|
The Golden Age of the Sith (Star Wars: Tales of the Jedi) | 
 enlarge | Authors: Kevin J. Anderson, Jr., Dario Carrasco
Publisher: Dark Horse
Category: Book
List Price: $16.95
Buy New: $9.72
You Save: $7.23 (43%)
New (20) Used (19) Collectible (2) from $6.99
Avg. Customer Rating:  20 reviews
Sales Rank: 446240
Media: Paperback
Reading Level: Young Adult
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 144
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 10.2 x 6.7 x 0.3
ISBN: 1569712298
Dewey Decimal Number: 741.5973
EAN: 9781569712290
ASIN: 1569712298
Publication Date: September 10, 1997
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Brand New, Perfect Condition, Please allow 4-14 business days for delivery. 100% Money Back Guarantee, Over 1,000,000 customers served.
|
| Also Available In:
|
| Similar Items:
|
| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
Marka Ragnos ruled the galaxy with an iron fist. He was the Dark Lord of the Sith -- the most powerful of the most powerful. But now he is dead. And two innocent hyperspace explorers, Gav and Jori Daragon, may follow suit if they get caught between the factions fighting to fill the Dark Lord void.
|
| Customer Reviews: Read 15 more reviews...
 The Golden Age of the Sith (Star Wars: Tales of the Jedi) November 11, 2007
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Like all star wars "tales of the jedi"-comix, this one is a fabulous one, beautiful pictures, nice and interesting story line.
Top and entertaining.
 1 karat gold November 10, 2006
5 out of 6 found this review helpful
Welcome to what is at this writing still the earliest chapter in the history of the Star Wars universe, a tale set 5000 years before the adventures of the film series.
CAVEAT ONE
Before you consider buying this, be aware that this volume is but one half of the story and that the conclusion is available in The Fall of the Sith Empire. This review covers both volumes.
CAVEAT TWO
If you're a pathological Star Wars collector, you'll buy this book regardless of its contents. If you're a Star Wars fan who wants to catch up on your history, save your money and read a summary of the events at Wookieepedia. If you're a discerning comics fan, then you must have found your way here by mistake. If so, don't stop. Keep moving. Everyone else, step right this way.
Despite a title that suggests something we never see, namely the glory days of the Sith Empire, author Kevin J Anderson came up with a promising premise. At opposite ends of the universe, the Sith Empire and the fledgling Republic seek to chart new futures, the Republic to end years of civil war and forge a new era of political and economic stability and growth, the Sith to revitalize their moribund Empire by throwing off their isolation and launching a new era of growth through conquest. In between are the innocents through which we view these events, a scholarly Jedi called to arms and a pair of young space navigators, brother and sister who through their explorations inadvertently open the hyperspace route across which the Sith reach to shake the foundations of the newly emergent Republic.
With a setting so far back in the past, Anderson has a wonderful opportunity to develop a good part of the Star Wars backstory. We find, for example, that the Sith were a separate species living on their own world in a relatively undeveloped culture that was then hijacked by a group of exiled Jedi who enslaved the Sith and built a new culture based on veneration of the Dark Force. Over the years these Jedi interbred with the Sith and a number of them left to conquer nearby worlds and create a system-wide Empire ruled by an all-powerful Dark Lord. The Jedi themselves are scholar-warriors closely aligned with political forces preserving civilization, pretty much the same as we have always known them, with one discernable difference - they don't carry lightsabers. And neither do the Sith.
They carry swords instead; swords made of steel. They also wear sandals, toga-like garments, and capes. They fly in spaceships that have sails, and the slavers have spaceships with oars. The Sith world of Korriban looks like it was cribbed from photos of Abu Simbel, with towering Pharaonic deities ensconced on thrones overlooking wide valleys and surrounded by sphinx-like guardians. In fact much of the costume and character design, from the scarab-like symbol of the Sith ruler to the elongated chins and goatees of the Sith, evokes Egypt in very obvious ways.
The artwork, provided across both volumes by Filipino Dario Carrasco, Jr., is not terribly remarkable. It's at best serviceable, in a style reminiscent of John Buscema, one of the iron men of the comic book industry who must have drawn tens of thousands of pages for Marvel for three decades beginning in the 60's. Carrasco, Jr.'s work benefits from a change in inkers and colorist in The Fall of the Sith Empire, where the lines become a little cleaner and the colors a bit more vibrant, but still it's not work that will ever be remembered or about which anyone has ever written more than a few sentences.
