Customer Reviews

Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader (Star Wars)

5 star:		(65)
4 star:		(56)
3 star:		(22)
2 star:		(12)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

James Luceno's brilliant sequel to Revenge of the Sith manages to not only complete the saga of Anakin's descent into Darth Vader, but create a dynamic, moving portrait of loss and acceptance in a galaxy turned suddenly upside down.

Jedi Knight, Roan Shryne, has all but abandoned his faith in the Force in the wake of the tragic events of Order 66. He finds little solace in his companion, a plucky young Padawan who has grand plans of saving the remnant of Jedi. En route, he discovers something even more disturbing, a chance to give up life as a Jedi and start over as an ordinary man.

Darth Vader is also undergoing a crisis of faith, unable to move on past the deceit and betrayal of his masters (both Obi Wan and Sidious) and to forge for himself a reason for being other than as yet another pawn for Palpy. But the dark plans of Sidious have only just begun as the Sith Lord prods and pushes Vader into situations that will trigger the chrsalysis of rage, a pathway to the true power of the dark side. His machinations will team Vader up with the newest emergent power, an Imperial Moff, who's overarching designs will mean the enslavement of a nation and the means of fueling life into the Empire's emerging superweapon, the Death Star.

Luceno builds a story filled with pathos, horror and intriguing insights into the minds of Darths Vader and Sidious. Numerous long-standing questions are answered along the way as we're enmeshed in the moral dilemma of a galaxy that's lost its way: a Clone Commando who will not obey Order 66, a politician who risks all to secretly undermine the Empire, a young Padawan that learns -- too late -- the price of blind obedience to duty, a race of fierce beings who will fight at all costs a losing battle against tyranny, and the former Chosen One who learns that he needs the Jedi still to grow into the agent of evil he's chosen to become.

I got this book because it was titled the Rise of Darth Vader. Instead what I got was The Flee of the Remaining Jedi. Darth Vader is in this book but a handfull of times. Since this book is entitled the Rise of Darth Vader one would expect the book to be about Darth vader and his Rise to power as the second in command in the whole galexy. But unfortunately it's not. Over all I was very disappointed in this book. The darth vader character has been my favorite character in the whole Star Wars saga. I hope that books about his life to follow have more to do with him than other characters. If you are interested in Reading this book, you won't learn anything about him that you don't already know. You get no new information about who he has become and what is now driving him. If you noticed in the second starwars movie how much of a baby Anikin is, nothing has changed. Save yourself the few hours of reading time and pick something else.

I'm not sure how this book has received such rave reviews. I'm as qualified to call myself a Star Wars fan as anyone (more qualified, as my fiancee laments). In fact, I looked forward to this book, because I thought Luceno's LABYRINTH OF EVIL (set between Episodes II and III) was possibly the best Star Wars novel since the original Star Wars sequel, Timothy Zahn's "Heir to the Empire" series. And since DARK LORD was to tell the story behind Darth Vader's rise to power within the new Empire, I eagerly awaited its release.

Unfortunately, the book was a total let-down on just about every level. Yoda never appears. Obi-Wan Kenobi is mentioned only in passing. The treatment of the major Star Wars characters--the Emperor, Vader, Chewbacca--is poorly done; they are nothing like the figures in the movies, and their internal dialogues are overwrought, sappy, and unrealistic. The new characters--Jedi Knights who survived the notorious Order 66--are even worse: They have no real identity and the reader never comes to care about them. There are typographical and grammatical errors throughout. The plot is threadbare and winds its own long way around. As with his characters, Luceno's descriptive language fails to convey any imagery, setting, or emotion. For instance: At the climactic moment when Vader reveals himself to one of the Jedi, the reader has no idea why Vader (a) "fell silent for a moment" or (b) why he suddenly breaks that silence and tells the Jedi who he is. Worst of all, some questions that Lucas purposefully left unanswered in the films (such as whether Sidious or Plageius manipulated midichlorians "to create life") are resolved in such a way that it weakens the dramatic arch of the Vader saga. To top even that off: Luceno does this in passing, seemingly unaware of what he had done!

