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 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 ).
About the political stuff: I really don't need "Homeworld Security" and the "triad of evil" showing up in a SW book, but at least it doesn't distract too much from the story. Admittedly this book has its moments. The Palpatine mind trick is one of them. It turns out that the "mystery" of who ordered the clones and erased Kamino from the Jedi archives, promised as an Episode III plot revelation by GL himself in the AOTC commentary, has been explained in this book instead. Also, in one scene there's more human senators than I've ever seen in any SW product, including Mon Mothma. There are a few places where you only fully understand what's going on if you know a few "spoilers" about the plot of the film, but I guess it's to be expected that some people will re-read this book after III comes out.... Luceno claims in an interview that there are some minor inconsistencies due to his attempts to be too specific. Since I haven't seen Episode III yet, I can't identify these, but I can make some guesses. First, in the battle with the lesser Jedi, it is stated that Grievous uses his feet to grab two more sabers; he also has repulsors in his legs to account for the fact that the feet are occupied. While an interesting SF image, this clearly indicates that the version of the film shown to Luceno was, in fact, unfinished. The Clone Wars cartoon gets this right: Grievous has an additional set of arms that disengage from below his primary arms. I confess that since my first version of this review I noticed the walk/patrol mode scene in TPM. Walk/patrol mode IS movie canon! Whoops! ( paragraph deleted ) Palpatine has a line of dialogue in this book which implies that a confrontation between his guards and lightsaber-wielding opponents would be something other than completely trivial. Why is this? What are the powers of a "force pike"? Are Clone Wars force pikes like the unremarkable weapon seen in KOTOR or are they something else? Should we assume that the force pikes used by the red-robed guards are made with cortosis ore, or that they are similar to the "phrik alloy" staves used by the MagnaGuards ( so that the weapons could survive sparring with lightsabers )? I hope that these considerations are all made clear in some way after the release of Ep.III. As another reviewer has pointed out, Vol.2 of the Clone Wars cartoon dramatizes some of the same events depicted in this book, but in a somewhat different way. Because of some really well-written portions of this book, I disagree with the idea that the cartoon version of the story is better overall; however, the cartoon does have some advantages. There's sometimes a certain blandness to the way things turn out with Luceno. For example: the non-confrontation with Dooku on Tythe, just so Dooku can end up escaping and returning to Coruscant EXACTLY THE WAY HE DID AT THE END OF AOTC, and the noticeable fact that Shaak Ti and Stass Allie ( Jedi Masters ) do nothing impressive during the attempt to stop Palpatine's "abduction". The cartoon has a little bit more of a propensity for cool Jedi moments...such as Mace Force-bashing Grievous and then leaping up over the Coruscant cityscape like in the Matrix. In the cartoon one can identify the Ithorian and the Talz mentioned in the book; they still have the same fate. However, before that, the cartoon Ithorian has a really cool moment in which he disperses a throng of super battle droids by a massive Force wave. Also, in the cartoon Shaak Ti covers the retreat of Palpatine's protectors to the bunker by singlehandedly taking on an entire group of MagnaGuards. It's money, baby. On the other hand, the cartoon doesn't have the mag-lev battle. But, instead of Tythe, it has an adventure in which Anakin loses his mechanical arm from Ep.II, TOTALLY uses the dark side on a Techno Union soldier, and builds a new mechanical arm. Totally money. So, what I'm trying to say is: even with conflicting stories about certain events in the timeline, I think BOTH this book and Clone Wars Vol.2 are worth having. Back to the book. On occasion, 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 plasma weapons; 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, and his characterization of Dooku almost makes you feel sympathy for the man. The characterization of Yoda is similarly on-point. It's clear that we are beginning to see "post-9/11" Star Wars books which show the influence of real world current events. However, it's important to realize that Labyrinth of Evil ( like The Cestus Deception before it ) is also post-Matrix, meaning it was written after the sci-fi fan base had internalized the ideas of the Matrix films. Thus, we have an EMP WEAPON ( my prayers, or earlier Amazon reviews, answered? ) which, when set off, has droidekas and other droids virtually falling from the sky....Matrix Revolutions, anyone??? In the book The Cestus Deception, Ventress was able to hide from Obi-Wan due to the Queyta meditations learned from Dooku. At that point, Obi-Wan didn't know Ventress was on Ord Cestus. In Labyrinth of Evil, Dooku is unable to hide his exact location on Tythe from Anakin and Obi-Wan, even though he is capable of the Queyta method. However, they knew he was there at that point. Also, after the Jedi begin actively searching for Sidious on Coruscant, Yoda is aware of when Sidious is on-planet, and when he is not ( when the shuttle has climbed the well ). It seems that this yields an in-universe explanation of how certain dark side characters are able to shield their presence in the Force even while in close relative proximity to Jedi. The answer: the person using the Queyta ( or equivalent ) method can probably only "hide in plain sight" from an experienced Jedi if that Jedi isn't aware of the user's presence and isn't actively attempting to sense the user. Just my $0.02. However, it does seem that this fact would have been known to the Sith, so it begs the question of why Dooku even tried to hide his location, given that his presence on Tythe was deliberately leaked to the Jedi. This could merely be another example of Dooku's lack of vision regarding Anakin's potential. 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 been 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 technologically more advanced, or that they shunt off the excess energy in some way that maintains shield integrity. Or perhaps it's simply a question of just how much damage and energy expenditure are considered to be allowable in the taking of a planet. Looking forward to "The Dark Lord" in 2006.
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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!
Given some of the restrictions inherent in this book, the author did an admirable job. As a prequel to Episode III, Luceno was hemmed in by the opening scene of Revenge of the Sith and the previous novels written which follow Episode II. The characters give out plenty of background information and tie plot lines up giving the reader context for Episode III. The story telling works quite well and I would recommend this book to any Star Wars fan.
