Reviews Books The JC Lit Reviews Special: LABYRINTH OF EVIL (spoilers - but not for EPISODE III)

"Are you brain-dead?!"

It's a joke on Ebert's "two thumbs up" thing. Yeah, i know it's not that funny.

 

Tera Kasi is the matrial arts style utilized by the characters in Masters of the Teras Kasi, a Star Wars fighting game for the PS1.

 

Great book, especially the last third. 9.4/10

 

This book is TIGHT! And Damn impressive. The closer I got to the end the more I thought "And this is all just set-up for Revenge. Holy Moley!"

The good:
-Luceno's flowery prose.
-Anakin and Obi-Wan's relationship is finally moved to the point that we see that the two are actually friends and peers.
-The Palpatine/Sidious relationship mystery is still intact for those of us who are avoiding the ROTS spoilers.
-The Sifo-Dyas/Dooku/Clone Army backstory was told, something that I expected to hear during ROTS.

The bad:
-I wasn't impressed with GG, he came off flat to me. I can't wait to see him in action on the big screen however.
-I feel like it spoiled too much of, at the very least, the beginning of ROTS.
-Frankly I expected a ways back that the twins were going to be conceived during this book. Alas I see know that it must happen during "Obsession." It seems a pity to me that I can't recall any scene with Padme and Anakin together in any of the novels.

All in all, LoE is an exciting and suspenseful novel which absolutely managed to live up to the level of expectation I had coming into the endeavor of reading it.

9.6 is the arbitrary score I will choose to assign it.

 

Anybody have a explantion for lus-ma? I think I read somewhere that term is actually a continuty error for one of the other lightsaber combat forms. Apperciate it if someone could check it out.

 

Only one phrase can sum up ObiWan in this story:

Drunken Master!

Not just a pun either, as martial arts film fans will know, the art of drunken kung fu was made famous by Jackie Chan - now in LOE we see the Jedi have a version of it!

JB

 

This book is TIGHT!

I didn't notice the binding on my copy being any stiffer than other hardcovers

 

Counting 51 reviews: 464.35/51 = 9.10

 

Just finished it last night, and found it to be a stunning, astounding read; and easily the best PT-era piece of EU yet writen.

I give it a 10/10; only because it's not possible to give it an 11/10.

 

"The parts I did like were the times we see Grievous, and Luceno did a good Battle of Coruscant. Outside of those two areas, nothing really stuck out in my mind."

I couldn't agree more with that.
and I agree with the user who stated that Yoda wouldn't speak in contractions.

Many users are excited for the up-coming movie this excitement adds to the novel for them and makes them look at it in more favor than usually would be the case. If we all examine the novel again after Reveng of the Sith comes out, I'm confident the reviews would be lower.
That is how I feel anyway.

-Seldon

 

Why can Windu walk away from a Greevy / Ventress duel and few others can't? I'd like to see someone other than a superior elitist hold their own for once. Rite of Passage is one fo the few comics you'll see that, and where the feeble wizards are allowed to have a few snappy lines too!

 

I don't mind over-using the Jedi super heroes, however I would like a fairly well written, interesting and original novel.
That is rare in EU, in my opinion.
Shatterpoint was a good read for me as was The Thrawn trilogy and duology. Also on that list is I, Jedi and Stackpole's NJO duology.
Other than that, I haven't seen anything else worthwhile in the EU.

-Seldon

 

A very solid 8/10!

There were some real Star Wars scenes in this one and I had a lot of fun with it! Actually, this is the first Clone Wars book, which I really enyoyed the whole time.

I'm one of those, who like to read about the main heroes, like Anakin and Obi-Wan. And I like to read storys of them together, not separated like in "The Cestus Deception" or "Jedi Trial".

A good book! Read it, if you`re a Clone Wars fan!

 

I liked the book overall. 9/10. I was disappointed in the weakened character of Padme......its hinted that she's expecting, but it was annoying to see her strong personality be put to the side

 

Counting 54 reviews: 491.35/54 = 9.10

 

Many users are excited for the up-coming movie this excitement adds to the novel for them and makes them look at it in more favor than usually would be the case. If we all examine the novel again after Reveng of the Sith comes out, I'm confident the reviews would be lower.

I agree with Seldon on this 100%.

 

I don't - my favourite bit was the middle section, the search for Sidious (namely Charros -> Escarte -> cold, icy place), which would have worked perfectly well as a stand alone story, without the ties to Episode III.

 

Darth-Seldon posted on 2/28/05 12:53pm

---

[i]"The parts I did like were the times we see Grievous, and Luceno did a good Battle of Coruscant. Outside of those two areas, nothing really stuck out in my mind."[/i]
Many users are excited for the up-coming movie this excitement adds to the novel for them and makes them look at it in more favor than usually would be the case. If we all examine the novel again after Reveng of the Sith comes out, I'm confident the reviews would be lower.
That is how I feel anyway.

-Seldon

[hr][/blockquote]

Wow. You can read minds? And the future? [face_confused]

I don't think you or Mastage know what I'll be thinking when [i]Revenge of the Sith[/i] comes out. [face_shame_on_you] Remember, you Literary Giants you, it all comes down to [link=http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=opinion]opinion[/link]. Must we point it out on a daily basis? [face_clown]

And Excellence, before you say anything - don't make me hurt you. [face_tongue] [face_hugs]

And on Padmé, have any of you ever been pregnant or around a pregnant woman for any length of time? [face_cry]

Looking back - the twins were probably concieved in [i]Obsession[/i]. There is a case also for it to have been [u]Secrets of the Jedi[/u]. They had a couple of scenes, especially before they left for the mission that they were alone.

 

I'm confident . . . this is how I feel.

Nope, rhonderoo, he wasn't stating an opinion. He was indeed claiming to be a prognosticating telepath.

 

I have been around pregant women quite alot and they are usually running a range between being aggressive and blubbering....i just think Padme's character could have been handled more realistic in comparsion to her character in TPM and AOTC....

 

And on Padmé, have any of you ever been pregnant or around a pregnant woman for any length of time?

Yes, I have. My then 44-year old mother had my little sister about a year and a half ago. She was more pissy than whinny like Padme was in the novel.

 

I was a blubbering idiot. Around month 7, you are tired, cranky, your feet hurt and your emotions are all over the place. And on top of that, you have to go running to some friggin' safe place when all hell is breaking loose and carry a gun and worry about the safety of your baby(ies), all while being involved in a speeder wreck...

Mastage -

 

9.5/10


The beginnig was a little slow for me but that end really made up for it. Mace vs. Grevious was awesome.

 

I enjoyed the book very much!!!

A very good lead in to the movie.

One thing that bothered me...the conversation between a the silver protocol droid and C3PO.

How did he either know what was coming? Was he programmed to tell C3PO and others what he said or am I looking into this way too much? Propoganda scare droid?

I read this part very late at night so maybe I was too tired to see what was going on there.
Any help would be appreciated

I rate the book a 9.8 out of 10.

 

Rhonda . . . I did actually enjoy Vader's characterisation in Shadows of the Empire, you know, despite the uniquely quixotic writing of the book. But it doesn't mean I'm not curious how the fella eats and later exudes for a cyborg. Or what the Korriban spooky clan will say to him if they met.

Does he dream of Padme or a TDL-3.5 Nanny droid? And if he doesn't shower, what's his aura like?