Darth Plagueis/YMMV

• Artifact Title: Almost as soon as Palpatine shows up, the novel is pretty much all about Palpatine, rather than his master.
• Complete Monster: Some thought this book would humanize Palpatine by showing his origins; his origins suggest he is just Made of Evil.
• Fridge Brilliance / Fridge Horror: In Episode III Palpatine says that "[Plagueis] had such a knowledge of the Dark Side, he could even save the ones he cared about... from dying". Now wait a second, just whom could a Sith Lord ever actually care about? Oh, his test subjects...
• Magnificent Bastard: Darth Sidious, whose magnificence here lays the framework for his schemes throughout the saga.
• Moral Event Horizon: Palpatine crosses this fairly early on and takes up permanent residence beyond its border.
• Reread Bonus: Seriously, if you read this book once, its awesome. If you read it again, you'll come to realize just how manipulative Sidious is.
• Spotlight-Stealing Squad: By making it apparent that Plagueis was the one who planted the seeds for the events of the Prequels, as opposed to Sidious, some feel that it ruins Sidious's character, preventing him from actually being the grand chessmaster that the movies made him. Then again, in his final speech to his master, Sidious claims that he was the one who planted the seeds with Plagueis acting as an Unwitting Pawn who, in Sidious' words, "thought [they] were your ideas when in fact they were mine, cleverly suggested to you so that you could feed them back to me". Ultimately, the question boils down to whether the reader is able to buy Sidious' claim.