*Official* LABYRINTH OF EVIL Thread (direct lead-in to ROTS!)

I actually think the title is one of the few good aspects of it. Anakin and Obi-Wan are thrown into a Labyrinth, they search for Sidious. At each turn they find another clue which leads them to their prey. They are thrown into a maze of lies, deception and the dark side.

-Seldon

 

I have to dissagree with Frank here. I found the book to have a great deal of urgency. Alost perfect lead in to Episode III.

 

There's really so many "labyrinths" in the book that the title is almost too obvious. Anakin and Obi-Wan are certainly tangled in one. So are the Jedi searching for Sidious on Coruscant. The Works themselves are a more literal labyrinth. One could say that even Grevious is caught, since he's entirely an unknowing pawn.


Are Obi-Wan and Anakin going to be able to sense Palpatine hiding himself in the Force? Is this the same technique Palpatine uses?

Then in LoE he talks about how the Force is no longer with the Jedi, but Anakin and Obi-Wan are so exceptional, he almost thinks the Force might still be with them.

You know I wonder if they'll be able to sense Sidious... Anakin especially... but he could be too close to see the forest for the tress, so to speak. I love that Dooku admires Anakin and Obi-Wan in this way, I suppose he sees it as they are the only ones worthy of the Force. They are the unstoppable Jedi team, and it really makes the events of ROTS that much worse. I hope there is some talk about the Force, and "who the Force is with". And there must be some kind of explaination about why no one could sense Palpsidious for so long.

 

I think that can be explained by the convergence of three factors:
1. Sidious was actively hiding.
2. The Darkside had clouded the Jedi's abilities to detect things through the Force.
3. They weren't looking for him.

 

I think that it was mostly that they weren't looking for him. When Yoda actually tried to look, he did sense Sidious. So now that they believe he exists... who besides Yoda can sense him? Can Obi-Wan or Anakin? And how long until they realize that they're actually sensing Palpatine? Yoda didn't quite seem to make the connection, even when Sidious' leaving the planet coincided with Palpatine's kidnapping.

 

The one theme I'm gaining from the book is the developing friendship between Obi-wan and Anakin, the sense of play that is growing between them. Anyone else picking up on that?

Imo, if you read this book before you see the movie, the confrontation which Obi-wan and Anakin have (in the Duel) is going to be much more emotional. Think of the impact ROTS will have (on you) when you have already "developed" more intimately the friendship beforehand.

Obi-wan knows Anakin was deceived by the dark side when he says to Luke, "seduced." Even after their conflict, Obi-wan still cares for Anakin when he tells Luke (in ANH, watch the facial expression), "...and, he was a good friend."

 

I've finished the novel.

What I liked:
Mace Windu's search for sidious in the tunnels.
The duel on the train between Mace and the General, that entire sequence.
The back story of General Grievous.
The explanation of Sifo Dyas
The insight into the training of Sidious
The scenes of Palpatine being a prisoner.
Anakin and Obi-Wan's friendship
The scenes with Bail, Padme, 3P0 and Mon Mothma


What needed to be improved:
The writing style
The plot in the first half of the novel
the scenes of Obi-Wan and Anakin on the hunt

What needed to be dropped:
the continual use of name dropping for the sake of name dropping.

In my opinion this was an okay EU book. It was nothing amazing, and is only viewed as that because so many people are so excited for Revenge of the Sith. It told many stories that had already been told. Luceno had it easy in this novel. All he had to do was get us excited with a great battle in Coruscant and give a little insight into Palpatine's plannings. He should have done far better than this.

Overall I would say a 6 out of 10.

-Seldon

 

What I was referring to about the title was the word "evil". Upon learning about the title of this book, I thought that the book will contain dark and evil tones and that suspense will be a key element. However, I was disappointed when there wasn't much of it going on. You see the depths of Obi-Wan and Anakin's friendship, but you don't see much of Anakin's tilt to the dark side. In some scenes, he does call upon his anger and rage to take some droids down but they are poorly and meagerly described. Anakin and Obi-Wan don't go much into a labyrinth because all the leads that they find are true. In the end, they do succeed in finding where Sidious was residing. Also, the suspense surrounding Sidious was also dimmed a whole lot. We learn about his master, his initiation of Dooku, how he came to know Grievous, and even some obscure name made up for his lair.

 

I have read this book and all I'm going to say is that, when you saw a new hope, did you want to know how Princess Leia got the plans for the death Star.

Yes:
Read the book

No:
Don't read the book but you might be a little confused

This is an excellent book I suggest that people read it.

