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*So, the fourth section of Jedi vs. Sith: The Essential Guide to the Forceis called The Sith. This section is one of the first in Part Four.
*So, this one is a historical record of the titular conquest of Sith space, told by Ajunta Pall, leader of the exiled Dark Jedi.
*I did like the bit where Pall does sort of take the Jedi to task for not just killing them all. The Jedi, he says, prove once again that they are weak. And he kind of has a point.
*When their defenseless drone ship ends up at Korriban, Pall takes it as a sign of the Will of the Force.
*So, Pall says that the Sith attempted to sway the Dark Jedi with some primitive illusions, but the Dark Jedi had greater power and were able to win the Sith to their side.
*Allow me to quote: “And so we . . . we who were the fallen Jedi, the fallen become dark, the dark become exiles . . . we became Dark Lords of the Sith. The Jedi Knights intended to let us fall like a single raindrop into an endless desert, but they only sent us to a greater glory. While they decay in their stodgy trappings and power-inhibiting rules of conduct, we grow stronger every day. It is only a matter of time before we thank them in an appropriate manner.”
*So, it is at this point in history that the Sith begin talking about themselves in incredibly pompous ways, huh? Nice to finally pinpoint that.
*Actually, the moment mostly works. It’s that bit about ‘thanking them in an appropriate manner,’ that really sells the moment.
*Pall mentions that not long after the Dark Jedi took over, a few of the Sith Lords decided to try to head on back to the Republic. They vanished into Hyperspace and Pall believes them to be lost.
*So, we kind of need a ‘Lost Tribe of the Sith-esque’ story sequence about them, I think.
*He then closes his recording by noting that the Sith will eventually take the battle to the Jedi again. Only a matter of time.
*Then there’s this weird thing where Palpatine says he ‘introduces’ us to Ajunta Pall who fought in the last battle of the Hundred-Year Darkness. It seems to me that this little paragraph got shuffled or something and was supposed to be at the beginning of this section, not the end. Does anybody remember this?
*Anyway, thus closes The Conquest of Sith Space.
*So, I mentioned that if all the bits of this book were as good as Dark Jedi, that this would be a great book. Unsurprisingly, they aren’t. I mean, these are generally not that interesting, just slightly expanded telling of things we already know, with some interest arising from the voices used to tell these stories.
*As I say, it is unsurprising. The story of Cope Shykrill was a complete blindside. Of necessity, as the book moves into more recent areas of the timeline, it’s going to have to trod more familiar ground. And this is certainly better than it could have been. I’m enjoying these, even if they aren’t as earthshaking as Cope Shykrill’s story.
Ryder Windham
** ½ out of **** stars.
*Next time? Still more from Part Four of Jedi vs. Sith. We’ll take a look at a section called Sith Weapons next time!