Pinned
Dooku: Jedi Lost - Cavan Scott
A Star Wars Book Review
(Spoiler-free with spoiler section)
Summary: Asajj Ventress has been brought to Serenno to train under Count Dooku, former Jedi master turned Sith Lord. Haunted by ghosts from her former life, both literally and figuratively, she is sent on a mission which requires digging into her new master’s past. There she will find traces of love and hate for both family and friends, lines of prophecy and vision, as well as a growing dissent for the Jedi order and a trickling fall to the dark side.
Rating: 4 ⭐️
Read this if you:
- want Dooku’s backstory (obviously), with stories about for example his his family on Serenno, his friendship (…👀💅) with Sifo-Dyas, his training with Yoda and why he left the Jedi order. But also read this if you want the backstories of Ventress and Sifo-Dyas! This is actually a quiet Ventress centric book.
- want a full on audio experience (if you read the audiobook) with a full cast, sound effects and music.
- like the concept of force visions and prophecies. Sifo-Dyas is here to help with that.
- want to see some snippets of Dooku’s Padawans Rael Averross and Qui-Gon Jinn.
- want to know more about Ky Narec.
- like Jedi order intrigue and Star Wars politics.
Don’t read this if you:
- dislike Star Wars media critical of the Jedi order (but isn’t that all Star Wars media set around the clone wars and prequels?).
My thoughts (SPOILERS AHEAD!!!!!):
The Ventress angst goes hard in this book. With every new piece of her backstory that I learn, she just keeps climbing the ranks of my favorite characters. Her being used as a living torture device by her former slave master but still loving him as a father, as well as the fact that she didn’t willingly seek out Dooku to become his apprentice, just makes her story so much more tragic. I loved the element of Ky Narec haunting Ventress as a ghost, even if it was just a figment of her imagination. The voice actress for Ventress also did a phenomenal job in the audiobook!
This story also answered questions I’ve had for years about Ky and Ventress, for example why they were supposedly “stranded” on Rattatak for so long. Dooku states that Ky had made mistakes and was hiding from the Jedi council on Rattatak, but I think he stayed there for Ventress’ sake. He must have known the order would never allow her to be trained, she was too old, had unhealthy attachments and had touched the dark side, so he chose to stay on Rattatak and train her in secret. I’m always a sucker for tragic master and apprentice stories.
Dooku’s backstory in terms of his fall to the dark side is pretty straightforward. He disagrees with and dislikes the Jedi’s involvement in politics, and unwillingness to take actions outside the Republic’s demands. I understand where he comes from because as we see later on with the clone wars, just following the politics of the Republic makes the Jedi bend their morals and practices. But I also understand that the Jedi shouldn’t rule on their own (because power can turn you towards the dark side) and a democratic Republic seems like a good choice of a government to follow. It might become a problem when said Republic is led by a Sith Lord though…
I liked that when Dooku left the order it was because of political disagreements and a willingness to help his homeworld, and not because he had fallen to the dark side. Sure, he had dabbled in anger and dark side abilities, but he wasn’t yet a Sith Lord with plans of conquering the galaxy.
The plot concerning Dooku’s connection to his family was fine. I like the addition of his father hating him and leaving him outside on the doorstep of the Serenno palace for the Jedi to find. It gives a nice layer to Dooku always striving to be capable, independent and the best he can be. He doesn’t feel good enough to be loved unless he’s accomplishing things.
But the best thing about Dooku’s backstory is his relationship with Sifo-Dyas. His best friend (👀👀💅). Of course I’ve always known about Sifo-Dyas as a character, but this was my first time actually seeing his personality and getting to know more about his life, and oh my god do I love this Jedi seer plagued by unimaginable horrors. I want to protect him at all cost. I wish there was more content centering him! He’s such an integral part of the Star Wars plot, haunting the narrative one could say, and it’s a shame that we have almost no content from Sifo-Dyas’ POV.
One character I got beef with is Lene Kostana. I just get bad vibes from her and her relationship with Sifo-Dyas. She obviously cares for him, he was her Padawan after all, but she prioritises her own research about the return of the Sith above everything else and that had serious consequences for both Sifo-Dyas and Dooku. I think it’s interesting that Sifo-Dyas’ visions didn’t start until after he became an apprentice to Lene. It could just be the natural progression of his powers but I wouldn’t put it past Lene to intentionally awaken this ability in him in order to better prepare for the return of the Sith. She obviously doesn’t want Sifo-Dyas to suffer from his visions, but she also doesn’t seem to want them to stop. Also, maybe don’t take him to a Sith planet???? I don’t like how she makes Sifo-Dyas and Dooku cover up her mistakes, like for example the accident on Asusto and how bad Sifo-Dyas’ visions had gotten. That last one she motivates by claiming she wants to protect Sifo-Dyas from being thrown into a ward in the citadel. I find it hard to believe though that this would be the Jedi’s first step in trying help Sifo-Dyas, and if she’d been honest wouldn’t have suffered as much. He probably didn’t seek out help himself because Lene had warned and scared him. The way she treats him during his episodes is also so weird and dismissive.
