• Dynasty of Evil

  • A Novel of the Old Republic
  • By: Drew Karpyshyn
  • Narrated by: Jonathan Davis
  • Length: 9 hrs and 22 mins
  • 4.8 out of 5 stars (12,906 ratings)

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Dynasty of Evil  By  cover art

Dynasty of Evil

By: Drew Karpyshyn
Narrated by: Jonathan Davis
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Publisher's Summary

Twenty years have passed since Darth Bane, reigning Dark Lord of the Sith, demolished the ancient order devoted to the dark side and reinvented it as a circle of two: one Master to wield the power and pass on the wisdom, and one apprentice to learn, challenge, and ultimately usurp the Dark Lord in a duel to the death. But Bane’s acolyte, Zannah, has yet to engage her Master in mortal combat and prove herself a worthy successor. Determined that the Sith dream of galactic domination will not die with him, Bane vows to learn the secret of a forgotten Dark Lord that will assure the Sith’s immortality - and his own.

A perfect opportunity arises when a Jedi emissary is assassinated on the troubled mining planet Doan, giving Bane an excuse to dispatch his apprentice on a fact-finding mission - while he himself sets out in secret to capture the ancient holocron of Darth Andeddu and its precious knowledge. But Zannah is no fool. She knows that her ruthless Master has begun to doubt her, and she senses that he is hiding something crucial to her future. If she is going to claim the power she craves, she must take action now.

While Bane storms the remote stronghold of a fanatical Sith cult, Zannah prepares for her Master’s downfall by choosing an apprentice of her own: a rogue Jedi cunning and cold-blooded enough to embrace the Sith way and to stand beside her when she at last wrests from Bane the mantle of Dark Lord of the Sith.

But Zannah is not the only one with the desire and power to destroy Darth Bane. Princess Serra of the Doan royal family is haunted by memories of the monstrous Sith soldier who murdered her father and tortured her when she was a child. Bent on retribution, she hires a merciless assassin to find her tormentor - and bring him back alive to taste her wrath.

Only a Sith who has taken down her own Master can become Dark Lord of the Sith. So when Bane suddenly vanishes, Zannah must find him - possibly even rescue him - before she can kill him. And so she pursues her quarry from the grim depths of a ravaged world on the brink of catastrophe to the barren reaches of a desert outpost, where the future of the dark side’s most powerful disciples will be decided, once and for all, by the final, fatal stroke of a lightsaber.

©2012 Drew Karpyshyn (P)2012 Random House Audio

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What listeners say about Dynasty of Evil

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A Dynasty of Awesome-ness


The book "Dynasty of Evil" highlighted how much I really did not want the book or the series to end. When the book and series completed, I wonder if I will ever find a book series this enjoyable again. The book itself was as good as the first two and in some ways even better. The author even managed to address some of my criticisms of the Star Wars universe and found a way to have force powers used directly and indirectly rather than relying on light sabers alone. I liked the introduction of the Dark Jedi concept and the backstabbing between the Sith. The book's ending was also skillfully written and I appreciated the way the author managed to both close the story but also leave it open to the listeners/readers imagination.

This series solidly established me as a fan of quality-produced audio books (sound, music, voice acting) and the Star Wars universe in general. I will definitely be looking forward to audio books of equal quality from here on out.

After "Dynasty of Evil," I would recommend listening/reading Darth Plagueis (sadly, only one book). The book loosely follows many of the same trends introduced in the Darth Bane series and is close in quality.

11 people found this helpful

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Duel For The Title of Dark Lord

Who was your favorite character and why?

Darth Zannah, while Darth Bane is the epitome of what the Sith should be Zannah shines in this story. She learns her first lesson of being a master, and honours her master in the end. Showing her strength in Sith sorcery really shined the (dark) light on her.

Which scene was your favorite?

The small talk between Zannah Bane and Cognus before the duel for the title of Dark Lord

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

The Future of the Sith Begins Here

Any additional comments?

While this was the least of the trilogy it was still pretty great. Jonathan Davis really gets you involved. The only thing that keeps me from giving it a 5 star rating for storyline is how brief the final showdown is as it seemed as rushed confrontation. Still, Karpyshyn, I thank you for the tremendous trilogy.

10 people found this helpful

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Darth Bane ruled......

What made the experience of listening to Dynasty of Evil the most enjoyable?

Drew Karp can really write stories! And he hits 'home" with this series!

Have you listened to any of Jonathan Davis’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

J-Davis is an amazing multi-voice actor! He and other Star Wars audiobook actor......Marc Thompson are in a league of their own.....

10 people found this helpful

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love

great series. with a great narrator. kept me intrigued the whole time. I was hoping to continue the story of Darth Zanah but unfortunately this is the last book.

7 people found this helpful

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Awesome

Amazing, enjoyed the voice acting story and fights, I live the fictional books like this

5 people found this helpful

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The power of the Dark side!

Great anti hero trilogy! Sith vs Jedi, sith vs sith! Thought bombs, sith sorcery light saber battles, awesome!

5 people found this helpful

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Friggin' loved this series. Great story and narr.

What did you love best about Dynasty of Evil?

Pacing and storytelling, capturing the humanity behind the evil

What other book might you compare Dynasty of Evil to and why?

Its predecesors are similar awesome stories

What does Jonathan Davis bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Captures the characters perfectly

If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

I Love Star Wars. Come to the dark side to join my blind faith

5 people found this helpful

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Good conclusion.

Good conclusion, I hope they continue writing this series. I would definitely be interested in reading/listening to more.

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Very nice book, a good ending

I liked the whole trilogy. The story is well written and read. about halfway three quarters in, it dips in momentum then the ending just steals the show.

