DARTH PLAGUEIS by James Luceno
Darth Plagueis is one of the most definitive Star Wars books I have ever read. It is also one that I feel would fit almost seamlessly into the canon, apart from one or two minor discontinuities.
Plagueis is only mentioned once in Star Wars canon, but the implications of that brief story (told to Anakin Skywalker by Chancellor Palpatine in Revenge of the Sith) is enough to convey that this Sith Lord was one of the most powerful and influential beings of his time. Darth Plagueis continues that idea on a grand scale by detailing, as Luceno is expert at, the rise of Plagueis and his apprentice Darth Sidious, their plot to take over the galaxy, their triumphs, and, ultimately, Plagueis’s fall.
Darth Plagueis is a masterpiece that is truly legendary, and, in my opinion, absolutely relevant to the films (as well as the mystery of Anakin’s birth). I look forward to the day when the story group clarifies how much of it is part of official canon; I hope most, if not all, of it is.
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