. Interesting because I assumed he'd be in the mindset I expect from A New Hope, but not so much. Anakin is grieving, and he's having a horrible time adjusting to this suit that keeps him alive. Sometimes I sympathized, and other times, I wanted him to shove a sock in it and move on. I think that's the one central conflict about Vader, especially in how you regard him. With the original trilogy, it was easy to see him as a villain who ended up redeemed. In the prequel trilogy, we learn his path to the dark side was paved with love. Everything he did, he did out of love (unless it was hate against those who hurt those he loved), and so how do we go from that hot-headed teen boy who loved his wife so deeply that he'd literally kill for her, to a man who's nothing but a villain?
I suppose that's the tragedy of Vader. One can imagine he has to harden himself, to turn off those emotions that threaten to overwhelm him. Certainly, he starts to see his time as Anakin as something that happened to someone else, all the while learning how to use the dark side as his sole and constant companion to replace the one he should've had, but lost. And I think my feelings that there's something OFF about the whole transition has more to do with how the films portrayed the character and his arc than anything Luceno's doing to smooth things over. Certainly, I was interested in getting into the Emperor's head, to learn how he manipulated events from the start, including Anakin's and Padme's relationship (weird…. I'd rather that be their own mistake, but hey, if they're pushed together in situations that make them fall in love, well….).
And an aside: I really liked Bail Organa's sections, seeing what he was doing in order to protect Princess Leia, especially once he learns who Vader really is.
Some fun tidbits, most toward the end: Mon Mothma playing with infant Leia. Fans of the EU should be delighted by THAT little scene. Also grin-worthy was the very end, when Starstone's rescued Jedi talk about what they're going to do to fight the Empire. A handful of them plan on getting hired on construction projects, so they can design as many flaws as possible into the Empire's designs. Nice.
Also chuckle-worthy, in a bad way, was the explanation of how holocrons worked. Apparently, they are only accessible to those "highly evolved in the use of the Force" (page 176). Ooops. I bet the author of Star Wars: Galaxies: The Ruins of Dantooine wishes she'd known that ahead of time, eh?
Lastly, a quote. It's from a scene where Vader is essentially breaking down, mentally, what he's been reduced to. After a while, it feels a little melodramatic, but this section was pretty good (page 60):
All in all, he thought: This is not living.
This was solitary confinement. Prison of the worst sort. Continual torture. He was nothing more than wreckage. Power without clear purpose…
My Rating: 6 - Worth Reading, with Reservations
It starts off REALLY good and really promising, but as I read, I found myself struggling just a bit with Vader himself. This book is about transitioning him from the remaining vestiges of Anakin Skywalker to the villain we all know and love (and love to hate) in the original trilogy. At times, his introspection is really powerful. At other times, it's a wee bit too melodramatic. Maybe that's why the Anakin part of him needs to go: the melodrama. At any rate, it's was an overall enjoyable read, one that's a great starting point for any reader who is interested in the prequel era but only has the prequel movies under their belt. Star Wars: Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader is a sequel to Revenge of the Sith, and there's fun cameos to boot.
Cover Commentary: Not bad. The title and the cover makes one think the book is about NOTHING but Vader, and that's not true. It's a shame we couldn't get a painted scene from the book, but from a marketing standpoint, it was probably better to show the one bad-ass character EVERYONE knows rather than a bunch of people we don't with Vader looming in the background.
Next up: Seraphina by Rachel Hartman