“Star Wars” novels have been on quite a Darth kick lately. “The Old Republic: Deceived” introduced us to Darth Malgus, and the much-hyped upcoming “Darth Plagueis” will explore Darth Sidious’ mentor.
In the meantime, there’s “The Old Republic: Revan” (November, hardcover) from “Darth Bane” trilogy author Drew Karpyshyn. Before cracking the book, I wondered why it wasn’t called “Darth Revan,” but the answer soon becomes apparent: Darth Revan is who Revan was before the events of this book. As we pick up the action, he is good again (albeit shunned from the Jedi Order), having recovered from his trip to the dark side, but he can’t remember any of that time.
Early on, I felt like I was reading a sequel to a book I hadn’t read yet. But that’s not the case; Revan’s time as Darth Revan primarily occurred in a video game that I haven’t played. So the fact that I didn’t know details of his past actually tied in nicely with the fact that Revan doesn’t know the details of his past.
Karpyshyn, who had a better handle on Bane than he does on Revan, splits the book into two parts. Part I is slow and hard to get into. Basically, Revan and his old Mandalorian pal Canderous go in search of Mandalore’s Mask. Revan vaguely recalls hiding it, and Canderous needs to claim it so he can become the Mandalorians’ leader. Why we should care about any of this, I have no idea, unless it comes up in a sequel to this novel.
Slightly more compelling is the other plotline, involving Scourge, a Sith who joins the inner circle of the powerful old witch Darth Nyriss (this book could legitimately have been called “Scourge”). Karpyshyn is in his element as the scheming Scourge faces down other schemers such as Nyriss and her savvy assistants, as well as Darth Xedrix (like Nyriss, a member of the Emperor’s Dark Council). In the world of the Sith, everyone is scheming; we root for Scourge not so much because he’s nicer than the people around him, but simply because he’s the character we’re following.
In Part II, the Scourge and Revan plotlines meet up — and by now, another old ally of Revan’s, the Jedi female Meetra, is in the mix — and the book gets much more readable. Kind of like how Spike teamed up with Buffy to overthrow Angelus in Season 2 of “Buffy,” these characters of various moral standards team up to take down the too-evil-to-be-allowed-to-live Emperor (not the Emperor from the movies, of course, as this story takes place 3,954 years before “A New Hope”). Karpyshyn has a knack for deliciously twisted, mad-scientist-like sci-fi ideas, and they come to the fore with the Emperor, a creepy villain who deftly skirts the line of being too cartoonish.
Like the other “Old Republic” novels and the game, “Revan” takes the building blocks of “Star Wars” — Republic, Empire, Jedi, Sith, separatists, the Force, an Emperor, and so forth — and stirs them up into a somewhat fresh brew for this spot on the timeline. Ultimately, “Revan” is not exactly a must-read in terms of the big picture of “Star Wars” continuity (“Darth Plagueis,” on the other hand, is a crucial read, I’ve heard). Revan is a likable enough character, but he’s underdeveloped and doesn’t pop off the page to the same degree as Karpyshyn’s Bane. Still, once you slog through Part I, “Revan” is a decent time-killer.
