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"Ewok Apocalypse" would be a fun band name. First album: "Yub-Nub No More" I'd also like to add, for no particular reason, that due to the immensely craptacular nature of recent Trek, I had shifted my allegiance in The Great Debate to Star Wars, away from Trek. That said, the new Trek movie was pretty good, but still has a lot to prove. I feel like a battered woman going back with Bobby Joe one more time, cuz he stopped drinking, or something. At least with Star Wars, you always know what you're gonna get. Lame Lucas stuff which is awesome in theory yet somehow turns out slightly off in practice. So close though, and close enough for me to see the real story, shining down in there. Which is an awesome story of war, in the stars. So, for this redshirt, make mine Stormtroopers.
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Aug 15, 2010 18:35
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What's the general consensus on "Cloak of Deception"? I liked it for the excellent back story it provided for The Phantom Menace. Also, since I think Palpatine is the best character in the SW universe, by far, I'm eager for any story that depicts his wheelings and dealings. I just finished "Labyrinth of Evil" as well, and I liked it, but moreso the last third than the first.
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Sep 8, 2013 03:40
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I'm halfway through "Darth Plagueis" and I love it so much. I've already re-read the first half multiple times as I go along, I'm so enamored with the story. Finally, a book from the Sith perspective!
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Oct 19, 2013 03:49
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I just finished Darth Plagueis, and not only is it the best Star Wars novel I've ever read, it's up there for best story I've read (in terms of enjoyment, not "critical worth"). I loved it so much - I had to pace myself so I didn't finish it too fast. Darth Plagueis himself was a surprisingly chill Sith Lord, except for the periodic mass killings and assassinations. I could not believe the amount of backstory given on Palpatine - supposedly all Lucas approved as well. I really enjoyed to story's focus being on the Sith, with the Jedi being peripheral characters. I've heard some good things about the Darth Bane trilogy - does it compare to Darth Plagueis?
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Oct 24, 2013 01:50
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Conquistador posted:Getting in on this Plagueis action then, seems like its awesome- Two of you mentioned pacing yourselves so you didn't finish it too fast. I thought it was incredible - really. Just such a cool story in the Star Wars universe. Sets up Episode 1 and 2 incredibly well.
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Oct 24, 2013 03:47
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Cru Jones posted:I've said it before I really didn't enjoy Darth Plagueis, maybe I need to revisit it. It just seem to go on and on, and as others have noted is really more the story of Palpatine than anything. And the things that were dealt with were not handled well in my opinion. What's wrong with Palpatine back story? I would have liked to have read more about Darth Tenebrous as well, who seemed like an odd, techie Sith. I found everything about the Sith in this book wonderful, because for most of the time, you're kinda rooting for them. They're not monsters - but then! Mass killing, or assassination, or force choke, or have some lightning. And yes, they are monsters. It's a neat aspect of the book in that you almost get lulled into pulling for the Sith simply because they are fairly represented as the protagonists of the story.
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Oct 25, 2013 01:22
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Jazerus posted:I really enjoyed the idea of Palpatine being a reckless young noble entirely convinced he's better than the peasantry from the beginning - he's like something out of Victorian era British literature, as well as Naboo being explicitly set up as an isolationist world until shortly before TPM. Plagueis manipulating the galaxy through his cover as a shady CEO of a very wealthy holding company was cool too. Indeed. For the most part it's a political/corporate thriller. Plots, backstabbing, hostile takeovers, and Force lightning. I enjoyed the relationships shown with the Sith - that is, the other folk who work for them, knowing they are Sith or not. For example, it puts the Hutts in a different light - their criminal enterprises are backed, financially and morally, by the Sith. You can see what is the downfall of the Republic - the inclusion of corporate interests directly in the Senate. And then those corporate interests could bring in other worlds, that they controlled. And these Guilds and Federations and Clans are all working with the Sith, mostly unknowingly. Finally, I really liked Plagueis's personal relationships - with Larsh Hill, for example. But especially 11-4D. He really dug that droid. Also, he got killed by getting drunk - which was an interesting turn of character - he goes public with Palpatine as his bud, and he starts drinking (through his nostrils). I'm re-reading it, I enjoyed the book so much.
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Oct 28, 2013 03:14
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I haven't read a lot of Star Wars books, so maybe I'm missing some recurring theme, but what was up with the droid 11-4D in "Darth Plagueis"? Darth P seemed to love the droid from the start, and they were pretty much an inseparable pair for 40 years or so. Even Palpatine treats the droid with respect.
