Customer Reviews

Labyrinth of Evil (Star Wars, Episode III Prequel Novel)

5 star:		(50)
4 star:		(32)
3 star:		(12)
2 star:		(10)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

James Luceno, walking EUncyclopedia, returns once more with yet another of the type of novel he's best suited to write. His particular strengths and weaknesses are ill-spent on smaller novels such as Agents of Chaos; however, with his comprehensive grasp of GFFA minutiae, he's very well suited to novels such as Cloak of Deception and this newest, Labyrinth of Evil (and to an extent, The Unifying Force), which exist as much to tie multiple plots together into a comprehensive, coherent whole as to tell stories of their own. Here he manages to take a very impressionistic view of the Clone Wars, told piecemeal in various media and through various relatively unconnected novels, and meld it all into a whole, as well as tying events back to pre-TPM and doing his best to make it look like there actually has been a lot more structure and continuity and causality in the stories we've gotten of the Clone Wars than there really has been.

There's not really much need to talk about his style; by now you already know whether you like it or not. He has an odd mix of typical third-person POV and near-omniscient viewpoint, without a particularly memorable writing style and with a sometimes-annoying but often useful and fun (at least to the more-than-casual Star Wars fans like me) tendency to infodump and show off just how much he knows about what he's writing about.

This novel doesn't stand terribly well on its own, but then it's not supposed to. It's more a summation and drawing-together of what's gone before in anticipation of Revenge of the Sith. To that end, the first two-thirds of the book follow a very straightforward connect-the-dots plot, with the dots being a lot of fun action sequences and the connectors being lots of encyclopedic, almost history-bookish descriptions tying together all that's gone before. Then, for the final third, the book takes a dramatic turn for the better -- and more exciting (especially for me, since I've been keeping myself spoiler free for Revenge of the Sith) -- as the book leads straight into what will prove to be the HUGE opening moments of the final Star Wars film.

Here we see Anakin and Obi-Wan, Mace and Yoda all in fine form. Padmé, Bail Organa, Mon Mothma and other familiar faces also all show up. Dooku, while not quite as fleshed-out as in Dark Rendezvous, is still an interesting character. Palpatine and Sidious are as good as we've ever seen them, if not better (and worse). And finally, finally we get an introduction to the character of General Grievous, whom we've seen in comics and television shows but has been conspicuously absent from the novels. Also in this book we've got some pointed political commentary that those leaning more to the right probably won't particularly appreciate, we've got a fine antecedent for a key moment in ANH, and, in true Star Wars fashion, plenty of dis-arming and other dis-memberment.

In the end, this is for the most part an okay Star Wars novel that blossoms in the end into one of the better ones, and leaves you salivating for Revenge of the Sith.

An excellent prequil to the third movie.

The first half of this book, admittably, starts off a little slow. Somewhere near the middle it fires up and intensifies. It goes in a pattern of 1)dividing the story: between the perspectives of Anakin and Obi-wan, and the of everybody else on Coruscant, and of course the villains; and 2)chapters of character developement, with plenty of pages of plot and depth that were left out in the first two movies. Want to know the origin of Grievous? It's in there. What about the plots of Sidious to rule the galaxy? That too. And, what about Anakin and Obi-wan following Dooku, and all the space battles in-between? Yup, all that too. A good buy. Just don't stop half-way in the middle.

Do you want to know who trained Darth Sidious? If Jedi Master Sifo-Dyas actually placed the order for the clone army? Who killed Jedi Master Sifo-Dyas and why? How Count Dooku found and was trained by Sidious? How Jango Fett was actually recruited as the template for the clones? It's all here!

I am really surprised at all the 5-star reviews this book is getting. I first read the EP3 novel and then found out about this one, so I read it too. And between the two novels, EP3 is by far the better of the two - it's not even close. Not only because EP3 has a better storyline, but it's also much better written.
Basically, this book tells of the events that happen before Episode III and takes you right up to the beginning of EP3. But trust me, after reading the EP3 novel, the opening crawl for EP3 is more than enough information to let you know what's going on .. you really don't need to read Labyrinth of Evil. Of course, you *could* read it if you want to get more of an insight into how events transpire leading up to EP3, but there's really not anything interesting that happens in this entire book, so I'd hardly say it is worth the effort. The book just drags along from one boring adventure sequence to the next. I can't think of a single thing I read in Labyrinth of Evil where I said to myself "Gee, I wish I had known that before reading the EP3 novel."
So, if you're trying to find out whether reading Labyrinth of Evil will give you any important information that you would have otherwise missed before reading the EP3 novel or watching the movie, I would have to say the answer is most definitely no.