I would like to know what happens to Lene later on. What did she think about Sifo-Dyas’ vision about the coming conflict and the need for a grand army? She’s obsessed with preparing for the return of the Sith so one would think she would be into that vision and plan. What did she think when Syfo-Dyas disappeared and died? When the clone wars started and his visions, as well as her belief that the Sith would return, proved true, what was her reaction and her opinion on the Jedi council? Would she have become disillusioned with them just like Dooku, or did she stay true to the order?
The only thing I didn’t like about this book was the ending, because it felt way to open and clashes a bit with what we see in Tales of The Jedi. I would have liked to see the conclusion of Dooku and Sifo-Dyas relationship. I mean, we know what happens, but I want all the details and to me it seems like it should be in this book since we got to see so much of their early story. It feels like a missing piece. A good idea might have been switching to present Dooku’s perspective in the last chapter or the epilogue, where we could see his feelings firsthand and maybe even the ghost of Sifo-Dyas mirroring Ventress’ experience with Ky (because I know that’s a thing in some other media).
Lastly, while this book made me more sympathetic towards Dooku, it did not make me forgive his actions and his choice of turning to the dark side. This is kind of refreshing for Star Wars were redemption is such a big theme. Give all of that to Ventress instead.
I’m watching the Tales of the Underworld trailer and doesn’t this look…familiar?
This could be the house on Tatooine where various bounty hunters lived and took jobs in a few cancelled clone wars episodes, including Ventress, Boba fett, Cad Bane, Highsinger, Latts Razzi, Embo and Bossk.
We actually see Highsinger in the trailer (but he gets destroyed).
And both Highsinger and Latts Razzi are pictured on the poster.
The question is why Ventress would head to this house now and why there seems to be a young Jedi there. Did Latts and Highsinger collect him as a bounty? Did Ventress go there to hide only to find out that someone (the young jedi) had gotten there first?
She also seems to protect some fugitives from the empire and an inquisitor, and I’m wondering how Latts and Highsinger fit into all that. I’m also interested in weather the young Jedi will become an apprentice to Ventress or if she will just help him escape the empire. Very excited!
Thinking about this scene from Dark Disciple where Quinlan Vos sees Ventress in a new dress:
He gulped in air and said, “I…you look…”
Emotions flitted across Ventress’s face. Annoyance, pleasure, and something he’d never thought to se there — embarrassment.
“Go ahead, spit it out,” she muttered.
“You look…”
Like a goddess of love and war and hope and ecstasy. Like a glimmering star that I have somehow been blessed to hold.
Like the rest of my life.
“…nice.” He wanted to kick himself
In celebration of Tales of the Underworld being announced, here are three sad Asajj Ventress quotes from the book Dark Disciple:
”Most of her life, she’d been with someone, only to inevitably lose them in the cruelest of ways. First her master, Ky Narec, then Mother Talzin and her sisters. Dead now, all of them; they had loved her, and they were slain.”
”Vos was quite possibly the least serious person she’d ever met, except when he needed to be. He made her laugh, and she couldn’t remember laughing since her time with Ky Narec.”
“Who would she be without a lightsaber or a false face? Would there be anything left of Asajj Ventress if she were to truly let go of hatred and instead accept what had shone in Vos’s eyes — that she was loved for simply being?”
Dark Disciple - Christie Golden
A Spoiler-Free Star Wars Book Review
Summary: The Clone Wars are still raging across the galaxy, and the fighting has wrought untold damage unto its citizens. The Jedi council has decided it is time to use more controversial tactics to end the conflict. Jedi Master Quinlan Vos is given the task of assassinating Count Dooku, but in order to accomplish this he has to team up with the Sith Lord’s former apprentice; Asajj Ventress.
Their relationship is strained at first but soon blossoms into friendship and maybe something more. But the path the Jedi council has placed before Vos is dark and treacherous. Will he be able to stay true to the light until the end?
Rating: 5 ⭐️
My thoughts: To me, this is essential Star Wars reading. Because it is based on scripts from unaired episodes of the Clone Wars series, the dialogue, the characterisation and the action is exactly like the show. You can just hear the voice actors and see the scenes come to life in your head. love this since I grew up on the Clone Wars and it’s my favorit piece of Star Wars media. It’s a shame that this story was never fully animated and aired, because it would have been up there with some of the best episodes of the show.
The plot is just peak Clone Wars shenanigans, with bounty hunting, nightsister lore, romance on Dathomir, lightsaber battles and going undercover to formal occasions to name a few. Ventress and Quinlan are characters that deserve more spotlight (with Ventress returning in the Bad Batch we can only hope that Quinlan will also make an appearance soon) and their relationship makes me so emotional. I’ve read this book twice and I cried both times.
If you like the Jedi fallen order/survivor games, and especially the dynamic between Cal and Merrin, you should read this book. Here you have another relationship between a Jedi with psychometry and a nightsister. You’re welcome.
Petition for a second season of Tales of the Jedi to be about Rael Averross. I need to know what he was up to during the clone wars and if he survived order 66.
#the episodes could follow him with different characters#one episode with qui-gon before he dies#one episode with obi-wan and little padawan anakin#one episode of him facing dooku during the war#maybe fighting alongside anakin#we might even get flashbacks to his training with dooku#or the accident on the advent with nim#i need this in my life#rael averross#tales of the jedi#count dooku#obi wan kenobi#anakin skywalker#nim pianna#qui gon jinn