Darth Bane: Path of Destruction--very mild spoilers

Jedi_Minch · Youngling Joined: Aug 11, 2006 Posts: 158

Okay, I've read almost four chapters of the latest Darth tome, and, so far, what I've learned is that...

The dark side of the Force promotes strong teeth and bones. Especially teeth.

Corporations are evil.

Poverty creates evil. (At least in Darth novels.)

And, so far, it's not that impressive. The writing isn't bad, but the story so far has failed to grab me.

Jedi Minch

TurtleTrooper · Jedi Knight Joined: Sep 16, 2005 Posts: 341

I really liked it. The author made the Jedi very believable and the Sith very believable. It was interesting watching Bane progress from fighting to survive to fighting for domination and power.

Jedi_Minch · Youngling Joined: Aug 11, 2006 Posts: 158

TurtleTrooper wrote:

I really liked it. The author made the Jedi very believable and the Sith very believable. It was interesting watching Bane progress from fighting to survive to fighting for domination and power.

The story did finally grab me, as he made his hasty escape toward the end of...part 1, I believe, and began his service to the Sith. I still have about fifty pages to go...and find Bane a lot less sympathetic than I did from the beginning of Part 2 on...

Still, it's a page-turner, and I only wish I had more time to devote to uninterrupted reading so I could polish it off today and see how it ends.

Jedi Minch

Jedi_Minch · Youngling Joined: Aug 11, 2006 Posts: 158

TurtleTrooper wrote:

I really liked it. The author made the Jedi very believable and the Sith very believable. It was interesting watching Bane progress from fighting to survive to fighting for domination and power.

The story did finally grab me, as he made his hasty escape toward the end of...part 1, I believe, and began his service to the Sith. I still have about fifty pages to go...and find Bane a lot less sympathetic than I did from the beginning of Part 2 on...

Still, it's a page-turner, and I only wish I had more time to devote to uninterrupted reading so I could polish it off today and see how it ends.

Jedi Minch

Krash · Jedi Knight Joined: Mar 20, 2004 Posts: 3495

TurtleTrooper wrote:

I really liked it. The author made the Jedi very believable and the Sith very believable. It was interesting watching Bane progress from fighting to survive to fighting for domination and power.

I'm catching up on some non-SW reading, so I got a quick question: Does this book give any insight on any of the unanswered questions fans have had about the Sith and why Bane started the whole "Rule of Two" thing?

Jedi_Minch · Youngling Joined: Aug 11, 2006 Posts: 158

Krash wrote:

TurtleTrooper wrote:

I really liked it. The author made the Jedi very believable and the Sith very believable. It was interesting watching Bane progress from fighting to survive to fighting for domination and power.

I'm catching up on some non-SW reading, so I got a quick question: Does this book give any insight on any of the unanswered questions fans have had about the Sith and why Bane started the whole "Rule of Two" thing?

Does a bear need Charmin in the woods? Smile

Of course, it's only a book, so any and all revelations/explanations are subject to sudden, severe and total revision by the Plaid One.

Not that even the films pass the canon test all that well, in the Post-SE era.

Jedi Minch

Jedi_Minch · Youngling Joined: Aug 11, 2006 Posts: 158

Jedi_Minch wrote:

Okay, I've read almost four chapters of the latest Darth tome, and, so far, what I've learned is that...

The dark side of the Force promotes strong teeth and bones. Especially teeth.

Corporations are evil.

Poverty creates evil. (At least in Darth novels.)

And, so far, it's not that impressive. The writing isn't bad, but the story so far has failed to grab me.

Okay, I've finished it. It has a strong middle, but it falls apart at the end.

The Sith are better-written than the Jedi, but, even in the final 25 pages or so, the depiction of the Sith falters.

It's also in the last thirty to fifty pages that the usual defects in Star Wars prose start to pop up more frequently.

And here's a question, the answer to which maybe I missed somewhere, but that I do not believe constitutes anything seriously resembling a spoiler:

How did Yoda know about the Only-Two rule? There's some indication that it predated Bane, but had fallen by the wayside millennia before he came along. But only Bane, and his apprentice, would have known that it had been reinstated, and, since the Jedi weren't aware of the return of the Sith until Qui-Gon encountered Darth Maul a thousand years later, how did Yoda know that there were *always* two, and only two, and that it should be no other way?

Jedi Minch

TurtleTrooper · Jedi Knight Joined: Sep 16, 2005 Posts: 341

I don't know.

I like the whole teeth statement. Very Happy

I felt, however, the whole "thought bomb" scene was weak. In other sources, the Sith are supposed to have Sith Warriors surrounding the circle. Other Sith were becoming so consumed by the dark side they would go insane. The warriors were to cut down these guys so they didn't interfere with the meditation. That's evil. As the thought bomb was supposed to be.

Could you be a little more specific about the "typical Star Wars prose defects"? This will be a good discussion. Smile

Jedi_Minch · Youngling Joined: Aug 11, 2006 Posts: 158

TurtleTrooper wrote:

I don't know.

