Star Wars Labyrinth of Evil (Star Wars: Episode III (Hardcover))

Rating:
Summary: Empty Labyrinth
Review: "What could I have possibility been thinking?" - C3PO

Sadly this not the only appalling grammatical error in the book, but possibly the most egregious. There are others and they are jarring. Sentences referring to events in different time periods being written in present tense, adjectives and adverbs mixed up. I wonder if Luceno really wrote this. It reads like a foreign author wrote it and did his own translation. Certainly the editor should be ashamed at the low level of basic english literacy displayed here.

Ok, grammar rant over. Plotwise we have another disappointing hardcover Clone Wars novel. Slow, unengaging, nothing happens until the one event at the end. Our main problem is Sidious/Palpatine. He just isn't an engaging, evil villain. He is such a great puppet master that everything always unfolds to his whims, even small errors are quickly turned to his advantage. There is just nothing there to like or hate about him, he's just a computer like plot device to get us to the asencion of the Empire.

Also, having the real world events of September 11th, 2001 and the phrase "triad of evil" in this book is really off-putting. Though I may agree with Luceno's comparisons of the policies of the two governments this Star Wars book is not the place for it.

General Grievous unfortunately after all the hyping in previous novels doesn't impress either. Of all the characters here he at least gets background exposition. Still though it fails to catch much interest of the reader. To a large extent, this happens to all the characters. At 330 or so pages, with 1.5 spaced text the characters get short shrift, appearing for a few pages, then gone until their spot in the line-up comes around again.

Some good things, the hunt for Sidious on Coruscant. The Jedi starting to finally wake up and think about becoming competent after being such blind dupes for Palpatine. However we know how it ends, and it is too little, too late. The frequent problem, as with the New Republic novels, is nothing happens to the major characters resulting in the interesting books being about minor characters and backwater places, such as Hard Contact.

This book set the stage for the movie, the characters went through their roles mechanically, pushed to their marks by authorial fiat.

Rating:
Summary: Return of the excitement!
Review: Following on the heals of the exciting "Yoda: Dark Rendezvous" paperback, "Labyrinth of Evil" is a worthy follow-up that again raises bar in the world of Star Wars novels. Two words describe my feelings about this book: FIRED UP. You can't help but be FIRED UP for Revenge of the Sith after reading this. Partly Luceno's writing (and largely luck for being the guy to write about events leading up to Episode III), "Labyrinth of Evil" is a roller-coaster ride of twists and turns, investigations and questions. Investigations, you ask? Oh yeah. The Jedi are onto Darth Sidious and they are tracking him down, going into the depths of Coruscant and coming up. . . in some surprising areas. Battles, you wonder? The opening battle is only the beginning of this story's conflicts. You'll enjoy speeder chases over ice and snow as well as attempts to bring Dooku down. . . but you will be psyched you bought this book when you read about the Jedi battling General Grievous. The train scene would have been great to see on the big screen -- you'll understand once you read it. Still, "Labyrinth of Evil" has its flaws -- most of them mired in the fact that Luceno could not advance the plot too much without ruining the upcoming movie. You want Sidious found. You want Padme to reveal her knowledge. You wonder if Obi-Wan knows the truth about his former padawan and the Senator from Naboo. You wonder. . . can I wait any longer for Revenge of the Sith?!? Enjoy it -- "Labyrinth of Evil" is a good read!

Rating:
Summary: So amaing that you can imagine the action!
Review: I just finished reading this book a moment ago and really had to spill my thoughts on the book that will lead you right into the moments of the next Star Wars film, "Revenge of the Sith".

This book was a fantastic read from start to finish and it really held my attention. I had read that Mr. Luceno had been in constant contact with both Lucasfilm as well as the "Revenge" novelist, Matthew Stover, to make certain that the facts and events seemlessly blended into the final film of the Star Wars saga.

