Action & Adventure
![Drew Karpyshyn - [object Object] author](https://res.cloudinary.com/readsomnia/image/upload/authors/a_B001ILFN8O.jpg)
Dynasty of Evil: Star Wars Legends (Darth Bane): A Novel of the Old Republic (Star Wars: Darth Bane Trilogy - Legends)
The future of the dark side hangs in the balance in the stunning conclusion to the Darth Bane series.
Twenty years have passed since the Sith and their endless rivalries were eradicated and replaced with the Rule of Two. Darth Bane now reigns alongside his young acolyte, Zannah, who must study and train in the dark side of the Force until the time comes to strike down her master and claim the mantle for herself.
But Bane's brutal new regime has one potential fatal flaw-how will their legacy continue if an apprentice fails to raise their blade in combat? The only solution must be for the Dark Lord of the Sith to rediscover a long-forgotten secret of the order-the key to immortality.
Bane's doubt spurs his young apprentice into action, and Zannah vows to destroy her master at any cost. After he mysteriously vanishes, she tracks him across the galaxy to a desolate desert outpost, where the fate of the dark side will be forged by a final fight to the death.
Twenty years have passed since the Sith and their endless rivalries were eradicated and replaced with the Rule of Two. Darth Bane now reigns alongside his young acolyte, Zannah, who must study and train in the dark side of the Force until the time comes to strike down her master and claim the mantle for herself.
But Bane's brutal new regime has one potential fatal flaw-how will their legacy continue if an apprentice fails to raise their blade in combat? The only solution must be for the Dark Lord of the Sith to rediscover a long-forgotten secret of the order-the key to immortality.
Bane's doubt spurs his young apprentice into action, and Zannah vows to destroy her master at any cost. After he mysteriously vanishes, she tracks him across the galaxy to a desolate desert outpost, where the fate of the dark side will be forged by a final fight to the death.
Readers Top Reviews
Byron VelanderBar
Hate to admit it but I like the dark side. They seem real world, believable, while the Jedi are sanctimonious priests who preach a level of virtue that is humanly unattainable. Sort of like catholic priests and we know how that turns out. Bane is real world, dude, he takes what he can and has the strength to admit the world is survival of the fittest.
travmanByron Vela
Good but didn’t equal the previous two novels. A lot less of the focus is on Bane and instead introduces other characters that take up more of the book. It all makes sense and the ending is pretty solid I just would’ve liked to see more of the title character in the book that’s named after him.
Yaelle Glenntravm
This was one of the first 3 or 4 SW novels I ever read and I loved it so miuch that I ended up buying the audiobook as well as this hard copy and just obsessing over every detail. I am still questioning my own morals for basically falling in love with a man who committed one or two quite objectionable (ok terrible) crimes. Thats how well-developed this character, Bane is. I swear this is the greatest thing I've read in eons. Much of what I read in the future will be measured up against The Bane Trilogy. Yikes!! Dynasty of Evil is so great its just scary!
AdmiraluYaelle Gl
This was the exciting end to the Darth Bane trilogy. A number of loose ends are tied up and we learn what happened to Caleb's daughter and run into one of Des' old teammates. Zannah looks for a new apprentice and we learn more of how the Sith set up their network. The Jedi are not the same order as in later years, they are pompous and preachy. Two interesting new characters are introduced, the Huntress and a Dark Jedi. The differences between the Dark Jedi and Sith are quite interesting. Of course the main event is the final showdown between Master and apprentice, which is surprisingly short. The ending is somewhat ambiguous and I suggest that you check out the author's page after you finish the book for insight into what happened. This is a well written, exciting book that dark siders will particularly enjoy. Several characters learn that the dark side price is very high. I listened to the wonderful audio version narrated by the wonderful Jonathan Davis. The music, sound effects and character voices were incredible as usual.
