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Path of Destruction: A Novel of the Old Republic (Star Wars: Darth Bane)
 
 
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Path of Destruction: A Novel of the Old Republic (Star Wars: Darth Bane) [Hardcover]

Drew Karpyshyn (Author)
4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (93 customer reviews)


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Book Description

September 26, 2006 Star Wars: Darth Bane
Once the Sith order teemed with followers. But their rivalries divided them in endless battles for supremacy. Until one dark lord at last united the Sith in the quest to enslave the galaxy–and exterminate the Jedi. Yet it would fall to another, far more powerful than the entire Brotherhood of Darkness, to ultimately realize the full potential of the Sith, and wield the awesome power of the dark side as never before.


Since childhood, Dessel has known only the abuse of his hateful father and the dangerous, soul-crushing labor of a cortosis miner. Deep in the tunnels of the desolate planet Apatros, endlessly excavating the rare mineral valued throughout the galaxy, Dessel dreams of the day he can escape–a day he fears may never come. But when a high-stakes card game ends in deadly violence, Dessel suddenly finds himself a wanted man.

On the run from vengeful Republic forces, Dessel vanishes into the ranks of the Sith army, and ships out to join the bloody war against the Republic and its Jedi champions. There, Dessel’s brutality, cunning, and exceptional command of the Force swiftly win him renown as a warrior. But in the eyes of his watchful masters, he is destined for a far greater role in the ultimate Sith plan for the galaxy–if he can prove himself truly worthy.

As an acolyte in the Sith academy, studying the secrets and skills of the dark side at the feet of its greatest masters, Dessel embraces his new Sith identity: Bane. However the true test is yet to come. In order to gain acceptance into the Brotherhood of Darkness one must fully surrender to the dark side through a trial by fire that Bane, for all his unquenchable fury and lust for power, may not be strong enough to endure . . . especially since deception, treachery, and murder run rampant among the Sith disciples, and utter ruthlessness alone is the key to survival. Only by defying the most sacred traditions, rejecting all he has been taught, and drawing upon the long-forgotten wisdom of the very first Sith can Bane hope to triumph–and forge from the ashes of that which he must destroy a new era of absolute dark power.


Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In the latest Star Wars novel, Karpyshyn (Temple Hill) charts the evolution of an antihero almost as chilling as Darth Vader. "A thousand years before the Republic's collapse and Emperor Palpatine's rise to power," Des, the young "Force"-gifted son of an abusive miner, wins big in a high stakes game with some Republic soldiers, but kills a sore loser. To avoid imprisonment, Des joins the Sith's Brotherhood of Darkness that's battling the Jedi's Army of Light. Des becomes Lord Bane after his abilities earn him a place at the Sith Academy on the planet Korriban. Determined to excel, Bane secretly trains with the devious Githany, former Jedi turned Sith, but after she betrays him, he decides to fly solo and delve deeper into the Sith past. The intensity lets up on occasion, but on the whole the author delivers a solid space adventure sure to satisfy the Star Wars faithful. (Sept.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From School Library Journal

Adult/High School–Yoda introduced the world to the Rule of Two–Always two there are…no more…no less. A master and an apprentice–but it was left to Karpyshyn to refine it, flesh it out, and explain it. He takes Darth Bane from his former life as Dessel, a cortosis miner on Apatros, through a circuitous route to fulfill his destiny as a Sith'ari, the Sith version of the Jedi's chosen one. Taking his father's derogatory term for him proudly as his reborn name, Bane makes the code of the Sith his own. He gravitates to the library and learns as much or more from the scrolls and manuals than from his lessons. He develops the belief that he can find a key to the ancient powers of the Rakata, the first servants of the dark side. When he finds what he is looking for, all of the knowledge of the dark side becomes his. It is there that he develops the Rule of the Two–then all he has to do is bring down all the existing Sith and find the perfect disciple. If he were less, it would be impossible and there would be no story. This is an entertaining read, well written and consistent in its history. Readers new to the Star Wars series will like it, and fans won't be disappointed.–Dana Cobern-Kullman, Luther Burbank Middle School, Burbank, CA
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Product Details

  • Hardcover: 324 pages
  • Publisher: LucasBooks (September 26, 2006)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0345477367
  • ISBN-13: 978-0345477361
  • Product Dimensions: 6.1 x 1.3 x 9.4 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
  • Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (93 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #222,564 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Drew Karpyshyn is the New York Times bestselling author of Star Wars: Darth Bane: Rule of Two, Star Wars: Darth Bane: Path of Destruction, and the Mass Effect novels Revelation and Ascension, as well as several other fantasy and science fiction novels. He is also an award-winning writer/designer for the computer game company BioWare, where he was lead writer on Mass Effect and the blockbuster Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic video game. He lives in Canada's hinterlands with his wife, Jen, and their cat.

