I was browsing quickly at a bookstore the other day and saw this book. It was new to me and I thought it was a new release, but it’s ten years old! I was able to get it out of the library right away. It just goes to show how much Star Wars content has been put out there. This book is trying to show the changeover in Anakin Skywalker to fully embrace his Sith-ness.
Unfortunately, the parallel story with rebellion on Ryloth was as compelling a contrast. After having seen Andor and Rogue One, this unfortunately comes off as a lesser story. You don’t learn anything major about the Emperor through this story, and Vader’s internal struggle also was nothing new. This one’s not a necessary read in the SW universe.
This one took me a while to go through its eight episodes, which says something right away about it.
I recently finished this book after having it in my ereader for YEARS. I bought it originally because it had Wil Wheaton’s first fiction sale in it. (It’s a decent story.) It’s a great idea for a collection; shorts (there’s even a poem) that detail events from the first movie from alternate POVs. There are sequels covering the next two movies of the original trilogy as well, and proceeds were donated to a book charity, at least when originally published. I will probably look for the next two, but who knows how long it will take to read them! 😉