Drew Karpyshyn

Karpyshyn's meditations on the nature of the force and the conflicting ideologies of the Jedi and Sith continue in another edge of the seat Darth Bane novel: 'Rule of Two.'

His body infected by parasitic force augmenting arachnids, Bane continues training Darth Zannah in the ways of the force. Meanwhile, the Jedi are bombarded with an onslaught of intelligence from various corners of the galaxy that the Sith have survived. The high council dismisses this information as being fanciful paranoid show more claims even though veteran warrior and maverick Jedi Knight Johun Othone, Bane's nemesis, argues otherwise.

In compliance with his radical doctrine of there ever being two Sith, Bane continues his hunt for ancient Sith archives in order to solidify his legacy. He deputes Zannah to unearth any archival material on how he can rid himself of the suffocating arachnids latched thereon.

While the Sith duo involve themselves in pursuing their aims, Othone comes across Zannah's cousin and failed Jedi Darovit who confirms his worst fears, the Sith are still alive. Zannah, in the meantime, has infiltrated the Jedi temple to acquire a cure for Bane's parasitic woes and also chances upon Darovit with whom she suddenly escapes.

Darovit's escape after his testimony to the Jedi that their feared nemesis is alive convinces the Jedi High Council to dispatch two strike forces to finish off Bane. In the first round Bane and Zannah slay all their opponents including Othone. In the process however Bane's Sith lightning is suddenly redirected against him literally roasting him. This also has the added advantage of weakening the parasitic armor plaguing him which falls off after inserting subatomic toxins in his bloodstream.

Landing at the legendary healer Caleb's door, Zannah spins a tale of betrayal and deceit to have Bane healed while she prepares to confront the second Jedi strike force. At the end, this Jedi strike team happens upon a heavily mutilated corpse and suddenly chance upon an enraged lightsaber wielder who they cut down after considerable effort. They report back to the council that it seems that the Sith Lord had healed himself, slaughtered his apprentice in a fit of rage and then succumbed to whatever madness was afflicting him.

Bane and Zannah, meanwhile, shelter underneath the Jedis' very feet and watch them depart. They hurry past Caleb's remains and Darovit's corpse lacerated with multiple lightsaber wounds. The duo escape with Bane confessing that Zannah will indeed be the end of him.

With such a bloodcurdling tale, what more could one want from Karpyshyn? The twist at the end is worth reading the entire book. May the Dark side of the Force be with you! show less

SO I kind of decided I didn't want to read this one, because I like the KOTOR games so much, but at the same time I want to read the good non-canon / lore/ legends Star Wars books while waiting for my Chronological Star Wars Film & TV watching to reach the next canon book in the time-line. Quite a few people say this is one of the good ones...but not so many of the fans of the games, and hooo-boy, I can see why.
I've played KOTOR 1 & 2 many, many times, on many different games consoles and show more computers, over the years. I've played all ways, good, bad, and in between. I've romanced different characters, I've played them modded, I romance Kaiden in Mass Effect purely because he's voiced by Carth Onansi (well, by Raphael Sbarge, who voices both). My icon on gaming sites is often Bastilla, as a kick ass jedi lady. I'm a fan. This book, despite being called Revan; despite being written by Drew Karpyshyn, who usually Knows His Stuff; despite featuring Revan, Bastilla, The Exile, Canderous,, and T3-M4 - does not feel like it's a fan.
Revan doesn't feel like Revan, (and not just cause I prefer my Revan female) - he's all over the place, and at no point do you feel like he has much in the way of amazing power, or tbh much in the way of brains. Big dumb hero? Yeah, more of that. Bastilla - fantastic, powwerful, mysterious, complex role-maodel Bastilla? Well, I don't think this one could possibly be voiced by Jennifer Hale. Bastilla is sat at home waiting for her man, barefoot and pregnant or as a single mum being jealous of the Exile. I mean sheesh. Canderous is in it for a bit and yeah, I guess he's okay. Big dumb hero was never too complicated in the games either. T3 gets treated so poorly by the end of the book I'm not even going to talk about him. Carth, Juhani, Atton, Jolee, others are just forgotten, I guess Mission, Zaalbar and HK-47 get a passing mention, but literally one or two lines. There's no more where that came from, guys. Oh and The Exile, omg, prehaps Drew Karpyshyn hasn't played KOTOR 2? That's all I can assume.
Aside from that whole thing - the book is, hmm, okay. It starts well, and seems exciting (once you can recover from PointlessLittle WifeyBastilla, that is), but quickly becomes the quite good story of Lord Scourge, a sith whose path eventually connects with first Revan, and later The Exile (Meetra Surik). I quite liked his story, but it was nothing to do with the characters I expected. They turned up, did their thing, and were dealt with in one way or another. Apart from the couple of interludes with wifey, there was very little about them when NOT interacting with Lord Scourge, whereas we got all the history and backstory and side characters and locations etc - all the set dressing - for Lord Scourge's side of the story. I think calling the book SCOURGE and renaming the two jedi and their droid to be anyone else at all, would probably have made a much less annoying book. That might have made a 3 or 3.5 star review, but this is fairly lucky to be a 2 star. Now I have to try to find out, without spoilers, if the next Old Republic book is going to be worth me reading or not, or if I just jump ahead.
As others said before me and I foolishly failed to listen - if you love KOTOR, if you love Revan, the Exile, and Bastilla, - don't bother with this one. I wish I hadn't! show less

