Following the success of The Jedi Path, Titan books have published a companion piece, Star Wars: Book of Sith, Authored by Daniel Wallace, with contributing art from Paul Allen Ballard, Jeff Carlisle, Chris Reiff, Chris Trevas, Russell Walks, Terry Whitlatch and Aristia/Hive Studios...

The book presents itself in the form of a literary fiction, popularised by South American novelists like Jorge Luis Borges, epitomising the idea of all fiction as fake. So The Book of Sith purports to be the last five surviving set of writings left by the Sith Lords and collected by Darth Sidious. The book survives his fall and becomes the property of the Jedi. You not only get the original collected texts, but also annotations from Luke, Yoda and others.

The deconstruction of the texts origin is further enhanced by having each section displaying a unique stylistic presentation. This can only go so far as the book, as a whole, uses the same paper throughout. Efforts have been made to delineate the section through the use of serrated boarders, differing background colours and differing fonts, giving the impression that the paper in each section is uniquely different to its partners.

The whole thing runs to just under a hundred and sixty pages long and is very well presented. Inside, as well as the structural novelty, you’ll find text and pictures which covers, albeit briefly, the creation of the Sith and the first schism with the Jedi, their banishment and their eventual return to power in the form of Emperor Palpatine.

The history and philosophy are written from the perspective of the Sith and the book intends to give some insight, bringing the Sith out from the shadows, exposing their wars and weapons.

Beautifully crafted as an object, the book is more a collection of bits than any coherent whole, but then if it is a collection of surviving texts you would not expect it to tell a story, anymore than a history book does. In this sense it is more like a coffee table book, good for dipping in and out of, but not really meant to be read cover to cover.

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Charles Packer