Lords of the Sith - Novel Review

       When it comes to the new Star Wars canon, Lords of the Sith has been hyped up as one of the best, if not the best, of the new canon. The cover of the book makes it seem as if the plot revolves around a mission involving the Emperor and Darth Vader, however, this is definitely not the case. Going into the book, I had no idea that the novel actually revolves around separate stories that are coinciding and ultimately having a profound impact on each other. This, in essence, can throw some readers off if they have no pre-existing knowledge of it as it can take a while to really get into the book's fantastic moments.
       Starting off, the book is separated into stories involving the Emperor and Vader, Cham Syndulla and his group of rebels, Lieutenant Belkor who is watching over Ryloth, and, eventually, Moff Mors who is in charge of overseeing Ryloth but really doesn't. Right off the bat, the Emperor and Vader portions of the book were phenomenal! It was incredible reading about their interactions and how they play off each other in that every feeling and, sometimes, thought that Vader has can be felt by the Emperor. I loved getting to read the moments where the light side keeps pulling at Vader and showing him glimpses of his former self, yet he has to brush those emotions away because he's no longer Anakin Skywalker. He's the ruthless Dark Lord of the Sith, and you really get to see that in this book. The ferocity and viciousness of Vader and Palpatine shines throughout this book as they slash, quite literally, their way to their ultimate goal. They don't hold back, and it really does keep you at the edge of your seat, especially if you're listening to the audiobook, which incorporates the wonderful score of the movies. If the book were to only focus off their story, I would honestly give it a 10/10. However...
       My biggest gripe has to be with the other portions of the book. Cham Syndulla comes off as a great leader, but I simply had an issue with his follower, Isval. I hated her probably since the beginning. She's the type of character whose brash and usually does things without thinking things through as long as she can kill as many of her enemies as she can. That's her attitude when it comes to Imperials. I wanted her dead so much because of how much the book dragged on about her and her hate towards Imperials. She would constantly complain to Cham about missions and how they needed to get the job done. This kept annoying me as that was probably the only thing she would keep blabbering on about every time she appeared. You would think the book would rather focus more on the hero of Ryloth, Cham Syndulla, but it doesn't, and I think that's a real flaw with this book.
       Lieutenant Belkor is almost the same as Isval in that their character focuses on one thing and never show any real character development. He essentially wants to overthrow Moff Mors and become Moff. I'll leave it at that since there's not much to talk about him. Moff Mors, on the other hand, is a much better character. She might actually be the surprise standout of this book. The development of her character from when you first meet her is drastic, and you start getting a better sense of why she was like that as the plot progresses. When you have a character like Mors standout from Cham's rebels and Belkor, it really gives you a sense of the flaws this book has in trying to develop newer characters for the new canon.
       The main plot and climax of the book is exhilarating, to say the least. The lesser ones the book has to offer simply drag the book on by trying to establish certain characters that aren't all that necessary to the overall story. The only thing I can say that might save the character of Isval for me going forward is that she is somewhat important to Cham and that might have a strong impact on his character going forward as a revolutionary. Other than that, it's a fine read for Star Wars fans that simply want to get a story revolving around Palpatine's role as master to Darth Vader by constantly testing his allegiance to continuing as a Sith Lord, as well as the evils these two are capable of. I'm split on how to grade this, so I'll just give it a B-. 
       I enjoyed it, just not as much as probably everyone else. Please don't let my attitudes towards certain characters deter you from reading it. Hopefully, you do enjoy this book and all it has to offer.