Labyrinth of Evil tells the story of the last days before Revenge of the Sith and not only is it better than the Attack of the Clones novel but it's strong enough to stand on it's own.

The feeling of the book is bittersweet. Anakin has never been more emotionally stable. He's a general, he's Palpatines pet and Padme's husband. He and Obi Wan have finally formed a smooth partnership. Except for one ugly incident it looks like Anakin is on his way to becoming a great Jedi knight. But of course we all know how this is going to turn out.

The dark side has fallen over the republic. Yoda knows in his heart that the situation is hopeless. The only thing the Jedi can do now is see it the end.

The side characters were done well. Dooku is presented in a interesting light. He's brilliant, he's lethal and considers himself to be far superior to Maul and Grievous. He seems to be wavering between a sentimental longing for Jedi acceptance and his need to be a ruler. Grievous is described in an almost sympathetic way. He is a servant of the Sith, he's a monster but not by choice and he's probably meant to be a forshadowing of Darth Vader.

Finally, the senators and citizens are Coruscant are described. They're mostly selfish, lazy and such cowards that you wish the Jedi would all just decide that these people aren't worth fighting for. The book is a dazzling combination of intense action scenes and deeply emotional little scenes that rush without lagging to the end which is the opening act of Revenge of the Sith.

The book is pretty darn good. Check it out.

I've read that George Lucas was in heavy collaboration with James Luceno in the writing of this novel, even going as far to give him the script for Revenge of the Sith and his notes. Luceno collaborated heavily with Matthew Stover, who is working on the Revenge of the Sith novelization. Now, even knowing this, the book still could have been bad.

It wasn't. Labyrinth of Evil is quite clearly the best EU novel I ever read, surpassing Zahn's works and Salvatore's NJO debut novel Vector Prime. Luceno wasted no time tying up loose ends from the EU-prequel era and the movies, filling in the backstory for Revenge that Lucas doesn't have time to get on the big screen. Anakin, now a Jedi Knight, is shown near his breaking point, worn out by the war and the fact that he is being kept away from his wife, which is still his most closely guarded secret.

Another major plus in this novel is the appearance of General Grevious. It was a real treat to finally see him make an appearance in the EU so we could finally get some depth to his character.

I definitely could have seen this becoming a movie, but I'll just wait for Episode 3 now.

Billed as a must-read prequel to Episode III of the movie franchise, "Labyrinth of Evil" by James Luceno weaves together some loose ends and characters that weren't expounded upon in the movie. The title is apt, for the various plotlines read like a maze at times, with some strands seeming more tangential than necessary. With the war between the Separatists and the Republic spinning on without an end in sight, the Jedi order tries to find out the truth about the Sith Lord behind it all.

The story begins with Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker setting out to capture an ally of the Sith in an attempt to find out who their leader is. Their trek takes them from planet to planet, escaping traps at every stop, and learning just enough information to create more questions. Meanwhile, other Jedi knights, including Mace Windu, are getting too close to the truth about the Sith Lord and his whereabouts on Coruscant. And when Coruscant is attacked so that Chancellor Palpatine can be kidnapped by General Grievous, the Jedi must once more abandon the search to save the fate of the Republic, and the story ends where Episode III begins.

James Luceno has written several books within the Star Wars series, but "Labyrinth of Evil" is a little too muddled at times. In an effort to enhance his writing, he sometimes winds up with sentences that are convoluted in nature. His descriptions of battles can be a little mechanic, but he offers some insight into the relationship between Obi-Wan and Anakin that pads their later confrontation. I was looking forward to learning more about General Grievous, and while Luceno does offer some background to this strange creature, it is a meager profile. "Labyrinth of Evil" does offer fans necessary background information between movie episodes, and all in all is a fast-paced, enjoyable read.

After reading several books in the genre, I have come to believe that James Luceno is the best of the Star Wars writers. While some may credit this to the fact that he has better plots to works with, I suspect the fact that he adds depth to the characters from the movies is also a factor. "Labyrinth of Evil" is the perfect set up for "Revenge of the Sith."

