Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader
Apr. 14th, 2006 01:28 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
orangerfulFinished up 'Dark Lord' last night and I think I liked it.
the problem with the prequel novels, especially the ones inbetween movies, is that they really can only go so far with wrapping up the story. We all know that the true ending of these books happens in 'Return of the Jedi' so I was left with that sort of "but I want more!" feeling. I don't think that was Luceno's fault though, it's just how the prequel novels have to be.
That being said, it was pretty fun to read about Anakin/Vader and his new life. The book actually starts a few moments before order 66 is issued. We're introduced to some new Jedi and their clone regiment that does exactly what I said the Republic Commando's from my video game would do - they don't follow order 66 right away. Anyway, so these Jedi get away and the emperor finds out and send Vader to get them.
Vader is in brood mode. He's pissed about his new body, how the suit doesn't work as well as he wished. He's slowly realizing how he was played by Palpatine. And he's also slowly learning how the whole dark side thing works. I found the Vader chapters to be the most interesting - watching him start with a bit of Anakin left and reading as he pretty much pushed any memory of Anakin into the back of his mind and really become Darth Vader.
It's not the best book ever, but it's a quick read. I'm not well-versed in the world of Star Wars novels. I read the original Zahn Trilogy, I think I read the Correlian Trilogy, and I suffered thru a couple Keven J Anderson books and then he killed the whole thing for me. I started reading the novels around the prequels for fun, since Lucas' writing needs all the help it can get and i found the authors tended to understand character a bit more than Lucas and helped make the characters work. And that's what this book does - it makes the Vader we saw at the end of RotS work. We see him introduced to the galaxy as this terror.
Oh, and remember how in 'Clerks' there's that whole conversation about who built the death star and did the rebels kill innocent people? Well, we find out who built the first death star in this book! It's not the geonosians. It's enslaved Wookiees. Hm. Not sure how I feel about that. Chewbacca was not one of them, though, he escapes with the heroes at the end of the story. Still, enslaved Wookiees? Wonder if they kept them around for the Death Star II????
The book ends with Obi-Wan finding out that Vader is alive and well. I was sad because I wanted more Obi-Wan and I could tell I only had 3 pages left! Part of me wants a novel about obi and another part of me wants to leave it all to my imagination. Same with Luke and Leia's upbringing. I'd be curious to read stories of their childhood, but there's something about published fiction vs. fanfiction - when it's published some people really consider it canon and I'd rather it wasn't.
Has anyone else read this book? what did you think?
the problem with the prequel novels, especially the ones inbetween movies, is that they really can only go so far with wrapping up the story. We all know that the true ending of these books happens in 'Return of the Jedi' so I was left with that sort of "but I want more!" feeling. I don't think that was Luceno's fault though, it's just how the prequel novels have to be.
That being said, it was pretty fun to read about Anakin/Vader and his new life. The book actually starts a few moments before order 66 is issued. We're introduced to some new Jedi and their clone regiment that does exactly what I said the Republic Commando's from my video game would do - they don't follow order 66 right away. Anyway, so these Jedi get away and the emperor finds out and send Vader to get them.
Vader is in brood mode. He's pissed about his new body, how the suit doesn't work as well as he wished. He's slowly realizing how he was played by Palpatine. And he's also slowly learning how the whole dark side thing works. I found the Vader chapters to be the most interesting - watching him start with a bit of Anakin left and reading as he pretty much pushed any memory of Anakin into the back of his mind and really become Darth Vader.
It's not the best book ever, but it's a quick read. I'm not well-versed in the world of Star Wars novels. I read the original Zahn Trilogy, I think I read the Correlian Trilogy, and I suffered thru a couple Keven J Anderson books and then he killed the whole thing for me. I started reading the novels around the prequels for fun, since Lucas' writing needs all the help it can get and i found the authors tended to understand character a bit more than Lucas and helped make the characters work. And that's what this book does - it makes the Vader we saw at the end of RotS work. We see him introduced to the galaxy as this terror.
Oh, and remember how in 'Clerks' there's that whole conversation about who built the death star and did the rebels kill innocent people? Well, we find out who built the first death star in this book! It's not the geonosians. It's enslaved Wookiees. Hm. Not sure how I feel about that. Chewbacca was not one of them, though, he escapes with the heroes at the end of the story. Still, enslaved Wookiees? Wonder if they kept them around for the Death Star II????
The book ends with Obi-Wan finding out that Vader is alive and well. I was sad because I wanted more Obi-Wan and I could tell I only had 3 pages left! Part of me wants a novel about obi and another part of me wants to leave it all to my imagination. Same with Luke and Leia's upbringing. I'd be curious to read stories of their childhood, but there's something about published fiction vs. fanfiction - when it's published some people really consider it canon and I'd rather it wasn't.
Has anyone else read this book? what did you think?