cool chapter

Hey Jurious!
Well, it took me some time to read the entire story, due to the fact that my mum constantly confiscated the laptop(although I don't blame her - she had to do some work on it and it was her laptop after all, which I commandeered in order to read your fantastic and awesome story).^_^
I'm impressed of your will to keep writing this lovely piece of literature until the end and I greatly admire your writing style. I wish I could have a writing style like that. I prefer writing conversations and so descriptions are not my forte.^_^
I think that DookuxPadme is a lovely pairing and I've always like Dooku, despite the fact that he was a Sith Lord in both movies(although I still don't see why they had to exactly cut of his head in RotS and not just simply stab him through the chest - it was a bit cruel, if you ask me).
Anyway, I actually read your story twice(yes, I liked it that much) and I see now how Anakin's and Serenn's(BTW, nice choice of name^_^) positions got reverced. I mean, even in the final battle, it's Dooku who saved Obi-Wan from Vader, just like Anakin had once saved Obi-Wan from Dooku during the battle of Geonosis. very clever of you to do so. Besides, the Anakin in your story never deserved Padme, even from the beginning. I also liked the way that Padme got more and more attracted to Dooku and more and more afraid o Anakin, ending in her choosing Serenn over Anakin. So, good job on the story in short.^_^
I was also wondering if you could write another DookuxPadme fanfic. Through your story I started to like this pairing. Actually, I hadn't even thought of it before.^_^
I also found out that you had an account on DeviantArt and I saw your drawings there. Not only do you have writing skills, but also drawing ones. I also liked the Lion King version of Qui-Gon's death. It was very cute.^_^
Well, I hope that you'll answer my review.^_^
Chao!^_^
Lady Avotil

P.S.: This is the longest review I have ever written, never mind that it is in letter form.^_^

Even though I feel it's pointless in reviewing old stories, I just had to review this one!

I have a thing for odd pairings, but somehow still work, in my fandoms, and after rewatching the prequel Star Wars, this was the oddest pairing i could think of. But after reading all 55 chapters of your story, i immediately loved the pairing! If only there were more fics of them!

I absolutely loved your depiction of Dooku from manipulative villain to tragic hero. And although I did not like Padme much, your story just made me love her more.

Hopefully you will read this and my minutes in writing this were not in vain! Looking forward to anymore future writings from you!

PS: If you know of any other great Dooku/Padme fics or twisted pairings in general i'd love to hear them!

Bit of a blast from the past, I imagine this will be. I recently found myself thinking about this fic and having the urge to reread it. So I hunted it down (forgot I had it on my favorites list)and read it. And the afternote. And just on a whim, I read through the reviews. And to my complete utter horror, I realized I had never reviewed the final chapter. Good God! As soon as I realized, I of course had to correct the oversight. So here you go.

Wow. Just wow, this whole incredible story. I haven't watched the movies in some time, but you have reawakened the urge to see them again big time. I'd forgotten how much I thoroughly enjoyed your rendition of Count Dooku. I understand he had to die, but it still hurt like hell when he did.

And the ending. The image of Obi Wan standing in front of the funeral pyre with young Luke is just powerful. I can't put into words how much I enjoyed the journey you took us on. Sorry this review is so ridiculously late, I have no clue what I was doing. But the fact that I apparently never reviewed the end of this story really bothered me. So I thank you again for an incredible Star Wars story and definitely one of my favorites. ;o)

WOW. I'm pretty sure that's the longest fanfic I've ever read. Gizzi1213 was raving about it, and I was skeptical about the Dooku/Padme pairing but decided to give it a whirl. And just... wow!

I never thought I could enjoy that pairing. I never thought I could actually root for DOOKU to win Padme's affections over Anakin (my favorite character!)... but you forced me to! :)

I like how you meshed the PT into canon OT by the end of it, so that this is really how it all /could/ have happened prior to ANH.

Your characters are wonderfully developed and your writing just flows... gah, I feel like I should say SO much more since it was so long and took you so long to write. Just... great work. It must please you to still be attracting new readers 3 years after you posted the final chapter, eh? :)

It took me 2 months to read the whole thing. I'm going to miss it now! I second Gizzi1213's motion for you to post it on LJ.

