I didn’t like Bane: Path of Destruction. Am I wrong about Karpyshyn’s writing?

I recently finished the first Bane novel by Drew Karpyshyn and was majorly disappointed. I went into it with high expectations after seeing comment after comment, post after post, about how great it is, yet found myself struggling to get into it because of the writing. The story was fantastic and added a lot to the Sith, Old Republic lore, and development of the Dark Side, but I feel like the writing was quite poor.

At first, I was entranced by Bane and his origins. It was captivating and new and made me empathize greatly with the future Sith, but as the novel moved forward it was hard to ignore the flaws in Karpyshyn’s writing.

First of all, I felt like none of the characters truly developed any intriguing interiority. They seemed simple and not very deep or developed. Githany’s character is central to the plot and Bane’s story, but she is presented as an opportunistic, cunning woman not because of her actions and guile, but because Karpyshyn simply told you she was such. The Jedi figures felt much the same. As did the Sith at the academy. I wouldve loved more backstory or focus on their motives to truly understand the complexity of everyone’s character. Karpyshyn simply told us, didn’t show.

Another thing, Karpyshyn’s plot and pacing moved ridiculously fast. One second Bane is humiliated, the next second he has memorized and absorbed all the ancient Sith texts. Suddenly he is able to shoot lightning from his fingers, fight off poisons with the force, and lead powerful Sith seances/mind bombs. I get that he’s the most powerful Sith trainee, but it would’ve been nice to see more of his journey. Once the story reaches Korriban, the pacing is far too fast and reads like a summary or list of things that Bane did without developing feelings or the world around him.

Unlike Zahn, Stover, Gray, or Luceno novels, Karpyshyn’s first Bane novel does little to build the galaxy, politics, and characters around the plot. I understand that this might read more like a legend or ancient history on purpose, but for me it didn’t work.

Does anyone else agree? Is it just Karpyshyn’s writing style? Should I look past the writing and focus on the plot instead? This was just a quick post and I didn’t come prepared with quotes or references, but would love an engaging discussion about the booj.