Labyrinth of Evil (Star Wars, Episode III Prequel Novel)
by James Luceno
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Book Summary Information
Author: James LucenoEdition: Mass Market Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2005-09-27
ISBN: 0345475739
Number of pages: 370
Publisher: LucasBooks
Book Reviews of Labyrinth of Evil (Star Wars, Episode III Prequel Novel)
Book Review: "Next move? Spring the trap!"
Summary: 4 Stars
By now you've seen how it all ends, right? Episode III wraps up the Star Wars saga and ties all the loose ends, right? Well, it depends of your interpretation of "loose ends". If you're a casual fan of the saga, you've probably seen the prequels and never gave them a second thought. But if you're a fanatic, chances are you left the theater with the feeling that a few things here and there were left (purposely?) unanswered. And as we all know, Star Wars has a tendency to create fanatics, not fans, and it is for this second type of audience that this type of products (Expanded Universe novels, comics, cartoons, video games, etc) are created, so they can find some of those answers that they crave for.
Indeed, Labyrinth of Evil by James Luceno is a novel that depicts the events that immediately precede those seen in Episode III. Therefore the novel deals with the last weeks, days and even hours leading to that climax: we get to see how the Sith's plot to take over the galaxy finally comes to fruition, as the Jedi walk into a giant, centuries in the making "pincer move" that is forever going to change the face of that galaxy far, far away. And while it may seem a pointless thing to chronicle (since we all knew how it was going to end, even before the release of Episode III), Luceno actually manages to pull off a very entertaining, engaging book. The book was written in close collaboration with Lucasfilm and Matthew Stover (author of the novelization of Episode III) in order to have them mesh seamlessly.
The action starts in Cato Nemodia, home to the dastardly Nute Gunray (and other leaders of the Trade Federation), where Anakin Skywalker, now a fully fledged Jedi Knight, joins his former master Obi-Wan Kenobi with the objective of bringing Gunray and his entourage to justice. But instead of that, they come up with something potentially more valuable: clues as to the whereabouts and identity of the mysterious Sith mastermind, Darth Sidious.
From there, we are taken for a galaxy-wide ride, a race against time, with the Jedi trying desperately to uncover their insidious enemy, and the Sith's relentless drive to rule the galaxy. The novel (re)introduces all the major characters that we saw in Episode II and all those who will be seen in Episode III, in addition to a plethora of minor characters that play small, yet critical roles in this galaxy-spanning game of (holo)chess. The action is abundant, from deep space battles to melee skirmishes, and on to the greater conflict between the light and the dark sides of the Force.
Luceno's style of writing is pretty "graphic", if I may say so, meaning that he relies more on creating pictures of the characters rather than telling us word by word what they're thinking. He often lets a lot up to the reader to interpret from the "body language" that he endows the characters with. I've read some other comments stating that, because he has to introduce a lot of new locations, characters, alien species and/or vehicles, he spends a lot of time describing such things to the detriment of plot/character development, but I honestly don't agree with that; take his description of the new Republic ARC-170 starfighter for example: it is accurate enough for the reader to get a good impression of what the ship looks like without being too long, but it also leaves room for interpretation without being too succinct, a good balance all in all.
Another observation made about the novel is that, by making references to other Clone Wars novels (Dark Rendezvous, Cestus Deception, Shatterpoint,etc), comics (Republic) and even the Cartoon Network animated Clone Wars, it sometimes looses focus and confuses the reader with a bunch of bits that they might not be familiar with. Being a MAJOR Star Wars fans myself, I was familiarized with 95% of the references made and I enjoyed them a lot, but I guess I can actually see how they can be bit confusing for the casual fan. But let me ask you this: when you first saw Episode IV, did it really matter to you not knowing which planet Princess Leia was from? That information WAS NOT in the opening crawl for the movie, and yet we enjoyed it, didn't we? Well, I truly believe that the same can be said about these references: they don't get in the way, they just add, and if you're a dedicated fan you'll be delighted, as they are a real treat.
And as mentioned before, there's one more reason for Star Wars fans to pick this one up: the loose ends. This novel actually DOES tie a fair share of those, which I'm sure caused a lot a sleepless nights to a whole lot of people (LOL). What am I talking about? Naaah, I'm not gonna ruin it for ya, you're gonna have to read it, mates!!! You wouldn't want me to spoil them now, would you? And I wouldn't want to, either, anymore than I would have liked to reveal that Chewie was Luke's father BEFORE Episode V. (Uh, wait...is that how it goes...?)
And while I really enjoyed reading the book (and it didn't take long for me to finish it), there is one tiny little thing that left me wondering: the ending of the book. Chill, I'm not gonna ruin it, either, but let me say this: up until that point, Luceno had managed to perfectly balance the story he wanted to tell with the information about the Clone Wars from the other sources, including the Cartoon Network mini-series. But here, we find an almost totally different take on it, with the end result of two conflicting versions of the events. Some may argue that they are not entirely dissimilar, but the fact remains that they are different enough from each other to create a conflict. There are things about both interpretations (the one of the novel, the one of the mini-series) that I like, but in the end, I guess I'll stick with the mini-series' as the "canon" one.
Ultimately, I think that this is a book that can be enjoyed even by casual Star Wars fans, but I think that its true appeal will be fully appreciated by diehards, mostly. So there you go, if you're interested in going a little deeper than the movies, this is a great place to start and, in conjunction with the Episode III novelization and Luceno's next Star Wars book, Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader, makes for a compelling, truly enjoyable read.
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