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

Darth Maul is back -- from the dead, and on bookshelves! This is still set before he came back, though, so you don't have to worry about that.

Some rules: rate Lockdown on a scale of 1 to 10, supplementing your rating with a review, if you want to (It's not necessary but is highly encouraged). However, please do not rate or review the book until after you've read the whole thing. Thanks.

Go for it.

 

Good
Great atmospheric writing, just like in Death Troopers
Vosa has a nice string of motivations going when we read about her
Jabba is just epic in this book, with a perfect mix of easily bored, mean spirited and a master at pushing people’s emotional buttons. Also I think it is one of the first times that Jabba is described as “draconic” by someone else then me
Tie-Ins and Cameos (Bando Gora, the Purge etc.)
A ton of different POV characters that add a lot of atmosphere
Interesting setting and cast


Bad
It drags a little until it gets going
I know it is kind of the point, but this book is very mean spirited and often a little too graphic for my liking
Vosa seemed a little underpowered when it came to fighting the “Endboss”

Ugly

The Wolf Worm is properly the most messed up creature to ever show in up in SW.

8.5 of 10 from me.

 

The whole "gestalt of the stuff it's eaten" reminded me somewhat of the Sarlacc in A Barve Like That.

 

Yeah but at least the Sarlacc only talks to you once it has eaten you, not whilst it is coming at you.

 

What i liked:
-The mystery and suspense of who this Radique was or if he even existed kept me wanting to find out what happens next.
-More into Sidious and Plagueis relationship towards the end of Plags life.
-Seeing how deadly Maul is even without the force. Him vs a vong was pretty cool.
-Great atmosphere and pretty violent and bloody for star wars, But fits when its to do with a sith inside a prison
-Entertaining Side Characters

What bugged me:
-Radique turns out to be a random chiss with no back story or why he is there in a prison? This was kind of disappointing
-Wolf Worm was a little too Horror story for me
-Jabba, vosa, Vesto all just know maul by name, Isn't he supposed to be a mystery and unknown to the galaxy at this time? Maybe i missed something in other EU works.

Also, Did Plagueis really know what Sidious was up to? Got a little lost on this part.

Overall i really enjoyed this book and couldn't put it down, My dislikes weren't a story killer or anything. 9/10

 

I enjoyed it...more than I though I would. The story pulled me through and kept me engaged. Always a good thing. I liked the characterization in general...and that Maul HAD character beyond scary looking and @$$ kicking.

8/10

 

3/10

Ultimately irrelevant, an unnecessary collection of elements fused together that have no business anywhere near each other, a small and yet still underdeveloped and generic cast featuring a protagonist who could have easily been anyone other than Maul and would've been far more interesting for it, an obsession with violence and gore bordering on an addiction at the expense of the rest of the story, and the failure to do anything particularly interesting or meaningful with what was fundamentally a good concept. Approximately as memorable as Ruins of Dantooine.

 

Average score: 28.5/4 = 7.13

 

I completely forgot to review this book! Ah well, better late than never. My full review is here, so just a few quick thoughts.

In short, Schrieber's quick style and brutally raw detail is the perfect tone and approach for a story about Darth Maul. I very much enjoyed seeing a character like his working his way through one of the darker settings in the Star Wars galaxy, but the kind you would of course to expect to be out there. In a way similar to Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter, we have an exploration of the character that I think fits him very well, but does so in a completely different way. Whereas Shadow Hunter showcased Maul's relentlessness and physical prowess of a living weapon, here we see more of what I think was first fully explored in The Clone Wars, where we're seeing his calculation and planning, using not only his fighting abilities but his mind to maneuver through the social structure of this prison, to play the sides against each other, place himself into gradually more prominent positions, and gather the information he needs to accomplish his goal. It's very well done and results in one of my favorite portrayals of the character we've had to this point.

The setting and the players involved add a lot to the intrigue and interest that I had in the story, from the diverse and colorful inmates, to the ruthless and greedy warden, and a few familiar faces from the era. Learning the secrets and motivations of all of these unpredictable figures was one of the great pleasures of the story.

The story certainly does borrow from a few sources. The mystery surrounding Iram Radique likely reminded more than a few readers of near mythical figures like The Usual Suspects' Keyser Soze. The concept of inmates fighting to the death and broadcast to the galaxy at large reminded me so much of 2008's Death Race remake that I imagined Joan Allen as the warden, even after she was described as dark-haired. Even when ideas aren't necessarily original, though, when they're well done, it's not an issue for me, and I think they worked here.

It wasn't perfect, though. I felt like the book lost its way for a while after Maul thinks he's failed his mission, which I suppose might reflect his state of mind at that point. It tightens up again as it nears the end and the prison ironically devolves into chaos, but things felt a little sloppy leading up to the climactic end. I still think there are a few head scratchers, like Artagan claiming Eogan knows everything. And I'm still not sure why Komari and Maul didn't kill everyone aboard Jabba's ship once they were safely away. Maybe they were so outnumbered even they wouldn't have been able to pull it off, but it seemed like there was a change of heart at the end with little explanation.

Speaking of Komari, I enjoyed her appearance, but it came so late that she didn't get the development I'd have liked to see. Schrieber seems to try to set up a team-up dynamic between her and Maul, almost like Jango and Zam, though it doesn't seem like there's enough time before Episode I to explore that any further.

Still, it's a good read, certainly a pleasant surprise after my initial reservations when it was first announced. Alas, those thoughts weren't as quick as I had expected them to be. Oh well.

8/10

 

Average score: 36.5/5 = 7.30

 

i liked your post, not because i have read the book but because you are a dissenting voice of reason. We should not have vong fighting Maul ever, and gratuitous violence has no place in star wars to me.

 

Let's just say SW doesn't have to reach Kill Bill levels of gore to be entertaining

 

that is not gratuitous in my eyes. it was the only scene like that, where you see blood

 

Üh you might want to watch ANH again.

 

and ROTS. So many limbs man.

 

i guess my definition of gratuitous is different from all of yours. Star Wars movies may have violence and limbs being cut off, even kids getting massacred. But you dont see lots of blood and gore. And it is not endless violence. It is tempered by humor and hope.

 

From ANH. Lightsaber cauterization fail.

 

Nice and wholesome.

 

yeah and that was it. a quick shot, and then it was over. i already made my case. actually thats an inaccurate picture considering lightsabers cauterize. the above star wars picture of the burned person is not in any star wars book or movie that i have seen.

 

You're among the biggest fans of NJO going JM yet you dislike "gratuitous violence" ?!

Don't see how you can possibly square that circle, as NJO has no shortage of it. It is particularly evident in DTII and SBS and never mind Traitor....

 

Your views are you own. Really makes no difference to me what you do or don't prefer. But there is blood and a heck of a lot of violence in Star Wars. I wouldn't call the films gory though. Although, I don't consider Lockdown gory either.

But, you know, different strokes.

The arm was is in the movie, blood and all.

And that "burned person" is Hayden Christensen in his roasted Anakin make-up, featured in ROTS.

You have watched the movies, correct?

 

I'd see a major difference in the medium of how such sequences work. In film it can be quite brief - personally I think Lucas overdid in both Ep 2 and 3 - in books, it's more involved in some ways as you get the info to build up a picture which can be much longer. What you can get away with in one isn't necessarily so in the other. And sometimes greater latitude is afforded....

 

Your violence argument does not belong in the review thread.

 

ok sorry. but i do agree. The NJO did test my violence quota. But there was so juch other good in the series. humor, romance and such.
i may try lockdown sometime. maybe at least grab a sample or borrow it on kindle