Star Wars Darth Plagueis
By James Luceno
Reviewed by Brian Schell
I listened to the audio version of Darth Plagueis, read by Daniel Davis (Random House Audio, 14 hours and 49 minutes).
"Did you ever hear the Tragedy of Darth Plagueis the Wise? It's a Sith legend. Darth Plagueis was a Dark Lord of the Sith, so powerful and so wise that he could use the Force to influence the midichlorians to create life. He had such a knowledge of the dark side that he could even keep the ones he cared about from dying." -Supreme Chancellor Palpatine, Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith
The first half of the book begins around 40 years before the Battle of Yavin, and focuses on Hego Damask. Damask is a wealthy banker, a member of the Interstellar Banking Clan and wealthy, behind-the-scenes political manipulator. In secret, he is also Darth Plagueis, a Sith Lord. The early portion of the book covers his initiation into the Sith and his own training with Sith Lord Darth Tenebrous. As can be expected, Plagueis soon becomes a Sith Master in his own right. As is the way of these things, he eventually meets a young man named Palpatine, whom Plagueis senses has more than a little hidden Force power within him.
The second half of the book moves to Palpatine’s point of view, and focuses on the politics and dealings that would eventually win him the office of Senator and then become Supreme Chancellor in Episode I. About the last twenty percent of the book actually takes place during the first of the prequel movies, and tells that story story from the villains’ points of view.
Looking back at the Star Wars prequel movies, part of the reason they were so… unsatisfying was that there were so many unanswered questions and plot points that either made no sense or were simply left hanging. Within this book, you’ll find clear answers to all of the following:
Who was Anakin’s father?
Anakin was conceived by the Force… What?
What’s the full story behind Darth Maul?
Where was Count Dooku during Episode I?
What were the events leading up to what we saw in Episode I?
Why did Master Sifo-Dyas order all those clones from Episode II… and who paid for all that?
How much of the “Plagueis Story” from Episode III was true, and how did that all go down?
Did Palpatine learn the lifesaving techniques Plagues was said to have?
Of course, the book is non-canonical, but it was very entertaining, and since this is not likely a story we’ll ever see on the big screen, the explanations for all these questions given here are as resolved as they’re ever likely to get.
It was a fun read that didn’t drag. The story moved from point to point quickly and included enough material from the movies and other sources to make it clear exactly when everything was taking place, and just enough names were dropped from other media to bring a smile.
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