FicktionPhotograp
Although this trilogy isn't considered canon, it is most assuredly worth the read. Please recognize that this is a review of the third and final book of the trilogy of Darth Bane and there will be spoilers from the first two books, Path of Destruction and Rule of Two, written within. Darth Bane has been in hiding for twenty years with his apprentice, Zannah, who has yet to challenge him. Feeling that perhaps she is unworthy, he seeks out a way to find another apprentice and/or prolong his life, especially since the wear and tear of age, the orbalisks, and his usage of the dark side is starting to take its toll. Meanwhile, Zannah is still biding her time and thinking about finding herself an apprentice just in case the time is right to strike against Bane. New characters spring up like a Dark Jedi and an assassin named the Huntress, while very minor characters from the past make their appearances known such as Caleb the Healer's daughter and one of the Gloom Walkers that served under Bane. I wish you could give half stars here, 'cause this would deserve a four and a half star rating, only not getting that additional half in that it was very predictive and followed a steady course of obvious routes given Karpyshyn's affinity for Darth Bane. It's a good read, easy, and helps you through previous books and chapters to spark memories that might not have been remembered easily. Well done, and worth the space on your shelf if you're a Star Wars fan.
Short Excerpt Teaser
Chapter One
". . . adhering to the rules established through the procedures outlined in the preceding, as well as all subsequent, articles. Our sixth demand stipulates that a body of . . ."
Medd Tandar rubbed a long-fingered hand across the pronounced frontal ridge of his tall, conical cranium, hoping to massage away the looming headache that had been building over the last twenty minutes.
Gelba, the being he had come to the planet of Doan to negotiate with, paused in the reading of her petition to ask, "Something wrong, Master Jedi?"
"I am not a Master," the Cerean reminded the self-appointed leader of the rebels. "I am only a Jedi Knight." With a sigh he dropped his hand. After a moment's pause he forced himself to add, "I'm fine. Please continue."
With a curt nod, Gelba resumed with her seemingly endless list of ultimatums. "Our sixth demand stipulates that a body of elected representatives from the mining caste be given absolute jurisdiction over the following eleven matters: One, the determination of wages in accordance with galactic standards. Two, the establishment of a weekly standard of hours any given employee can be ordered to work. Three, an approved list of safety apparel to be provided by . . ."
The short, muscular human woman droned on, her voice echoing strangely off the irregular walls of the underground cave. The other miners in attendance-three human men and two women crowding close to Gelba-were seemingly transfixed by her words. Medd couldn't help but think that, should their tools ever fail, the miners could simply use their leader's voice to cut through the stone.
Officially, Medd was here to try to end the violence between the rebels and the royal family. Like all Cereans, he possessed a binary brain structure, allowing him to simultaneously process both sides of a conflict. Theoretically, this made him an ideal candidate to mediate and resolve complex political situations such as the one that had developed on this small mining world. In practice, however, he was discovering that playing the part of a diplomat was far more trying than he had first imagined.
Located on the Outer Rim, Doan was an ugly, brown ball of rock. More than 80 percent of the planetary landmass had been converted into massive strip-mining operations. Even from space, the disfigurement of the world was immediately apparent. Furrows five kilometers wide and hundreds of kilometers long crisscrossed the torn landscape like indelible scars. Great quarries hewn from the bedrock descended hundreds of meters deep, irreparable pockmarks on the face of the planet.
From within the smog-filled atmosphere, the ceaseless activity of the gigantic machines was visible. Excavation equipment scurried back and forth like oversized insects, digging and churning up the dirt. Towering drilling rigs stood on mechanical legs, tunneling to previously unplumbed depths. Gigantic hovering freighters cast shadows that blotted out the pale sun as they waited patiently for their cavernous cargo holds to be filled with dirt, dust, and pulverized stone.
Scattered across the planet were a handful of five-kilometer-tall columns of irregular, dark brown stone several hundred meters in diameter. They jutted up from the ravaged landscape like fingers reaching for the sky. The flat plateaus atop these natural pillars were covered by assemblages of mansions, castles, and palaces overlooking the environmental wreckage below.
The rare mineral deposits and rampant mining on Doan had turned the small planet into a very wealthy world. That wealth, however, was concentrated almost exclusively in the hands of the nobility, who dwelled in the exclusive estates that towered above the rest of the planet. Most of the populace was made up of Doan society's lower castes, beings condemned to spend their lives engaged in constant physical labor or employed in menial service positions with no chance of advancement.
