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seshat59 's review for:
Dark Disciple
by Christie Golden
adventurous
dark
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
In which a Star Wars romance proves itself to be a Star Wars romance.
Dark Disciple is an expansion of a batch of originally planned but canceled Season 7 Clone Wars episodes. As such, it definitely reads as a novelization of the TV show. In the animated series, all stories—even expanded stories like this one—follow the same sorts of arcs, with various battles throughout, and even if the primary characters of the episode arc are not the series’ primary main characters, the latter tends to appear to heroically save the day by the end of the episode run. In true Clone Wars style then, predictably, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker appear more heavily at the end to save the day and conclude our story.
The purpose of the novel is really supposed to conclude Asajj Ventress’s arc. Because she does fall away from the main plot in The Clone Wars, one is left wondering what happened to her. Dark Disciple does just that.
Dark Disciple is an expansion of a batch of originally planned but canceled Season 7 Clone Wars episodes. As such, it definitely reads as a novelization of the TV show. In the animated series, all stories—even expanded stories like this one—follow the same sorts of arcs, with various battles throughout, and even if the primary characters of the episode arc are not the series’ primary main characters, the latter tends to appear to heroically save the day by the end of the episode run. In true Clone Wars style then, predictably, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker appear more heavily at the end to save the day and conclude our story.
The purpose of the novel is really supposed to conclude Asajj Ventress’s arc. Because she does fall away from the main plot in The Clone Wars, one is left wondering what happened to her. Dark Disciple does just that.
Our plot summary: Count Dooku has once again committed genocide, and the Jedi Council must weigh in on whether it is permitted to assassinate Dooku for the good of the galaxy and to finally end this war, or if they must, you know, continue to follow the Jedi code. This leads them down a dark path, obviously, and they tap Jedi Master Quinlan Vos, who primarily acts as an undercover agent for the Jedi, to seek out Ventress and manipulate her into being his ally to off Dooku. The conundrum is obvious: the Jedi are sacrificing one of their own to the dark side (hence the title of the book), and the repercussions are what follows. There is the romance that blossoms between Ventress and Vos, and I would much have preferred a more slow burn exploration of their relationship, but this not the romance genre. It is a Star Wars story, and the romance suffers as such.
The best part of this novel is the focus on Ventress’s character. I really enjoyed getting to finally see how she evolved into the character we see post-Clone Wars in Bad Batch, etc. This book also unequivocally shows that Mace Windu is the Jedi foil and is willing to take the Jedi down the road that leaves it so vulnerable to Darth Sidious. Vos’s descent into darkness was hard to read, and I remain skeptical about his overall return to the light. Is that truly possible in the long term? Every poor choice he makes is a product of the Jedi’s horrific decision to set him on this path, and that is resolved in the end—or at least addressed.
The audiobook narrator is a little cheesy. I think he’s the same one I listened to read the one High Republic book I read, which I didn’t like very much. He did, however, do a fantastic Obi-Wan, Yoda, and clone impression. Disney adds sound effects to the audiobook as well, but I did mostly prefer to read my kindle copy.