"terrific follow-up to the novelization of the third movie"
After turning his back to the light, Jedi Knight Anakin
Skywalker devastated his former compatriots Jedi Knights,
but "died" during his confrontation with his friend and
teacher Obi-Wan Kenobi. Out of Anakin's "death" arose Darth
Vader, whose loyalty is to the Dark Lord Sidious as the
former heir apparent has become the Emperor Palatine's
prime executioner. While the Imperial forces destroy what is left of the
failed Jedi insurgency, Vader goes after the three
surviving Jedi Roan Shryne, Bol Chatak and Padawan Olee
Starstone. As the trio flees, they know that when their
former friend catches them, they will die. Still they elude
the clone soldiers and stormtroopers as they search for
a "safehouse" to hide the twin infants, Leia and Luke
Skywalker, from their father in hope of improving the odds
when the inevitable confrontation between light and dark
occurs. DARK LORD -- THE RISE OF DARTH VADER is a terrific follow-
up to the novelization of the third movie. The key to the
story line is the deep look inside Darth Vader, who comes
across as a tragic figure struggling between what is left
of his ever darkening soul and the seemingly unrestricted
power of the force that tightens its addictive control over
him. While the Jedi look to the future with protecting the
next generation, the dark threesome wants to eradicate all
resistance now. Fans of Star Wars will treasure James
Luceno's latest entry as one of the best in the long
running multiple series. Reviewed by Harriet Klausner
Posted May 24, 2006
Reviewed by PNR Group Member
Posted January 24, 2007
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Throughout the galaxy, it was believed that Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker–the Chosen One–had died on Coruscant during the siege of the Jedi Temple. And, to some extent, that was true. Anakin was dead. From the site of Anakin Skywalker’s last stand–on the molten surface of the planet Mustafar, where he sought to destroy his friend and former master, Obi-Wan Kenobi–a fearsome specter in black has risen. Once the most powerful Knight ever known to the Jedi Order, he is now a disciple of the dark side, a lord of the dreaded Sith, and the avenging right hand of the galaxy’s ruthless new Emperor. Seduced, deranged, and destroyed by the machinations of the Dark Lord Sidious, Anakin Skywalker is dead . . . and Darth Vader lives. Word of the events that created him–the Jedi Council’s failed mutiny against Supreme Chancellor Palpatine, the self-crowned Emperor’s retaliatory command to exterminate the Jedi Order, and Anakin’s massacre of his comrades and Masters in the Jedi Temple–has yet to reach all quarters. On the Outer Rim world of Murkhana, Jedi Masters Roan Shryne and Bol Chatak and Padawan Olee Starstone are leading a charge on a Separatist stronghold, unaware that the tide, red with Jedi blood, has turned suddenly against them. When the three narrowly elude execution–and become the desperate prey in a hunt across space–it’s neither clone soldiers, nor the newly deployed stormtroopers, nor even the wrath of the power-hungry Emperor himself they must fear most. The deadliest threat rests in the hideously swift and lethal crimson lightsaber of Darth Vader–behind whose brooding mask lies a shattered heart, a poisoned soul, and a cunning, twisted mind hell-bent on vengeance. For the handful of scattered Jedi, survival is imperative if the light side of the Force is to be protected and the galaxy somehow, someday reclaimed. Yet more important still is the well-being of the twin infants, Leia and Luke Skywalker, the children of Anakin and his doomed bride, Padmé Amidala. Separated after Padmé’s death, they must be made safe at all costs, lest the hope they represent for the future be turned to horror by the new Sith regime–and the unspeakable power of the dark side.
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