Books New Novel! Maul: Lockdown by Joe Schreiber

I'm not even talking about the placement of Lockdown, though the idea it was after Shadow Hunter seemed... off, but their calendar places Shadow Hunter in 33 BBY and Episode I in 32 BBY, which doesn't match with those in-universe calendar dates.

 

More chronology info from Plagueis: Maul was in the LiMerge building feeling useless for a long time during which Sidious left him out of many schemes, including the Yinchorri crisis (Jedi Council: Acts of War). Some time after that was over, Sidious sent him to Dorvalla (Saboteur). Maul returned from Dorvalla and spent "several weeks" again locked up in the LiMerge building feeling left out and pacing up and down, right up until the point Palpatine left for Eriadu (Cloak of Deception). The Trade Federation Directorate is massacred at the same time as Sojourn gets blown up, which obviously represents the absolutely bulletproof cutoff point for Lockdown. After Palpatine returns from Eriadu and Plagueis from Sojourn, they decide to destroy Black Sun, and this is where the Darth Maul comic picks up the action, with Maul still cooped up at LiMerge, practicing against training droids. Plagueis goes to Naboo and kills Veruna while Maul kills the Vigos. Immediately after Maul returns to Coruscant, Palpatine sends him to Mustafar to train with droids some more. He recalls him for Shadow Hunter.

So, per the narrative sequence of Darth Plagueis, 1) Jedi Council: Acts of War >> 2) Saboteur >> 3) Cloak of Deception >> 4) Darth Maul comic >> 5) Shadow Hunter >> 6) Episode I.

I could see Lockdown fitting in between 1 and 2, but that and prior to 1 are the only options.

Their calendar is absolutely useless. "33 BBY" means nothing more than "it's before Phantom Menace, OK?"

 

So is this book good? I enjoyed Darth Plagueis and from what I've heard it follows on.

 

I almost bought this on Friday, but did not–good thing, because the next day, my friend brought it to me as a birthday present!

 

Geez... I finally get adjusted from the "X Years after the Battle of Endor" system to the BBY/ABY system and now it's garbage too.

 

Is there any indication of where the Tales comic "Marked" or The Fury of Darth Maul from the Episode I Adventures series fit into that sequence?

 

Not from Darth Plagueis as far as I can tell. But since Maul apparently has the Scimitar in both stories, I'd say they must take place sometime between the Darth Maul comic and Shadow Hunter. Marked fits very neatly there, but I have no idea what The Fury of Darth Maul is about.

 

I caught a continuity blunder....

That's straight out of one of the Maul sections in Darth Plagueis, the first paragraphs of chapter 26 to be precise. Only problem is, if the nuclear weapon has not yet hit Sojourn and Plagueis can safely stroll around his fortress in Lockdown, then the Eriadu Trade Summit has not happened yet. That is concretely established fact made abundantly clear in Darth Plagueis. Really sloppy work from Schreiber....

It is therefore necessary to assume that, at the time Maul is sent to Cog Hive Seven, the Eriadu assassinations have been planned to the minutest detail, meaning that Lockdown takes place shortly before Cloak of Deception. But it must also take place before Saboteur, because Darth Plagueis makes it clear that Maul went to Dorvalla just prior to the Summit and that he spent several weeks doing nothing in the LiMerge building prior that mission. The future tense in the narration of Lockdown is to be regarded as an error, and this continuity screw-up allows us to pinpoint Lockdown's position in the timeline (unless, of course, we assume that Plagueis is on Sojourn after the attack and that the nuclear device Maul gets from Radique is completely unrelated to the one Veruna used).

Lockdown must take place between chapters 24 and 25 of Darth Plagueis. It actually fits beautifully and marvelously enhances the Bando Gora/Jabba plotline. So, Jabba picks up Maul and Komari Vosa from Cog Hive Seven, and the former heads for Coruscant while the latter picks up the bomb and goes to meet up with Veruna and Garyn. Jabba goes to Sojourn and informs Damask of the new Bando Gora leader: Komari Vosa ("I've heard rumors", Jabba says -- really, go back and read chapter 25 of Plagueis, this new dimension works so well, and of course makes Plagueis come out even more clueless and doubly outsmarted by Sidious). Once back on Coruscant, Maul is dispatched by Sidious to Dorvalla, and Palpatine then meets up with Dooku to talk about Vosa. After that, Palpatine leaves for Eriadu, detours to Naboo, the Summit assassinations go down, and the Black Sun-Bando Gora-Naboo attack team drops the bomb on Sojourn. We must also assume that getting the bomb from Cog Hive Seven is, like, the first thing Vosa does as the leader of the Gora.

