Currently browsing Star Wars Category

Page 1 of 1

Darth Bane Path of Destruction: Book Review

Posted by Sam Kressin in Book Reviews, Star Wars

, , , , , , , ,

Path-of-destructionThis is the best Star Wars book I have ever read. I give it a 5 out of 5 stars. Darth Bane is now my favorite Sith Lord. If you don’t know about Darth Bane I’ll give you a basic rundown. He lived 1,000 years before the Battle of Yavin (when the rebel alliance blew up the first Death Star). During the years of Bane’s Training into the Sith Order. The Sith numbered in legions and preached a doctrine of equality amongst the Sith Lords. Darth Bane a student of the ancient and archival Sith Texts believed the ways of the Sith to have strayed in the wrong direction. Bane then reinstated the Rule of Two wiping out most of the Sith Legions.

In theory the Rule of two would insure that each subsequent Sith Master is more powerful than the predecessor. The only way to become the master is to kill the master. It is also more congruent with Sith doctrines however it does have an inherent flaw (not mentioned in this book). And that is with only two Sith there would be a shortage of people to practice lightsaber sparring with. Meanwhile the Jedi have hundreds of sparring partners. Darth Bane himself had legions of Sith to spar with on a daily basis while his predecessor and the one often considered the book end of the Darth Bane Linage Darth Sidious would have only had his master Darth Plagueis to spar with. Therefore I’d have a really hard time believing Sidious would ever be able to beat Bane in lightsaber combat despite the fact that other writers have tried to make the claim that each Sith Master since the time of Darth Bane became more powerful than the next culminating with Darth Sidious as the ultimate manifestation of the Dark Side of the force.

Here are some of my favorite Quotes from the book;

Working to make everybody equal didn’t leave much chance for anyone to achieve greatness.

Equality is a lie. A myth to appease the masses. There are those with power, those with the strength and will to lead. And there are those meant to follow—those incapable of anything but servitude and a meager, worthless existence.  Equality is a perversion of the natural order!

I will learn from your wisdom. I will discover your secrets, unlocking them one by one until everything you know—all your knowledge and all your power—is mine. And once you are no longer of use to me, I will destroy you.

Honor is a fool’s prize. Glory is of no use to the dead.

The dark side is about survival. It’s about unleashing your inner power. It glorifies the strength of the individual.

Take what makes you weak and turn it into something that makes you strong.

Two there should be; no more, no less. One to embody the power, the other to cravit it.

Peace is a lie. There is only passion. Through passion, I gain strength. Through strength, I gain power. Through power, I gain victory. Through victory, my chains are broken. The Code of the Sith

Star Wars The Force Awakens: Book Review

Posted by Sam Kressin in Book Reviews, Star Wars

, , , ,

Starwars_The_Force_AwakensI recently completed listening to the entire audio book version of Star Wars The Force Awakens. My opinion of the film which I have seen twice didn’t really change much with the listening of this audio book. There are several details in the book that fill in some of the information missing in the film but nothing really changing the fact this first film can’t stand on it’s own as a complete story. For example the book explains why Han Solo had been collecting Rathtars. Basically there’s some wealthy collectors that want them. There’s an entire scene not in the film explaining how Po survived the Tie fighter crash and got off Jakku. There is also some longer dialogues between Kylo Ren and Snoke. One in which Snoke makes the claim he has been around long enough to see the rise and fall of the Empire. There’s a much longer discussion about the thermal oscillator on Starkiller Base which still makes little to any sense at all. As a hardcore nerd I enjoy getting these extra tidbits of information however none of it was enough to really change my opinion of the film or the story. Which if you want to know that you can watch my video about it here.