For the most part, the tales of Star Wars have been presented from the perspective of the Alliance, or the good guys. This comic book/graphic novel tries to do the opposite. This volume starts shortly before the events in Episode IV: A New Hope and is totally focused on characters with ties to the Empire.

Preparations for finalizing construction on the original Death Star are coming to a close. Emperor Palpatine is sure that this new weapon will help bring about the end of the Rebel Alliance. Unfortunately, all is not going as well as the Imperial leadership would hope. There is a small grom of Grand Moffs and other officers who are conspiring to assassinate the Emperor and his Sith supporter, Darth Vader. These leaders are concerned about the fact that these two religious zealots are bringing the Empire in the wrong direction and must be removed.

This small group of conspirators is lead by Grand Moff Trachta, an accomplished military leader who is not too far behind Darth Vader in getting replacement parts. Though the reasons for this are still mysterious to the readers, his cyborg parts do nothing to prevent him from setting things in motion.

Darth Vader is pulled away from Coruscant after the Imperials learn there might be a Jedi hiding out on an Outer Rim world. This would seem to be the perfect plan because it brings Vader away from Palpatine so the two can be attacked separately. If you have seen the movies, then you know that the conspiracy is destined to fail, but it is interesting to see how the events cause Vader to look back on memories from his youth and question his own abilities even as he prevents multiple attempts on his life.

The Imperial Guard would seem to be a major challenge for attacking the Emperor, particularly when he is in residence on the capital planet. That doesn't prevent the conspirators from doing everything in their power

There is a really interesting cameo from everyone's favorite bounty hunter, Bobba Fett.

All-in-all, I thought this was a really great introduction to some new characters and some backstory to a tale that most fans are pretty familiar with. I am definitely looking forward to reading the next book in the series. Thankfully, it is already waiting for me!/p>