 

Customer Reviews

93 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
4.4 out of 5 stars (93 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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28 of 28 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Darth Bane's journey to the top, November 28, 2006
This review is from: Path of Destruction: A Novel of the Old Republic (Star Wars: Darth Bane) (Hardcover)
The Star Wars Expanded Universe contains events dating back at least 25,000 years before the films, but until the publication of Drew Karpyshyn's Darth Bane: Path of Destruction, these millennia have been the province of videogames and comics. The books have kept a tighter focus, starting right before The Phantom Menace and moving out to just shy of forty years past Return of the Jedi. It is a delight to finally have fiction set in another time, and this era in particular (1,000 years before the Battle of Yavin) has not been fleshed out. To my knowledge, only one comic book series (Jedi vs. Sith) has been set during this time, as the Knights of the Old Republic games and comics take place several thousand years earlier.

Karpyshyn was the lead writer for the Knights of the Old Republic videogame, which had a plot I would rank right there with the films themselves and the very best of the novels. By the midpoint of the game, the storyline was absolutely riveting as your character worked out his or her past and started to understand the underlying drift of the tale. With this game as a credential, I eagerly anticipated Karpyshyn's first foray into Star Wars novels.

I wasn't disappointed. Darth Bane's origin tale is well thought-out and deftly written. Many elements of this story were clearly inspired by Revenge of the Sith. In some places, this story mirrors that film, as we see some similar events in Bane's path as we experienced in Anakin's, including a vaguely-defined notion of a Chosen One, an exploration of passion as strength, a need to wipe out other Force users (Light or Dark in this case), and some serious peril for children who get in his way.

However, the storyline differs sharply in many ways. Bane had a horrible childhood, abused by an alcoholic father and condemned to work in cortosis mines on the barren planet Apatros to pay off his father's accumulated debts. Despite being a slave, Anakin's childhood doesn't look that bad in the movies; his mother clearly loves him and Watto doesn't come off as a very harsh taskmaster. Bane forges his path to the Sith through hatred and anger; Anakin finds his through attachment and love.

I enjoyed the time spent on Korriban at the training facility for the Brotherhood of Darkness. Karpyshyn gives a strong sense of how the Sith have lost their way, and indeed, they come across as somewhat bad but not truly evil. There's too much pretense of honor and equality in the Brotherhood to jive with the Sith we know such as Palpatine or Anakin. This segment of the story is a superb set-up to Bane's determination to enforce his newly-conceived doctrine of the Rule of Two (no more, no less).

One aspect that sometimes holds the book back from being completely engaging is the sense of inevitability in the story. Anyone who has seen the films has an excellent idea of who will prevail in the Bane vs. the Brotherhood of Darkness with its hundreds of Dark Side users. Bane's path to power and embrace of the Dark Side are also very carefully mapped out with no real surprises along the way. At points, the story reads more like a history than a ripping adventure yarn.

I'm thrilled to see Del Rey take the chance of publishing a book set in an entirely different era from usual. I hope it will pay off and more stories set further out (in both past and future) from the movies will follow. There is plenty of room at the end of Darth Bane: Path of Destruction for sequels, and it'd be great to give Karpyshyn the chance to tell us more of Darth Bane's story.
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17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding, October 15, 2006
This review is from: Path of Destruction: A Novel of the Old Republic (Star Wars: Darth Bane) (Hardcover)
I found this book very enjoyable. A number of people have expressed disappointment, and were expecting more on Sith tradition, ritual, etc. All that is probably going to occur in future books. I liken this book very much to the Episode 1: The Phantom Menace film. It lays the groundwork for a lot to follow. The author keeps the novel fast-paced and I found it hard to put down.
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Could not put it down!, October 31, 2006
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This review is from: Path of Destruction: A Novel of the Old Republic (Star Wars: Darth Bane) (Hardcover)
I have been a Star Wars fan since I was 13 and waited in line with my Dad for four (4) hours to see Star Wars (A New Hope). I have read everything as it has come out since then and frankly this book just about made me forget to go to work!! I was spellbound by the detail in which the author used to describe the Dark Side of the Force. The character development was excellent. The battle scenes were written very well and I could visualize in my mind the darkness of the Brotherhood of the Sith and even more the mission that Darth Bane embarked on. I could feel his anger! We need more dark side novels like this!
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Inside This Book (learn more)
Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
dark lords, sabacc pot, training saber, dueling ring, double bladed lightsaber, land crawler, battle meditation, lightsaber combat, glow rods, bacta tank, thought bomb
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Lord Kaan, Brotherhood of Darkness, Army of Light, Lord Qordis, Gloom Walkers, Lord Hoth, General Hoth, Sith Lord, Lord Kopecz, Lord Bane, Jedi Master, Master Farfalla, Jedi Knights, Darth Revan, Sith Masters, Star Forge, Republic They, Core Worlds, Brotherhood Kaan, Ruusan Bane, Lieutenant Ulabore, Jedi Temple, Bane Githany
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