Star Wars: The New Order 1st impressions

Let's start off reaaaaally darkside. Lords Of The Sith, Darth Bane : Path Of Destruction, and The Golden Age Of The Sith comics. These 3 are great so far.

Path Of Destruction is by far the highest quality of the 3. Only a few chapters in and I
1. find it hard to stop listening  (audiobook), and
2. know i will enjoy the rest of this true prequel to the Star Wars movies.

As far as i can tell this makes an excellent starting point if you were keen to skip all the back back backstory and get into the more direct lead in for the films. Set 1000 years before Episode 4: A New Hope, it explores the final days of the Sith as a large military force, and the beginnings of the rule of two and outsourcing of armies that was to come (stormtroopers, Clones, the Imperial Military, and The First Order).

Drew Karpyshyn, the author of this book and cowriter of the amazing Knights Of The Old Republic videogame, knows how to get inside the mind of the protagonist in ways that we can key into. Bane finds an affinity with the force naturally and uses it as any without training would... for in-the-moment personal gain. The yet to be Darth Bane, by the name of Dessel, sees greater cause to side with the Sith than the Republic he slaves for. While being dark he is no less sympathetic and sometimes relatable, which is kinda creepy. The arguments against the Jedi are sound, well written, and mirror the thought process of Vader in Lords Of The Sith....

LORDS OF THE SITH is... how to put this in the best possible light... popcorn. It's so damn fun reading evil characters for a change and seeing them use force powers unrestrictedly. That and the fact it's Darth Vader tearing shit up. A few years into his career as Vader, he is no longer the tortured "NOOOOOOOO" soul from Revenge Of The Sith.

It almost feels a bit like fan-fiction with how less reserved it is. Ironic considering this book by Paul S Kemp is meant to be canon, while the Darth Bane trilogy is relegated to "Legends".

Only a chapter in but "damn daniel" it's easy to pick up. The arguments for Sith rule are basically the same as Path Of Destruction, but are internalized instead of through dialogue, and are not as well written. Maybe because Vader is "more machine than man" now that his thought process is somewhat robotic? It comes off as a bit simple and cold, but hey that's Vader. Another great thing is, as i had hoped, they don't say who Vader was. Oh, they allude to it, but every time Paul S Kemp refers to him as Vader, not as *redacted*.

I can see the action played out in my head though. Maybe this book is more for people wanting a lighter read or maybe it's meant for a wider audience  (younger maybe? I could see teenage me loving this). I'm not above reading books geared towards a younger audience, having read Finn's story in Before The Awakening. Bit early to judge it completely yet, but so far the dark side is a powerful ally for new, exciting and unrestrained narratives.

I have yet to get far enough into The Golden Age Of The Sith to form a full opinion. I might wait till i've completed it to comment.

For more info on my plans and what the hell THE NEW ORDER project is all about, follow this link to the first post.