Path of Destruction (Star Wars: Darth Bane, #1) in The Expanded Universe

Jun 12, 2008 Keith rated it really liked it

Shelves: star-wars, favorites

Third Read: 4 Stars
This trilogy was one of my favorites when I was in high school and college. While I still enjoyed it, I wasn't as impressed as I was 12 years ago. This is the first book that I think people getting into Star Wars novels should read if they are going to go in chronological order. Everything before this can be skipped in my opinion (The Old Republic: Revan is kind of cool for people who have played Knights of the Old Republic, but as a story isn't that great). If you are trying Third Read: 4 Stars
This trilogy was one of my favorites when I was in high school and college. While I still enjoyed it, I wasn't as impressed as I was 12 years ago. This is the first book that I think people getting into Star Wars novels should read if they are going to go in chronological order. Everything before this can be skipped in my opinion (The Old Republic: Revan is kind of cool for people who have played Knights of the Old Republic, but as a story isn't that great). If you are trying to decide if you want to get into the novels at all, I would start with the Han Solo Trilogy.

Part of the appeal of this book to me is getting the pov of a Sith who isn't going to be like the simpering Jedi. One of the things that Karpyshyn does well is illustrating how Bane's dark side character was a combination of his inherent tendencies as well as his environment.

My biggest complaint about the book has to do with the motivation for the characters. The outlook of the Sith (Rule of Two) doesn't make any sense to me. The Sith are 100% selfish. It is one of their universal traits that they will look out for themselves first. How does that fit with training an apprentice that you know will someday surpass and murder you? These people will murder each other to get ahead, but suddenly they care about passing on their knowledge knowing it will end with them getting killed? The Brotherhood makes far more sense. This problem has existed for some time, but Karpyshyn explicitly comes out and says that this is how the Sith plan things for the next thousand years. People aren't Sith because they want power. They are Sith to further the Sith cause and are willing to sacrifice themselves if it makes the Sith stronger. This is just nonsense to me. It seems like the premise of this trilogy was to explain why there are only two Sith, and the explanation given is worse than the Brotherhood it replaced. The more I think about this, the more angry I get at how stupid the concept is. It would be like Palpatine planning on Vader overthrowing him and welcoming it. I'm sure he would anticipate that he would try, but he would have plans to thwart Vader so he could remain in power. Does anyone think Palpatine (or any Sith) would be happy to be killed if it made the Sith stronger? Bane even constantly references his opinion that honor means nothing if you are dead. How does that fit with his plan?

There is a galaxy wide Bespin rules for Sabacc, and it has been this way for thousands of years? That got me thinking about how it doesn't make sense that all of the technology seems pretty much the same as 1000 years later. It doesn't seem that different from 3000 years before. It seems like Karpyshyn decided that technological (and I guess cultural in terms of Sabacc) advances don't happen. I guess they reached peak tech abilities in Revan's time.

The glaring flaw of the motivating forces on the Sith aside, I still enjoyed the book. I didn't think it was awesome like I did before, but I'm sure I'll read it again in another 10-15 years.

After playing the old Dark Forces games and reading the graphic novels written by Dietz in 1998, it was fascinating that Karpyshyn took the storyline from that book and dropped it into this one. (view spoiler)

First Read:This book was pretty cool. I wouldn't read it if I was expecting a lot of depth or anything like that. It was strictly an entertaining read with some good action scenes. I am a star wars fan so I liked it a lot. ...more

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May 25, 2011 Jeff Messerman rated it really liked it · review of another edition

I turn to Star Wars novels when I'm in the mood for mindless junkfood lit. Basically, it's the dork's version of Nora Roberts I suppose. Escapism, nothing more.

This one surprised me. Even though you spend the entire book immersed in the snake pit of Sith evil, it is seldom tiresome and, in fact, becomes quite gripping at points. It's no small feat to tackle nothing less than the nature of wickedness in a space opera but Karpyshyn does so with gusto. If anything, it gives you a lasting appreciati ...more

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