Yoda: Dark Rendezvous

2? years after the Battle of Geonosis, Count Dooku invites Yoda to his stronghold in Vjun, a planet steeped in dark side power. Dooku, who is Yoda’s former student, seeks peace. The Jedi suspect it’s a trap, but Yoda accepts and travels undercover with two Padawans and their Masters.

Dark Rendezvous is the first novel in the Expanded Universe (EU) in which Yoda is the protagonist. Yoda’s and Dooku’s interior monologues reveal the nature of their relationship and Dooku’s childhood, including the choices he made that led him to where he is in the present–serving the dark side. An intriguing subplot involves the Padawans and Asajj Ventress, and is essential to the main plot.

This is a good effort for the author’s first Star Wars novel, but his use of the French language is anachronistic and undermines readers’ experience of being in a galaxy far, far away. That is, unless the French long ago colonized Vjun without our galaxy’s knowledge. Good storytelling.