AUTHOR: CAVAN SCOTT | PUBLISHER: CENTURY | FORMAT: HARDCOVER | RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW
While much of Attack of the Clones could retrospectively be said to be a feature-length placeholder for Revenge of the Sith, the casting of Sir Christopher Lee as fallen Jedi Master Count Dooku was probably the one thing George Lucas got spot on. Therefore, Dooku: Jedi Lost is something of a treat in that there’s chance to explore just why he left the Order and gave in to the dark side of the Force – only to realise far too late that he himself was keeping the apprentice spot warm for a certain young Padawan as his then-master worked towards the twin goals of tempting the chap who’d later kill him on the pretence that he was a danger to the Republic, and flattening that very Republic into an Empire.
It may surprise you to learn that this was originally intended as an audio drama starring Lee himself, but while his death has robbed the author and indeed his audience of that possibility, we can at least now see for ourselves on the printed page how the Count’s story began to descend into darkness. And that is indeed welcome, for where he had possibly been a little underused on celluloid, he’s now allowed to literally come into his own, narrating his story with quite a supporting cast…
Beginning at his castle (how very Hammer), we’re introduced to Asaji Ventress, recently recruited as Dooku’s assassin. We’ll also learn more of Sifo-Dyas, a victim in death of a double-cross that will lead to the creation of the Grand Army of the Republic thanks to the skill of the Kaminoans and the willingness of Jango Fett to be replicated (on only one condition). But there are chinks of light amid the shadow. Flashbacks to his younger days serve to show the potential loss to the Jedi, his growing distaste for their ways developing alongside an interest in the study of the Sith. And so what begins as an attempt to find balance between the two sides of the Force instead tips the scale that bit too far the wrong way for this most aristocratic of Yoda’s former younglings.
It seems ironic, but back then he seems to have an almost puritanical zeal for detail that would seem military-like, treating his early years as a sort of Sandhurst in space. A mindset that will, of course, stand him in good stead for his political career as leader of the Confederation of Independent Star Systems. Fittingly enough for the future Separatist leader, separation of a different sort haunts him even now. He has a sister, who he wants Ventress to find…
This in itself serves as the framing device for his reminiscences of the past, not to mention the forbidden lore of the Sith. Its shadow stalks his mind from the moment he first encounters it, a low growl only he can hear lending weight to previous claims by Jedi Master Lene Kostana that those who would practice the darker side are returning, no longer mere statues in the libraries of the Jedi whose ranks they plundered in days gone by.
Little does he know that he too will take the same journey despite the great promise sensed by Yoda in him. Eventually, Dooku will be rewarded for his years of study with a Master’s billing, instilling his own apprentices with something of himself before an abrupt departure from the Jedi way. That departure is touched upon here, returning home to Serenno to at least in part begin the process of preparation to lead the way to Empire and put a little more meat on the stately bones.
