Lords of the Sith

This book was plain old fun! Obviously not for all the characters who got murdered, but it is a fast-paced adventure centered on an assassination attempt on Palpatine and Vader, a look at a single rebel cell and the tactics they need to keep fighting, and the way that people acquiesce to imperial rule if they get a little bit of power. Plenty of juicy dramatic psychological stuff for Vader and Cham Syndulla, but my favorite part was Palpatine being simultaneously the most evil being in the galaxy and a campy troll out to cause chaos for fun.

This book was good, but not as good as other Star Wars books I've read lately. Like the others on Audible, the sound effects, music and voices were fantastic, they really add to the story. This book was only incidentally about the Lords of the Sith, most of the story was about Cham Syndulla and the Free Ryloth movement. There were a few glimpses into Darth Vader's relationship with the Emperor which were, honestly, more insightful into the nature of Darth Vader than the prequels, but were just a tiny part of this book.

This is set about 10 years after Return of the Sith and it's really fascinating because you get to see the relationship between Darth Vader and the Emperor. Because the Emperor is constantly expecting Darth to kill him and Vader is basically “yeah I will, but not right now”. Apparently that sort of thing is expected among the Sith. Also you get to see a little bit of Vader being all sad about Padme which is interesting.

I really liked this one! This was my first new canon book set closer to the prequel trilogy than the original trilogy, and I loved that the Empire and its characters were at the center of it. It's set around 8 years after Revenge of the Sith, so both Darth Vader and the Emperor aren't all that known in all parts of the galaxy, so these people think they can take on Vader (and the Emperor) and have no idea they're doomed.
I also liked the other things that were going on. Mors and Belkor were both great characters, and at times I had no idea whom of them I wanted more to survive (though I definitely made up my mind by the end). The Twi'lek stuff was interesting as well, though I didn't particularly care about their characters. But their point of view was interesting.
I have yet to see the Star Wars: Rebels series, but knowing Cham's daughter is in it (and he might show up at one point), made me want to start it even more.

A disappointment that continues a long tradition of Star Wars villains being under-represented in their own books. The writing is fine, but unlike the recent Tarkin or the excellent Darth Plagueis, the titular characters just have nothing interesting to do or say for most of the story. So much time is spent developing their antagonists that we learn nothing about the Sith besides the fact that Vader is prone to mopey Anakin moments and Palpatine enjoys mind-games with his staff.

In fact, the most interesting part of the whole novel is learning that an Imperial Moff had a same-sex marriage. That's really it. You get a glimpse at how the organization of the Rebellion started in Rhyloth, but that would make “Twi'lek Insurgency” a more fitting title than Lords of the Sith.