Top critical review
3.0 out of 5 stars"Star Wars: Lords of the Sith" - Behind the Mask
Reviewed in the United States on July 27, 2015
Unlike many Star Wars tales, "Lords of the Sith" tells a very narrowly-scoped story. Other than the very beginning, there are no plot devices on a galactic scale - no hopping from planet to planet which is so commonly seen. Nearly the entire story takes place in the Ryloth system - predominantly on the planet Ryloth itself. I can't rave about this book as nothing about it particularly knocked my socks off, but I can say that it was a good, fast read. The action is rather constant and the characters are engaging. What I enjoyed most was the interaction between Sidious and Vader. Having read the Darth Bane novels and more recently Darth Plagueis, I was quite familiar with the contradictory and bizarre nature of the Sith master/apprentice relationship. I had seen its complexities play out in several other forms, but never through Sidious and Vader. I was looking forward to it when I first cracked the pages of this novel and I found those portions to be my favorite as I read it. I've often wondered how Vader felt about Sidious during the years following "Revenge of the Sith." Did he ever feel resentment? Did he feel like he'd been lied to and tricked onto this dark path? Was he ambitious and eager to overthrow his master as is the duty of the Sith apprentice? What this novel tells me is that, in fact, after so many years by his side, Sidious remains as much an enigma to Vader as he was during the fall of the Republic. The man's mind is a mystery and this novel does nothing to clear that up for the reader or for Vader himself - except to make us all (Vader included) a bit more terrified of Sidious. He appears nearly omniscient which leads one to wonder how the events of Episode VI could ever have actually played out. While I enjoyed the insights into Vader's mind that this novel offered, I was a bit disappointed that similar attention wasn't given to Sidious. The novel is purposefully called "LORDS of the Sith" and yet the reader really only gets to see events through the eyes of one lord - Vader. After having read Darth Plagueis as well as Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter, I enjoyed the glimpse into the mind of Sidious as a protagonist and was disappointed to seeing that door so firmly shut in this novel. He is little more than a supporting character. So, in short, this was a good book and an entertaining read into one of the many seeds of a galaxy-wide rebellion, but it left me wanting more. It didn't wow me but it was good enough for me to say I liked it. Though I don't think the end result was what the reader was promised by the marketing for the book.