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Nov 17, 2013 23:13
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Thwomp posted:I want to say that its simply a droid without any morals whatsoever. I've read it 3 times in a row now. I love it! Darth Plagueis is the coolest Sith Lord. What's the spoiler rule here? Can I talk openly about plot points, or does everything need a spoiler?
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Nov 18, 2013 04:30
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Drone posted:I just started reading Darth Plagueis yesterday solely on the praise that's been heaped on it by this thread and so far it definitely does not disappoint. I really, really enjoy it when Sith are portrayed as something other than superficial comic book villains, and I'm definitely getting a good vibe from the places this is going. quote:So far, Plagueis is just a hyper-rich capitalist power-hungry rear end in a top hat, and it's great.
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Nov 21, 2013 22:03
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KildarX posted:I almost feel the book should be called something other than Plagueis, about 50% of the book deals with Plagueis and the other 50% deals almost exclusively with Sidious and it starts right after Plagueis becomes the Dark lord and doesn't tell about his trials under Tenebrous. This doesn't detract from the book, but I feel it would be made better if Sidious got his own book in the same vain as Plagueis and you got much more of Plagueis' origins instead. Fair enough, but the biggest revelation of the book for me was the fact that Sidious was still the apprentice during most of the events of The Phantom Menace, and Maul really was nothing but dark side muscle. Plagueis may not be the focus of the entire book, but he is involved from beginning to end. Additionally, this makes thematic sense as in after one of the time jumps - after the assassination attempt on Plagueis - he kinda checks out of the normal world and focuses on the Force (creating Anakin in the process), while it's Sidious who's now out there doing stuff in the real world. Also, from a movie context perspective, Plagueis is a background character, whereas Sidious is the main antagonist of all Star Wars movies. Finally, this book is overall about the Sith and their Rule of Two, and as such it makes sense to focus on the Master/Apprentice relationship between Plagueis and Sidious. Maybe another book could be written covering Darth Tenebrous and eventually his apprentice, Plagueis (I'd read it), but I think we got enough of his backstory here - it is covered, including Tenebrous' ultimate disappointment in Plagueis. Not in great detail, granted, but it hits all the key points. But in sum, we only know about Plagueis because of that one anecdote in ROTS, and so it makes a lot of sense to me to structure the book the way it is, because Plagueis could never be a main character in the same story that Sidious is involved with, since, again, Sidious is THE antagonist of the entire Star Wars universe. I know it's a pipe dream, but man would I like to see this book made into a movie.
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Nov 24, 2013 03:07
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Drone posted:Just finished Darth Plagueis. quote:I really loved how James Luceno wove this story into The Phantom Menace, and the idea that Plagueis is still alive during the events of Episode I is really, really appealing to me - for some reason I really loved the parts where he's observing events that we see happening on-screen in the movie. quote:That being said, I kinda hate how he died. I expected some pretty great murder scene between Sidious and Plagueis, and found it really off-putting that Sidious basically just got him drunk and then hosed up his respirator. Pretty lame, and though it made sense on the eve of Palpatine's rise to the office of Supreme Chancellor, there didn't seem to be much motivation for it beyond "I'm a Sith apprentice, and apprentices have to kill their masters." I mean, later in the EU we see Palpatine just as obsessed with immortality as Plagueis had been, so I really fail to understand why he would kill Plagueis before learning the secret, or at the very least try a bit harder to get it out of him. Throughout most of the book, Sidious seems to basically worship the ground Plagueis walks on, barring a few comparatively minor incidences where Sidious gets, at best, a bit miffed at misinterpreting Plagueis's actions as rebukes of Sidious. quote:That being said, it's the best Star Wars book I've read since the Thrawn Trilogy, and it did what I didn't think possible: actually got me interested in the Rise of the Empire Era again. I want more. Same for me. I'd love to read stories of other Sith Masters and Apprentices if done in a similar manner.
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Dec 10, 2013 04:44
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Dr. Lariat posted:Totally, I picked up Darth Bane after reading Plagueis but it was well, kinda lame. That stinks. Was it just lame, or actively bad? I've been thinking of picking it up.
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Dec 10, 2013 19:21
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Drone posted:I'd love to read a sequel to Darth Plagueis just all about Sidious and Dooku, especially since Dooku's character (like just about everyone in the prequel trilogy) seems so drat stale in the movies. I'd like to know more about 11-4D. Such a weird character - like he was a Sith droid. Plagueis seemed to really like him/it.
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Dec 10, 2013 19:22
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Drone posted:I don't think he was inherently good or bad either, just an obedient droid who obeyed his master and did his job well. He never seemed like your HK-47 deprived morality type. I found their relationship interesting. Plagueis seemed to take a big shine to the droid. Like they were best friends. So is it confirmed that both Plagueis and Sidious created Anakin? They refer to a shift in the force that they accomplished, and then 8 years later they learn about Anakin.
