Yoda, Grand Master of the Jedi Order, carries the weight of the Clone Wars on his shoulders. When his former Padawan and leader of the Separatist movement, Count Dooku, reaches out and asks to meet for a truce, that burden becomes heavier still. Knowing that Dooku is likely laying a trap, Yoda places the needs of the galaxy before his own and ventures forth to the mysterious world of Vjun to face his old apprentice for perhaps the final time.

Author Sean Stewart clearly loves Christopher Lee’s background in monster movies and writes Dooku as a sympathetic villain reminiscent of the golden age of Hammer Films. He both heightens Dooku as a villain and humanizes him as a sympathetic character through his exploration of the novel's central question: is Count Dooku redeemable?