SO I kind of decided I didn't want to read this one, because I like the KOTOR games so much, but at the same time I want to read the good non-canon / lore/ legends Star Wars books while waiting for my Chronological Star Wars Film & TV watching to reach the next canon book in the time-line. Quite a few people say this is one of the good ones...but not so many of the fans of the games, and hooo-boy, I can see why.
I've played KOTOR 1 & 2 many, many times, on many different games consoles and show more computers, over the years. I've played all ways, good, bad, and in between. I've romanced different characters, I've played them modded, I romance Kaiden in Mass Effect purely because he's voiced by Carth Onansi (well, by Raphael Sbarge, who voices both). My icon on gaming sites is often Bastilla, as a kick ass jedi lady. I'm a fan. This book, despite being called Revan; despite being written by Drew Karpyshyn, who usually Knows His Stuff; despite featuring Revan, Bastilla, The Exile, Canderous,, and T3-M4 - does not feel like it's a fan.
Revan doesn't feel like Revan, (and not just cause I prefer my Revan female) - he's all over the place, and at no point do you feel like he has much in the way of amazing power, or tbh much in the way of brains. Big dumb hero? Yeah, more of that. Bastilla - fantastic, powwerful, mysterious, complex role-maodel Bastilla? Well, I don't think this one could possibly be voiced by Jennifer Hale. Bastilla is sat at home waiting for her man, barefoot and pregnant or as a single mum being jealous of the Exile. I mean sheesh. Canderous is in it for a bit and yeah, I guess he's okay. Big dumb hero was never too complicated in the games either. T3 gets treated so poorly by the end of the book I'm not even going to talk about him. Carth, Juhani, Atton, Jolee, others are just forgotten, I guess Mission, Zaalbar and HK-47 get a passing mention, but literally one or two lines. There's no more where that came from, guys. Oh and The Exile, omg, prehaps Drew Karpyshyn hasn't played KOTOR 2? That's all I can assume.
Aside from that whole thing - the book is, hmm, okay. It starts well, and seems exciting (once you can recover from PointlessLittle WifeyBastilla, that is), but quickly becomes the quite good story of Lord Scourge, a sith whose path eventually connects with first Revan, and later The Exile (Meetra Surik). I quite liked his story, but it was nothing to do with the characters I expected. They turned up, did their thing, and were dealt with in one way or another. Apart from the couple of interludes with wifey, there was very little about them when NOT interacting with Lord Scourge, whereas we got all the history and backstory and side characters and locations etc - all the set dressing - for Lord Scourge's side of the story. I think calling the book SCOURGE and renaming the two jedi and their droid to be anyone else at all, would probably have made a much less annoying book. That might have made a 3 or 3.5 star review, but this is fairly lucky to be a 2 star. Now I have to try to find out, without spoilers, if the next Old Republic book is going to be worth me reading or not, or if I just jump ahead.
As others said before me and I foolishly failed to listen - if you love KOTOR, if you love Revan, the Exile, and Bastilla, - don't bother with this one. I wish I hadn't! show less

There’s no canon like the old canon, I’ve decided. After having read a dozen or so books in the growing new canon Star Wars collective, I have sadly deduced that they aren’t that great. Most of them are mediocre at best, with only a few standing out as somewhat decent. I am, of course, not giving up on them, but I’ve decided that I just need a little break from the new canon. There are so many old canon novels on my bookshelves that I haven’t read yet, so I figured now’s the show more time.

I’ve wanted to read Drew Karpyshyn’s trilogy featuring Darth Bane for a long time, but the one thing stopping me was the fact that I didn’t really like Karpyshyn’s only other contribution to the SWEU, “Revan”, a novel set in the Old Republic. Apparently, that novel (and, I think, a video game character based on it) has gained cult status among SWEU fanatics. I don’t play video games, so it didn’t interest me much. I thought the novel was Meh and read like a video game, i.e. boring.

Maybe the fact that my expectations were low going into “Path of Destruction” was what helped, but I actually really enjoyed the novel. It is fast-paced, action-packed, and the characters are well-developed. Things that tend to be missing from some of the new canon novels I have read.

The evolution of the anti-hero Bane is a fascinating one. Raised on a rough mining planet, abused by a heartless drunk of a father and shown little to no compassion or affection, Bane’s path toward becoming a Sith is somewhat inevitable. When he finds himself on the run for the murder of a Republic officer, Bane escapes off-planet and becomes a part of an army called the Brotherhood of Darkness, led by Sith Masters in the continuous war against the Republic and the Jedi Knights protecting it. (This novel is set during the Old Republic.)

A Force-sensitive, Bane is hand-picked by a Sith Master to attend an academy for young Sith. It is there that he learns to hone his Force abilities. Very quickly, he starts to overcome even his Masters. Against the wishes of his masters, Bane sneaks into the ancient library and studies the forbidden Sith scrolls. It is there that he learns of the accounts of Revan, one of the most powerful Sith Lords in history. He vows to become the most powerful Sith Lord ever. To do so will involve mass murder on a phenomenal scale.

It’s weird to enjoy a novel about a truly evil character, but the story of Bane is nevertheless gripping. One almost roots for Bane to succeed, partly because there are few other likable characters anyway. Even the few Jedi in the novel are douche-bags.

In the SWEU old canon timeline, this trilogy is a must-read, if only because it explains why, a hundred years later during the era of Skywalker, there are only two Sith Lords that can ever exist at any given time, by design. show less