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Review of the audiobook narrated by Daniel Davis.

Even though I love the movies I must not be as big a fan of Star Wars as I thought. This is the second Star Wars books I've listened to and neither one has been particularly engaging for me. This is essentially the origin story for Palpatine (Darth Sidious) and the majority of the book follows the rise of his career as a politician bolstered by his apprenticeship to Darth Plagueis. I've never had much interest in the political drama of any of the Star Wars films and had the same reaction here.

On the plus side, there are some great actions scenes peppered throughout the book that held my interest. We know the technology and important denizens of the universe which means that it's easier to jump into things without needing too much backstory. In the last 10% of the book there is some satisfying dovetailing of storylines leading up and including some of The Phantom Menace that explains what was going on from Palpatine's point of view.

I found the writing to be dry and there are many chapters in the book that begin with infodumps regarding Muuns, Sith, Palpatine, etc. that drag on for a little too long. We know the universe, yes, but it's a universe that is much more satisfying to be seen than read. The movies are so visually spectacular and I don't think that feeling could ever be reproduced in a book.

The Star Wars audiobooks are produced with special effects and audio enhancements. There is ambient background noise for every scene. Sometimes it adds to the scene and sometimes it's distracting. In the end I found it to be a wash, neither improving or detracting from my overall enjoyment of the book. Daniel Davis does well with different voices, but I found him to be just ok with everything else.

Final verdict: 3 star story, 3.5 star narration, 3 stars overall