Rule of Two (Star Wars: Darth Bane, Book 2)

Rule of Two is the much anticipated sequel to Path to Destruction featuring Darth Bane and his apprentice Zannah. Its hard to believe reading about two people forging a path of death and destruction in the name of the Sith could be so exciting. Their usually the people you want to see defeated (like a certain new Sith in Legacy of the Force). Darth Bane despite being the only Sith Lord left still has much to learn about the Sith and Dark Side of the Force as he travels to Dxun and Typho in search of Sith secrets and Holograms. At the same time Bane's training his own apprentice Zannah who he found in the previous book after she killed to Jedi. Zannah's a very interesting charactor. She's drawn more into the Dark Side of Force and becoming a Sith but she still has some doubts mainly the normal human reactions to killing remorse, guilt and a conscience but its clear she wants to become a Sith she also has one attachment her cousin Darovit who in the beginning she spares his life. She also goes through creative ways as she contiunes her path as a Sith. From finding her way to Onderon to managing after all who would suspect a ten year old girl of anything bad to getting into the Jedi Temple to raid the Archives. That part I admitt creeped me out the most. A Sith apprentice inside the Jedi Temple for three whole days without anyone getting suspicious.
On the Jedi front we have Johun who's master died in the thought bomb and is the first one to suspect the Sith are still around. When he meets merecenaries who witnessed Darth Bane and Zannah first hand he immediately believes them. Unfortunately Jedi Master Farfalla does not because the witnesses are paid for hire soldiers with many motives to lie. Perhaps the weakest link in the story is Farfalla's belief the Sith are extinct. Why would the Jedi think the Sith put all of their resources into the Ruusan battle if the Jedi didn't? Its not to hard to believe at least one or two might have survived or may not have been at the Battle. But when he does finally believe Johun, Farfalla does move fast to face the Sith.
Its also possible Farfalla was too distracted by Chancellor Valorum's decisions to place the Jedi in a position to answer to the Senate and have them removed from the military all together that might be distracting him as well as the Jedi's image which is some what tainted in light of all the Sith-Jedi battles that have left planets and people deveastated. Decisions that will leave both the decendents of the Jedi and Valurom to regret.
Another interesting part was Bane and Zannah's use of Serenno the home planet of the future Dooku in order to further their plans and their efforts to keep the Jedi from learning the Sith are alive. The eventual lightsabre battle between the Sith and Jedi was very exciting. I only hope that their will be more.

This book was excellently written, and enjoyable from start to finish, which unfortunately comes all too quickly, and would be my one complaint. (But far better to be short, and leave you wanting more, than to be too long, and leave you wanting less! :)

I would reccommend this book highly to anyone, but it will be much more appreciated if read after Star Wars: Darth Bane: Path of Destruction, which was an incredibly engrossing look at what it is to be undeniably, no questions asked, evil. I find it refreshing to discover a Star Wars story that isn't either
A) From the perspective of the "good guys", or
B) Paints the bad guy in a positive/misunderstood light, or tries to make them likeable.

You like Darth Bane because he makes no effort to be anything other than the antithesis of all it means to be a Jedi, and you will enjoy this book because no matter how much SW liturature is produced out there, these stories stand completely apart. Drew Karpyshyn is great at telling this kind of story. If you want to see his writing in another format, pick up Mass Effect, the xbox 360 game from Bioware, which is one of the most cinematic gameplay experiences I have ever had.

Great story, well-written book. Even though it's about the "dark side", the character of Darth Bane becomes someone I liked, and I wanted to have another book to continue the story. I am probably emotional and more attuned to the "light side" of the force, abut I did respect Darth Bane's dedication and determination in his quest to find his answers, though not always the methods he employed to obtain what he wanted. Many new characters, species and places are in the story, but it never interrupts the flow of the story or causes the reader to feel lost. The interesting and entertaining story sheds new light on the history of the force and the two sides, with many parallels to real life.

This book picks off right where "Path of Destruction" left off. But unlike the previous book, Darth Bane isn't exactly the main character in this novel. There are three main characters: Bane, his apprentice Darth Zannah, and a young Jedi named Johnun Othone. While this book probably wasn't as good as the previous one, it was still awesome! The ending of this book was is so intense because you don't really know what will happen to the main characters until the very last page. I can't wait for more novels in the Sith era!

Darth Bane Rule of Two is an excellent follow-up to one of the best Star Wars books ever written. Its a fast read and thoroughly enjoyable. The character of Darth Bane plummits deeper and deeper into the secrets of the Dark Side, while his apprentice Darth Zannah becomes a powerful Dark Lord in different ways than he.

I highly reccomend this book to any Star Wars fan. I've noticed some other reviews saying that there are spelling and grammatical errors here and there, I don't dispute that fact, but I had to go back and look for them because I didn't notice them during my initial reading. Also I think that the cover is not that great. I mean Darth Bane clearly has a regular handled lightsaber on the cover and in the book it is mentioned several times that he has a unique hook-handled lightsabter. But the cover doesn't have anything to do with the overall story so I don't count off for that.

Can't wait for number three!