Thank you for sharing this story. May the Force be with you as well!

Damn.

That was significantly better than the movies - which I thought were pretty good, myself. I'm pleased that you've expanded a character who I thought deserved way more depth - you gave him justice. Count Dooku finally breathed.

If I was to criticize, I would say that you did make Padme into a bit of a cliche' woman victim throughout - but then again after she got pregnant in the movies, her role was pretty similar, except at least in yours she wasn't reduced to one-lines and "omg, no, I love you anakin! Stop choking me!"

... and I can understand why the Jedi weren't allowed to have sex - apparently everyone else knows about it. It's like constant streaming **! Poor Yoda, just think of all the illicit ** he's had to watch in his days.

Great job! A very brilliant and mature undertaking. Your writing is subtle and clear, a well thought out tale that did not disappoint. And I loved Grevious - you made him ridiculously interesting as well. Thanks a bunch!

"Obvious is it not, Dooku? Turn me, Dooku. I beg you. Show me the greatness of the darkside..." ~Yoda to Count Dooku, Dark Rendezvous~

Nice idea and thanks for writing. I liked the pallrells between Dooku and Anakin. You are a great author.

I'm not sure what it says about me that when I decided to scroll through some of the older fics on this site, what drew my attention to this one was your description of it being "twisted." It did pique my curiosity however, so I thought I'd give it a try.

That was over a week ago and since that moment every free second of time has been spent totally absorbed in reading this story. From the very first chapter it drew me in and wouldn't let me go. I would read until late at night with eyes so tired the words would get blurry on the screen. I can't tell you how many people I've pimped this story to.

You have taken an otherwise underutilized yet fascinating character, Count Dooku, and turned him into a tragic hero in this epic tale. You've explored his arrogance and his hubris, as well as his fears and his demons. The story is as much about his personal journey of discovery as the events you've created to bridge Episode II to Episode I.

I love some of the parallels you created between Dooku and Anakin, especially in their respective relationships with Padme. The dreams Anakin has about Padme in the canon storyline are wonderfully echoed here by Dooku. Each man is unable, or unwilling, to share his fears with another weighing heavily on the tragic outcome of Padme's fate. How might her fate have been different had Dooku been able to "open up"?

Anakin is positively chilling in this story, with his fall to the Dark Side being so much more pronounced and personal, possessed by such internal demons, far better expressed here than in canon.

I also loved the sub-storyline you wove into the larger epic about Dooku's mysterious past lover and how that is mirrored by the Anakin/Padme storyline. I must admit, I believe I guessed almost from its first mention what the secret was, and who it affected. I was a bit disappointed that storyline was not more fully resolved. I'd have liked for the product of that union to be aware of it, and I am uncertain if that is the case by the end of the story, although the ending can be read to imply he does.

I loved Qui-Gon being the voice of Dooku's conscience, yet speaking to Dooku in Yoda-like riddles. The padawan becoming the master by echoing the master's own master is an interesting bit of closing the loop.

Having heaped on the praise for the storytelling, I do feel I need to add a bit of constructive criticism, even if I know this is far from a work in progress. You have wonderful storytelling ability, your characters come alive, you descriptions are detailed, and fluid yet do not overwhelm the narrative. However, having said that, there is one quirk you have that, I admit, nearly drove me to distraction. You have to work on your verb tenses. Throughout the story were such sentences as "he was stood by the window," or "he was sat at the table." That more properly should have been "he stood by the window," or "he was standing by the window," etc. I finally had to resort to mentally correcting grammar as I read the story.

However, I will tell you that in almost ANY OTHER STORY that kind of verb tense issue would have had me bailing on the story long before I ever reached the end. It's a testament to how wonderfully crafted the overall story is, the engaging characters, and the suspense you maintained for the story's long duration to hold my attention that I didn't abandon it.

If you ever do decide to go back and do the "big edit" I would love to suggest you post it to your livejournal account. And if you do, make sure you pimp the story to jedi_news which is a SW newsletter aimed at compiling fics, fanvids, SW related news, etc. It would be a surefire way to have exposure to the larger SW community on livejournal.

Finally, Thank You for devoting two and a half years of your life to working on your story. I hope you feel it was time as well spent as I did in the reading of it!

