Darth Bane: Path of Destruction Review
Darth Bane: Path of Destruction
Author: Drew Karpyshyn
Publisher: Del Rey Books
Page Count: 324
I have written this Summary then I put it into the "Synopsis" slot of the Wikipedia Entry, so, if it looks familiar, that's why. Also, warning, this review contains spoilers.
The Sith Order used to comprise of many members. But there were flaws with this. They were divided, battling eachother to be the highest of the Sith ranks. One Sith Lord sought to end this, so he erected the Brotherhood of Darkness, where all Sith were equal and had two goals in mind. To conquer the galaxy, and destroy the Jedi.
Dessel has lived and worked in the Apatros Cortosis Mines his entire life with an abusive drunk for a father. He dreams of the day that may never come—when he finally gets to leave the desolated planet of Apatros. One day, when a not-so-friendly game of sabacc with some Republic soldiers turns deadly, suddenly Dessel is in need of an escape route.
As his only way of escape, Dessel is smuggled off of the planet to join the Sith Army. He joined the war between the Jedi and the Sith, working his way up the ranks due to his strength, cunning, and his power over the Force. But the Sith Masters have much bigger plans than Dessel knows—if he can prove himself.
Dessel is taken to the Sith Academy on Korriban. He thinks it's because he is being punished for disobeying the direct orders of a superior officer. But little does Dessel know, he's on his way to becoming a member of the Brotherhood of Darkness.
As a student of the Sith, Dessel is studying the secrets of the Dark Side under its greatest masters and embracing his new title: Bane. But in a dream, he learns that he unconsciously killed his father when he was younger, which due to self-doubt, cripple his abilities. To try to redeem his abilities, Bane challenges Sirak, the Academy's most powerful student. But it is in vain, as he is nearly killed in the battle.
Nursed back to health and tutored by Githany, a fellow student, he redeems himself by crushing Sirak in a duel. He then leaves the Sith Academy, looking in the Valley of the Dark Lords for teachings by the orginal Sith Lords.
Finding nothing in the Valley of the Dark Lords, Bane returned to the Sith Academy for the night. Githany came to his room and invited him to the archives, but it was a trap. Sirak and two of his goons were waiting for him there so they could kill him.
But Githany was tricking Sirak. What she actually wanted was for Bane to finally kill Sirak. Githany killed both of Sirak's goons. Sirak pleaded for Bane to have mercy, and then Bane decapitated Sirak.
Bane then left Korriban for the planet Lehon. He found a holocron made by Darth Revan. Kas'im, the swordmaster at the Sith Academy, was ordered to come and either kill him or get him to join the Brotherhood. Bane chose the latter, but instead of being killed by Kas'im, Bane killed him.
Githany was then sent to do the same thing. She poisoned Bane by masking an odorless poison with the Rock Worrt Venom. He had to go find a legendary healer, and the healer only agreed to help him when he threatened the healer's daughter.
Bane sent a gift for Lord Kaan back with her. It was a ritual. The thought bomb, which would destroy all force-sensitive beings within a very large radius. When Bane arrived on Ruusan, Kaan was very surprised by his arrival, as he wasn't expecting it. Bane convinced Lord Kaan and all of the other members of the Brotherhood of Darkness to use the Thought Bomb. He was outside of the "blast zone" when it happened, so he wasn't affected by it. Bane had done it. He had destroyed the Brotherhood of Darkness. He also found a young Force-sensitive girl named Zannah, who he claimed as her apprentice.
I think that this is my favorite Star Wars book yet. I've read quite a few in years past, but I sort of stopped about two years ago. Then I posted on the EUCantina Forums about what books I should read to get a sense of the backstory for all of the other books, since there were some plot holes when I read the first book of Legacy of the Force, with the whole Yuuzhan Vong War and many other references to past books throughout the book. So, I'm starting somewhat at the beginning with Darth Bane: Path of Destruction.
This was a great read for me. It was everything I was looking for in it. I feel like the story of Bane is something you don't exactly see that often. From most stories, like the movies, you mainly see the perspective of the Jedi, or the hero. In this, Bane started out as a neutral person. By that, I mean he wasn't necessarily a "good guy," but he definitely wasn't the main bad guy in the story.
My favorite part was when Githany was teaching Bane how to create lightning with the Force and he did it so much better than all of the people that Master Qordis had taught. It made it sort of snap in for Githany, like, "Oh, shit. This guy's powerful."
I feel like you can't really tell that this takes place in a different era, aside from the obvious abundance of Sith. Excluding that minor detail (not exactly minor, but just go with it), it was still what I think is genuine Star Wars. It had everything you needed in that classic Star Wars. It had lightsaber (mostly training lightsber) duels, it had different planets that I had never heard of before.
Karpyshyn gives a good intro as to what led up to the legendary "Rule of Two." It was a nice explanation, with a realization by Bane when he found Revan's holocron. I enjoyed the cunning of Bane that allowed him to defeat the Brotherhood of Darkness.
But saying that, I'd also like to point out that Bane couldn't have done it without Lord Kaan, who convinced everyone that they would all live if they helped create the Thought Bomb.
My memory is a bit fuzzy at that point, though. I can't exactly remember if it was Bane who convinced Kaan to convince the rest of them, or if Kaan was just completely insane in his beliefs. This is just an attempt at rationalizing my bad memory. But, what could've happened was, in Bane's "gift" for Kaan, it may have mentioned something about the creator living through it, and Kaan believed him because, what's the point of doing a ritual that will kill you and your entire Brotherhood? But then again, he could have decided that it's worth the sacrifice to kill off all of the Jedi.
All in all, this is a very good book. I enjoyed it very much. So much, that I finished it in about two days. Thanks to Reepicheep for reccomending this book to me.
That's all I've got for this book review, so make sure to share this with your friends and other people who may be interested. You can also download the .pdf version of this book here (that's how I read it). The next book I will be reviewing will be Darth Bane: Rule of Two, the second book in the Darth Bane Trilogy.