Beginning with Viceroy Gunray's careless blunder in leaving behind a holonet chair in an evacuation, the Jedi find themselves hot on the trail of the idenitity of Darth Sidious. In fact, the path leads them in the unlikely direction of Coruscant. But just as a breakthrough seems eminant, Coruscant fall under a surprise attack by General Grievous and the separatist army. With the abduction of the Palpatine, the dominos are in order for the conversion of Anakin to the Dark Side of the Force.

While adding new dimensions to the charcters, Luceno does an excellent job of leading into Episode 3. Among the factiods that I apreciated was the backstory of General Grievous. Also, the story of the order for the clones is expanded. The Anakin-Padme love story is largely absent, but I am more than willing to accept its omission. Those who love the movies are certain to enjoy this book.

James Luceno wrote the first book in my chronological re-reading of the Star Wars Expanded Universe, Cloak of Deception, and it was a wonderful five-star kickoff. Happily, Labyrinth of Evil does not disappoint in any way. Revenge of the Sith is my second-favorite Star Wars movie behind The Empire Strikes Back, so getting an entire prequel devoted to setting up the thrilling action of the film itself is a real treat.

Revenge of the Sith starts in the middle of a gigantic space battle over Coruscant. The opening crawl summarizes why we are there and what has gone before, but there was so much story the movie didn't have time to cover. That's where Labyrinth of Evil comes in, letting us spend time with Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker at the height of their friendship and their powers, before it all goes bad. After spending very little time with this duo during the Clone Wars books, it's almost a relief to get back to focusing on them and the other main film characters. This focus also makes the book very accessible, even to a casual Star Wars fan.

On the flip side, Luceno makes a grand effort to weave in tasty tidbits of the EU throughout the tale, so dedicated fans will not be disappointed. The comics, books, and cartoons all get their due at various points, and he reaches way back to before The Phantom Menace to pull together what feels like the last step before we pitch over the cliff and fall into the Dark Times.

The book starts with a long chase/action sequence on Cato Neimoidia, a planet we glimpsed during the Order 66 montage in Sith. This is an excellent example of how this book expands the scope of Episode III and kicks off some of the major plot threads of the film. Why did Darth Sidious choose that particular time to set his final plans in motion with the Separatist invasion of Coruscant? That question is abundantly answered in Labyrinth of Evil, and in a chilling scene, Intelligence officer Dyne gets to learn the full truth of exactly how high in the government the Sith influence goes. Good stuff.

This book also works to put to bed some lingering questions from Attack of the Clones. The tale of Sifo-Dyas and his friendship with Count Dooku is sketched out by Yoda, although I would have liked more substance here. The mystery of who erased Kamino from the Jedi Archives is also answered.

There is another source to examine in discovering what happened right before Episode III, and that's the superb Clone Wars cartoon. It tells a very similar story of the Separatist kidnapping of Chancellor Palpatine, although it differs in some key details. On the other hand, the book gives us an adventure with Anakin and Obi-Wan totally distinct from their trip to Nelvaan in the cartoon. Rather than try to forcibly reconcile the differences between the two, my inclination is to celebrate having both available and choosing which to consider your personal canon. In mythology, stories generally have the same nugget of truth at their core but can differ sharply in the surrounding details. If we're to buy into George Lucas' explanation of Star Wars as a modern-day myth, perhaps this phenomenon of two similar yet distinct stories is a manifestation of that identity.

The real strength of James Luceno in this galaxy far, far away is his ability to write a book that feels like a Star Wars film. Just like Cloak of Deception sets up The Phantom Menace so perfectly, exploring exactly the places that more insight was needed, Labyrinth of Evil fits hand-in-glove with Revenge of the Sith. I had more flat-out fun reading it than any book to date in my chronological journey through the Expanded Universe.

Well, what can I say? I'm so ready for Episode III that I can barely stand it. Actually, I'm really excited for the novelization as much as the movie. But back to the Labyrinth of Evil...

I won't go over the plot details as you can find that from some other drone's review. I will tell you that it's quite good. Not as good as Dark Rendezvous, which totally rocked, but still very good. It sets Episode III up quite nicely and does a good job at giving us some much sought-after info on everyone from Grevious, Sideous, Dooku , pretty much everyone. There's plenty of action, swordfights, droids, starfights, and Mace Window - who you got to love!

If you are looking for a good Star Wars book to tie you over until the movie, check this book out. Read Yoda: Dark Rendezvous first. Then read this book. You'll be happy that you did.