The one exception is in Luceno's treatment of Bail Organa, forced to weigh standing firm against Palpatine's New Empire against protecting his newly adopted daughter, Leia. Organa is the one character whose mind Luceno is able to get inside. As a result, Organa evokes some response from the reader. A certain Moff--grander than most others--makes an appearance toward the end, and he, too, comes across as somewhat more akin to the figure in the films. It's silly to ask where Han Solo is--even if he's older than the twins, he's still five or six at the time the novel takes place--but perhaps not so silly to ask where a certain unaltered clone of Jango Fett might be.

Within the confines of the Star Wars schematic, Luceno was able to do a masterful job with LABYRINTH OF EVIL. It had a clear beginning and a clear end, with well-defined characters, and he was able to fill in the outlines ably. Here, forced to create a story and characters largely from scratch, he just isn't up to par. And, of course, he throws in his preachy political sermon at the end, just as he did in LABYRINTH. One can agree with his politics--as I might--but still recognize that (a) parallels with the Star Wars universe are tricky to draw and (b) that it's done in an embarassingly sloppy way.

At the end of this book is an advertisement: "If you enjoyed Star Wars: Dark Lord--The Rise of Darth Vader and would like to delve further into the stories that paved the way for the original Star Wars movies, pick up a copy of Star Wars: Outbound Flight by #1 New York Times bestselling Star Wars author Timothy Zahn!" I did not enjoy this book. However, Zahn's previous efforts in the Star Wars galaxy have been excellent, and I look forward to his new book despite the weaknesses of Luceno. It should fill in some of the background from his legendery "Heir to the Empire" trilogy.

Two stars: one for the treatment of Bail Organa and one because the Star Wars universe is so fascinating that even a trained monkey with a typewriter couldn't screw it up--which is, alas, sometimes what this book reads like.

This book's title is, in part, "The Rise of Darth Vader." Little attention, however, is actually paid to that topic. The book is in some instances a quick review of what led Anakin to choose the path of the Dark Side of the Force, but provides nothing but primer in the way of Darth Vader becoming the feared being he is in Star Wars: ANH. Perhaps fine as a story in and of itself, but potential readers should not buy this book if their clear goal is learning anything new about our villain's history between Episodes III and IV.

This has got to be the most disappointing Star Wars novel I've ever had the misfortune of purchasing and reading. I typically read through a good Star Wars novel in two to three days, this book took two months it was so awful.

Nothing major is revealed to the reader, some minor stuff like Vader doesn't like the fit of his new armor and decides it will need some adjustments in the future.

The story has some really slack Jedi Knights who escaped order 66. They are an unremarkable group of stooges. The book doesn't capture the readers attention until the final chapters and the attack on the Wookiee homeworld.

I'd highly advise fans to forget this sad attempt at connecting Episodes 3 & 4. Maybe the next novel (by someone else, hopefully) will have some interesting revelation.

Where Labyrinth captued the heart and sole of the characters, its plot racing us to the opening of Episode III as fast as I could turn the pages-Dark Lord was a huge disappointment- I had to make myself finish it and was left wondering why this book was such a stark contrast in writing and depth for Luceno.

YAAWWWN..Oh man this boring! Based on the title and the cover art, I decided to buy this. I bought the audio version on CD because I thought it would be something exciting to listen to in the car. Unfortunately, the advertising was misleading and I found book has very little to do with Vader, his rise to power or any major events within the Empire. Instead the book is about 90% focused on some Jedi named Roan Shryne and his Padawan named Olee Starstone. It is filled with long winded, drawn out descriptions and week dialog (once I heard a character say "what the frizz", I hit the skip button on the CD player). There really were no exciting ship battles, lightsaber duels, or the usual things that make Star Wars fun. Also, I was hoping for juicy dialog between Vader and the Emperor. There are some conversations between them, but they are few and far between and never really develop into anything or lead anywhere. This was a big opportunity wasted.

I was really looking forward to reading this book. Didn't know what to expect, but kind of was thinking along a bigger timeline. I did like the fact that Vader was still thinking and complining like Anakin while at the same time Vader was also growing.

