Note that this will contain spoilers.
After Paul Kemp’s excellent Deceived I was pretty hopeful about Lords of the Sith, and for the most part, my expectations were met. I personally feel that it wasn’t as good as Deceived, but any book that I can read in one continuous sitting is one that I will always recommend, especially for Star Wars fans. For context before reading, I knew almost nothing going into this other than that it was about Vader and the Emperor. And that Cham Syndulla was included in some capacity. Details about the plot itself were unknown. I’ll be breaking this review down into several sections:
Plot:
I think that one thing Kemp excels in is the portrayal of one major event that takes place only in the course of a few days. He did it in Deceived and does it here for the majority of the book, barring some set-up in the beginning. The story starts fast and continues steadily throughout the rest of the book; there was no part where I was bored, though there were some parts I would have left out in favor of more Vader/Emperor scenes.
There are roughly three different perspectives that all converge into one massive event. The Resistance/Free Ryloth plotline, several Imperials in charge of Ryloth itself, and of course, Vader and the Emperor. Out of those, I’d easily say that the ones focusing on the Imperial characters are the weakest while anything with Vader and the Emperor is easily the best. The rebel plotline was alright, but I found it hard to really get invested since I in no way expected them to succeed. When writing a story with characters like Vader and Syndulla, as well as setting it between the movies, it’s really hard to write stakes that seem plausible for everyone outside the story. To his credit, Kemp does his best, but there were several predictions I made early in the book, namely which characters were going to die, and all but one came true. It’s predictable, but the journey is entertaining enough to forgive it for the most part.
Of course, the reason I really picked this up was to see how well Vader and the Emperor were portrayed, and in that regard, it was executed to near-perfection. Vader’s introductory sequence in amazing and one thing that is repeated throughout the book is that people are terrified of Vader, and everything in the book backs that up completely. It was awesome to witness just how powerful the two Sith are, and Vader isn’t the only one given a chance to shine. The Emperor has quite a few scenes where he demonstrates his power, and with the implication that what was displayed isn’t even his full power. So yeah, Sith stuff was easily the best part of book.
I was also wondering how Kemp would set up a plausible threat to both Vader and the Emperor, and the actual execution was pretty well done. It was plausible, though at no point did I feel that either of them were in any real danger, and I’m certain that was the intention. There are some questions I had with certain plot points though, one side-plot I was certain was going to show up either at the end or middle was dropped completely and one of the decisions a character makes at the end seemed more for shock value than an actual intelligent decision. A new character POV was also introduced roughly halfway into the book, which I wasn’t really interested in to begin with, and honestly seemed to just divert time away from more interesting stuff. It wasn’t bad per-se, but it was easily the weakest part of the book for me.
Characters:
To their credit, the two major characters in the Resistance are pretty good characters in their own way. You get a much better look into who Cham is and what he believes in, as he wages a war for the freedom of his planet. You empathize with him, especially later into the book, and at this point I would say he embodies the ideal “Freedom fighter.” The new character, Isval, was an interesting read, and you do understand where she comes from, though her motivations do essentially boil down to “kill Imperials.” She does have something of an arc, but it only shows up really close to the end, and doesn’t feel particularly earned; almost it was either to have some sort of redemption arc, or to make a final scene more impactful. I was somewhat disappointed by that; not every morally questionably character needs to turn “good” just because they’re on the “good” side.
The character of Belkor was alright. I didn’t exactly find him compelling or really sympathize too much with him. The only reason I was hoping things would turn out alright for him was because I liked his rival character less. But he wasn’t a wasted character, and did contribute a lot to the overall plot, which is an important point.
Vader and the Emperor are on point and completely in character. You get a much better look a Vader in this book, how he’s changed since donning the iconic suit. His relationship with the Emperor is done in nailed Sith style. If you’re familiar with how the Sith operate, then there’s very little new information here but it’s still neat to actually read through interactions between the two of them. The Emperor is the Emperor, most of his dialogue is exactly what you’d expect from him; enigmatic, manipulating and cliché. Honestly, that’s all I wanted and I definitely got that. I’m not sure if it was intended or not, but I always had the feeling that the Emperor knew quite a lot about what was going to happen, as he wasn’t rattled at all by anything that happened in the story.
Technical stuff: Not really much to say here. There were a few odd instances of stuff being capitalized when it shouldn’t have been or vice-versa. There was also a misspelled word (That I saw). Most people probably won’t spot them, but since I do a lot of writing and editing, stuff like that stands out more to me.
Conclusion: A solid novel, worth buying if you like Star Wars for sure. If you just want to see Vader and the Emperor wrecking some rebels, you’ll enjoy this immensely. If you want a well-written novel, you’ll also enjoy this as well. If you’re expecting any major twists or surprises, you’ll be disappointed. But the lack of surprise doesn’t negate that this was a book I enjoyed immensely.
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I understand why this book is titled and covered as it is. (sales) It's not irrelevant but it is misleading.Sidious and Vader are more subject of an assassination plot by Cham Syndulla and the Free Ryloth movement than they are the POV characters of the book.We do get their POV in short yet sweet stints which makes their inclusion perhaps more impactful. However, if I didn't know Cham from shows like TCW, Bad Batch, and Rebels I am not sure I would've given a hoot.I think this is well written and its last several chapters are superb. But do not go into this novel thinking you are going to spend a lot of time within either character's minds.Only Vader really gets any POV and while he has some spectacular and emotionally powerful moments he is not given as much time in the spotlight as I was expecting or would've liked.This is a good book. Just be aware of its actual content and you should enjoy it more.
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