Customer Reviews

Rule of Two (Star Wars: Darth Bane, Book 2)

5 star:		(54)
4 star:		(39)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

The second Star Wars novel by Drew Karpyshyn set in the Old Republic, Darth Bane: Rule of Two picks up immediately after the climactic events of the first book Darth Bane: Path of Destruction. The detonation of former Sith leader Lord Kaan's thought bomb has devastated the Jedi and Sith remaining on the planet of Ruusan. Darth Bane has survived and has just chosen a new apprentice, a girl named Rain who has recently killed two Jedi in a fit of rage. Her cousin Tomcat, who was brought to Ruusan with her originally to help the Jedi war effort, is also still around; turns out his Force powers were too weak for him to be greatly affected by the thought bomb.

These events were originally told in the Dark Horse comics series Jedi vs. Sith. In the first book, Karpyshyn retold part of that comic series, giving it a more realistic and grittier feeling (i.e., unlike the comics, Lord Valenthyne Farfalla wasn't literally a satyr in the novel and his ship, while described as like an ancient sailing vessel, still didn't sound as ridiculous as the actual imagery of it in Jedi vs. Sith was.) Apart from altering the feel of the comic series, though, Karpyshyn stayed largely faithful to its events. He completes the re-telling of the comics in Rule of Two, quickly sweeps in his own version of the older short story Bane of the Sith, and around one-third of the way into this novel finally has the opportunity to cleanly tell a brand new story of his own.

After some setup, the story takes a ten-year leap forward, so that Rain, now known as Darth Zannah, can become the young adult apprentice of Darth Bane and we can see how his plans for the new Sith Order of two individuals are progressing. Karpyshyn does not linger over Zannah's training; some is told in flashbacks but from those short sections, I believe he made a wise decision to jump forward. The few flashbacks he does include are powerful and give a potent sense of what Zannah's training has encompassed.

I find it interesting with Bane's character that as power-hungry as he clearly is, he is willing to sublimate his immediate desires for a longer-term view of building a Sith legacy. Instead of scheming to rule the galaxy a la Darth Sidious, Bane focuses on building holocrons, acquiring forgotten Sith lore, and training Zannah in the ways of the Sith. I'm unsure as to whether Palpatine represents the culmination of the order Bane was trying to build or not; he certainly metes out revenge to the Jedi Order, but Palpatine was consumed by his own power and ambition, showing little concern for empowering the Sith that should come after him.

Rule of Two may be the goriest and most violent Star Wars novel published to date. Telling a tale focused on a Sith Lord and his apprentice will naturally require a certain amount of this, but there are some scenes that may surprise readers who are used to the heroic tales of Luke Skywalker and his friends. The orbalisks covering Bane, taken from the Bane of the Sith short story, are a grotesque but fascinating concept, and Zannah's scheming to convince her master to remove them and the protection they grant is quite interesting.

The Jedi characters in this novel are a bit enigmatic. I felt there was a bit of an uneasy balance in trying to make Johun Othone into a fully-realized character while focusing on the story of Bane and Zannah. He and his allies acquire some distinguishing characteristics as the story progresses, but in the end Bane and Zannah are the memorable characters here.

The worlds featured in this novel are largely unused in other Expanded Universe stories and make a welcome change from the norm. The devastation on Ruusan underscores the impact of the Jedi and Sith battles waged there; we briefly visit Dxun and Onderon, introduced in the comic series Tales of the Jedi; there's a stop at Serenno, future home of Count Dooku; and there's a fascinating and intense sequence on Tython, a Deep Core world legendary for being the supposed birthplace of the Jedi Order.

My concern with Rule of Two is it feels like the middle novel in a trilogy. There is less resolution than I had hoped for, and while the characters evolve some, there's not nearly the progression that we saw in Bane in Path of Destruction. If Karpyshyn gets the chance to write a third Darth Bane novel, it may make me view this one a little more favorably as a transition; however, if this is the conclusion of Bane's saga, I had expected to learn more about him and the eventual handoff of his power to his successor. Rule of Two is an entertaining novel but I hope there is more to come.

Like most EU books of late, this is a quick read...but it is definitely enjoyable. The first Darth Bane book was one of the better EU books to come out in recent years, so I was hoping that this would follow suit. For the most part, it does.

Rule of Two continues the tale of Darth Bane and Zannah, starting mere hours after Path of Destruction's end. The book follows several different storylines, all of which come together in the last 50-60 pages with a great finale. The new characters are all well-developed and interesting, compared to some other recent EU books (e.g., Death Star).

On the negative, this definitely has the feel of being a bit rushed, as the author notes in his forward -- there were a few minor spelling and grammatical errors throughout. Additionally, some plot devices seemed contrived and repetitive (e.g., yet another Sith holocron).

Still, the characters continue to develop well, the action is exciting and fast-paced, and I look forward to a third book in this series.

Having really enjoyed the first Darth Bane book, my eyes lit up at the sight of this book on the shelf and I knew exactly what I would be reading for the next couple days. I'd have to say that, as with even good sequels, this one contributed well to the continued story of this monumental Sith Lord, but wasn't quite as good as the first book. As always I enjoy when Star Wars books give you the author invented characters to interact with the established ones. In this case it is the previously unnamed Jedi Johun. Unlike past Star Wars books however there wasn't really much to his character and his involvement in the story was very minimal, but in this case I think it worked better to allow more story time for Bane and his apprentice. My one gripe was that I had hoped to see more about the next step in the Sith Order, the official "handing down" from Master to Apprentice and for the Apprentice to then become the Master...but I can see why they chose to end it where they did. The only thing I can say is that I hope they go with the Star Wars tradition and make this at the very least a trilogy.

