I couldnt find my original thread on this, I wonder what happened to it, I made it like in August, at any rate,
I completely forgot this came out today! Has anyone picked it up? Rhonderoo at TFN posted some great excerpts from it. I am SO getting this book.
[SPOILER - highlight to read]: The Vader parts of this book rock. Unfortunately like most CW novels, I have a hard time reading random Jedi. But the book couldn't be all Vader, I guess. Luceno has written a very, very good Vader. I recommend it. One interesting thing is he never meant to try to kill Obi-Wan, and instead was trying to keep him with him like Padmé.
Here's some random stuff:
This is after Vader has been ruminating on how much pain he's in and how the suit was a prison worse than death. He starts to question if Sidious deliberately engineered this prison, but admonishes himself, stating that's Anakin talking, and Anakin is dead.
Vader recognized the voice of the one who posed the question as the specter of Anakin. Anakin telling him that he was not as powerful as he thought he once was. The little slave boy, cowering because he was not the master of his fate. A mere accessory in the world, owned by another. Passed over.
And now newly enslaved...
He had only wanted to save them! Padmé, from death; Obi-Wan from ignorance. And in the end they failed to recognize his power; to simply accede to him and accept on faith that he knew what was best for them.
Instead Padme was dead and Obi-Wan was running for his life, as stripped of everything as Vader was. Without friends, family, purpose...
Clenching his right hand, he cursed the Force. What had it ever provided him but pain? Torturing him with foresight, with visions he was unable to prevent. Leading him to believe that he had great power when he was little more than a servant.
But no longer, Vader promised himself. The power of the dark side would render the Force subservient, minion rather than ally.
Vader's thoughts in the first chapter I got to that was him (Chapter 9!!! )
This is not seeing
This is not hearing
This is not breathing
This is not living...
And on the suit and his life support: (One word here - "Ouch!")
Beyond the limbs and everything we knew, the alloy of his limbs were shoddy and the suit was always catching on strips that were anchored to the knee and ankle joints. The tall boots were a poor fit for artificial feet that had no sensors in them, and were raised in the heel forcing him to move with exaggerated caution lest he stumble or topple over. They were so heavy the often felt rooted to the ground, or as if he were moving in high gravity. He had to call on the Force to walk.
He can barely see out of his own damaged corneas and retinas, and hates the mask, calling the cheekbones "needlessly angular". He realizes he is meant to look this way to strike fear as he is modeled after ancient Sith War Droids used to fight the Jedi.
His eardrums were melted in Mustafar's heat, and beyond repair. Soundwaves are transmitted through sensors transmitted in his inner ear.
He called his lungs where the med droids truly failed him. He has a control box strapped to his chest, and a thick cable enters his torso, linked to breating appartatus and a heartbeat regulator. The ventilator was implanted into his chest, along with tubes that run directly into his lungs and others that entered his throat, so that should the chest plate develop a glitch, he can breathe unassisted for a limited time (read: long enough to tell his son goodbye).
And this part....
The incessant rasp of this breathing interfered with his ability to rest, let alone sleep. And sleep, in the rare moments it came to him, was a nightmarish jumble of twisted, recurrent memories that unfolded to excruciating sounds.
Registered: Mar 2005
Location: United States, Earth
Profound. I know this books gonna be real good. Probably one of, if not the best PT book. I'm picking it up today..
Luceno rocks. "Labyrinth.O.E." rocked too, but I know he put more effort into this one knowing it's about an important character at his most agonizing times..And how he became to be. In Ep.3 we saw Anakin turn. In "Dark Lord" we get to see how Vader took care of things as Vader right after Ep. 3. Vader was always a person I always really wanted to know more about. Him and Palpatine and Darth Maul.
I remember reading a copy of the comic "Star Wars Tales" where it was Vader's birthday, and he was kinda upset that no one had acknowledged but he knew everyone was scared to do so. But there was this Stormtropper that did remember. And the comic went on about this Stormtropper telling his comrades about it and how he came to find out about it and how Vader was acting differently, something about "Vader is trying to make it obvious to us but indirectly." Then towards the end of the story Vader went into the Stormtropper area to summon them for a briefing on a mission the had to go to, and while they where all stepping out, that one Stormtrooper, who was the last one out, patted Vader's arm/shoulder and away from the attention of the others said "Happy Birthday" and kept walking.
Vader stayed still looked the other way into the empty room, and left.
Normally, Vader would've killed a Stormtropper immediately, but he didn't this time. He went on with the briefing..Cool, i wonder what he Vader was thinking.
__________________ "The darkside, Sidious, is an illness no true Sith wishes to be cured of, my young apprentice .."
anybody have a clue when its out in australia? we get so few, at least where i am. i really want this book but i think the only place i can get it is amazon. if i do that though ill end up spending alot more than i want to on a bunch of other stuff that i dont really care about.
This book is outstanding. In my opinion, it even surpasses LOE. Luceno has Vader written very well, as he does Sidious. He even goes so far as to highlight how the friendship between Vader and Tarkin began.
It describes the weaknesses of Vader's suit, and so forth. It confirms what most have said. He's slower and lacks the finesse he used to have, but is far stronger and overpowering. Strength for speed. In my eyes, I'd rather have the second than the first.
No. No, he does not. Vader's noteworthy abilities are merely the new traits of patience and cunning that he has developed. In his suit, he is no longer swift. A mere boy of 5, I believe, could outrun him. It also specifies that he cannot generate Force lightning nor can he use the Force to leap as far; but this is countered by his prosthetic legs being far stronger than any human's, a la Grievous.
Comparisons between Darth Vader and General Grievous are made quite often. They possess many similarities. His strength is undeniable, and he is capable of killing simply by beating his enemies into submission using his impressive strength.
Star Wars - Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader
Has anyone picked it up? Rhonderoo at TFN posted some great excerpts from it. I am SO getting this book.
Nov 23rd, 2005 08:57 AM
http://darthglentract.tripod.com/index.html Go Jawa's!!