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Dec 10, 2013 20:58
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Thwomp posted:11-4D was definitely cool for just being amoral. Operated totally without regard to the ethics of anything. Yeah. 11-4D even says once "If only I had a tool as powerful as the Force". I really just liked the adventures of Plaqueis and his best friend, 11-4D. A true odd couple.
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Dec 10, 2013 21:05
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Chairman Capone posted:*Speaking of Darth Plagueis, back in Star Wars Insider #130 Stover wrote a short-story tie-in for Darth Plagueis called "The Tenebrous Way", which was about Plagueis killing Tenebrous from the POV of Tenebrous. It was a cool little story that added a whole new dimension to the Plagueis-Tenebrous relationship but sadly I don't think it was ever included in any paperback reprints or anything beyond the magazine issue itself. The story made me question three events in Darth Plagueis: 1. When Darth P almost gets killed by the assassins during the Order of the Canted Circle initiation - how could he get so blindsided? When Darth P's base on Sojurn gets nuked by King Veruna. Yes, he escaped, but only because Jabba told him it was coming. How could he not sense this himself? And of course when he gets killed by Sidious. It wasn't like he was totally caught by surprise. Or was he? For a powerful Sith Lord, he didn't seem to have a lot of foresight.
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Dec 12, 2013 04:55
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Drone posted:Pride goeth before the fall. Most Sith we've seen have been victims of their own lack of foresight: Maul getting arrogant and sloppy, Palpatine failing to see Vader's betrayal, Dooku failing to see Palpatine's betrayal, Revan failing to see Malak's betrayal, etc. etc. I really liked the fact that there were groups out there willing to attack the Sith - not knowing they were Sith, of course. First the Gran, who I never knew were as nasty as presented here, and then King Veruna, which I thought was an excellent turn since Naboo is so entwined with the Sith and the events leading into the prequels, and of course the prequels themselves. It further explains the TF blockade in TPM - both Plagueis and Sidious have reason to dislike Naboo.
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Dec 13, 2013 01:20
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Two questions in regards Darth Plagueis: 1. Did Sidious simply outdrink Plagueis? Did he fake drinking while Darth P. kept doing nose shots? Or did Sidious perform that Sith trick he alluded to earlier, when he would routinely prepare himself for poisoning? And if that's the case, how is this a trick Sidious knows but Plagueis does not? 2. As Sidious is killing Plagueis, he's giving him the "All your ideas were my ideas and you never had a clue you old buffoon". True? I've re-read the book looking for instances where Sidious is playing Plageuis earlier in the book, and I cannot find them. Is this a case of Sidious being delusional, or did I miss something?
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Dec 15, 2013 03:00
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KildarX posted:1.It seems to be more of a"OH poo poo Plagueis is drunk off his rear end and I'm sober, welp guess I can kill him now... 1. Well, either Palps was fake drinking, or he can handle the wine way better than Darth P. They went through 4-5 bottles and one assumes they were each drinking, not just P. gettin' slammed all by himself. 2. Maybe a bit but Sidious refers to all kinds of events outside that timeframe, even going back to early in his apprenticeship. It's either a statement of delusion or fact, but I can find no evidence of it being fact. It seems rather all the big moves were Plagueis's doing, and Sidious was more just the agent of his planning
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Dec 15, 2013 03:32
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Are there any books that cover the period immediately after ROTS?
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Dec 31, 2013 14:35
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Metal Loaf posted:The first one that occurs to me is Luceno's Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader. How is it? Recommended?
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Dec 31, 2013 15:58
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Chairman Capone posted:Yeah, Luceno has always tied in a lot with existing continuity but Plagueis seemed to go up a notch even for him. Off the top of my head there were big chunks covered by: Cloak of Deception, Stark Hyperspace War, Bounty Hunter/Open Seasons, Devaronian Version/Acts of War, and the various Darth Maul books/comic. I actually liked that a lot since I'm a huge continuity nerd but I can absolutely see how that would be a turn-off for others. I didn't feel like I missed anything though - in fact, these allusions to other stories gave Darth Plagueis greater depth for me. It felt like a "lived in" story. I really loved the book.
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Jan 3, 2014 01:07
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Are the nerds in the Star Wars book thread making fun of the nerds in the Star Wars movie thread? Really? We're all Star Wars nerds here. No need to SW-shame. For the record I really enjoy the CineD thread, and this one too.
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Jan 6, 2014 18:25
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