The story starts off by placing our heroes on the homeworld of Viceroy Gunray, in an attempt to capture him and bring him to justice. Due to Gunray's bravado and lack of foresight, he escapes the invasion but leaves one of his most important belongings behind for the Jedi to discover. The rest of the tale has Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker visiting various planetary locales in an attempt to find information regarding their recent acquisition.

The author does a great job in portraying the close relationship between Obi-Wan and Anakin. There are moments of humour and revelation throughout their verbal exchanges.

In this book, we also come to understand the inner workings of the plot Darth Sidious has put in place to form the eventual Galactic Empire.

There is a great battle and chase sequence at the end of this book that is so amazing that you can imagine the action as if it were on a screen in front of you. This battle is where the next film picks up.

Mr. Luceno explores some of the characters more than others. It is quite possible that no more could be revealed due to Lucas's restrictions but that did not stop me from enjoying every moment I spent with this book. For me, this was the most exciting and best written of the prequel era novels. I recommend this book to ANYONE who is a Star Wars fan. Even moreso, I recommend this book to anyone who is already getting jazzed about the new film.

Rating:
Summary: Episode 2.5
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: Truly an Essential Prequel Novel -- Labyrinth Performs!
Review: James Luceno has written perhaps the best tie-in novel within the Star Wars universe! Ignore the other would-be critics of this work and place your faith in the caption on its front cover: "the must-read prequel to Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith". Luceno was handed what could have been an impossible challenge: pen a novel which must whet the appetite for the release of the final episode of a series carrying a 28-year fan base.

His work develops background for General Grievous, Darth Sidious, Lord Tyranus and the bond between Anakin and Obi-Wan. One can truly visualize the action and hear the dialogue for the major characters. Minor grammatical errors taken at hand, it is an excellent piece which is entertaining and informative.

As for plot errors, Luceno himself warned that some of the storyline may differ from the final edits of the ROTS film and novelization. Compared to flaws within the Expanded Universe created by George Lucas' own plot twists within the first two prequels, any discrepancies can and should be overlooked.

Political parallels abound in all literature which deal with opposing forces. Although I agree that using similarities such as "Homeworld Security" and "triad of evil" are too-close to existing terms within the real political realm, I can not judge Luceno any more than Lucas when he created a largely British Empire in the classic trilogy.

Over all, a great read for anyone desiring to learn more about the key figures within Episode III and a thrill to see it take the reader to literal moments prior to the opening crawl of the most-anticipated conclusion to a movie series.

Rating:
Summary: a labyrinth of crafsmanship
Review: James Lucero's "Labyrinth of Evil" proves to be a great read. As "the Approaching Storm" prepared us for "Attack of the Clones," this novel lays the foundation for the final Star Wars story, Episode III. Without going into the nerdy details, this is a beautifully written book as it gives the reader great insights into the prequel's significant plots, sub-plots and characters. As much as Darth Maul was an enigma, General Grievous is completely explained. Count Dooku's character development is flushed out, along with that of Nute Gunray. Obi Wan Kenboi is now on the Jedi Council and we find that his relationship with Anakin is very different from that which we witnessed in Episode II. The reader finds a surprisingly comfortable partnership between the clone army and the Jedi. I found the nature of Anakin's relationship with Padme Amidala to be one of the novel's bomb shells. In terms of the plot, the transaction that procured the clone army is explained, including the role Master Syfo Dias played. Lucero craftfully describes the political events between the two movies. Overall, this story expands the development of significant characters and propels the saga's plot. From the first chapter, this is a quality read that will have you turning page after page until you are anxious to jump into Matthew Woodring Stover's follow-up, "Revenge of the Sith."

Rating:
Summary: Good Book
Review: Labyrinth of Evil is a good book. Luceno did a good job of writing the book and adding a lightsaber duel with Mace Windu and General Greivous. Luceno also did a good job writing the attack on Coruscant and the kidnapping of Supreme Chancellor Palpatine. Anakin showed his true power by bringing the roof and walls down on Dooku, Obi-Wan, and himself. It was smart to finally let the jedi know about Darth Sidous and Dooku's affiliation with him.