3 people found this helpful

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Dearth Bane

Awesome story, awesome narration! Darth Bane is my favorite Character in the Star Wars books!

3 people found this helpful

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  • Amazon Customer
  • 04-13-13

What an amazing series

This trilogy was absolutely amazing. I found that I could not stop listening to the storyline taking you from the very beginnings of Darth Bane all the way to the end. With the twists and turns you were never quite sure how he was going to react and how Zannah was going to progress.



The story line kept my ears stuck to the headset, Jon Davis made you hear all the characters involved and I felt quite immersed into the History of Darth Bane himself wanting to know more and more. With the Trilogy I was quite excited listening.



My only disappointment was that the story eventually had to end.



Great read for anyone interested in the Star Wars themes books.

5 people found this helpful

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  • Luke Cromey
  • 03-20-19

Amazing

This trilogy is one of the most amazing pieces of StarWars lore I have ever heard. The story is told extremely well and even through the dark side it is inspiring and motivating. Highly recommend.

2 people found this helpful

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  • Jay
  • 09-17-13

Thrilling!

I'm new to Star Wars novels but a die hard fan of fantasy & Sci Fi. I'm very aware of how difficult it is to write credible plots, twists, surprises and decent stories. Motives are not always clear and things tend to become muddled in bad books.

Characters are not easy to craft and I'm hard to impress after being exposed to San Dan Glokta in The First Law series.There are a great many disappointing books in the world but this isn't one of them.

I won't go into spoilers... this book was an experiment as I sought to be entertained by writers that I didn't know in a franchise that had over 60 books vying for my attention. I will say that Dynasty of Evil is imaginative, expansive and beautifully diverse. There are several well detailed characters and I actually understood their motives (which is a very common gripe of mine....) and development arcs. These people did things I understood. They failed to do things that were daft or sincerely misguided. If mistakes were made... they were recognisably plausible. I liked that. It was plausible which (if I'm honest) is very rare when I look for a good story.

Don't you just hate it when seemingly intelligent, likeable characters do ridiculous things to ignite a plot?

Buy this book. It deserves to be enjoyed.

2 people found this helpful

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  • Anonymous User
  • 05-16-19

Want more

loved the darth bane trilogy would like darth zannah books to carry on with these characters I've come to love

1 person found this helpful

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  • Mark Hartshorn
  • 04-23-23

Great read

darth bane trilogy brilliant. Worth a read for any star wars fan. won't be disappointed! although found the Bane POV abit boring in beginning & middle.

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  • Anonymous User
  • 03-08-23

Outstanding

I love all the characters an amazing trilogy both Bane Zannah and Cognus are amazing love the parts about the former Gloom Walkers member.

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  • Anonymous User
  • 03-01-23

Incredible narration.

just fantastic!
5 stars!

.Great story.
.Brilliant narration.
. Just waiting for a movie trilogy now.

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  • Ewan Caulfield
  • 02-07-23

fantastic legends story

while it may be legend's now the final book in drew karpyshyn darth bane trilogy is a must for any Star wars fan, bane in my opinion is one of the most interesting characters from both Canon and legends and Jonathan Davis provides an amazing performance of Drew Ks work! tremendously enjoyable audio book from start to finish

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  • Jake
  • 02-06-23

The finale of Bane

Whilst path of destruction was firmly the best of the Bane trilogy , Dynasty of evil is a fantastic climax to the series and was narrated excellently by Johnathan davies. I also highly enjoyed the somewhat ‘open to interpretation’ ending after the battle of Bane and Zannah was complete.

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  • Sean Friel
  • 01-16-23

Must listen

Loved it!! and what a great ending to a cripping trilogy. If you have started it, what are you waiting for.

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  • JoShivah
  • 10-04-16

Classic Story.

Fantastic story and well narrated. All three books in the Darth Bane trilogy are awsome.

2 people found this helpful

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  • Nathan Smith
  • 05-15-23

Really enjoyed this series 👏

I really enjoyed the experience.
Great story with a great ending.
Would recommend it to darker fans of Star Wars.

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  • Anonymous User
  • 05-13-23

A terrific end to an awesome trilogy

It answered many of the questions I had about the Sith yet also inspired me to ask just as many, if not more by the end.

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  • Anonymous User
  • 02-24-23

Have and always will love this trilogy

This is a very good end to a trilogy, stop reading I'd you don't want to be spoilt... But I'm not the biggest fan of Bane supposedly winning because of Zana doing the hand thing on the end, but other than that it was amazing.

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  • Anonymous User
  • 02-04-23

An all round fun adventure when the whole trilogy is heard

Just phenomenal. The whole trilogy was action packed and full of lore. Really helped flesh out the force and the star wars universe. Should be canon.

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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  • Anonymous User
  • 06-28-22

sounds need to match the story

The background sounds don't match what is happening in the story. I personally would rather no background sound so my imagination can make the sounds.

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  • Anonymous User
  • 05-24-22

A Fitting End

This serves as a fitting conclusion to the trilogy.
Especially in regards to reintroducing characters from the first book.
The narrator of spot on with his portrayal of the Character.

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    2 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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  • Anonymous User
  • 01-31-22

Unfulfilling

Epic characters with a grand setup. Letdown, however, by a cheap and nasty ending that was rushed to meet a publishing deadline. Narratively underwhelming.

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  • Lyndall Quaife
  • 09-17-21

My review

Sad parts, brutal parts, cunning parts, and hopefull moments 2 so I would say it’s a awesome end to the series and honestly couldn’t of been better oh though I would have liked the princess and the body guard to stay alive

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  • Anonymous User
  • 08-06-20

needs to be a film

seriously perfect star wars content.
we can only dream of seeing these stories on the big screen or at home