Star Wars - Darth Plagueis

Darth Plagueis is a novel by the American writer James Luceno, published by Del Rey. It is set in the Star Wars galaxy before the events of the films, in the period when the Sith were working in secret.

The book is built around a relationship between two men who have both been trained to treat everything as a tool. Darth Plagueis is a Sith Lord whose studies have taken him beyond the usual ambitions of his order, and who believes he has gained some control over life and death. His apprentice is the man who will eventually rule the galaxy as Emperor, and the novel follows the two of them as they build the political positions, contacts and influence that the Sith plan requires. Their methods are patient: money, offices, arranged deaths and the manipulation of senators, with the Jedi unaware that an order they believe to be destroyed is working within the Republic they protect.

Luceno writes in the tradition of the Star Wars novels concerned with the mechanics of the Empire, and the book fills in the period when the pieces were assembled before the films begin.