This is, hands down, the greatest Star Wars fanfic ever.

This story, like Dynasty, is definetly one of the best written Star Wars stroies that i have ever read. it is well written and structured, and has a great sense of keeping you interested. Although i decided to wait until the end of the story, i loved it all the same.

I'm really enjoying the story. It's extremely well-written and very interesting. Not to mention - finally, something more to my taste. >;)

Hey, this is me... Again. The only reason im posting up ANOTHER review on a different chapter, is because of stupid rule on how you cant post a review on the same chapter twice. But anyway, I got my Email wrong on last review (call me an idiot). Just so you know. But once again, this is a great story!

This story was LONG!! The longest ive ever read. It was great, too.

It was hard to read the first section of this chapter because you can see what is to inevitably come – that this vision would become the final catalyst that would precipitate Anakin's fall and his betrayal of the Jedi Order. You wrote his possessiveness and rage convincingly, and, at the end, Obi-Wan's one-liner was wonderfully in character – I can just *hear* him saying that!

The dynamic between Tyranus and Sidious was creepy and wonderful, and you left me wondering: does he, doesn't he know that the Sith Master is already playing him for a fool?

The Count's apologetic civility, almost gentlemanly manner toward Padme [aside from Force-ing his way into her bedroom], was in sharp contrast to the earlier bit with Anakin's jealous rage, and I think it worked very well. Additionally, Anakin's possessiveness of Padme gave me as a reader a strong framework to build Vader's later behaviour to the poor girl on. Your characterisation of Serenn was perfect, and for some reason I was forcefully reminded of the scene in AotC where he converses with an imprisoned Obi-Wan. For once, he was being about as honest with her as he ever allowed himself to be with *anyone*, much like that scene in AotC. Even before your writing embarked on that turning point of the story where Padme begins witnessing, or at least to realise that she is witnessing, the roots of the long, tortuous process of Serenn and Anakin's role-reversal, you set the stage for that radical idea, in blurring the lines between the Jedi and Sith apprentices, character-wise. Even before you start on that incredibly cool tangent of the Count's words eerily echoing Anakin's, Dooku's behaviour chillingly brings the boy to mind. The way he sought excuses, justification, even absolution from the woman he had so heinously wronged calls to mind Anakin's emotional breakdown at the Lars homestead after Shmi's death, and the prior Tusken camp massacre, and even RotS's 'I have brought peace and security to my new Empire!' It was as though, like Anakin, even after all the sin he wrought, he still needed to find from someone, even or especially from his victims, that he'd had perfectly good reasons for everything unforgivable he had done. And the way he got defensive-angry when Padme called his bluffing himself: 'I did what I had to do'…'Padme, SHUT UP!', also strongly reminded me of Anakin. The way he lost control of himself to such an uncharacteristic degree at that point was very telling of his tangled emotions toward Padme, toward his past, present and anticipated crimes, toward Sidious, and toward his despair of ever redeeming himself. There's an awful lot of vulnerability in him there – in the way he physically turned to the 'apartment's windows', away from her. That almost boyish vulnerability is something we don't often see in our reserved, aloof Count, and yet it's a side of him that clearly does indeed exist, and I love the way you masterfully brought it to light here.

And 'just reasons'! that bit made me want to weep. You take your readers down a dark road there, as Padme sees Anakin in Dooku, and it was perhaps not as subtly done as it could have been, but it fills its purpose well.

To me, that idea is a brilliant concept, a fresh and original way of looking at the Saga, and you introduced it here very well, at just the right time – the midpoint of the story. The duality/unity play here is captivating. The tender platonic intimacy between them in this scene contrasted wonderfully with the fiercely aggressive, violently erotic passion of the previous chapter.

The Count never struck me as being a particularly touchy-feely sort of man, unlike Qui-Gon, but there was a sense of rightness and truth and clarity in his gentle physical pleas for forgiveness from Padme that just made all his actions click. The way he 'kissed her forehead' was highly reminiscent of a scene in Steven Spielberg's 1993 film 'Schindler's List' for me, except that in this case, no evil Nazi monster had inflicted suffering on the damsel in distress, but instead a cruel vampire-abomination which is, in a mysterious way that is impossible to explain, an inextricable part of our anti-hero.