These were the beings Gelba represented. Unlike the elite, they made their homes down on the planet's surface in tiny makeshift huts surrounded by the open pits and furrows, or in small caverns tunneled down into the rocky ground. Medd had been given a small taste of their life the instant he stepped from the climate-controlled confines of his shuttle. A wall of oppressive heat thrown up from the barren, sun-scorched ground had enveloped him. He'd quickly wrapped a swatch of cloth around his head, covering his nose and mouth to guard against the swirling clouds of dust that threatened to choke the air from his lungs.
The man Gelba had sent to greet him also had his face covered, making communication all the more difficult amid the rumbling of the mining machines. Fortun...
". . . adhering to the rules established through the procedures outlined in the preceding, as well as all subsequent, articles. Our sixth demand stipulates that a body of . . ."
Medd Tandar rubbed a long-fingered hand across the pronounced frontal ridge of his tall, conical cranium, hoping to massage away the looming headache that had been building over the last twenty minutes.
Gelba, the being he had come to the planet of Doan to negotiate with, paused in the reading of her petition to ask, "Something wrong, Master Jedi?"
"I am not a Master," the Cerean reminded the self-appointed leader of the rebels. "I am only a Jedi Knight." With a sigh he dropped his hand. After a moment's pause he forced himself to add, "I'm fine. Please continue."
With a curt nod, Gelba resumed with her seemingly endless list of ultimatums. "Our sixth demand stipulates that a body of elected representatives from the mining caste be given absolute jurisdiction over the following eleven matters: One, the determination of wages in accordance with galactic standards. Two, the establishment of a weekly standard of hours any given employee can be ordered to work. Three, an approved list of safety apparel to be provided by . . ."
The short, muscular human woman droned on, her voice echoing strangely off the irregular walls of the underground cave. The other miners in attendance-three human men and two women crowding close to Gelba-were seemingly transfixed by her words. Medd couldn't help but think that, should their tools ever fail, the miners could simply use their leader's voice to cut through the stone.
Officially, Medd was here to try to end the violence between the rebels and the royal family. Like all Cereans, he possessed a binary brain structure, allowing him to simultaneously process both sides of a conflict. Theoretically, this made him an ideal candidate to mediate and resolve complex political situations such as the one that had developed on this small mining world. In practice, however, he was discovering that playing the part of a diplomat was far more trying than he had first imagined.
Located on the Outer Rim, Doan was an ugly, brown ball of rock. More than 80 percent of the planetary landmass had been converted into massive strip-mining operations. Even from space, the disfigurement of the world was immediately apparent. Furrows five kilometers wide and hundreds of kilometers long crisscrossed the torn landscape like indelible scars. Great quarries hewn from the bedrock descended hundreds of meters deep, irreparable pockmarks on the face of the planet.
From within the smog-filled atmosphere, the ceaseless activity of the gigantic machines was visible. Excavation equipment scurried back and forth like oversized insects, digging and churning up the dirt. Towering drilling rigs stood on mechanical legs, tunneling to previously unplumbed depths. Gigantic hovering freighters cast shadows that blotted out the pale sun as they waited patiently for their cavernous cargo holds to be filled with dirt, dust, and pulverized stone.
Scattered across the planet were a handful of five-kilometer-tall columns of irregular, dark brown stone several hundred meters in diameter. They jutted up from the ravaged landscape like fingers reaching for the sky. The flat plateaus atop these natural pillars were covered by assemblages of mansions, castles, and palaces overlooking the environmental wreckage below.
The rare mineral deposits and rampant mining on Doan had turned the small planet into a very wealthy world. That wealth, however, was concentrated almost exclusively in the hands of the nobility, who dwelled in the exclusive estates that towered above the rest of the planet. Most of the populace was made up of Doan society's lower castes, beings condemned to spend their lives engaged in constant physical labor or employed in menial service positions with no chance of advancement.
These were the beings Gelba represented. Unlike the elite, they made their homes down on the planet's surface in tiny makeshift huts surrounded by the open pits and furrows, or in small caverns tunneled down into the rocky ground. Medd had been given a small taste of their life the instant he stepped from the climate-controlled confines of his shuttle. A wall of oppressive heat thrown up from the barren, sun-scorched ground had enveloped him. He'd quickly wrapped a swatch of cloth around his head, covering his nose and mouth to guard against the swirling clouds of dust that threatened to choke the air from his lungs.
The man Gelba had sent to greet him also had his face covered, making communication all the more difficult amid the rumbling of the mining machines. Fortun...
