First off, I apologize for not posting for so long- the weekend came up, and then I got lazy and just wanted to read, and-
Well, actually, that's also kind of what gave me the inspiration to write today, so maybe everything wasn't a loss.
Recently I've been wanting to get caught up on my reading. You may recall my previous article where I describe how I deal with writer's block and shared some tips for how to combat it . Well, I got writer's block, and decided to turn to an old series I read all the way back in early high school- the Darth Bane Trilogy, by Drew Karpyshyn.
Originally I wanted to simply see if it was as good as I remembered it, as recently I started rewatching Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood and found out the hard way that nostalgia is a special kind of blindfold (series still holds a special place in my heart, but it certainly wasn't as good as I thought it was).
However, when I decided to skim the first page or so to analyze the writing and found myself still "skimming" it several pages in and 15 minutes later, I realized that it's not just as good as I remembered it, it's BETTER.
For those who don't know what the series is about and want a quick spoiler-free rundown, the series is about a man's journey through life as a Sith, starting from when he's a simple coal miner oppressed by a mega-corporation and ending with his fateful duel with...a certain someone. Through his journey, we see his triumphs, his failings, and watch as he goes from an angry, angsty young man uncertain about his future to a cruel and ruthless man on a mission.
Of course, this first book only covers the first third of his life, and this is what I'm going to cover today.
Now that you have a very vague and somewhat badly-worded understanding of what this series entails, I am going to warn you all before I continue that the rest of this review may contain SPOILERS, some minor, some major. If you are considering reading this book, I recommend you STOP and READ first. If you like dark sci-fi/fantasy and enjoyed the Star Wars movies, you will enjoy this book immensely. If you just enjoy good books, you will enjoy this immensely. If you are a big fan of Catcher in the Rye and other such literary fiction and think sci-fi and fantasy are wastes of your time...
Hell, you still will most likely find this series at least MILDLY entertaining.
So without further ado, let's jump right in!
Have any of you ever read a book or watched a movie where you found yourself rooting for the villain? Perhaps a show like Dexter, or maybe you even kind of liked how cool Maleficent was in Sleeping Beauty? Maybe Gaston was more interesting to you than Belle, or you're into Loki instead of Thor?
Villains, to me, have always been far more interesting than heroes. They always lose, but for some reason, when you look at it logically, if they stuck with their original plans, many of them either have a very good point, or have a very good chance of success (like Syndrome from The Incredibles, with his point about how the normalization of superpowers). Villains are oftentimes much more goal-oriented, practical, and efficient than the heroes, and are willing to go to nearly any length to achieve success.
They have strayed from the straight and narrow and...well, for a while, at least, they're none the worse for it.
In a very strange twist, villains tend to feed into that delicious power fantasy we all crave. We've all probably considered the consequences of sprinting across the street and strangling our obnoxious neighbor with the massive, loud truck who gets his kicks by revving it incessantly when one is trying to record or concentrate on something, or wanted to smack the bratty kids who run around like nasty little banshees, stepping on your toes and nearly giving you a coronary as they wail about this or that- and villains do all that, and more, and for most of the episode, movie, or book, get away with it!
Their dedication to their goals, whether it be world domination, financial gain, or the ruination of their fated enemy, despite being despicable at nature, is very admirable, if not commendable. They try so hard to get there and employ 110% effort in order to reach it, which is much more than most even consider giving, and they are flawed- inherently more human than our vanilla protagonist or dashing knight in shining armor.
So when I read this book, and found myself rooting for the villain (the main character), perhaps some of you won't be so hasty to color me as a functional sociopath.
The book starts off with Bane (he has another, legal name but this one's shorter) as a struggling young man, forced to while away his days doing hard labor in cortosis mines (cortosis is an ore that is used to produce highly resistant armor) in order to pay off his late father's debts. His father was an abusive alcoholic who blamed every one of his problems on him. Every time he went into one of his rages, he called his son "Bane"- the "bane of his existence". He would hit him, blacken his eyes, bloody his nose, throw things at him...it was just awful.
Then, one night, after a particularly bad beating, his father suddenly dies of a massive heart attack.
Bane would normally celebrate, but the mega-corporation that works their miners to the bone in an environment that makes sweatshops in China look like a pleasure cruise just heaps all his father's drinking and gambling debt on his shoulders.
This is the environment he grows up in, and this is what drives him- anger, hatred, and disrespect for those above him who underestimate him as a person.
Jeez. No wonder he became a Sith, right?
Well, it's more complicated than that. A group of soldiers from the Republic army he plays cards with ends up getting too drunk for their own good and ends up ambushing him outside in an effort to teach the man who stole their credits a lesson. One of them pulls a knife, Bane foresees this by accidentally tapping into the Dark Side of the Force, and kills him with his own blade.
This forces him to join the Sith, as now he is considered a wanted man by the Republic.
Many more things happen in this book, as he becomes a soldier, gets his force powers noticed by a Sith Lord and joins an academy, leaves the academy as he grows more powerful than any of the masters there...the list goes on.
It's a very eventful book, and rather fast-paced, so I could sit here for hours longer detailing every single thing that happens afterwards to further drive my point home, but I already covered the basics.
And besides- those who haven't read the book would basically be reading an inferior description here, and those who heeded my spoiler warning already read it, and I wouldn't want to waste their time any further.
The main point I wanted to drive home here is that this book does relatable villains PROPERLY. It doesn't make you feel extremely sorry for them or over-dramatize their plight, it shows you how he gets out of it and rises above his shoddy past. It shows how ambition, passion, and the drive to better himself helps him achieve greatness, and how his past influences his slow desensitization to any other emotion such as compassion.
We watch as this young man, innocence tainted, grows more and more corrupt and more and more sociopathic and blossoms into a beautiful dark flower of evil. He has strayed from the proper path, and, rather than be punished, has only grown in power and influence. We see into the mind of someone tainted by the Dark Side, and how, despite his cruel and despicable actions, he really ISN'T that far off from you or me.
The only difference is that he ACTED on those urges, rather than shy away from them.
And for me, that's one heck of a power fantasy, considering I would NEVER be able to drive myself to strangle my obnoxious, douchebag neighbor or slap rambunctious children.
As far as more technical aspects go, the writing, although in some places heavy on Star Wars EU lingo, manages to be entertaining even to people who don't normally read Star Wars, and many of what they say can be deciphered by the context. If someone doesn't know what the Light or Dark Side are or what the Force is, they will very quickly grasp it, and if someone doesn't know what Bantha Fodder means, they can probably figure it out by reading the rest of the sentence.
The style is somewhat easy to comprehend, the language staying fairly simple and efficient. Pacing is very fast and occasionally erratic, as it could zoom forwards several years, go back into a flashback, and slow down to a crawl all within a single page. I find this style effective, but you could nitpick and say it's a bit much in some places.
Overall, the story is incredibly engaging, and you'll find yourself breezing through the book at a very fast rate; I finished it in around 4-5 days reading only for an hour or less a day, and barely even felt time pass.
Overall, I rate this book 4.5/5. Not a perfect book, but much better than I expected, and very much worth your time.
What do you think about this series? Would you like to see some more book reviews?
Leave your comments below, and I'll see you next time...when I review Stephen King's supposed "epic masterpiece", The Stand!
The above image has been used for educational/review purposes. I do not take credit for this image. If the original artist, John Palencar, does not approve of my usage of his work, he may contact me at goff.conner@gmail.com to have it removed and replaced with a more appropriate cover image.