Labyrinth of Evil: Star Wars
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4.5 • 55 Ratings
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- $4.99
Publisher Description
The war that erupted in Star Wars: Episode II Attack of the Clones is nearing its boiling point, as the dauntless Separatist forces continue their assault on the teetering Republic–and the diabolical triumvirate of Count Dooku, General Grievous, and their Master, Darth Sidious, fine-tune their strategy for conquest. In Episode III Revenge of the Sith the fates of key players on both sides of the conflict will be sealed. But first, crucial events that pave the way to that time of reckoning unfold in a labyrinth of evil. . . .
Capturing Trade Federation Viceroy–and Separatist Councilmember– Nute Gunray is the mission that brings Jedi Knights Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker, with a squad of clones in tow, to Neimoidia. But the treacherous ally of the Sith proves as slippery as ever, evading his Jedi pursuers even as they narrowly avoid deadly disaster. Still, their daring efforts yield an unexpected prize: a unique holotransceiver that bears intelligence capable of leading the Republic forces to their ultimate quarry, the ever-elusive Darth Sidious.
Swiftly taking up the chase, Anakin and Obi-Wan follow clues from the droid factories of Charros IV to the far-flung worlds of the Outer Rim . . . every step bringing them closer to pinpointing the location of the Sith Lord–whom they suspect has been manipulating every aspect of the Separatist rebellion. Yet somehow, in the escalating galaxy-wide chess game of strikes, counterstrikes, ambushes, sabotage, and retaliations, Sidious stays constantly one move ahead.
Then the trail takes a shocking turn. For Sidious and his minions have set in motion a ruthlessly orchestrated campaign to divide and overwhelm the Jedi forces–and bring the Republic to its knees.
Features a bonus section following the novel that includes a primer on the Star Wars expanded universe, and over half a dozen excerpts from some of the most popular Star Wars books of the last thirty years!
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker, now a Jedi Knight, pursue old enemy Viceroy Gunray, who has been oppressing the intelligent beetles on the planet Cato Neimoidia, in bestseller Luceno's jaunty contribution to the Star Wars franchise. As the pair venture deep into interstellar space, to some well-drawn if unappetizing worlds, they also cross paths with Separatist leaders Count Dooku, Darth Sidious and General Grievous. Meanwhile, intrigues simmer back on the home planet Coruscant, and doubts grow about the loyalties of the Jedi Knights. The action builds smoothly to the climactic attack by the Separatists under General Grievous on Coruscant, where Anakin's wife, Senator Amidala, finds herself in mortal peril. While the author does a good job of maintaining excitement without revealing any secrets of the forthcoming final Star Wars movie, this tie-in, unlike some other Star Wars novels, has no features to give it interest apart from its link to the popular film series.
Customer Reviews
A great novel overall
This is a great novel. Of the three prequel films each had a novel set just before it. This one is the best of the three. The main story of chasing Grevious around the galaxy wasn't too interesting to me, but the parts where Dooku tells the story of Syfo Dias was very good. That was a horrible hanging thread from the films. It was good to see it finally resolved in this book.
The best part of the story was Mace Windu and Yoda dealing with the ever widening powers of the Chancellor, and and at the same time coming closer and closer to discovering the true identity of Darth Sidious. To bad stuff like that didn't make it into the films.
Overall a good read with some great aspects to it. Read this with the Episode III novelization and you'll get the entire story of Revenge of the Sith in a way better version than the one we got on film.
The perfect precuel to episode III
Great book
Mediocre timepass with a known conclusion...
“Labyrinth of Evil” takes place immediately before the movie “Revenge of the Sith” with its conclusion leading straight into the movie’s opening.
The story is only mediocre. Once we get far enough to see exactly where it is in the Star Wars chronology, the conclusion is obvious, with no surprises.
It’s chock full of references to the movies, somewhat interfering with actually telling a story. Having seen the movies, of course, I just groaned at them. One, for instance, when several of the Jedi Council visit Chancellor Palpatine in his office, looking around at the various sculptures he’s accumulated and remarking that one is a demigod of “disguise”.
Another groaner is on an asteroid base Obi-Wan has to go with a local to disable a large tractor beam so their ship can leave, later telling Anakin, of all people, that it was nice to learn a new skill, but he’ll never use it again.
Luceno mentions a lot of characters and a lot of races that don’t really go anywhere. It gets confusing having to figure out if they’re people to remember or to blow off and forget.
And it gets awfully repetitive to keep mentioning Nute Gunray’s “mechno-chair” instead of after a while just calling it his “chair”. The “mechno” part just isn’t a significant part of the story.
The writing starts off feeling quite juvenile, simple words, simple sentence structures and so forth, but does move up a few grade levels after about the halfway point. The editors, however, didn’t proofread very well, so there’s a number of misspellings, mostly missing letters.
Overall, it’s a quick, mildly entertaining way to pass some time. But it’s far from one of the great Star Wars “Legends” novels.