Didn't like the other characters in the book. The Jedi that survived and the smugglers that helped. I didn't really care what happened to them, who survivied or how who died. Very poor character development there.

My other big gripe is that this book pretty much starts and ends within weeks of the end of the Clone Wars. Like I said earlier, I was expecting to cover more time wise.

first off ive been waiting for months for this book and when i got it home i was really impressed:) james luceno does it again a surefire hit..this book is not for the casual star wars fan though keep this in mind.. if you saw revenge of the sith(and who hasnt?) this book fills up some of the story gaps quite nicely way better than the expanded universe books can do...
ok first off ..this book im my views is darth vader year one..because we know how anakin fell to the dark side in rots..he did it out of love for padme...hence the tragic fallen hero story arc..beauty and love can make anybody weak.
this book shows how anakin is dealing with his choice in turning to the dark side and his dealing with life in the new armor..he has memories that go back to the epic duel on mustafar with obi wan kenobi..his thoughts of padme..his secret that he saw through palpatine's thoughts etc and had ideas to overthrow him but why he cant
we also learn how obi wan kenobi finds out about darth vader/anakin still being alive and his reactions of him in the new menacing armor..we also learn how the wookies are enslaved which was a good read as well..we learn more about the relationship between tarkin /palpatine/and vader...
but i find in this book the most interesting is the way it shows how vader becomes palpatines right hand man and how he becomes the ultimate enforcer of the new empire(there are some parts where does a number on some of his former jedi masters)..we see how he tracks down his fellow jedi..remember that order 66 has been given so this story also takes place near the end of the clone wars/rise of the empire..not everybody has heard about the birth of the empire..but they will..thanks to vader and his jedi purge which is one of vaders first assignments..

the book also shows how yoda and other characters are starting to deal with the new order..but not everybody is on the side of the empire(the birth of the rebellion is still growing in secret)
theres lots more to tell but im not giving it away !

if you are are a fan of star wars..or darth vader. you must pick this book up..its a great read..

In Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader James Luceno tells an excellent story that I very much enjoyed reading. He takes us from immediately after Revenge of the Sith through Darth Vader's formative stages in his new role as the enforcer for Darth Sidious. Along the way Vader deals with some Jedi who escaped Order 66, and he establishes himself as an extremely powerful force in the Empire.

All of that is well and good, but Mr. Luceno also delves into some extremely interesting questions, many of which had not occurred to me before reading this book. How much trouble does Anakin Skywalker have in adapting to his new role as Darth Vader? What does he need to do in order to make an impression in the various realms of the Empire and how will he be accepted? How difficult is it for Vader to function as an instrument of terror within the confines of the black suit and all of the artificial body parts? Can he overcome the death of Padme, especially after Sidious pins the blame for her death squarely on Vader? How long will it be before he becomes proficient in the Sith dark arts and use of the Force? Can he trust Sidious? Does he even want to trust Sidious or should he just bide his time, improve his skills, and then kill his master as Sidious once did to Darth Plagieus? Fascinating stuff.

We also are treated to a wonderful look at Bail Organa's moment of near-terror when Vader shows up on Alderaan and decides he wants to meet Bail's wife Breha. The main problem is that at that moment Breha is walking around the palace holding baby Leia. Would Vader sense that his child was nearby? R2-D2 has a great sequence in the palace at the same time. R2 is one of the very few entities that understand who all the players actually are and what has happened in the recent past. He is such a good character throughout the Star Wars saga, and this episode only enhances my opinion of him.

Finally we get to the time when Obi-Wan on Tatooine learns from watching HoloNet that Darth Vader exists, that Anakin somehow survived the fight on Mustafar, and that Luke may not be as safe on the desert planet as he thought. He relies on the sudden voice of our old friend Qui-Gon for counseling and reassurance as the book ends. Also near the end of the book we have one of my very favorite pieces of advice in Star Wars. A stranger says to Obi-Wan:
"Take care of yourself. These desert wastes aren't as remote as you may think they are."
Good advice for the rest of the saga.