James Luceno had the arduous task of cleaning up the events just after Revenge of the Sith, and I thought he did a pretty decent job of it. There are several different story lines taking place in this novel, but they are all interrelated with Darth Vader adapting to his new situation and learning who he is post Anakin Skywalker.

The book starts off just at the end of the Clone Wars and Order 66 with several Jedi in an Outer Rim world. Two of the Jedi, Master Roan Shryne and a Padawan Olee Starstone, were able to escape Order 66 and get off world. Now they must decided how to be a Jedi in the new era of the Galactic Empire where they are now fugitives. Are they supposed to band together and fight, or drift off into obscurity?

Bail Organa must figure out how to stand up against the Empire while protecting Leia with the realization that her true father is still alive. How can he truly protect her under the eye of Vader and the Emperor?

Most of all how is Darth Vader to live trapped in a suit that to him seems more like a cell? Vader must come to grips that he no longer is as powerful as he once was as Anakin Skywalker, and now must fight not only Jedi but his own limitations.

Luceno does a solid job showing the struggles of all parties and how the must learn to transition to their new rolls post Galactic Republic. I felt he did a great job transitioning Anakin into the Darth Vader we see in the original trilogy. There is one scene in the book where the Emperor and Vader are having a conversation, and the way he did it you can almost see the Anakin Skywalker from Attach of the Clone right in front of you complaining about how everything is holding him back.

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