Star Wars: Darth Plagueis

For me, Star Wars novels are often hit or miss. Some are really good; others less so. This one was definitely very good. Even though I know where events in the Star Wars universe were going by the end of the novel, I still wanted to keep on reading. I did not really want it to end, and that right there earns it the five stars for me.

You really get two stories in this novel. You get the story of Darth Plagueis, and you get the story of his apprentice, Darth Sidious, also known as Palpatine, whom fans already know will become the Emperor. You also get a lot of political intrigue. This is not a novel heavy on battles and lightsaber duels. You get a lot of behind the scenes deals and events, which explain how the Sith managed to rise to power. They figured out the need to use less brute force and more political muscle and finesse. Plagueis gets Palpatine to be the political public face while Plagueis manipulates things from behind the scenes. And the game is coming to an end as the Sith feel the dark side of the Force ascending; the time is at hand.

The novel does explain a lot about the Star Wars universe and how things led to Episode One. While I have seen other reviewers say it reveals too much (or that it breaks the illusion), I think the novel does it just right. You wondered how the Clone Army came about? You will get answers here? The deal with the Trade Federation blocking Naboo? That is here too, and there is a lot more. Plus Plagueis is a compelling character. He is trying to use the Force to figure out how to stay alive forever. Will he be the one to end the Rule of Two once and for all? Well, we kind of know how things turn out (if you seen the films, you know), and yet at times you wonder if he will actually be able to accomplish his plans. And there I think lies a lot of the strength in the book. Sure, you may know where events lead, but you still want to know, and at times, you even wonder what if.

I definitely recommend this one to Star Wars fans.

Set before the events of Episode one, Darth Plagueis takes the reader through the behind the scenes setup that foreshadows the prequel movies. In it we see Plagueis, Palpatine's master, rise to power, the training of Palpatine, and ultimately the rise of Palpatine to the position of power and influence that we see in Episode 1.

Darth Plagueis did two things that I didn't thing the EU could do, and it does them well.

First, while it does not redeem all of aspects of the prequel movies, it does tie many of the desperate elements together. Through the eyes of Plagueis and Palpatine we see the events unfold and answer many of the unasked/unanswered questions from the movies themselves and the EU as a whole. How was Palpatine trained, Who was Darth Maul, How was the Old Republic engineered fall, How does the Rule of Two affect the Sith through the thousand years from Bane to Palpatine? These and many more are revealed and explained within this novel.

Second, and most starlings, the novel uses the dreaded plot device (midichlorians) in a way that doesn’t make me hate it. [This will likely be a hot topic for diehard fans, but my recommendation is that they read the book before unleashing hate for the topic.] In the novel, Plagueis is Sith Sorcerer working on methods of extending his own life indefinitely through the force. Through well written experimentation and revelation the reader is given a much more palatable explanation for the relationship between midichlorians and the Force, and possible alternate causes for Anakin’s “miraculous” conception through the Force.
For all these reasons and more I recommend Darth Plagueis

**As a side note I got my copy of Darth Plagueis through a GoodReads contest for preview/review copies. So thanks to GoodReads for facilitating my enjoyment of this novel.