Reviews Books The JC Lit Reviews Special: MAUL: LOCKDOWN (spoilers)

I liked this book a lot more than I thought I would. When I went in to it expecting it to be dark on the levels of the movie Black Death (if you haven't ever seen it–don't). But it actually wasn't. I liked a lot of the characters and the mystery of who Radique really was had me on the edge of my seat until it was revealed. There were several great twists (Zero, for example), and I actually liked that Maul did not once through the whole book use his own lightsaber. The Vong fight at the beginning was a bit surprising and the whole "taking his tooth back from inside the Vong's mouth" thing was a bit much, but overall it was well-done.

The biggest complaint I have with it is the level of violence. Maul must've been Superman for some of the things he did because the physical destruction he causes while unarmed is staggering. He actually rips a varactyl's head from its body, reaches into a wampa's chest and stops its heart with his bare hands, staples a Vong's mouth shut with its own piercings...and that's all in the first half of the book. The whole Syrox thing was genuinely creepy and implied even from the very beginning of the book when it devours the Vong's corpse. And having Maul kill it...well, what's one more hash marks on the list of "creatures I killed today" going to hurt?

I loved the characters of Zero, Coyle, Artagan and Eogan Truax, and Sadiki Blirr. Plagueis and Palpatine's appearances were also well-written and enjoyable. Artagan Truax reminded me very much of http://oncepodcast.com/files/2012/10/Surprised-Mr-Gold-after-purple-haze-Broken-2x01.jpg]this[/url] guy, for whatever reason. Overall Schrieber did a great job with the new characters, as well as with the old ones. Although I admit I was a little disappointed that there was no buildup behind who Radique truly was in the end. It was like, shock value for his species, and that was it. I expected it to be one of the character's I'd known through the whole book, so it fell a little flat even though I was truly surprised by his species.

Overall: 7/10

 

Average score: 43.5/6 = 7.25

 

Lockdown is also tempered by humor and hope. If you get it ...

Radique was no Chiss. He was Duros like Cad Bane IMHO.

Actually I didn't understand neither. It seems to contradict the Plagueis-Novel of James Luceno. Or is Lockdown just an update of the previous knowledge of Sidious' sinister moves?

Me neither

BTW: We have already an older thread about this book. I had already a posting there
Maybe one may merge the threads?

 

I think he's called out as being near-human, with black hair, and glowing eyes. Duros eyes don't glow, and I've never seen one with hair.

 

In my book is written:

For Cad Bane is always wearing that hat, I can only speculate if Bane's hair is jet-black too or blonde

Well, the wolf-worm is Darth Vitiate from "Revan"

 

I was thinking more of those two guys in Mos Eisley Cantina. And Bane is seen sans hat a few times - when he's disguised as a clone trooper and his helmet has come off - and when he kills someone to get himself a better hat.

 

So...
does he contradiqued the EU


(...sorry.)

 

Maul IS Superman while cunningly killing all these beings without force-usage and drawing out shrewd and clever plans in accordance to the task, Sidious have set out for him. And actually I didn't expect in this book a Maul meditating all the time in his prison-cell, or receiving and answering romantic letters from many females outside the prison. Or to repent or redeem something. Not in such an awful kind of prison. Maybe the novel would have been less bloody if Maul had been an inmate in a Western European prison nowadays instead.

 

Doesn't that make him more Batman? (Or, for that matter, Batman's antagonist Bane?)

 

Hi Iron Lord,

Darth Bane maybe. Lol

 

Where's the Force?
While riveting in moments, the overall feeling upon closing the book was disappointed. Disappointed that Maul's tools were taken away from his character throughout the book. That would have been a great book about some non-Force Sensitive character of strength, but I missed Maul's Force presence. That apart, the characterizations were cool as were some of the twists in the book. I saw some things coming, others not, but on the whole, it was entertaining enough to keep me engaged. There were a few moments where I had to suspend my belief system, but otherwise good. I didn't like the cliche 'enemy of my enemy is my friend' wrap up so much. Ultimately, it seems to me Maul could have gotten the job done faster and more effectively if he'd of simply gone in swinging, but that didn't seem to be in the cards.

7.5/10

 

Don't complain to us, but to Sidious . He was the one to forbid Maul to use the force. He wasn't allowed to draw unnecessary attention to him and the plans, Sidious had set for Maul in this full crowded prison. He can use force only, when nobody else is around. And there were holocams everywhere in the prison. Had Maul do otherwise, the Jedi could have been informed easily. You saw that there were enough beings in the prison to do everything to earn some credits about whatever. And at this time, the Sith weren't ready to present themselves to the public. That was only on Tatooine, later at Naboo.

 

Yes, but that was contrived by the author. It made sense, as you pointed out, but I just missed Maul the Sith and I wish he had shifted the storyline so as to include active use of the Force. I read these books unspoiled, so I didn't know what to expect at all, so I was kind of hoping throughout for Lightsabers, Force shoves and any other tricks Maul might have up his sleeves. But it was still entertaining, so it's cool.

 

I also was "unspoiled". Unspoiled in the way that I duly followed the author's and Sidious' guidelines and didn't expect anything to happen as you were apparently yearning for. And my expectations were even surpassed very soon. The environment- and scene-descriptions of Schreiber are just so plastical and natural that I was stunned. And I find the fact amazing and fascinating that Maul accomplished all this in the book even without using the force or his lightsaber.I still wonder if his master would have done equally if put by Plagueis into the same situation.

