Rule of Two: Star Wars Legends (Darth Bane)

This is a sequel to the best Star Wars book of all-time and, since it continues what the other book started, is a total must-read! It is even darker than the first book, and does an excellent job continuing an already-awesome story. Also, let me say that I am very picky and in general don't like most of the Star Wars books. Taking that into consideration, you should absolutely buy this book!

Rule of Two is the much anticipated sequel to Path to Destruction featuring Darth Bane and his apprentice Zannah. Its hard to believe reading about two people forging a path of death and destruction in the name of the Sith could be so exciting. Their usually the people you want to see defeated (like a certain new Sith in Legacy of the Force). Darth Bane despite being the only Sith Lord left still has much to learn about the Sith and Dark Side of the Force as he travels to Dxun and Typho in search of Sith secrets and Holograms. At the same time Bane's training his own apprentice Zannah who he found in the previous book after she killed to Jedi. Zannah's a very interesting charactor. She's drawn more into the Dark Side of Force and becoming a Sith but she still has some doubts mainly the normal human reactions to killing remorse, guilt and a conscience but its clear she wants to become a Sith she also has one attachment her cousin Darovit who in the beginning she spares his life. She also goes through creative ways as she contiunes her path as a Sith. From finding her way to Onderon to managing after all who would suspect a ten year old girl of anything bad to getting into the Jedi Temple to raid the Archives. That part I admitt creeped me out the most. A Sith apprentice inside the Jedi Temple for three whole days without anyone getting suspicious. On the Jedi front we have Johun who's master died in the thought bomb and is the first one to suspect the Sith are still around. When he meets merecenaries who witnessed Darth Bane and Zannah first hand he immediately believes them. Unfortunately Jedi Master Farfalla does not because the witnesses are paid for hire soldiers with many motives to lie. Perhaps the weakest link in the story is Farfalla's belief the Sith are extinct. Why would the Jedi think the Sith put all of their resources into the Ruusan battle if the Jedi didn't? Its not to hard to believe at least one or two might have survived or may not have been at the Battle. But when he does finally believe Johun, Farfalla does move fast to face the Sith. Its also possible Farfalla was too distracted by Chancellor Valorum's decisions to place the Jedi in a position to answer to the Senate and have them removed from the military all together that might be distracting him as well as the Jedi's image which is some what tainted in light of all the Sith-Jedi battles that have left planets and people deveastated. Decisions that will leave both the decendents of the Jedi and Valurom to regret. Another interesting part was Bane and Zannah's use of Serenno the home planet of the future Dooku in order to further their plans and their efforts to keep the Jedi from learning the Sith are alive. The eventual lightsabre battle between the Sith and Jedi was very exciting. I only hope that their will be more.

Great story, well-written book. Even though it's about the "dark side", the character of Darth Bane becomes someone I liked, and I wanted to have another book to continue the story. I am probably emotional and more attuned to the "light side" of the force, abut I did respect Darth Bane's dedication and determination in his quest to find his answers, though not always the methods he employed to obtain what he wanted. Many new characters, species and places are in the story, but it never interrupts the flow of the story or causes the reader to feel lost. The interesting and entertaining story sheds new light on the history of the force and the two sides, with many parallels to real life.

This book picks off right where "Path of Destruction" left off. But unlike the previous book, Darth Bane isn't exactly the main character in this novel. There are three main characters: Bane, his apprentice Darth Zannah, and a young Jedi named Johnun Othone. While this book probably wasn't as good as the previous one, it was still awesome! The ending of this book was is so intense because you don't really know what will happen to the main characters until the very last page. I can't wait for more novels in the Sith era!

Darth Bane Rule of Two is an excellent follow-up to one of the best Star Wars books ever written. Its a fast read and thoroughly enjoyable. The character of Darth Bane plummits deeper and deeper into the secrets of the Dark Side, while his apprentice Darth Zannah becomes a powerful Dark Lord in different ways than he. I highly reccomend this book to any Star Wars fan. I've noticed some other reviews saying that there are spelling and grammatical errors here and there, I don't dispute that fact, but I had to go back and look for them because I didn't notice them during my initial reading. Also I think that the cover is not that great. I mean Darth Bane clearly has a regular handled lightsaber on the cover and in the book it is mentioned several times that he has a unique hook-handled lightsabter. But the cover doesn't have anything to do with the overall story so I don't count off for that. Can't wait for number three!