Tarkin vs. Darth Plagueis: A Comparison

[Albert]

I thought I'd start a discussion on the inevitable comparisons between the novels Tarkin and Darth Plagueis as they're both antihero stories by James Luceno. This won't be so much a discussion on which one is better, though you're free to voice your opinion on the matter, but more of a discussion of the similarities and differences.

One thing I noticed is while Tarkin is a more character-driven origin story, Darth Plagueis is a more setting/plot driven thriller. In Tarkin, most of the focus is on Tarkin's upbringing and how he reacts as a character to various situations during his life while Darth Plagueis is more about how Plagueis manipulated galactic events to further his cause. This allows Tarkin to focus on character development while allowing Darth Plagueis to focus on world-building. That's not to say that Darth Plagueis had bad characters or that Tarkin lacked world-building, the focus of each was just different. As a result, I also felt that Darth Plagueis was more grander in scale as the events in the that book had galaxy-spanning effects. Tarkin on the other hand seemed to focus more intimately on a small handful of events, specifically the hijacking of the Carrion Spike.

In terms of similarities I would point to Tarkin and Plagueis as characters. Both are calm, calculating, and intelligent individuals who aren't afraid to be ruthless when necessary. Additionally, they are both individuals in positions of great power rising up from somewhat similar beginnings.

[Travis]

I haven't read Darth Plagueis but I do agree that Star Wars: Tarkin was very character driven. I almost felt like it focuses too much on the handful of events. It felt like much less of a space opera than most Star Wars stories. But even grand epics have small asides and other details that deserve to be expanded to fully realize the universe.

[Rob]

I am about halfway through the book and it seems to read more like a biography than a fantasy space adventure. I think I am more interested in the "historical facts" being created in this Official Canon book than the story itself.

Let's face it - we know Tarkin and Vader survive. So there really isn't much tension here. Plagueis held a similar interest for me, although less so since it was non-Lucas created EU at the time.

Time will tell how much of Plagueis is legacy versus canon, but Luceno's Tarkin leaves enough hooks that can tie it all together.

[J]

I agree with Albert's point about Tarkin lacking world-building. Darth Plagueis was a far more sprawling epic involving quite a few worlds that before had almost nothing more than a basic description in a Star Wars: The Essential Atlas or other reference book. Tarkin by comparison seemed to only have a handful.

I think two factors were in play:
1) The length of the Tarkin novel was quite short, especially in comparison
2) The new level of cannon applied to each novel probably holds writers to a new standard as far as, if you create a planet, you probably need a good reason and good description rather than just filling up the universe with half baked ideas.