Darth Bane: Path of Destruction is one of the BEST Star Wars EU novels I have EVER read!!! Hands down!!!

***No Spoilers*** AT ALL This is not your normal book review. However, it may infect you with the desire to read a book you may not have otherwise considered reading... consider yourself warned... *tee hee*

I tore through this book in two days flat! I VERY rarely do that... EVER! Normally, because of...life ... itself ... it takes me quite some time to get through a book. At least until I get to the end where the action or conflict usually picks up and things get all exciting and the anticipation of finding out what happens becomes overwhelming and I just can't put it down anymore! You know the feeling, I assume, right?

With this book, things were different. From page one, I was hooked! I started reading and was enraptured! I couldn't bear to put the book down right off the bat and it continued the entire way through!! There have been few books that I have come across that did that to me that I have ever read.

I finished reading Tempest (another very good book, BTW) on Christmas Eve and started reading Darth Bane Christmas morning while we drove to my parents house (hour and a half drive). I just didn't want to put it down. I was actually sad that I had to go into my parents to join the festivities and open Star Wars presents and eat Christmas dinner, etc, etc, etc! I wanted to just keep reading!!! I wisely left the book in the car...

Realize that I LOVE spending time with my parents! My parents and I have a fantastic relationship, have fun together, laugh, joke, share interests and just generally enjoy being together, so it's not like it's a "chore" to have to go to my parents house. I was sad to just put the book down because I was enjoying it that much!!

Anyway, luckily, my sister gave me a clip on reading light for Christmas. Ironically, just the week before, my hubby and I were talking about the fact that we needed one because I'm always wanting to read when we drive at night and I can't because we can't turn the overhead light on in the car as it would bother him. So, we left my parents for the drive home and as soon as we got into the car, guess what I did? You got it!! I turned my brand new little reading light on, opened my Bane book and dove right in ~ happy as a clam!

We got home, unloaded, got everyone settled and guess what I did? Uh-huh! I went to bed, opened up Bane, but lost track of time, and next thing I knew, it was the middle of the night! I just couldn't stop!

So, the next day, I got up with the 5 year old, fixed breakfast ~ *deep breath* ~ started reading again! Yeah, ok, this went on (on and off) all day. To sum up, I couldn't put it down that whole day and I stayed up half the night AGAIN until I finished it that night!!

YES, it was that good!

In fact, it was so good that I even talked my hubby into reading it. My hubby doesn't read Star Wars books. It's not that he thinks they're dumb or anything, he just doesn't read them... not an interest of his. Since he noticed, however, how fast I went through that book, and how excited I was by it, he decided to give it a try (besides, I received a second copy of it for Christmas, so he felt comfortable reading my double ~ he can't read my books normally as I take pristine care of books and he doesn't...) . Anyway, he just finished reading it last night and completely agreed with me! He LOVED it! His first Star Wars book ~ I'm so proud!!

Drew Karpyshyn did a masterful job in writing this novel! I will seek out more of his works; that's for certain!

He wrote the character of Bane in the way that I would have liked for Anakin to be written or portrayed. He was strong and cunning and, although he had a rough upbringing, he didn't whine about things; he took what was dealt to him and made decisions that made sense to him. He was another good man that had bad things happen to him and ended up down the wrong path. A fantastic story told with amazing imagery and breathtaking sequences!! It was written so well that I could picture in my mind, clearly, what was going on.

I want more! (I know I shouldn't...)

Read this book! It's worth it!! Even if you don't normally read EU novels, it doesn't matter because this one is a stand-alone novel. It doesn't depend on any other SW novel. It is set apart completely in another time. I love that about it!

I could go on, but I won't... it's one of the best I've read. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Comments are open and welcome!!