Dark Lord is up there with Labyrinth of Evil (also written by James Luceno) as the two best SW novels this year. It takes place weeks after ROTS as Darth Vader grows accustomed to his new persona and his new body, burying his old self deep within. Meanwhile, some Jedi survivors of Order 66 are on the run, trying to come to terms with what has happened and decide how to survive in this new dangerous galaxy. All of your favorite SW characters make cameos: Bail Organa, Mon Mothma, Artoo and Threepio, Tarkin, Chewbacca (actually he has a substantial role toward the end), and Obi-Wan, among others.

Teh Meh: The Jedi OCs in this story initially survive only because some of their clonetrooper buddies choose not to kill them. I had a hard time buying that and frankly at this point in the book, the clonetroopers seemed quite out-of-character. Fortunately, it's at the very beginning and they are "dealt with" quickly. The OCs aren't too bad, but for moving targets, they take up a little more time in the story than I would have liked. I would have preferred more time spent on Vader. A Jedi named Shryne runs into by sheer, unbelievable coincidence his smuggler mother. Come on, even a soul as forgiving as I am found that hard to buy. This is a tiny nitpick, but at one point Luceno is cataloguing all of Vader's injuries on Mustafar and it mentions that his eardrums melted. Eardrums do not melt. They can pop but not melt.

What Rocked: Pretty much everything else. The canon players are all remarkably in-character. I found Vader's struggle to adjust, his growing confidence in his new self, and the shift from being angry and bitter Anakin stuck in a suit to a committed Sith Lord determined to one day seize power from Sidious compelling to read. So much so, I was almost cheering him on when he went after Jedi. (Vader fangirls will find his fight scenes a turn-on.) The mental games between him and Palpatine also make for interesting reading. Almost as engrossing were Bail's scenes. As troubled as he is by the new Empire, Leia's safety comes first. He even lets Senator Fang Zar get killed because he just couldn't put Leia at risk. It explains why Bail doesn't dive headfirst into the Rebellion, which Mon Mothma is itchy to do.

The book also explains why the Death Star took so long to build, why the Wookiees were enslaved, and gives a simple explanation for why Obi-Wan brought Luke to Tatooine...at the time, Obi-Wan thought Anakin was dead. He finds out in this book his old buddy is still alive and has a freakout. He considers taking Luke away from the Larses and going somewhere else, but Qui-Gon's spirit advises him that Vader will never come to Tatooine...the place is too painful for him and it would risk reawakening Anakin. Sounds like a solid explanation to me.

Bottom Line: Whether you read EU all of the time or not, this book is for movie fans, addressing some of the post-ROTS/pre-ANH issues fans have wondered about. If you're a Vader fan, or an Anakin fan, I highly recommend it.