In conclusion: Lockdown takes place something like 6.5 to 7 months before Ep. I, over a period of a few days (more than a week but less than a month), in between chapters 24 (Sith'ari) and 25 (The Discreet Charm of the Meritocracy) of Darth Plagueis, some weeks after Jedi Council: Acts of War and immediately prior to Saboteur and Cloak of Deception.

I'm happy.

 

Wait a minute. I thought it took place after Shadow Hunter but before TPM? Or so someone said earlier?

 

It does not take place after Shadow Hunter. Ain't no Sojourn left to bomb by the time Shadow Hunter goes down.

 

The timeline in the book says it takes place after Shadow Hunter, but the contents of the plot don't allow it to do so, so the timeline is wrong.

 

Stupid timeline and whoever told me that on here.

 

Maybe TCW finally broke Leland.

 

The timing sounded funky so I didn't believe it so good to know Lockdown is before SH.

 

What would you rate the book I am thinking about buying it.

 

So far the average is 7.13

http://boards.theforce.net/threads/the-jc-lit-reviews-special-maul-lockdown-spoilers.50018168/

 

Doesn't the book fit it in anywhere at all, since DP established that Plagueis only started to spend time with Sidious after Sojourn was destroyed, and he had permanently moved to Coruscant and bought that building? Their afternoon strolls - and one of those are depicted by Schreiber in 'Lockdown' - only started after Hego Damask was a permanent resident of Coruscant again, and they were part of the immediate preparation for Palpatine's grab for the chancellorship. The plan was to prepare the public for Damask's co-chancellorship as well as remind everyone that Hego Damask was supporting Senator Palpatine's campaign.

Thus this whole novel does not make any sense at all, at least not where the time line is concerned. It's really sad to see how inadequate most SW-writing authors truly are. Luceno can do his homework, why can't they?

 

Been there, done that...

 

It was okay. There were some things I liked and some things I DIDN'T like. It greatly depends on your tastes. In this novel, Maul barely uses the Force and never really uses a lightsaber because he's barred from using those things by Sidious so that he doesn't give away his identity as a Sith. It still works out real well though.

 

The whole prison mystery is kind of interesting, I think. I got hooked by some of the things going on in there. But on a larger scale, it's not a very interesting or important novel. But it's probably the first (and most likely only) novel with Darth Maul on its front page that is also dedicated to 'God, My Creator'. Whatever that may mean...

By the way: What's the problem with 'Patterns of the Force'? I've got that novel, but I did not yet come around to read it.

 

It has some timeline issues.

 

That much is evident. I wondered with what other stuff exactly?

 

Mostly with itself actually and the rest of the Coruscant Nights and MedStar books.

 

Because some of them treat writing for Star Wars as a hack job, I'd say?

OK, well, to be fair, A.) Plagueis already owned Kaldani Spires by 33 BBY, and B.) the afternoon strolls are never explicitly stated to have started after the destruction of Sojourn. The Plagueis narration just mentions that "Damask [...] had stressed the importance of their being seen together in public [...] in the weeks since the Muun had arrived on Coruscant". So Palpatine and Damask might have established a tradition of strolling around Monument Plaza in the afternoons before the Sojourn bombing, probably before Plagueis became a hermit (52 BBY).

There appears to be a contradiction in Damask's presence on Coruscant, however, as it is implied in Plagueis that he has not been to Coruscant in some time. He has not indeed been spending time with Sidious -- in fact, at that point they have rarely seen each other face to face in the past 20 years. But in Lockdown, Sidious is very surprised to see him on Coruscant, so it is at least consistent in that way.

I agree that this novel suffers from shoddy research, but in the end there aren't any really serious contradictions.

 

Well, Hego Damask and Ambassador/Senator Palpatine would not have spent any time together publicly on Coruscant since it's a vital plot point of DP that Damask only reveals his connection to Palpatine shortly before the attempt Santhe, Teem, and Company on his life, which, in turn, causes Damask to permanently move to Muunilinst/Sojourn. Thus it's not possible that they ever hung out on Coruscant before Damask returned to Coruscant.

Even more importantly, there was no need for Plagueis to see Sidious in person before he was forced to leave Sojourn. He had grown attached to the place, he even loved it (which, in turn, enabled Sidious to try assassinate him there - that would have been a much more foolhardy maneuver if Plagueis was constantly hopping around the galaxy).

Many people thought he had died before he his return. That would not have been the case had he spent any time on Coruscant recently...