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** spoiler alert ** I've read a lot of Star Wars books (though, I've apparently not added many to my shelves on here) and they typically, like the movies, focus more on the actions of characters rather than their motives. This one is different. There is very little action here; in fact it reads almost like a historical account of the rise and fall of Darth Plagueis as told by his apprentice, Darth Sidious (known better by those unfamiliar with the SW:EU as his alter ego Emperor Palpatine). It deals heavily with the one subject I found to be the saving grace of the dreaded prequels so many people seem to despise: politics. We watch as Plagueis, through his alter ego Hego Damask, uses his significant wealth as a high ranking member of the InterGalactic Banking Clan to fund the advancements of the Sith plot to rule while his newly found apprentice Palpatine, now Sidious, uses his gift of wit to advance politically by taking advantage of the situations they mutually create. That is, before Plageuis isolates himself and leaves all the scheming to his apprentice (and Palpatine's trained Sith assassin, Maul) so that he may continue his deep study of manipulating the Force in order to live forever. I found it marvelously interesting to learn about the history of these two descendants of Bane who organized the final steps to achieving the Sith's ultimate revenge: the downfall of the Jedi. I now feel that the tale of the Galactic Civil War is complete.