'Star Wars' Book Review: 'Master of Evil'
Image Source: Wookieepedia
Master of Evil by Adam Christopher, which was released on November 11th of 2025, is not just a Star Wars novel focused on Darth Vader during the earliest days and weeks of the Galactic Empire. It is also an exploration of the early Empire’s reaction to a figure like Vader serving in the position that he holds. Vader is also not the main focus of the story. Yes, he has his own POV sections and chapters, but alongside Vader is a broader cast of characters that help to frame how he is perceived. So, avoiding spoilers as much as possible, here is our review of this excellent new novel.
Master of Evil’s plot is very difficult to describe without going into spoilers, as the official plot summary hides a lot under the hood. But, the book’s events take place very shortly after Revenge of the Sith, slightly overlapping with Charles Soule’s 2017 Darth Vader comic run, and largely takes place within a gap between two arcs of that comic series. As mentioned above, Vader is not the main focus of this novel, though, with that honor instead falling to a new character, Halland Goth.
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Image Source: Wookieepedia
Goth is a fascinating character who we learn is the head of the Royal Guard, with tidbits of information about his past both before the Clone Wars and during it, when the Guard was established and came to protect Chancellor Palpatine in all their menacing glory. The novel explores some of his thoughts about the war, and we understand he is a complicated character, but there is a limit to how far the book pushes its connection-forging, with no mention of the blue-armored Senate Guards who once protected Palpatine, or what Goth thought of them. This, and a few other instances in the novel, are some of the story’s only drawbacks. While we get connective tissue between this new character and other new elements, and existing Star Wars material, the connections sometimes aren’t pushed far enough. As another example, when a character begins to pry into how Darth Vader came to be, and who created his suit, Dr. Cylo’s name never comes up, despite that man’s key role in Vader’s creation.
But these are smaller nitpicks that would pass under the radar for the average reader. Goth is still an interesting, complex character, reacting to substantial changes in the galaxy as best he can, while Vader is similarly well-realized in line with his portrayal from this time period. The novel’s POV of Vader allows us to get more from his internal thoughts and adds in things that could not appear in Soule’s comic, though frankly, now this novel makes this writer hope Charles Soule will be able to write Vader in a novel sometime in the near future to build on both his comic series and this novel.
Image Source: Wookieepedia
There is a range of other new characters who appear in the novel, from a unique droid we are sure many will fall in love with, to an Imperial who is as mysterious to the reader as they are to Goth, to people from a planet with multiple populated moons that have an interesting culture and way of life, briefly touched on in the novel. A returning face or two will also surely interest fans, but we can’t speak further on that here.
Overall, Master of Evil explores who Vader is, while also exploring what he means, represents, and could become, for those in his orbit. It does so excellently through a cast of new characters that fit into the existing world, with an intriguing plot that pulls readers along an interesting path with a few twists and turns along the way. Fans of Darth Vader, those who want a look at the early days of the Galactic Empire, as well as those looking for an exploration of the Force in a new way, should absolutely pick this novel up.
Review: 9/10
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Source(s): Master of Evil
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