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Customer Review
Reviewed in the United States on September 28, 2012
I've read plenty of books in the Star Wars Expanded Universe, including recent offerings. "Darth Plagueis" was not only heavily anticipated, but worth the wait. It is a magnum opus, a labor of love, with superior writing and lasting artistic insight enough for it to merit a title of "classic" even so early in its run.
This book easily revolutionizes writing for the EU: Its prose is cerebral, lyrical, and delves into philosophical discussions of morality and ethics that people -- for those who had the privilege to take a few philosophy or political science courses in college -- are familiar with, though they are obviously cast in a new light (see: Nietzsche, Hume, Hobbes, and Schopenhauer, not to mention Freud and Plato.) *This book is not for Star Wars fans who like action/adventure or like to see things go boom.
The book is extremely clever, using an omnipresent third-person narrator but multiple protagonists, a non-linear timeline, and nudge-nudge chapter titles that remain grounded in our world (I recall a chapter named "The Discreet Charm of the Bureaucracy" -- ha) and keeping us with one foot in the Star Wars Universe and one in Earth's. The stories of lobbies, bureaucrats, political machinations with corporations may be dull to some, but why not learn that strings are pulled by the rich, powerful and violent in EVERY GALAXY? Take an ethics lesson with Hego Demask and Palpatine, Star Wars fans; "Darth Plagueis" is, to some extent, a micro textbook on modern international politics and sentient moral philosophy, and for that I love it. Another major plus is that, while fleshing out the backstory of Palpatine, the man is not made sympathetic. He was always petulant, always manipulative, always superficially charming, always violent, and always destined for this future -- no mere Anakin Skywalker he. Palpatine is not a classic fallen hero trope, and his malevolent anti-social personality disorder is on gorgeous display in writing here.
"Darth Plagueis" is for fans who have always wanted their Star Wars a little darker and a lot smarter than the average.
My only qualm is that the species of Darth Plagueis, the Muun species, is an obvious (and so obvious it was not unintentional) amalgam of various stereotypes of the Jewish people: Isolationist, obsessed with money, nearly only bankers and lawyers, not fighters but rather people who use money to win, and, of course, the famous stereotype that Jews are the puppetmasters behind all kinds of political lobbies and massive global schemes. As much as I adored the character of Darth Plagueis, I felt, as a Jewish woman, a little bothered that James Luceno would exploit common and harmful stereotypes of a real-life community of people to make his point about the nature of the Grand Plan of the Sith. It showed a lack of creativity on Luceno's part, just as George Lucas' casting of the Neimoidian Trade Federation leaders as East Asian peoples was crass and brought down his brand. Luceno might as well have said he thinks George Soros is a Sith Lord and taken it from there.
The puzzling pseudo-antisemitism notwithstanding, this book is fantastic and the only must-read EU novel since, I don't know, anything that had Thrawn in it (exception: "Choices of One".) It's for the fans of the Empire and/or Sith who want to know the nitty-gritty without it all being romanticized or flashy. It is also removed enough from the heavy canon discussion that happens in the NJO/Legacy series for it to be acceptable to non-Star Wars fans. All you need to have seen are the movies, really. It can be a standalone fantasy novel, and it may prove to be a good rival EU introductory novel to "Heir to the Empire" or "Shadow of the Empire".
This was the Expanded Universe book I was looking for.
This book easily revolutionizes writing for the EU: Its prose is cerebral, lyrical, and delves into philosophical discussions of morality and ethics that people -- for those who had the privilege to take a few philosophy or political science courses in college -- are familiar with, though they are obviously cast in a new light (see: Nietzsche, Hume, Hobbes, and Schopenhauer, not to mention Freud and Plato.) *This book is not for Star Wars fans who like action/adventure or like to see things go boom.
The book is extremely clever, using an omnipresent third-person narrator but multiple protagonists, a non-linear timeline, and nudge-nudge chapter titles that remain grounded in our world (I recall a chapter named "The Discreet Charm of the Bureaucracy" -- ha) and keeping us with one foot in the Star Wars Universe and one in Earth's. The stories of lobbies, bureaucrats, political machinations with corporations may be dull to some, but why not learn that strings are pulled by the rich, powerful and violent in EVERY GALAXY? Take an ethics lesson with Hego Demask and Palpatine, Star Wars fans; "Darth Plagueis" is, to some extent, a micro textbook on modern international politics and sentient moral philosophy, and for that I love it. Another major plus is that, while fleshing out the backstory of Palpatine, the man is not made sympathetic. He was always petulant, always manipulative, always superficially charming, always violent, and always destined for this future -- no mere Anakin Skywalker he. Palpatine is not a classic fallen hero trope, and his malevolent anti-social personality disorder is on gorgeous display in writing here.
"Darth Plagueis" is for fans who have always wanted their Star Wars a little darker and a lot smarter than the average.
My only qualm is that the species of Darth Plagueis, the Muun species, is an obvious (and so obvious it was not unintentional) amalgam of various stereotypes of the Jewish people: Isolationist, obsessed with money, nearly only bankers and lawyers, not fighters but rather people who use money to win, and, of course, the famous stereotype that Jews are the puppetmasters behind all kinds of political lobbies and massive global schemes. As much as I adored the character of Darth Plagueis, I felt, as a Jewish woman, a little bothered that James Luceno would exploit common and harmful stereotypes of a real-life community of people to make his point about the nature of the Grand Plan of the Sith. It showed a lack of creativity on Luceno's part, just as George Lucas' casting of the Neimoidian Trade Federation leaders as East Asian peoples was crass and brought down his brand. Luceno might as well have said he thinks George Soros is a Sith Lord and taken it from there.
The puzzling pseudo-antisemitism notwithstanding, this book is fantastic and the only must-read EU novel since, I don't know, anything that had Thrawn in it (exception: "Choices of One".) It's for the fans of the Empire and/or Sith who want to know the nitty-gritty without it all being romanticized or flashy. It is also removed enough from the heavy canon discussion that happens in the NJO/Legacy series for it to be acceptable to non-Star Wars fans. All you need to have seen are the movies, really. It can be a standalone fantasy novel, and it may prove to be a good rival EU introductory novel to "Heir to the Empire" or "Shadow of the Empire".
This was the Expanded Universe book I was looking for.
