TOPIC: Darth Plagueis

Perused through some of these reviews, and noticed one member mentioned Darth Plageuis being a good read. Thought I'd give it the review treatment, for anyone thinking about reading this.

As the title suggests, Plageuis is the focal point here. The story itself starts 67 years before Episode IV, and spans all the way to 32 years before Episode IV (smack dab a little after episode I). It begins with how he ascends to master, and ends with his death at Palpatine's hands, with some great in-between stories involving both him alone and with training Palpatine as an apprentice. A decent amount of focus is given to Palpatine as well, from before he was recruited for said apprenticeship to his political maneuvering. Suffice it to say, quite a lot happens in this book, but not to the point where it overwhelms or confuses.

My understanding of Plagueis (at least from "The Book of Sith") was that he was meek, quiet, and just kept to himself, taking up the mantle of sith simply to have the freedom to conduct experiments with the force without any intrusions. Though he does conduct said experiments, this book sets him up as a completely different character from what I envisioned, a sith in the true fashion of manipulation, deceit, and becoming death incarnate those who impede his goals. As such, there are good bits of action here and there, described it great and violent detail.

If I had to knock it, there are a couple parts where it can be a bit dry. One of these is a part where Plagueis speaks for about almost a full page on some bravado about how sith are warriors and so on. It really felt more like a tangent.

Overall, a fun read that'll satiate any sith's appetite for darkside debauchery and doings, or anyone who is just curious as to what Palapatine's tale of "Darth Plagueis the Wise" was really about. It's even got some interesting tidbits that *may* play into clues into the future of the movies (it is legends though, so I may be getting a bit ahead of myself).