 

(Hasn't read any of the previous replies in this topic )

Well, during my last visit to a nearby Borders, I saw a shiny new hardcover copy of LoE while browsing the Sci-Fi/Fantasy section. And I couldn't resist--I immediately picked it up, went to the open lounge section(You know, those places where people can relax in cushy chairs to read anything within the store) and plowed through it while my parents were doing other things in the store. Despite being a slow reader, I was able to read just short of a hundred pages before leaving. I suspect I'll go finish reading it without buying when I visit the store again... yeah, cheap, I know

I can't yet formulate a solid impression of what I've read, since I really was just rushing through it, but DAMN does it move at breakneck speed. It was a bit hard to put down.

 

I enjoyed this a great deal more than Yoda: Rendevous.

I was so hyped for Ep3 by the end of the book - I'm going to have to reread it in the last few days before May 19th!

My take on the Syfo-Dyas thing is this: the army was ordered, not because the Republic would need it (though SD may have believed that) but because Sidious needed a Universal-War in order to gain control of everything.

From the interview with Luceno, the post-ROTS novel sounds interesting . . .

 

Yeah, the post-ROTS novel does sound pretty interesting.

Back to the issue at hand...

I'm at Ch. 15 right now and I like the book. I haven't read a book with short chapters like this in a long time! I'm sure it's because of all the action going on, though. I like the connection of Anakin and OB1 being brought out immediately in the book, it's very interesting and cool. I think it's funny that they actually KEEP COUNT of how many times they've saved each other! Very humorous! I guess the only *spoiler* is about Sifo-Dyas. But it really isn't. Sifo-Dyas, to me, now is pretty irrelevant. And that's a 180 for me because I thought he'd be more important. I mean, did we REALLY need him in the story? Hypothetically speaking, they could have said Dooku ordered the clones in AOTC and it would still have the same affect to the storyline. I think Sifo was more about Dooku's character, or rather, character change in the storyline. What Dooku had done to go from Jedi to Sith. What I've read doesn't seem to me will wreck ROTS for me. So far, I haven't read anything that I feel is anywhere contributing to spoilers to ROTS. And believe me, I'm keeping my eyes open! It's just background info for some of the major characters so far. I'm looking forward to the rest of the book!

 

I just got finished with it and I didn't think it was too good. While it made me even more excited for RotS (like that's possible ) it was typical Luceno, which I don't fancy too much.

Also, while it was an excellent lead into RotS, it really didn't have anything else to it. The plot seemed to be there just to... uh, I don't know how to explain this very well. It's almost as if the plot was secondary while the details were the main part of the story. While it was fast paced and it started out really good (the missing chair), it didn't seem like anything of much importance occurred up until the actual battle at the end.

 

I'm on Ch. 46 now. Almost to the end. I think its pretty interesting, actually. I liked the search for Sidious, it's interesting to me. And every so often there is one or two lines that stand out to me. I'm enjoying it so far. It does seem like the author is a "live" reporter and although he's not addressing himself, he is giving accounts of what is going on in different areas. He's not building up a story, he's just telling what's going on. I don't mind it at all. There are some telling stuff about Dooku, Yoda (which I find interesting), Anakin, OB1, Grievous and Palpatine. Also, the relationship between Yoda and Palpatine. Interesting. Oh well, I'm going to try to finish it this weekend (hopefully).

P.S. Still haven't spotted any spoilers, for what its worth.

 

I finished it two days ago

I like:
Backstory information on Count Dooku
The reveal of Sidious's master's name
Anakin and Obi-Wan getting drunk together
Palpatine doing a Sith mind trick on General Grievous, and the fact that Grievous doesn't know that Sidious=Palpatine
Foreshadowing of C3PO memory wipe
Sifo-Dyas explanation


Didn't Like:
Mace's battle with Grievous. Just dragged on, although it was cool to see Mace best him.
Scenes with Padme, Bail etc. Seemed like filler material.

 

Now I'm done.

Pretty cool, I thought. I'm convinced now that EVERYONE that works for Sidious is a pawn. It's interesting that Dooku and Grievous actually contemplate this but never take it to task. On the other hand, how can they? I don't think you can just quit on Sidious. Another thing, if this book doesn't convince people that Palpatine=Sidious, nothing will. It's pretty obvious to me. I am now looking forward to reading Dark Rendevous, they lightly mentioned it LoE. More background info on Dooku and Yoda, mesathinks.

