This is my first audiobook review. I get little time to listen to books. In the past I have listened to them at bedtime but then I usually fall asleep mid way through and lose my place. This time I was careful to listen to it all.
Dooku Jedi Lost is a full dramatisation Star Wars story by Scott Cavan. It is based on the fall of Count Dooku an area of Star Trek lore that was much missing. Dooku star of Attack of the Clones and ‘bit part’ in Revenge of the Sith was a very interesting character who never had his complexities explored.
We knew he was a good Jedi, that he was trained by Yoda and that he himself trained Qui-gon Jinn and so it was always a mystery of how he fell to the dark side. In the films Dooku seemed conflicted, he was a dark side user and his malevolence was ever present but there also seemed a side to him that seemed to care about the Separatist Movement. I think it was the Clone War cartoon series that started to flesh out that the Separatists were not just bad guys. They had some legitimate claims about how the Republic was one and were often at the bottom of the pile in terms of support. When they did try to cede the war began. The Separatists as a coalition were hijacked by the Banking Guild, Trade Federation and others.
The story behind Dooku follows his life right from his arrival at the temple as a youngling and it is at its best when we see the inner workings of the Jedi. We meet familiar and new masters and get to see who the Jedi Order is struggling to find its place in the universe. It is torn between tradition, serving the flawed Republic and complacent about the return of the Sith.
Cavan creates many Jedi Masters and imbues them with real character. He builds up the part of Master Sifo-dyas, the alleged commissioned the Clone Army from the Kaminoans. Qui-Gon Jinn is handled well and the story dovetails nicely with the latest novel – Master and Apprentice.
Dooku is a sympathetic character but at an early stage you begin to see how his pride and arrogance will lead him ultimately to his end. In fact his end at the tip of Anakins lightsabers looking at his Master carries this narrative through to this tragic end.
The added bonus of the story is that it is told through Asaij Ventresses eyes. We get to see her evolution and develop, we come to understand her early life and trials with the Jedi and even get to listen to her own dead master. Ventress is a star of the Clone Wars and it is great to see her relationship with Dooku. You get to see the juxtaposition of Sith Master and Apprentice compared to a Jedi Master and Padawan.
Some dramatisations are difficult to listen to because of accents and the like, obviously they never had Christopher Lee to record Dooku’s line but the actor does a good job. Qui-gons irish accent is a bit jarring but on the whole the quality is excellent. This is an audiobook well worth a listen.
Into the Nebula 
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