Golden Age of the Sith

Golden age of the Sith

5000 BBY


Synopsis:

Down on their luck explorers Gav and Jori Daragon are trying to make their big mark upon the galaxy. Their job, to find new hyperspace routes in the hopes that they can find a route that leads to a great trade opportunity or allows the merchants to travel to other systems more quickly. The Daragons make one more hyperspace jump in the hopes that it will lead to their big break. Of course they botch it up and then damage their ship.

The Daragons end up back on the planet Cinnagar, waiting for their repairs to be finished, and trying to find a way to pay for them. While reflecting upon their downturn, matters grow worse when they run afoul of bounty hunters. Having nothing to lose but their lives, they steal their repaired ship and make a random jump into the unknown. And end up in the heart of the Sith empire.

In the Sith Empire, Marka Ragnos has just died leaving Naga Sadow and Ludo Kresh to squabble over the remains of the empire. Kresh is content to enjoy the decadence and luxury of the empire while Sadow sees the Daragons as his opportunity to control the galaxy. After taking advantage of the (nonexistent) outside threat of the Republic, Sadow assumes control of the Sith and subdues Kresh’s forces, and allows Jori Daragon to escape to the Republic. Gav is left behind and begins learning the powers of the Sith.


Review:

I’m not terribly fond of this story. The Daragons aren’t especially likable characters. They are screw ups, never doing anything right, but that’s not the only issue. They’re also kind of whiny and deceitful as well. Sort of like a morally questionable Ep IV Luke Skywalker. Aarbah the Hutt on the other hand is kind of a likeable character, breaking the gangster stereotype and his design is pretty cool. The purple hat is probably what makes his image.

We are also introduced to some Jedi, Odan Urr and Memit Nadill. Master Ooru, a motherbrain looking guy, who actually appeared on cracked.com’s worst Star Wars character list. He was kind of cool, but to each his own. The archaic lightsaber was interesting as well, having it attach to a power supply on the belt really makes it look old fashioned.

Overall, most of the art/design of the book isn’t really that appealing, at least in the Republic. I understand it’s supposed to be thousands of years before Skywalker, but everyone is wearing mismatched or tattered toga-ish robes. Odan Urr actually isn’t bad, his armor looks cool and his Jedi robes actually look somewhat contemporary. Once we see the Sith Empire though, that’s when things look cool. Korriban, and the valley of Dark Lords is cool. Marka Ragnos’ tomb is just as it looked in the Jedi Academy game. It’s cool to see where that came from. The rest of the Sith Empire was cool, the ships, the architecture, even what they wore.

Story wise, I have to say it wasn’t anything exceptional, despite being written by one of my favorite authors, Kevin J Anderson. The best parts happened in the Sith Empire. The double crossing that the Sith do to each other, clearly showing why Bane’s rule of two is essential. Naga Sadow double crosses other lords and even kills his former mentor, Simus (who at this point is just a desiccated head), and manipulates a threat to assume power.

So first half of the story, I would give one or two stars, but the Sith half four or five out five. The story does shine light on the origins of the Sith, which is nice but not wholly necessary.