I like the whole teeth statement. Very Happy

Hmmm. Maybe it's the hour, but I'm a little fuzzy...From my original post?

TurtleTrooper wrote:

I felt, however, the whole "thought bomb" scene was weak.

Exceedingly, so, in my opinion.

TurtleTrooper wrote:

Could you be a little more specific about the "typical Star Wars prose defects"? This will be a good discussion. Smile

I shall endeavor to do so...but again, the hour may involve a certain unavoidable amount of fuzz working its way in...

One specific example. The frequent invocation of the Force. Jedi, or Sith, are always gathering, or drawing in, or otherwise summoning or immersing themselves in the Force in order to...do rather ordinary things: run, jump, make an unusual exertion. Now, we know that the Jedi and the Sith use the Force, so why do they keep beating that horse? You'd think it would be understood by the reader that the individual in question was using the Force if they were tp leap ten meters straight up, or deflect a blaster bolt with a lightsaber, or hurl an object telekinetically, without being told every other sentence. It makes for flabby prose, as if you were to write about an ordinary guy, and say, "He called upon the chemical energy of the glucose in his system to work the extensor muscles in his arm to pick up the phone," or even "He called upon the muscles in his arm to pick up the phone," in stead of simply writing, "He answered the phone." Think of all the paper they'd save; think of all the time we'd all save.

Another. The similies. Comparing one thing to another. In Star Wars novels, this usually means comparing the thing or situation at hand to...some made up creature or scenario that, frankly, is pretty silly, or one of the already overused background bits of the Saga (Banthas seem to take the brunt of it), and is never heard of again. Again, it clutters up the prose, and damages the suspension of disbelief.

Jedi Minch

TurtleTrooper · Jedi Knight Joined: Sep 16, 2005 Posts: 341

I understand that whole bantha thing.

The teeth statement from early post. When he bites off the guy's thumb in mid-punch. Evil reflexes.

The reason, in my opinion, the author included the "calling upon the Force" thing was that Des had never truly experienced the Force before. It was a whole new feeling for him, a feeling of true power. Which was what he wanted out of the whole Sith training.

Think of how you do something really cool on accident. It seems amazing but you don't know how you did it. If you try it again and eventually figure out how you did it you can always remember vividly how to do it and the steps stick out to you in your mind. That's what it is with Bane.

Also, the exertion part. The Force takes an amazing amount of concentration, especially if you are challenged in that area. For example, Corran Horn has trouble with telekenisis and needs to concentrate even harder to lift something like a small rock. You saw the way Yoda struggled to lift that falling pillar in AOTC. Even the strongest masters get fatigued from constant use of the Force.

jasconsolojediknight · Youngling Joined: Jan 30, 2006 Posts: 922

I started it last night and can't put it down.

Malo-ha · Recruiting Councillor Joined: Mar 27, 2004 Posts: 786

Finally found this on the shelf at the library. Good news is it's been checked out since it came in so someone is reading it!

It had a good start. It was believable and made his choosing the Sith a more natural choice. Once again society creates it's enemies through it's own abuse and neglect. From Des's point of view there is nothing good about the Republic. They are actively supporting the company that is working him to death. I find this a much better reason for turning to the Dark side. I'm about two thirds through. Plotwise it's already starting to falter whenever the book turns to Ruusan.

jasconsolojediknight · Youngling Joined: Jan 30, 2006 Posts: 922

I have read this novel and loved it. This Book had the feeling of the KOTOR games which helped. I hope they write more on the subjuect of Dath Bane. To answers Krash is question yes the book explains how and why he made the rule of two. That is a good question that needs answering of how did Yoda findout the rule?

PrincessLeia · Jedi Knight Joined: Oct 16, 2006 Posts: 62

I finished reading it a couple weeks ago, and I really liked it because there were a lot of references to KOTOR (probably because if you look at the back flap, it says the author did the story for the game).

darthrevan · Youngling Joined: May 16, 2007 Posts: 11

this is my favorite star wars book out of all i have read. though, i still have to get through legacy of the force, but i don't see that matching up

i also hope they write more on bane, because he is awesome. maybe some stories about what he does after he instates that rule?

***********
**SPOILER**
***********

for everyone's knowledge, the rule of two was originally thought of by revan, back during the KOTOR era. if you've read the book, then obviously you konw that, because he explains his view on it in his holocron that bane finds on lehon. however, revan was unable to instate this rule because of malak's loss of control over the dark side that caused malak to start killing everything so that he could dominate the galaxy, not save it (as revan had intended). plus, after kotor, he must go defeat the ancient sith.

long explanation, but yes, bane learns everything that is useful from revan. long story short, revan is the best sith ever.

and ya, i'd also like to know how yoda knows the rule of two. maybe lucas just threw it in without thinking about its backstory. there are plot holes in a lot of star wars stuff if you look hard enough.