" Star Wars " : Darth Bane - Rule of Two (Star Wars) [Import] [Hardcover]

Drew Karpyshyn (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: Century (January 3, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1844134016
• ISBN-13: 978-1844134014
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.1 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (110 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,425,038 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

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A good read; leaves me anxious for a third Bane novel, February 1, 2008

By 

Andrew Pruette "Rancors Love to Read" (U.S.) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Rule of Two (Star Wars: Darth Bane) (Hardcover)

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.

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A solid continuation of the Darth Bane tale, December 28, 2007

By 

L. Weinberg (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Rule of Two (Star Wars: Darth Bane) (Hardcover)

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.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Beginning of the (Jedi) End..., January 2, 2008

By 

Kolya (San Antonio, TX USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Rule of Two (Star Wars: Darth Bane) (Hardcover)

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.