Star Wars: Dark Lord - The Rise of Darth Vader [Paperback]

I have to say that I am a big fan of James Luceno. He is probably one of my favourite authors and he once again does credit to the Expanded Universe. This has to be one of the best books I have read for a long time

I thought this book was an excellent sequal to Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. I thought it was a very well written book and I liked the way that James Luceno focused on how Darth vader struggled in the early days in the suit.

The only thing I didn't like about the book was the way that the main Jedi characters survived Order 66. Personally I think that he could have come up with a better plot than he did. I also found the Jedi characters a little week but not enough to spoil what was essentially a good read! Definately five stars for me!

Having been rapt by James Luceno's staggering lead-in to "Revenge of the Sith," "Labyrinth of Evil," and Matthew Stover's even better novelisation of the movie itself, I awaited the release of this loose-fitting trilogy's final chapter with bated breath. At last, we would be given a telling glimpse beneath the mask of Darth Vader. At last, we would pay witness to the notorious 'Jedi Purge' that followed the dawn of Palpatine's Galactic Empire. At last, the gulf between the two "Star Wars" trilogies would be bridged with "Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader" - a title that promised more than the total sum of "Star Wars" spin-off literature that preceded it.

My first reaction to this book was one of passionate frustration. The eponymous Sith Lord is absent from the narrative for great swathes of the action, Luceno instead focusing on his surviving troupe of Jedi: Bol Chatak, padawan Olee Starstone and her master, the book's real protagonist, Roan Shryne. There is little more to the plot than watching these Jedi learn of their fellows' fate, struggle to come to terms with it, and then seek to avoid the same for themselves, while in the background Vader struggles to accept the limitations imposed on him by his recent injuries.

Pleasingly though, when Luceno does delve into Vader's thoughts and feelings, he does so incisively. Sparse though they are, the passages of this book that deal with Vader's struggle to free himself of Anakin Skywalker and harness the power of the shadows that shroud him are masterfully written. Luceno devotes considerable chunks of prose to Vader's gradual acceptance of his mechanical limbs and life support suit; he even delves into the Dark Lord's built-in colostomy bags and details the daily, painful skin-scrapings that he must endure. There is an agonising moment when Vader looks up at the deformed remnants of his new master and asks "Are these the faces of victory?", bringing the trappings of the dark side into sharp focus.

The novel also makes good on its promise to depict Vader's rise. When we are first reunited with Vader around fifty pages in, he is still the lumbering, self-recriminating half-mechanical monster that woke up on Palpatine's operating table. Barely able to walk on his new legs without calling upon the Force for support, this Vader isn't even a shadow of the dominant force that we remember from the original trilogy. By the book's end, though, Vader has truly mastered the dark side of the Force; it has become "his bride," his new fixation. When he finally duels with Shryne on Kashyyyk, he appears invincible.

Devotees of the saga will also find it hard not to take pleasure in some of Luceno's shamelessly fan-pleasing vignettes. The author offers illicit glimpses into the Empire's early days, subtly noting the inception of the 'Grand Moffs,' the enlistment of storm troopers to replace the increasingly unreliable clones, and even the transformation of the Loyalist Committee into the Rebellion. I found Vader's dealings with Bail Organa particularly enlightening as Luceno shares both men's reflections on them, and for many the book's closing Ben Kenobi and Qui-Gon Jinn cameo will vindicate the purchase in of itself.

Of course, none of this makes up for the dearth of plot, which is ultimately where "Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader" falls down. With a shift of emphasis and a more regimented storyline, this one could have been up amongst the greatest "Star Wars" novels ever written - instead, I'm afraid that it ranks amongst the most maddening.

A great review of what happened in Vader's jedi purge. On how Anakin Skywalker and Darth Vader will fight each other to finally show which one will remain in de big black-coated man's shell. On how the dark side finally consumes what remains of Ani...

A to-have sequel of episode III, with references to the way Darth Bane had opened 1000 years ago. Some references too to the Darth Sidious - Palpatine game behind the scene, and to the relations between Emperor, Vader and Tarkin.