Two big bits of book news on the official site today: The title for Drew Karpyshyn’s third Darth Bane novel, Dynasty of Evil, and the blurb for the second Fate of the Jedi book, Christie Golden’s Omen. It contains what looks like some spoilers for the first book, Outcast, so it’s black-barred beneath the cut.
The Jedi Order is in crisis. The late Jacen Solo’s shocking transformation into murderous Sith Lord Darth Caedus has cast a damning pall over those who wield the Force for good. Two Jedi Knights have succumbed to an inexplicable and dangerous psychosis. Criminal charges have driven Luke Skywalker into self-imposed exile. And power-hungry Chief of State Natasi Daala is exploiting anti-Jedi sentiment to undermine the Order’s influence within the Galactic Alliance.
Forbidden to intervene in Jedi affairs, Luke is on a desperate mission to uncover the truth behind Jacen’s fall to the dark side — and to learn what’s turning peaceful Jedi into raving lunatics. But finding answers will mean venturing into the mind-bending space of the Kathol Rift, and bargaining with an alien species as likely to destroy outsiders as deal with them. Still, there is no other choice and no time to lose, as the catastrophic events on Coruscant continue to escalate. Stricken by the same violent dementia that infected her brother, Valin, Jedi Knight Jysella Horn faces an equally grim fate after her capture by Daala’s police. And when Han and Leia Solo narrowly foil another deranged Jedi bent on deadly destruction, even acting Grand Master Kenth Hamner appears willing to bow to Daala’s iron will — at the expense of the Jedi Order.
But an even greater threat is looming. Millennia in the past, a Sith starship crashed on an unknown, low-tech planet, leaving the survivors stranded. Over the generations, their numbers have grown anew, the ways of the dark side have been nurtured, and the time is fast approaching when this lost tribe of Sith will once more take to the stars to reclaim their legendary destiny as rulers of the galaxy. Only one thing stands in their way to dominance, a name whispered to them through the Force: Skywalker.
I don’t know why they keep releasing Darth Bane books.
Clearly someone is reading them.
But WHO?
KOTOR fans, I suspect.
How often do we get a book whose hero is in fact a villain? Nobody ever roots for the villain, maybe the Darth Bane books are trying to change that. I for one enjoy them for that very reason. The story does seem a little weak sometimes, but Karpyshyn isn’t a full-time novelist, he works for a game developer. I say cut the the Bane books some slack and give them a chance; maybe we’ll get a nice surprise in the end.
Wait… are they saying that they’ve retconned things so Jacen went crazy evil due to an attack of a Gun of Command-typel plot device? Because that’s how this reads to me.
God I hope not. That would be annoying beyond reason.
I cringed when I read the above comments. Karpyshyn is my favourite of all Star Wars authors, his style is unique. The Bane story lines are far far more compelling than the whole Jacen story line drivel where I can read an entire novel and not be able to recall one piece of action.
Darth Bane is the most developed character in the entire series imo. These novels are far better written than many other Star Wars ones.
Power to Karpyshyn I say.
Zarath, Kizzik: Um. No one was all that harsh, by any means.
I think the other commentators are movie-era fans. (I for one don’t even read the PT EU: Mainly OT/post-ROTJ.) I don’t really see the appeal of Bane, but I did get Karpyshyn’s first SW book from the library on a whim. I don’t regret reading it, and it certainly wasn’t the worst SW novel I’ve ever read… But overall it’s not really a era I’m interested in.
Plenty of others feel the same, and disinterest is not a personal slight against anyone. There are clearly plenty of Bane fans out there, or they wouldn’t have greenlit a second or third hardcover.