“Lords of the Sith” is the latest novel in the “Star Wars” canon and it comes out this week. It’s written by Paul S. Kemp and tells the competing tales of the Dark Lords of the Sith and the freedom fighters who hope to end their reign in a desperate trap.
On the surface, the book seems reasonably straightforward. Cham Syndulla (who made his first appearance in the first season of “The Clone Wars”) uncovers information that Darth Vader and Darth Sidious will be travelling to Ryloth to deal with their insurgency. Throwing everything Cham and his fellow Free Ryloth fighters can muster at the Dark Lords, they manage to take down their Star Destroyer over Ryloth and hunt them on the surface, cutting them off from all Imperial aid.
It very quickly becomes a manhunt and we’re finally able to see Sidious and Vader tearing the place apart in a way we never have before.
On the surface, the book is a fun ride through the early days of Rebellion against the Empire and shows us how scary Vader and Sidious can be. But Kemp gives us a lot more to dig into. And there’s plenty here to dig deep.
First, we have Darth Vader. If the season two premiere of “Star Wars: Rebels” is the scariest we’ve ever seen Vader on screen, “Lords of the Sith” is the scariest we’ve ever seen him in a book. Vader is a menacing ghost and Kemp is able to give us views of him from the Twi’lek freedom fighters, showing us just how scary he can really be. Whether its his ace piloting, impressive lightsaber skills, or his generally evil demeanor, we’re getting the best that Vader has to offer a story.
That’s not to say he’s one dimensional. We see him glimpsing nostalgically into his happier past, but we’re shown just how insidious Palpatine really is in his manipulations. Palpatine is able to twist these feelings of Vader’s into weaknesses and keep Vader marching on without allowing any of the light of his past self to penetrate his new darkness.
In a book full of compelling characters, we’re given Cham Syndulla at the top of that heap. He’s revealed to be the father of Hera Syndulla, the captain of the Ghost on “Rebels,” but there’s much more to him. Kemp builds on what we know of him from his appearances on “The Clone Wars” and shows us a man who could have led the Rebellion if he lived in a different time. If nothing else, he still helps provide that spark. He’s complicated and brilliant, and watching him desperately try to end the reign of the Empire before it does much more damage is breathtaking. He’s been able to locate a shatterpoint, and he exhausts every resource in his arsenal to exploit it.
Watching the plans on both sides unfold is nothing short of awe-inspiring.
Another character that needs mentioning is Moff Mors. Much to do was made of her sexuality, as she’s the first LGBTQ character in the new “Star Wars” canon, and it’s still important, but as a character I found her utterly fascinating. After the death of her wife, she’s assigned to a far-flung outpost. In her grief, she’s lost interest in her work and lets her second-in-command take much of the responsibility for her duties, but he’s been compromised by the Free Ryloth movement. Mors realizes the depth of her mistake which shakes her of the grief and her arc is one of the strongest and farthest traveled in the novel. She was a solid addition and her sexuality was simply matter-of-fact, handled just the way it should have been.
Overall, Kemp weaves a tale of resistance and survival that I found not just compelling but completely thrilling.
The Free Ryloth movement and their entire modus operandi pushed all of my history nerd buttons. It reminded me so much of the Free French movement during World War II, though many of those parallels could have been drawn by the fact that the Twi’leks on “The Clone Wars” all had slightly French accents, Cham Syndulla included.
This glimpse into the ever-evolving relationship between Palpatine and Vader is something that I find endlessly fascinating. Kemp stitches together the Anakin we know from the prequels and “The Clone Wars” and shows us just how he turns into the most feared man in the galaxy. And it’s utterly frightening at times.
The book keeps a tight pace and reads quickly. The action is well told, never boring, and the cast of characters is well rounded and more diverse than most “Star Wars” books have been. Add to all of this the fact that the thematic symbols of the text fold neatly into “Rebels,” mentions of ghosts and spectres definitely add nice touches.
The thing I was most impressed by, though, is how Kemp is able to manage to make the good guys and the bad guys all feel like protagonists. You’re rooting for everyone, which ties you up in knots as you read the book. You want everyone to win and that’s just not the way stories work. It creates a wonderful tension that I appreciated.
For all the enjoyment I’ve had with the other books in the new canon, this one comes out on top as my favorite. It’s a solid entry into the ever-growing tapestry of “Star Wars” and a worthy effort from Kemp who should be incredibly proud.
This book is a must read for fans of “Star Wars” and comes out 4/28/15. You can preorder it on Amazon now.