Review: Star Wars: Darth Plagueis by James Luceno (contains spoilers)

[chameleon_irony]

My comment is in two parts: as a reader and psychology student, first, and as a fanfiction author, second.

It isn't a large book. It took me 8 hours to read it thoroughly.

Comments

[philstar22]

I may be slightly biased since Palpatine in my favorite Star Wars character, but I'd put this book right up there with Zahns. It was amazing. Hands down best SW book in a long time.

[chameleon_irony]

Didn't the fact that he is your favorite character heighten your expectations? He's my favorite character too - well, sort of, depending on how you define favorite character - and it's the reason I would have been really pissed off if Luceno had screwed up in this book.

[philstar22]

Totally. I was ridiculously excited for this book. It would have killed me if Luceno had screwed up.

And by favorite, I mean the one I find most interesting, not the one I sympathize with/think is the most good/etc. That would be either Luke, Leia, Obi-Wan, or Mara. But Palpatine is just so fun to watch/read about and is so fascinating. I loved learning his background. I loved seeing him before he was this devil figure: he was a lot like Anakin (which made their relationship all that much more interesting) and yet at the same time had this innate evilness and darkness even then that Anakin never did and that suited the character.

[gwinna487]

Is the question of Anakin's origins really left open? Some of the other reviews I read made it sound like it said the Sith definitely didn't have a hand in Anakin's creation. I was kind of disappointed since I liked how ambiguous it was in RotS.

[chameleon_irony]

Plagueis thinks the Force is striking back at the Sith for their experiments with it and he assumes Anakin is its revenge. But we don't see any proof of this, or of the Force having a will of its own. It all seems to be nothing more than Plagueis's paranoid theory.

For all we know, Anakin could be an experiment gone wrong, a success where Plagueis thought he failed:
he had attempted an even more unthinkable act: to bring into being a creation of his own ... the birth of a Forceful being ... But ultimately to no end. (p. 280)
And on the last page, Anakin is referred to as a Forceful being. He is exactly what Plagueis intended, and thought he failed, to create.

Also, note that while Plagueis is surprised and alarmed by Anakin's existence, Palpatine has the opposite reaction: instead of seeing Anakin as a threat, he sees him as a gift, an opportunity. We're given no explanation why, and no clues as to what's behind his cryptic thoughts when Dooku tells him about Anakin: Nine years old ... Conceived by the Force... Is it possible ...