 

Dark Rendezvous is good in terms of the Yoda/Dooku relationship, and more on Dooku's opinions of Sidious.

You get a better sense of what Vader means when he says "I MUST obey my Master."

The stuff with the Padawans was alright in DR.

It was better written than LOE, but LOE had a better plot. Maybe because Luceno "stole" the plot from a bit of dialogue between Obi-Wan and Commander Cody in ROTS.

In some ways, LOE was good in spite of Luceno's writing, although he wrote the Anakin/Obi-Wan relationship excellently. Writing the direct prequel to ROTS is a cushy job; I bet I could have done a decent job myself.

 

I just started the book and have a quick question, has Cody been in any other EU?

 

Just finished it after a marathon reading session. Perhaps I enjoyed it more merely because it leads RIGHT into ROTS, but I did think it expanded a lot on character (and I'm not a regular EU reader). The relationship between Obi-Wan and Anakin felt natural and strong - it fit my vision of how they could go from being stern master and headstrong student to good friends.

I liked the parts with Padme, more because her character is always portrayed so stiffly and diplomatically in the films. It's nice to get inside her head to see the toll the war and her secret marriage has taken.

Perhaps I'm misreading this, but at the end, does it imply that Dooku is not aware that Palpatine = Sidious? I may have to re-read that last bit with Dooku, but that really confused me, I would have thought that Dooku would HAVE to know. Anyone have clarification on this?

I've read Luceno's work before with the Robotech series when he was working with another writer. His descriptions don't really bother me, but his strange aversion to using commas in their proper places really irritated. Such is the mindset of a copywriter/editor...

And I'm glad to see I'm not the only one who thought about Spider Man 2 w/ Mace at the end!

 

I just finished this today. Read through it in just a couple of days, as I found myself dying to know what happens next. I thought it was a very enjoyable read. I like the fact that it gave us so much backstory on so many different events.

Alas, it made me wish once again that the sequence of the PT had been different...I think Lucas made a mistake allowing the Clone Wars to be played out off-camera. This book in particular would have made a great Episode II. Much like TESB, it ends with a pivotal main character being abducted, and the rescue yet to come in the final installment. I think that the PT would have worked much better as:

EpI: AOTC, modified to allow for an introduction to Anakin Skywalker and his backstory
EpII: some hybrid of the Clone Wars Eu stuff, ending with significant portions of LoE
EpIII: ROTS

The sense of urgency in the Clone Wars is much like the OT, with the very fate of the galaxy at stake. It would have worked well on screen. In particular I think the hunt for Sidious by Mace through the belly of Coruscant would have played well on screen, especially the final conflict with the commandos. Also the growing suspicion of the Jedi Council, and the growing divide between Palps and the Jedi is very important, and should have been handled on screen. The events of Anakin's youth could have been explained with some brief dialogue scenes. Much as the events of the OT began in media res, the events of the PT, and the story of Anakin Skywalker, could have been much the same.

I think the on screen excitement and entertainment of the Clone Wars story in LoE would have been much more enjoyable than the introductory story of TPM.

 

PT would have worked much better as:

EpI: AOTC, modified to allow for an introduction to Anakin Skywalker and his backstory
EpII: some hybrid of the Clone Wars Eu stuff, ending with significant portions of LoE
EpIII: ROTS

I've had the same thought.

 

Just finished it. I enjoyed it but what really won me over besides the number of revelations (Sifo-Dyas, Plageous etc.) was the truly friendship bond between Anakin and Obi-Wan. It sorta makes you sad they they will be having the duel in roughly a few days.

 

I've also thought the same things.

Although TPM in some ways was better than AOTC - it was more cohesive. I would say a 50/50 split of TPM and AOTC, but this is a great argument for Saga or when we go to the PT Forum.

 

This is my favoirte EU book(and I've read a lot of them). I could just feel it leading into Episode III and the whole ending seemed so gloomy.

So sad but so much fun.

I gave it, in the Lit forum, a rare 10/10.

 

Quick question:

I think I remember a part when Anakin and OB1 are chasing Dooku. Then I remember Anakin becoming so angry he shouts Dooku's name very loudly. Then I believe the book describes that the room OB1 and Anakin are in collapses. The book also describes something else may have caused the room to collapse. Dooku then asks himself if the room indeed collapsed because of Anakin becoming more powerful in the Force to where he can make a room collapse by the power in his voice. Does anyone have any thoughts on this? Did Anakin actually make the room collapse? I can't remember off-hand what chapter this part occured. I'm pretty sure it was past the half-way point. Just curious.