User blog comment:Brandon Rhea/CONTENT RELEASE: New short story released, plus updated TCO prologue/@comment-300259-20100301003607

I read this last night, and, as I know Mr. Rhea just loves feedback until it's drowning him, I'll post a little review.

If, awhile ago, you were to ask me who my favorite chapter in The Chosen One, I would have told you it was the prologue. Why? I just always thought "Okay, this may not seem to fit in well now, but I can't wait until the day it does."

Now that the piece I thought was the best part has been moved to its own short story, the urge to read that story (even thought it was like 2 in the morning) was overwhelming.

From the first section of the story, I didn't recognize it at all from the original prologue. I'm not sure if it was in the original or not, but I liked it. It foreshadowed for the itself story that foreshadowed for the novel. The mystery-type "let's read and experience some history" element in the first section was really a good beginning.

As for the actual story itself, I also thought it was great. Short, but not too short. It still gave the reader that pinch of curiosity that made me wish Rhea would move his ass and finish releasing The Chosen One so I could find out how it all fits in.

I thought the dialogue was very good, even though there wasn't all that much of it. It wasn't cheesy, and the Dark Lord and Maul spoke in a very powerful, Sith-like way. I liked that.

I thought the way Darth Plagueis' death was detailed was very well. I also like the plot itself, how Plagueis knew he would be slain, but how he "had the last laugh." It kind of added to the "the Wise" part in Darth Plagueis the Wise.

Overall: excellent story, Brandon. The only thing I don't like is the fact that I'm now going to have to wait to see how it plays out; I wish I could know now. However, I suppose that is (obviously) the exact thing you're looking for: to captivate the reader's interest and curiosity.