BOOK: Star Wars: Yoda – Dark Rendezvous

Count Dooku and Yoda begin secret communications that may lead to a truce in the Clone Wars. To seal the deal, Yoda must travel to Dooku’s current base and meet with him personally. Whether Dooku is serious or not, his plans may be jeopardized by interference from Darth Sidious and Asajj Ventress...


Billed as the first Star Wars novel to focus solely on everyone’s favorite green Jedi master, this gives a bleak insight into his character. The novel paints the
relationship between Yoda and his students as much closer than master and padawan – including the young Count Dooku. However, the role of the leader of the Jedi order is a lonely path, despite the affection displayed by the young recruits to the Jedi temple. This is especially true during a time of war, when each week brings the passing of another close friend. The flashbacks to lessons in the temple are particularly good at creating a well-drawn backstory and it’s easy to see why Count Dooku may genuinely be considering a truce.

The rawest emotions come from the modern-day apprentices caught up in this mission. Padawans Scout and Whie struggle with adolescence and suffer terrible loss as they battle forces they can’t hope to defeat. Their greatest threat comes from Asajj Ventress, who continues her attacks on the Jedi order in an attempt to increase her kill count of Jedi warriors. Her personalized battle droids with anti-Jedi weapons are well thought out and while it’s too easy to think there won’t be any major characters killed in the run up to the new movie, there are some surprising turns in this story.

This novel works extremely well at filling in more details about Yoda while continuing the overall Star Wars storyline. The meeting between Yoda and Dooku offers more than the lightsaber fight at the end of Attack of the Clones ever could. If there’s one complaint, it’s that some of the comedic moments don’t always come off. However, this is a touching tale that throws the human (and alien) cost of the Clone Wars into sharp relief.

Buy the Yoda – Dark Rendezvous novel at Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com