Customer Reviews

Star Wars Darth Bane Path of Destruction: A Novel of the Old Republic

5 star:		(79)
4 star:		(18)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

If you want to read 2 star wars books this year you should "Rise of the Dark Lord" about Vader and this one. The author for this book is the one that wrote the story for "Knights of the Old Republic" = a Great game that you must play! The Knights time period (1000's years before new hope episode IV)is ripe with great history and it is a shame Lucas & Co. have not decided to use all the great options they have in order to make a movie or TV show from this time period.
I always wondered where the adage given in "Phantom Menace" Came from for the sith apprentice and Master and now I know. I did not make much sense that there could only be 2 true Sith= Master/Apprentice But this clarifies and explains the foundation = created by the character Bane - that became the golden rule for the sith. Add in Tons of action- jedi vs sith, sith vs sith, battles of all sorts, also add in well developed characters, and a story that is fast paced while still giving great details on the history that makes up the Star Wars myth and you have a excellent Book that is much fun to read. Highly Recommended!
May the force be with you.

Easily one of the very best Star Wars books. This is the first book that looks at the dark side through its own lenses and filters rather than through the Jedi. As humans, we struggle with determining the nature of evil. Why does it exist and why does it continue. This book grapples with some of those issues in ways that are less superficial and nonsensical than many other stories have treated the topic. It provides a historical context for the Sith while making them much more 3 dimensional. Drew Karpyshyn is to be commended for writing an intelligent yet fun to read Star Wars book... which is better than many of them.

This is an excellent insight into the basis of the dark side. Very well written, moves along, and very enjoyable. Hard to believe that this author isn't an established novelist. The descriptions are excellent and the style gives you a sense that your in the mind of someone that is undergoing transformation. I'm not sure why that 1 star reviewer is so bent out of shape with the violence. He mentions Vader as a likeable "antihero". I distinctly remember in one of the movies Anakin slaughtering mercilessly the younglings or toddler/child jedi off camera. In the fictional SW world, the sith are evil, and that's what evil does. All and all a worthwhile read and definitely not a waste of time. If only the movie scripts were written this well...

I was initionally hesitant to buy this book since I knew some of the info behind Darth Bane's rise to power from his humble beginnings. But I went ahead and purchased it. It was the first Star Wars book I brought. As far as Star Wars is concerned I am not interested in the wooden Jedi. Their philosophy is not "realistic" if that term can be used for science fiction characters. I find the Sith are more in line with how people really are. Villiany is more interesting anyway. Who wants to be a boyscott all the time? Well this book was a quick dive into the history and practices of the Sith through the brief tale of Darth Bane. How he started off in a an abusive home and had to work in the mines on Aparthos and how fate brought into the fold of the Sith Academy, the Brotherhood of Darkness which initially fascinated him until he found out that there was deeper knowledge that the Sith Academy Masters were not telling him. The knowledge of the old Sith Empire which the Brotherhood of Darkness ignored in favor of Lord Kaan's concept of a united Sith which when you think about it is laughable. There can be only two true Sith. A Master to embody the power, an apprentice to crave it. Darth Bane comes up with this Rule of Two after discovering a Sith Holocron from none other than Darth Revan himself (or herself) from the Knights of the Old Republic series. Admittedly this was a very easy read and is predictable. Star Wars isn't the stuff of Shakespeare or Hemmingway begin with. I would have liked a longer more in depth book about Darth Bane but I still enjoyed reading this book. It beats all the dull books about the Jedi.

This was a very enjoyable Star Wars book. This was the first one I've read in several years because some of the other ones I've read were pretty mediocre.

This book shows the transformation of how the Sith went from a huge army of Sith Lords etc. to the two, a master and apprentace. The author does a great job with storyline that fits in with the other movies and books.

The story of Darth Bane is intriguing and his path down the dark side is a very exciting read. This book has a great/good story, great action, great plot development and interesting characters that you start to care about. It was weird I was actually cheering Bane on even when he was doing some pretty bad stuff.

Oh well, that's what a good writer is suppose to do.

Great book... I can't wait to read the second one.

There was a time when the Sith were a race of their own, then they became a plentiful enemy of the Jedi and fought many long battles and wars. But in the time of the movies - they are only two a time.

This book jumps right into the time when that last transformation takes place, as we follow Darth Bane onto the "path of destruction". (Second book "Rule of two" possibly late 2007 release)

Karpyshyn is foremost a game-writer and designer at Bioware, but branching out into books more and more with this title and the Mass Effect prequel. His writing is influenced by the game narrative, with fast paced action interspersed with "cut scenes" building up the character and introducing new locations or bit parts.

Bane is a truly evil individual, and this book makes no excuses or overly redeeming qulaities - it might upset some readers, but makes a nice balance to the predominant "Jedi" outlook in the majority of the SW books. Yes, what he does is wrong - from a certain point of view - but in his world/mind it makes sense.

...and that makes for a great ride and a unique read for all fans of the KOTOR games and Star Wars in general

This book is my favorite Star Wars Novel because it is the only one I have read that really paints a sith as the plot hero. Usually you will find it written so that you root for some random jedi to 'win the day' as it is with both Darth Vader and Darth Maul. Darth Bane is a great character and is rightly the hero of this book. From start to finish you get excellent character development and really feel attached to him. Can't wait to read the sequel!

This novel covers what no other Star Wars story has done...it goes in-depth on Sith training, the height of the Sith army and Sith interaction. The author maintains a very human aspect of Bane so he's not some super villain who tears up everything at will. The story offers a good balance of struggle within Bane as well as Sith versus Jedi. If you have played the Knights of the Old Republic video game (the first one, not the second), it will make you understand and appreciate this story all the more. There are several ties to the past that were very exciting to see.

This book was good reading and any Star Wars fan will appreciate the history behind the Sith. Everyone knows the movies but they do not realize why there are only two Siths at one time. This book expalins this in deatil and also gives forshadowing for books that take place in the future. Overall one of the better Star Wars books.

The Star Wars movies are best when the escapism isn't overwhelming, allowing you to focus on the plot and characters while getting lost in the galaxy far far away. The best example is the cantina scene in Episode IV - the plot developed, and even though the characters were alien, it was enough in the background to simply set the tone. Contrast that to the embarrassing "sports bar" or "diner" metaphors of Episode II, where you think the only point of the whole scene is to tell you, "hey, we made it look like a diner!"

This book, thankfully, follows the former example. While the species, weaponry, and even curse words all are alien, the context of long, draining wars, contempt for oppressors, the cycle of self doubt and personal redemption are all in the foreground and familiar. For that, I found it very readable and easy to stick with.

The book nicely provides the back story for a glossed-over factoid in the movies - the nature of Sith apprenticeship.

My two negatives are that the author can be very repetitive - explaining the same event multiple times, often within the same page (this is also poor editing), and, as pointed out in other reviews, there are some graphic, discomforting scenes of violence against children and other innocents. While consistent with the story, we've seen it already in the murder of the Padawans in Episode III, and that was enough for me.

That being said, the author took on the task of creating a protagonist who will only succeed by becoming a dark side expert - it can't be easy to make that character both compelling and genuine.