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Dasquian Belargic
Oct 2nd, 2010, 06:16:53 AM
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The final book in the Darth Bane trilogy is finally out in paperback, as of Sept 30th. All three books have been written by Drew Karpyshyn. The first two were Path of Destruction and Rule of Two, and they tell the story of Darth Bane's rise through the ranks of the Brotherhood of Darkness, his quest for immortality and the origin of the 'Rule of Two' employed by later Sith.

Here's the blurb / plot synopsis of the final book in the trilogy, spoilered for anyone who hasn't read the first two books:


Twenty years have passed since Darth Bane, reigning Dark Lord of the Sith, demolished the ancient order devoted to the dark side and reinvented it as a circle of two: one Master to wield the power and pass on the wisdom, and one apprentice to learn, challenge, and ultimately usurp the Dark Lord in a duel to the death. But Bane’s acolyte, Zannah, has yet to engage her Master in mortal combat and prove herself a worthy successor. Determined that the Sith dream of galactic domination will not die with him, Bane vows to learn the secret of a forgotten Dark Lord that will assure the Sith’s immortality–and his own.

A perfect opportunity arises when a Jedi emissary is assassinated on the troubled mining planet Doan, giving Bane an excuse to dispatch his apprentice on a fact-finding mission–while he himself sets out in secret to capture the ancient holocron of Darth Andeddu and its precious knowledge. But Zannah is no fool. She knows that her ruthless Master has begun to doubt her, and she senses that he is hiding something crucial to her future. If she is going to claim the power she craves, she must take action now.

While Bane storms the remote stronghold of a fanatical Sith cult, Zannah prepares for her Master’s downfall by choosing an apprentice of her own: a rogue Jedi cunning and cold-blooded enough to embrace the Sith way and to stand beside her when she at last wrests from Bane the mantle of Dark Lord of the Sith.

But Zannah is not the only one with the desire and power to destroy Darth Bane. Princess Serra of the Doan royal family is haunted by memories of the monstrous Sith soldier who murdered her father and tortured her when she was a child. Bent on retribution, she hires a merciless assassin to find her tormentor—and bring him back alive to taste her wrath.

Only a Sith who has taken down her own Master can become Dark Lord of the Sith. So when Bane suddenly vanishes, Zannah must find him—possibly even rescue him—before she can kill him. And so she pursues her quarry from the grim depths of a ravaged world on the brink of catastrophe to the barren reaches of a desert outpost, where the future of the dark side’s most powerful disciples will be decided, once and for all, by the final, fatal stroke of a lightsaber.


I really enjoyed the first two books, particularly reading about Bane's time as a student in the Brotherhood of Darkness, so I'm hoping it will be a great end to the series :)

Will anyone else be reading this?

Dasquian Belargic
Nov 28th, 2010, 04:48:22 AM
Well, I just finished this and I am happy to say that I would recommend the Bane trilogy to anyone here. This has been the most satisfying set of Star Wars book I've read so far, for a number of reasons.

For one, I thought the trilogy dealt with having an 'evil' character as the hero very well. We see Bane's origins as a Sith, his development, and in this final book his time as an increasing aging Dark Lord, mindful of his own mortality. Even in spite of his incredible power, the author does not allow the character to descend into a characature and discreetly reminds the reader of Bane's origins, making it difficult to hate him, in spite of the horrible things he does.

Unlike others books which sell themselves as insights into the Sith (Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter) this one always has Sith as the main focus. Although we get a few different perspectives, Bane and his apprentice are whatever everything revolves around - and since these stories are set so long ago, without the use of any EU or canon characters from other sources, you genuinely don't know who is going to survive.

The book ends with Bane and Zannah duelling, and Bane using a technique he has learned from the Holocron of Darth Andeddu to transfer his life-essence into Zannah's body (...though it's clear that he isn't fully successful.) We also see Set Harth, the fallen Jedi who Zannah intended to take as her apprentice, beginning to study Andeddu's Holocron himself. I don't know whether there are plans to continue Zannah's story in another book, but it felt like they were setting Set up for more. Then I looked on Wookieepedia and discovered the rest of his story has been mapped out in various RPing sourcebooks. Pity!

Still, well worth a look even if you aren't familiar with any other EU books - since this trilogy is only pre-dated by the Old Republic books which are almost entirely unwritten or unpublished at this point.