By: Christian Corah
Descriptives
Page count: Hardcover, 460
Author: Cavan Scott
Timeline: Precedes The Phantom Menace
Main characters: Count Dooku and Asajj Ventress
Brief synopsis: In order to accomplish a mission involving Dooku’s sister, Ventress dives deep into research to find out more about Dooku’s childhood.
Gut Feeling
Since Dooku was just thrown into Attack of the Clones without much explanation, I’ve really been wanting more content on his infamous character. I knew that Dooku was a former Jedi and that Yoda was his master, but we didn’t have many details about it. This book definitely gives the content on Dooku that I was wanting. It starts at his childhood and paints a picture showing how Dooku went from a promising young Padawan to the villain that we best know him as. Because of that, the book was successful in my opinion. There was also some information about how Ventress fell to the dark side, but I wish it was given more detail. These background stories were the strength of the novel. It was background information that was much needed and I’m glad this book was created.
Characters (9/10 pts)
Characters were the strongest component for Dooku: Jedi Lost. Since Scott was dealing with existing characters in the Star Wars universe, I look for what additional content we can learn about them. I loved the Dooku that we saw in this book. Going from a padawan to Count, Scott significantly developed Dooku in a way that made a lot of sense. We obviously see a different side to Dooku than seen in the movies, and because of that, characters must get a strong score. But Dooku isn’t the only character that Scott gave more background information to. Both Ventress and Sifo Dias got fairly significant development in this book. While I do wish that we got more of Ventress, the content we got was very good. There were also strong new characters, one being Jedi Lene. She seemed different than any Jedi we had seen, and I thought she was very interesting. The only weakness I see for characters is that an emotional attachment to them was lacking. The character’s strength was more conceptual than emotional. So I am giving 9 points.
Writing Style (7.5/10 pts)
The writing style is quite different because it is written like a script. I was a little worried about this as I started reading, but I quickly adapted to the style. I didn’t feel that too many details were left out due to most of the content being dialogue. I still had a strong sense of what was going on at all times. So I am not deducting any points based on the book being told like a script. What I am going to take away points for is that some ideas seemed a bit undeveloped. I would sometimes have to re-read a section and I was surprised that so much happened in just a couple lines. It seemed uncharacteristic of the rest of the book. Because of that, I am giving 7.5 points for the writing.
Plot (8.5/10 pts)
While in the present, I enjoyed the content that I was reading, I had a hard time of predicting where the story was going. It seemed just like a cool story where we learned more about Dooku, but for most of the book, it didn’t feel like it was building towards something. Ventress’s storyline also seemed a bit awkward. It was a pretty insignificant part of the story, but it felt like it should have been more important. This will probably make more sense to you if you read the book. So despite having great content, the plot wasn’t developing very well for about the first three - quarters of the book. However, there were two main strengths that give points back to the plot. First, the book had a large scope. We got to see glimpses into Dooku’s entire Jedi career, from Padawan to him leaving the order. This was a great plus. Second, the book ended VERY well. While the plot was confusing for most of the book, it started to make sense in the end. Because of that, I am giving a good score of 8.5 points.
Intrigue (7/10 pts)
I think the intrigue could vary from reader to reader based on their interest in Dooku’s character. I have a lot of interest in Dooku as a child, so my intrigue was fairly high, even when the story wasn’t moving very quickly. However, even with this interest, at points, I felt bored because the story wasn’t really going anywhere. I feel that I should have been reading this book quicker, especially because of the writing style (the script style made it an easier read). I simply put the book down too many times while reading it. And because not everyone will have the same interest in Dooku as I do, I am going to give a slightly less than average score of 7 points.
What does it add? (9.5/10 pts)
Along with the characters, this section is the book’s greatest strength. As mentioned before, Dooku and Ventress needed an “origin” story, and this book supplied that. But that was what I expected from Dooku: Jedi Lost, so it won’t receive a great score based on that alone. However, Scott gave us more information that also added to Star Wars. There is more information on the Force, Sith lore, and what the Jedi were like before any of the Star Wars movies. I was very pleasantly surprised about this, so I am giving 9.5 points for what the book added.
Logic (+0.5 pts)
Dooku: Jedi Lost was able to explain something illogical in Revenge of the Sith. This is the moment when Palpatine slices through three Jedi, before fighting Windu, with way too much ease. At first glance, the scene doesn’t make sense. But in the book, we learn that the Jedi’s lightsaber skills were mostly ceremonial. They didn’t have a need to actually fight with them, so they weren’t trained to fight another lightsaber user. This explains why the Jedi looked rather helpless fighting Palpatine. This was a great explanation, so I am giving an extra half point back for logic.
Final Thoughts
So my final score for Dooku: Jedi Lost is a 8.4/10, or a solid B. The strength of the book definitely came from the book’s characters and what it added to Star Wars. The story itself is not as well developed, but it does not ruin the experience of reading the book. For Star Wars fans who want more content on Dooku, Ventress, and the time period before The Phantom Menace, this is a must-read.
I hope you enjoyed this book review and if there is a book that you want me to read or review, please let me know at christiancorah@gmail.com. As for now, I will only be doing Canon books (but in the future that might change).