Dynasty of Evil (Star Wars: Darth Bane, #3) in The Expanded Universe

Mar 10, 2023 Scott Rhee rated it it was amazing

Shelves: old-canon-legends, the-old-republic, star-wars

“Dynasty of Evil”, the third book in Drew Karpyshyn’s Darth Bane trilogy, is a more-than-satisfactory conclusion to one of the best series in the Star Wars Expanded Universe (SWEU) old canon/Legends collection. It personally surprised me how good this series was, mainly because I didn’t think it was possible to sustain a three-book series around an anti-hero as evil as Bane. Somehow, though, it worked.

Now, this series may not be for everyone. It’s extremely violent, for one. Far more violent and “Dynasty of Evil”, the third book in Drew Karpyshyn’s Darth Bane trilogy, is a more-than-satisfactory conclusion to one of the best series in the Star Wars Expanded Universe (SWEU) old canon/Legends collection. It personally surprised me how good this series was, mainly because I didn’t think it was possible to sustain a three-book series around an anti-hero as evil as Bane. Somehow, though, it worked.

Now, this series may not be for everyone. It’s extremely violent, for one. Far more violent and bloody than anything in the SWEU, including Joe Schreiber’s zombies-on-an-Imperial-cruiser horror novel “Death Troopers”, which was pretty gory for a Star Wars novel. (I loved that one, too.)

There are also no likable characters to latch onto. At least, none that actually survive. That’s not really a spoiler, either, because the inevitability of death—-and a violent one, at that—-looms over every character in these books, even the two main protagonists, Darth Bane and his Sith-trainee, Darth Zannah.

Coming to terms with, and accepting, one’s own death is central to the story of Darth Bane.

For everyone in his path—-Jedi, Sith, soldier, civilian—-Bane is simply a force of nature, like a hurricane. There is no negotiating with a hurricane. Occasionally, the hurricane will veer off and show mercy to someone, but it is completely arbitrary. When one encounters Darth Bane, one does not expect to survive the encounter.

Death comes for Bane as well. Part of his brilliant strategy as a Sith Lord is the philosophy of the Rule of Two, which states that there should only ever be two Sith Lords. One is the Master and one is the Master-to-be. At some point, the Sith underling must kill the Master. Then, it is his or her duty to find an acolyte to do the same. It is meant to ensure that each succeeding generation of Sith Lords is better—-stronger, smarter—-than the previous. It is a philosophy that explains why Darth Sidious (Emperor Palpatine) solely grooms Anakin Skywalker to eventually succeed him as Darth Vader.

It would be impossible, and frankly dull, to sustain interest in a villain that was totally evil. The internal struggle between good and evil was what eventually redeemed Vader in “Episode VI: Return of the Jedi”. Likewise, a similar struggle exists within Bane, although, unlike Vader, Bane has had little to no experience with compassion or love. Karpyshyn is clearly on the side of “nurture” over “nature”: evil is made, not born.

This trilogy apparently started an entire series devoted to the Sith mythos within the SWEU. Sadly, Karpyshyn never wrote anything else within the SWEU. ...more

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Apr 05, 2012 KAi rated it liked it · review of another edition

In terms of Star Wars novels, a 4-star affair until the last chapter and subsequent author response to the "confusion". The ending was written poorly and the author is in denial of this. Hopefully his Revan and Annihilation novels resolve themselves in a cleaner fashion. ...more

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