Yoda: Dark Rendezvous: Star Wars Legends: A Clone Wars Novel

This book is worth it just for the encounter at the end between Yoda and dooku, though the rest of the book is tremendous as well.

After seeing Episode 3 last weekend, I found myself wanting more Star Wars so I bought this book... I started reading it, and finished it the next day. Very rarely in my busy schedule does this ever happen, so it is a testament to just how good this book is. From my experience, many Star Wars books are either very deep and have little action, or are very shallow filled with tons of action. Thankfully, this book is right smack in the middle. After reading this book I understand the light and dark sides of the force a little better, and I was also very appreciative of some of the more "philosophical" areas of this text as well. Many conversations and insights in this book really "make you think". "Depth" wise, this book shines. As for "Action" wise, this book was terrific as well. I've read a few books recently that had so much action, it was simply getting boring to read it. Thankfully, the action sequences in this book are spaced nicely at certain intervals, and each scene is represented in a way that leaves little to the imagination. Very well detailed action scenes, such as detailed step by step lightsaber dueling, details of different types of weapons being used, etc. Philosophy, humor, action, seeing opinions from both "evil" and "good" sides of view, terrific writing style, and even a twist or two earns this book a solid 5 out of 5 stars. Having read over 300 fantasy and science fiction novels I sometimes have difficulty finding something worth reading that I haven't already read, this book also did another great thing for me.... it introduced me to an author worth reading again, so I will check into other books written by Sean Stewart.

YODA, DARK RENDEZVOUS is a valuable read providing a link in the STAR WARS saga of the separation of Dooku and Yoda. Sean Stewart's story timeframe is thirty-plus months after Geonosis, and the continuation of the Clone Wars. This is one story more dedicated (than others) to one of my favorite characters Yoda... 'Mmm'! Yoda's wisdom is expressed by the author: "But other things, inside you there are. The Force is inside you. A true Jedi lives in the Force. Touches the Force. It surrounds him: and it reaches up from inside him to touch that which surrounds. ... Not a pile of permacrete, home is. Not a palace or a hut, ship or shack. Wherever a Jedi is, there must the Force be, too. Wherever we are, is home." Read and follow Sean Stewart's journey of Grand Master Yoda and Count Dooku of Serenno. The Count is a most-gifted Padawan and prime Jedi Knight in training with Master Yoda. The time has come for Dooku to go out on his own. Yoda tells him, "A candle will I light, for you to find your way home." They are joined as Master and Padawan, yet they end on separate paths, in different parts of the galaxy - respectively, the Jedi Temple and Chateau Malreaux on Vjun. Delight in the tournaments of young apprentices and come to know the places in the Jedi Temple -- the Combat Training Center, the Star Room, the Council Chamber, and the Room of a Thousand Fountains. Join Padawan Whie in finding out his connection to the Chateau Malreaux in which Dooku resides on Vjun (where the presence of the Force is powerfully strong). Enjoy the antics and character of Padawan Tallisibeth Enwandung-Esterhazy, her name shortened to 'Scout'. Scout is not strong in the Force, but she has wit, perseverance, determination, and dedication. Meet the 'Gran' beings, a deeply social, community-oriented folk. They have six fingers, are three-eyed with shaggy brows, goat-headed, and their faces are most suited to express worry -- her name is Maks Leem, a Master Knight in the Jedi Temple, and a favorite of the younger acolytes. The evil Asajj Ventress -- the scourge of the Jedi, her mission: to kill Jedi, and she keeps a tally, while begging for Dooku to train her in the 'dark side', but no, he says. Meet Fidelis ('the gentleman's personal gentlething'), and Solis, who are suspicious droids, as well as bad and good heroes. It is invigorating for avid readers to be introduced to a 'new' writer, i.e., debut or one not read before. This is my first exposure to author Sean Stewart, and it is a pleasant one, prompting me to read more of his writings. Stewart is proficient in language, both technical and descriptive ('xeno-ethnologists', and 'sociolinguistical slovenliness') and maintains excellent dialog technique. The last few chapters are written with a masterly exchange between Yoda and Dooku, philosophically, with tender memories, yet the presence of the light and dark sides, and a physical battle. There are times that it appears to the reader's mind that

This book may or may not be the greatest Star Wars book ever written. It's difficult to make such a judgement, there being such a wide variety of books that bear the label of "Star Wars," and so many of them being so incredibly good. Cloak of Deception, Shatterpoint, The Cestus Deception, The Lando Calrissian Adventures, Return of the Jedi, Tales from Jabba's Palace, Tales of the Bounty Hunters, Traitor, The Unifying Force . . . The list goes on. Yoda: Dark Rendezvous is certainly worthy of ranking among these and their fellows as the crown jewels of the Expanded Universe, but, as a Star Wars book, I cannot say if it is any better than the best of those. As a simple novel, however, it surpasses them all. It would be impossible for me to describe, in the time I have, just what makes this book so good. The prose is a large part of it; Mr. Stewart has a very intriguing writing style. Several passages are simply breathtaking. The characters are astounding, even the minor ones who had no major impact on the plot. The humor is the best and most abundant in recent memory, and manages to be such without detracting from the overall somber tone of the novel. And, most important of all, I think, we finally get inside Dooku's head, learn what makes him tick, and see him as the tragic character he truly is. Only two elements come to mind which detracted from this novel's magnificence: the references to the Rendili Fleet Crisis, which had not yet occurred as of Dark Rendezvous's placement in the timeline, and the number of ships Obi-Wan had cost Asajj Ventress (he didn't steal a ship from her on Queyta). The title of this book is perhaps misleading. This is not a book about Yoda. Not solely, at least. It's about Count Dooku and two Padawans as well, in addition to several other characters who make Yoda: Dark Rendezvous the masterpiece it is. Even the Chosen One has a part to play. But most of all, it's a book about family, and acceptance, and coming home at the end of the day to people who love you, and the fact that even those who never come home again will always be waited for.

It seems that with Episode III coming up in the next year that the expanded universe is exploding with new books. Ironically, its the paperback books that are the better stories as opposed to the hardcover. While I was disappointed with the book about Mace Windu, Yoda's Dark Rendevous is really an excellent story. It presents Yoda as a teacher not as an all knowing master of the force. Stewart also has a way of writing other characters that is both realistic and interesting. The people and aliens he brings into the book seem to be real people. This book could have been just a Yoda versus Dooku and it was not and for that I am grateful. We see much more of the Jedi Temple and much more of the Padawans, and we see that it's not just Anakin Skywalker who is strong in the force. Anakin's dark side does come out a little and he is more closely aligned with the Anakin in the movies than with the disappointing Jedi Trial. I rate this book very highly and is among the best of the Star Wars prequal era books.