 

I picked this up this week, so its next in line after Tarkin for me to read. Looking forward to it as I liked the other Maul novel Shadowhunter.

 

5 chapters in and for the moment I'm interested enough to keep going. It's refreshing to see how a Force-sensitive deals with the different gangs in a high-security prison without the Force or his lightsaber.
Only slight negative so far: the first fight with the Yuuzhan Vong at the beginning - it went much too easily for Maul, especially the final part at close-quarters range, when the Vong just stood and took it, instead of using his hands or otherwise put up a fight. A bit underwhelming.
Still, curious to see how it pans out.

 

Finished chapter 13 "Cautionary Tale" and my initial enthusiasm has seriously waned. The idea is excellent, but Schreiber is just a bad writer for me - terrible storytelling with WTF moments like the dropbox incident at the end of chapter 9. Maul himself expected to die - and didn't do anything to stop the guard, just stood there and watched him push the button. And then fight number 2 with the wampa - another clumsy description where at the end the opponent stands and waits to be killed. Not to mention that most characters are clumsily developed if at all and the way they behave is childishly presented.

This story has great potential to entertain, but the way it is told makes it more and more of a chore for me to read.

 

Oh how I wish that all the harsh and fierce critics would present their refined and sophisticated version of the story just as it "should " be.

 

"I may not be a shoemaker, but I know a good pair of shoes when I see one."
Lots of better writers in the EU.

Past chapter 25 now and the story took a turn for the better after the escape attempt in chapter 18. The writing is still clumsy, but at least things are somewhat interesting again.

 

Phew, it's over. At last.

With a few exceptions that I mention below, this book is quite a disappointment. If I were to describe it with a single word, it would be "clumsy". Clumsy writing, clumsy characterizations, clumsy lines, clumsy storytelling.

Great idea, bungled execution.

3/10 for the parts with Plagueis/Sidious, Komari Vosa and Sadiki Blirr, in that order.

 

It was a good follow up to Darth Plagueis and a kinda prequel to Bounty Hunter despite the pretty massive time gap. Was brutal and fun. I give it 4 stars out've 5. I also enjoyed it as it shows off Maul's ability to not use the Force or a lightsaber, just his fighting ability and wit in an extreme perilous & hostile environment filled with experienced and very deadly enemies. It put a Force character into a non-Force using scenario and he was every bit as deadly.

 

Shoes are a good comparison indeed! Some guys like Jimmy Choe Schreiber and some don't. I like his action-packed style and IMHO that book still doesn't lack dephth in character-description while many things are presumed to be known already by the reader I suppose.

 

I was hoping that the last EU novel I'd ever read would at least be decent. Red Harvest was a disappointment, but I thought Schreiber did fine with Death Troopers. And prisons are always a great setting for pulpy action. I was disappointed.

The prose is merely so-so, describing a lot of gory violence without much imagination. Maul is a boring lead character -- not because he's emotionless, but because he's not emotionless enough. He's a totally generic tough guy who manages to kill everybody but keeps doubting and hesitating and getting distracted and has a kid sidekick he feels kind of bad for even though he says he doesn't and is indistinguishable from any antihero ever. Schreiber never digs into the far more unique and compelling idea of Maul as a Sith Terminator -- an emotionless, utterly ruthless, relentless killing machine of pure, focused rage and hatred. You want to be a horror author, give us a look inside that guy's mind as he slaughters his way through a mission. But the guy we got . . . bleh. I've seen dozens of him, and this was not even an engaging take on that guy. The rest of the characters were no better, generic archetypes shuffled around to suit the plot.

And the plot was terrible. Absolutely nothing about it makes any sense. Why is Radique operating from a prison? What possible advantage does this have? Why does Maul have to infiltrate the prison to contact him? Surely there's some way to contact the guy if he does goddamn business across the galaxy. The whole concept of an infinitely mutable prison is utter nonsense, and the way the prison is run (or not run, more accurately, with inmates wandering through a postindustrial wasteland completely at will and no appearance of functional surveillance, let alone control) is ludicrous, and sacrifices all the narrative hooks of a prison setting. Schreiber tries to recapture some limitations with the nonsensical requirement that Maul not use the Force, but that's yet one more question that the premise raises without answering. Why is there a Gaming Commission overseeing patently illicit bloodsport? There's just no part of the premise that isn't begging a steady succession of questions. And then Schreiber goes nowhere with it. He sets the whole soggy plot up as a mystery -- who is Iram Radique? -- and bungles every part of the process of resolving it. Maul's "investigation" just consists of walking around asking random people to tell him about Iram Radique, the ultra-secretive guy no one is supposed to be willing to talk about, if they even somehow know about him. Schreiber just doesn't know how to construct a mystery narrative. And then Schreiber just keeps recycling the same tiny selection of people around without Maul making any real progress (or demonstrating any intellect) before finally revealing that . . . yes, the people who seem like likely candidates to be Radique or know about Radique in fact work for Radique. All of them. But Radique isn't any of them. He's nobody we've ever met before. He just shows up at the end out of nowhere and then goes away again. Great mystery! Schreiber even takes the one person who makes the most interesting twist revelation as Radique, and squanders him in a twist revelation . . . that makes absolutely no sense whatsoever, is never even remotely explained, and has no real effect.

It's poorly constructed, mediocre, and most sinfully, boring. 3/10.