The thing I loved most about this book is Drew K.'s writing. He has an amazing ability to weave a story that makes his books very hard to put down and always leaves you surprised at the end.

The only downside about this book is that it is a bit gruesome and dark in parts. I would let my young son read many Star Wars books, but not this one. I understand that Darth Bane and the Sith are evil, and some may argue that it's necessary to be this graphic when you're portraying evil. So I'm not sure how strong of a criticism I want to make of this. Drew clearly shows how Bane and his apprentice are self serving to the extreme and how this manifests itself into evil acts, but this does make the book very dark sometimes.

It's difficult to read books that center around the bad guy because they can seem hopeless, and that was a problem I had with the first Darth Bane novel. In this one, however, there are heroes to cheer for, and there are good guys that you hope will succeed.

Another thing to note is that I also think that Drew K. does an excellent job of showing how people can slip into evil, even though they did not start as an evil person nor did they try to become evil. This is not to excuse their actions, but it's interesting how well he can explain them. It's similar to how you can see Anakin slipping into evil in Revenge of the Sith. I actually think Drew K. does a better job, but it may be because it's easier to get inside of a character's head in a book than in a movie.

So overall, this is another well written story from Drew K. I would steer younger readers and the squeamish away from it however.

One of the strengths of this book (and the previous Bane novel) is that when you read it there is a combination of the feeling that you are following a story and reading a history book. I like the fact that topics of interest within the Star Wars universe are sought out and explored, instead of grazed and then passed over cautiously. The best part though is that like Empire Strikes Back, this novel stays true to the bad guys. If you read enough Star Wars novels you start to get used to the same old story of bad guy goes crazy and loses in the end, but part of the reason the movies were so popular is because they had times when the bad guys would win. I think this gives the SW universe more credibility, and I really hope the novels mapping out the future take away a few lessons from the Bane novels that are mapping out the past.

Great story, well-written book. Even though it's about the "dark side", the character of Darth Bane becomes someone I liked, and I wanted to have another book to continue the story. I am probably emotional and more attuned to the "light side" of the force, abut I did respect Darth Bane's dedication and determination in his quest to find his answers, though not always the methods he employed to obtain what he wanted. Many new characters, species and places are in the story, but it never interrupts the flow of the story or causes the reader to feel lost. The interesting and entertaining story sheds new light on the history of the force and the two sides, with many parallels to real life.

I understand that the book was rushed, but when I have to read a sentence multiple times to see if I really read what I thought I did or if I suddenly developed a case of dyslexia (or some other reading related medical issue), it is a problem. I know it's easy to miss a letter or 2 here and there, but "...his draw dropped..." calling Johun "John" and other such issues get annoying after a while. All in all I did enjoy the book; the plot was repetitive at times, but it managed to hold my attention which is the important thing.

Because the focus of this book is on Darth Bane's relationship with his youthful apprentice, I started for grow concerned that this book would be a Sith version of Episode I. Thankfully, Sith do not make a conscious effort to be cute. For a child, Zannah proves to be an evil and worthy apprentice. Though the story lacks a certain electricity, it is a welcome supplement to Darth Bane's story.

Darth Bane immediately sets about training his apprentice, even with a lack of a training manual. The Sith Lord seeks to expand his knowledge and power, but simultaneously sabotages the Republic and the changing Jedi order. A lifeform that enhances Darth Bane's powers seems to make him invincible. But even he begins to question whether the lifeform is driving him mad. If he removes them, he will die. With them, he has a constant layer of armor.

Kudos to the author for exploring the origins of the Force in this novel as it adds something to the storyline in this earliest series of novels. Because most of the novel sees Darth Bane searching for powers long forgotten by the Sith, "Rule of Two" is an ideal location for this discussion.

In Sith centered novels, I often feel as though the author includes faceless Jedi only to lead them to slaughter. But Johun Othone's character was compelling despite a somewhat brief presence in the book. A slightly great problem with the book is that lack of carry-over of surviving Jedi from the previous book.

Even though this novel lacked some of the potency of the previous novel, it is still a well structured book. I was not a fan of some of the softer kid-type scenes with Zannah, but these scenes were far from nauseating.

Bane is still a great character I just wish there was more of him in this particular installment. Instead the reader gets mostly Zannah who I don't even hate she is just boring. It wouldn't be so bad if the jedi weren't so idiotic yes we know that ultimately they have to fail (or at least be mislead) in order for the Sith to survive however I never expected them to be so idiotic about it. As a consequence of the characterization of Zannah, the general utter lack of plot direction and the lack of intelligence displayed on the part of this elite core of Sith hunting Jedi I really don't know what to think. On the one hand I respect an attempt at expanded universe trailblazing taking the stories to new and undiscovered territory but a way has to be found to spice things up a bit. Falling back on the same old worn Star Wars cliques is not going to impress anyone anymore there has to be someone out there with a fresh plot thread please help us out will yeah?

Overall-So to recap Bane is cool, Zannah is boring and the all but Jedi are underdeveloped galactic idiots. This particular installment was better then some of the worst Star Wars books of the 90s but if you remember Admiral Dala and champions of the force or Lord Hethrir of The Crystal Star that's not exactly setting the bar very high.

This book was a welcome follow up to the first. Bane is a very interesting and unique character that truly deserves an entire field of books written to expand upon his Star Wars history and importance. This second book did take much of the focus of Bane, and seemed to blandly rumble through events in order to set up some climaxing confrontations for the next book. Anyone planning to read on Bane must rate the book for themself, but I believe this book could have been a whole lot better and should have had more character development and Darth Bane nasty butt kicking included.