The same pedestrian touch is obvious in the writing. Kevin J Anderson wrote a few Star Wars novels in the 1990's and several of those books can regularly be found in "Worst SW Novels" lists. In this particular series Anderson has no protagonist, so he needs to develop his supporting players in order to give us more than just plot. Instead we get characters that are little more than props and literary devices. The Jedi scholar is the narrative frame, the brother-sister navigators the point-of-view characters and the vector of conflict, the Republic Queen and the Sith Lord wrestling opponents wearing good-guy / bad-guy personas. No one has any particular motivation except to get us to the next scene. There's nothing suspenseful or funny or touching or wondrous; it's storytelling about as developed and predictable as painting by numbers.
And with so many other comic books out there to read, you can surely find something more engaging, more worth you time and your money than this underdeveloped Star Wars adventure.
Happy hunting.
Highly Recommended! January 23, 2006
6 out of 9 found this review helpful
This interesting book is the fourth book in the Knights of the Old Republic series. The series is a collection of graphic novels that takes the reader to the Old Republic, thousands of years before the events of The Phantom Menace.
This book takes a step back, another thousand years before the time of Exar Kun and Ulic Qel-Droma. When Gav and Jori Daragon's parents are killed in a war, they are now free to roam the galaxy and discover interstellar routes. However, when they blunder onto the hidden empire of the Sith, they unleash a set of circumstances that will lead to either the return of the Sith empire, or its destruction.
My twelve-year-old son is a big Star Wars fan, and he picked up this series so that he could keep on learning about the Star Wars universe. Overall, we found this to be a pretty darn good book. I thought that the illustration work was very good, dark and yet realistic, and found the story to be gripping. We both enjoyed the action and the many different creatures and races that are the hallmark of Star Wars.
Yep, we both enjoyed this book, and highly recommend it to you. We highly recommend the entire Tales of the Jedi series!
 * barf * July 2, 2005
9 out of 21 found this review helpful
I actually checked this out from my local library, so I can't ask for my money back.
Maybe I can sue the publisher for the time I wasted reading this.
...
 A great place to start May 18, 2005
9 out of 10 found this review helpful
After reading most of the reviews here I was rather skeptical about purchasing this series. I was fortunate enough to find the comic books and have not read the TPB version of this series. This comic pleasantly surprised me. I've read some really awful stuff by Dark Horse "Infinity's End" for example, but this is not like that in any way. In the context of the grand Star Wars universe this fits in very nicely and addresses many things not mentioned anywhere else such as: who were the Sith, pre-lightsaber era, discovery of hyperspace routes and a bit more. The Jedi are portrayed much as they were in The Phantom Menace as ambassadors and peacemakers not as "wimpy whiners" as was mentioned in another review. The artwork is easy to quibble about and the starships look like something an Ewok would have designed, but it was nice to see Korriban, and get the back-story on Naga Sadow, and to see a developing Coruscant. All in all a very good read worthy of purchase.
|
|
|
Powered by the Force.
|
|
|
Star Wars Gaming Blogs
Fun with Stormtroopers
"Only Imperial stormtroopers are so precise!" Obi-Wan Kenobi, Ep. IV.
"Excuse me, no they're not!" Gidrea Lightsky, SW Galaxies.
Time for me to review - Back to basics
I'm back to reviewing after I had a run in with Section 6 - no hard feelings by the way. Thus I'm moving back to basics and reviewing (which I hope doesn't run into the same issues)
Game Oddities
Well, games are fine. I love them. Beside playing them alot I also want to became a game developer once a day, but thats another story. Games makes fun even games with violent content, even when
Minis scenairo, Old Republic and Clone Wars series
Latest minis scenario plus a couple of comments on The Old Republic and Clone Wars.
Sith Assasin
Another idea for a game! (Basically Assassins Creed mixed with SW)
Could The Old Republic & Kotor 3 Exist Together?
I tackle the very interesting question and want to hear from readers about it!
ShaunCon XXIV now approaching
I'll be at ShaunCon XXIV this weekend, along with a few other Star Wars RPG freelancers.
Catching up...
Catching up on a few updates - more Clone Wars minis previews, more KOTOR Campaign Guide web enhancements.
KOTOR III Confirmed!
I hope this isn't old news...
Star Wars Battlefront II
I started writing the blog on the 1st so technically I started it while it was still the 3rd anniversary of the game. 
Star Wars: Massively made and Multiplayer Mayhem
Some thoughts on The Old Republic after a week of decompression.
3 CHEERS FOR SHAAK Ti
Shaak it is the most favoritable jedi between qui-gon jinn and Yoda, well in my opinion. Shaak ti has brought us so many things, and techincally started the rebellion. Shaak ti's death was neccesary for Ghent Starkiller to influence the rebellion. Shaak
|
|
|
|
|
| |
)