Rating:
Summary: Labyrinth of Evil
Review: Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker are working with each other for the first time since Obi-wan has been given a place on the Jedi Council and Anakin has become a full-fledged Jedi Knight. Together they follow Darth Sidious' trail, hoping to finally unmask and destroy the Sith Lord that has caused such turmoil in the galaxy.

This is not your typical Star Wars novel. The style is different from most and the story itself is not the normal plot. However, I found this novel to be very interesting. As the prequel to the greatly anticipated Revenge of the Sith movie, Labyrinth of Evil is written more like a middle book to bridge the gaps between Episode ll and Episode lll. It shows the changes that have taken place in the Republic and the control over the galaxy that Darth Sidious has established. Also shown is the newest Star Wars villain, General Grievous.

Labyrinth of Evil mentions people and places from previous novel throughout the book, which can be a little confusing for those who are not up to date with all the Star Wars books. Those who are, however, will enjoy how well this prequel fits with all the Clone Wars books. After reading this novel, I am more excited than ever to see Episode lll and I recommend this as a must-have for all Star Wars fans.

Rating:
Summary: Playing Devil's Advocate Version 2.0
Review: There was a point during this book where I couldn't put it down...partially owing to the fact that Grievous was suddenly a character and not an offhand reference or spoiler. The occasional sense of "the passing of an age" found in the writing is somewhat evocative of Tolkien, as in the case of The Unifying Force ( or so I've heard ).

I have to echo statements already on here that the apparent lack of proofreading and overt modern-day political references are frustrating.
Firstly, the issue of the grammatical or typographical errors. This problem is seen in many other hardcover books in other genres. Here's the deal. If you're getting paid to be an "editor", you're supposed to be doing something more than just RUNNING THE TEXT THROUGH A SPELL CHECK. If you have a learning/memory/reading problem GET HELP! Stop acting like it's not affecting your work!

Now to the political stuff. I really don't need "Homeworld Security" and the "triad of evil" showing up in a SW book. So what if one's politics may be the same as the author's? In fact, UNIMAGINATIVE and SIMPLE-MINDED projection of our time on the continuity is a flaw in many of these books. Why not just go all the way, refer to Palpatine as Bush and get it over with?

Admittedly this book has its moments. The Palpatine mind trick is one of them, but I wonder if that's because the book is dragging a little before that point.

There are the usual types of troublesome details: every alien speaks Basic ( an Aqualish, as seen in TCD, probably wouldn't ); the author seems obsessed with describing various weapons as "plasma"; Yoda uses words like "wasn't" and "hasn't".
On the other hand, Luceno has a real gift for writing Palpatine's dialogue, as in COD.

Once you've read this book you don't feel too bad about knowing how ROTS starts. In other words, it feels less like a spoiler and more like the setup of a cliffhanger that the previous film didn't provide. Interesting concept, that.
ESB's strength was that it ended in a cliffhanger...now a cliffhanger has to be created through a BOOK that all the fanatics are going to read.

I'm glad that Luceno included some descriptions of shielding over Coruscant; it seems to be an enlarged version of the kind of shield that the Trade Federation Directorate had in COD. I should note that Luceno's shield becomes PERMEABLE after sustaining too much enemy fire...and I think that might conflict with the description of planetary shield tactics used by Zahn. In other words, it seems that Thrawn's armada ( or the Emperor's ) could have taken any planet they wanted by just overloading the planetary shields. Possibly we must assume ( for continuity's sake ) that the shields in the Rebellion era are that much more powerful, or that they shunt off the excess energy in some way that maintains shield integrity.

(devil's advocacy off)
This might be my 3rd favorite SW book, so take all criticisms with a grain of salt.
(If you can't guess #1 and #2 then I pity you.)

Rating:
Summary: Get Ready for III
Review: 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.