A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, I started reading these books…

The Star Wars Expanded Universe is a big place, and one that’s easy to get lost in. To the extent that my bookshelf allows, every Tuesday I will be guiding you through the EU with (generally) chronologically placed reviews of Star Wars novels. This week, I kick the series off with Darth Bane: Path of Destruction (An Old Republic Novel) by Drew Karpyshyn.

A young man named Dessel, recently freed from his father’s abuse and the heir to his accumulated debt and life of working in the mines on Apatros, finds himself on the path to becoming one of the most celebrated Dark Lords of the Sith of all time.

Ah. I finally sit down to review a Darth Bane novel; for some reason, I never even referenced on NJOE the fact that I read the first two. At least, not in an appropriate thread. Well, I have. I’ve read them and I quite love them.

Why?

Star Wars: Darth Bane: Path of Destruction, may be the first novel I can think of to display a realistic growing into the Dark Side. Not falling to it- that is common, although not always realistic. But Bane was born to the Dark Side. He has a biological predisposition, he felt hatred at an early age… there is no fall, but that doesn’t mean he automatically embraces the Dark Side in its entirety.

Beyond that, there’s his growth as a person. You see it in the mines, you see it in the military (I have a pro-military bias anyway, so I particularly loved this part) and you see it as a student. He’s tremendously above average- a common enough enough “heroic” quality in such characters that it doesn’t do too much to undermine the plausibility- but he still has flaws and weaknesses that he must overcome, one by one, and sometimes trying and failing to do so. The first time Darth Bane wields a lightsaber in combat, he does not go toe to toe with a Dark Lord of the Sith, and go on to teach himself to be that Dark Lord’s equal in their next encounter. No… rather, he gets his choobies handed to him time and again, the same way most arrogant, angry people would as a beginner at bladed combat. This doesn’t diminish the character; rather, it makes him one.

I hesitate to mention this, but… well, it involves the Dark Side. Sith. Rakata. Revan and Exar Kun. Alchemic rituals and holocrons. The nature of the Dark Side. Every word was like another spell designed to pull me in, seduce me with power, anger, aggression…

I don’t know how most people reacted, but frankly, this is my review and I don’t care. I was in Bane’s head the whole time- except for the remorse part. I couldn’t really empathize with that, although I understood it as character development. But with every other passage, I felt exactly how Bane felt. I was outraged by the same things Bane was, and shared his views. I don’t see the Rule of Two as essential to the Sith, but I do see the Brotherhood being boiled down to one or two individuals as something that was necessary.

While I’m on topics like that… ah, the canon! Lehon, Ambria, the Great Sith War and the Jedi Civil War tied in nicely. If anything, I would have to say these two events are referenced too much- I would wonder where reference of the ancient Sith or even Darth Ruin was. Still, the mentions were enjoyable, and it really showed the power of the man who inspired much of Bane’s work.

On to the bad, I suppose. Continuity. The most glaring example, obviously, being cortosis. Because cortosis continuity wasn’t bad enough already. Now we have a crumbling metal useful only for its lightsaber/blaster stopping properties and a beskar-like substance that’s more energy-resistant, both with the same name. I forget what canon says lately, but in any case, this still pretty blatantly disregards everything we already knew.

Other than that, there were some minor things, continuity-related. From what I know of the Jedi vs Sith comics, some things were changed. While this can be irking, I see it more as the different era it was published in. The relative time period the comics were published in had little room for the more serious name of Zannah over Rain (unless Wookiee was flawed), or a sexy Githany. I don’t see those so much as contradictions as clarifications.

And, of course, as I feel with most Star Wars books… it was just too simple. I don’t know. I may just be an elitist prick, but there was little in the way of really making you think, much less adult content (other than what they did not consummate, if that counts). I like to have both of these in my novels, and they’re both unfortunately relatively rare in Star Wars. This probably wouldn’t have impacted my score, but coupled with the little bit of canon issues, it dropped a little.

Overall, this novel comes highly recommended. If you love Knights of the Old Republic games, Tales of the Jedi: Dark Lords of the Sith, or anything else in that vein, this is for you. Darth Bane’s path of destruction is very much in the vein of the darkest Sith tales we’ve come to know and love.