Darth Bane: Dynasty of Evil

You know how some books are like partaking in fine, gourmet food, rich and savory? Yeah. That wasn't the case with this one. This one is more like greasy fast food.

I've been reading Star Wars novels for a while now. What I've really enjoyed lately are books that delved into the extended universe, especially those that fill in the blanks about the Star Wars universe's history. Darth Bane: Dynasty of Evil by Drew Karpyshyn is one of those books. It follows the further exploits of Darth Bane, the Dark Lord of the Sith who formulated the infamous Rule of Two. If you've ever wondered why, in the Star Wars movies, there are only two Sith (Darth Sidious and finally, Darth Vader), it's because of Bane. This is the third book in the series.

Darth Bane is faced with a nasty problem. He's been the Sith Master for so long, he's worried his body is giving out on him. He's been hoping that his apprentice, Darth Zannah, would challenge him for control of the Sith but it hasn't happened. So Darth Bane searches out the holocron of Darth Andeddu, an ancient Sith sorcerer who supposedly unlocked the secret of eternal life. Darth Bane thinks this is the only way his Sith order can survive.

Darth Zannah, in the meantime, has realized that her time has come. Bane has always taught her that the time would come when she would challenge him to single combat, winner takes all. She's been patient but now she has to seek out an apprentice of her own, someone she can train in Sith ways.

But things become complicated when an old enemy of Bane's seeks him out for revenge. Who will wind up in control of Bane's Sith?

Like I said, this isn't fine literature by any stretch of the imagination. The craft isn't top knotch; there's a lot of telling as opposed to showing. The ending was a bit predictable, although Karpyshyn did manage to keep things twisting just enough to keep me on my toes. I'm not saying that the book was awful, but it was just sort of . . . well, average. A fun, quick read but pretty insubstantial.