ROTS Novel Trilogy (including Dark Lord) - - - [spoiler tags please!]

[Astrotoy7]

I have created this thread to provide a place where people can comment on the Episode III Novel Trilogy(for want of a better term !)

I have merged the existing "Labyrinth of Evil" and "Dark Lord" threads

Therefore, *this* is the place for your comments about

*Labyrinthe of Evil by James Luceno
*ROTS Novelisation by Matt Stover
*Dark Lord by James Luceno

any related comic adaptations

It will be stickied until further notice

Thank you
Astro.

REMEMBER : USE SPOILER TAGS !!!!!

* * *

James Lucenos Episode 3 prelude novel, "Labyrinthe of Evil" is just around the corner Scheduled for release on Jan 25, it will be the equivalent of what 'The Approaching Storm' was for Ep2.

As enticing as it looks, and as much as I enjoy Luceno's SW efforts, I am trying to be very spoiler free for ep3 and dont think I'll read this before May....

Heres the little blurb from SW.com, no spoilerage material IMO

Making the wait for Episode III's cinematic debut easier for Star Wars fans is Del Rey's release of Labyrinth of Evil, the new Star Wars novel that directly ties into the beginning of Episode III's shocking events.
Author James Luceno writes this new adventure, with access to detailed Episode III information from Lucasfilm, ensuring an authoritative prelude to the final Star Wars chapter. Star Wars: Labyrinth of Evil also dovetails neatly with the climax of the Cartoon Network's all-new five episode Star Wars: Clone Wars series to air in March 2005.

Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker embark on their last big mission together before the events of Episode III. It is the Chosen One's first assignment with Obi-Wan as a full-fledged Jedi Knight. The Clone Wars are nearing their climactic resolution, with the Jedi investigating tenuous leads as to the location of Darth Sidious, the long-rumored mastermind behind the dark events clouding the

galaxy. But such a search leads deep into a web of lies, and an explosive adventure that sets the stage for Episode III...

If you want a bit more detail (and *spoilers*) Del Rey's site has a bit more.... http://www.randomhouse.com/delrey/st...sbn=0345475720

It really does look an interesting read, and the fact it ties in with the 3rd season of the clone wars series is hella cool

anyone planning on picking this up before Ep3 ??

nice cover too (*contains a spoiler for a character in episode III*)

http://www.myimgs.com/data/astrotoy7/LoE.jpg


mtfbwya

[Sivy]

sounds good.

i'm glad James Luceno is writing it.
'cloak of deception' was really good IMO, but i thought 'the appoaching storm' wasn't anything special.

i probably will get the book when it's released, just as i'll watch season 3 of the clone wars cartoon.

[Rogue Nine]

All these prequel books are pretty much the only SW books I can get nowadays. The NJO is total garbage and there hasn't been a lot of New Republic stuff for years, which saddens me. But this new book looks good, so I'll probably pick it up.

[Astrotoy7]

Originally posted by Rogue Nine
All these prequel books are pretty much the only SW books I can get nowadays. The NJO is total garbage and there hasn't been a lot of New Republic stuff for years, which saddens me. But this new book looks good, so I'll probably pick it up.

The New Republic was spectacularly decimated by the Yuuzhan Vong by the time the NJO reached Star by Star, but.....um you missed that becoz NJO like soooo suxxorzzz and is like something from Trek, right So there will never be any "New Republic" novels ever ! Theres an interim type ruling body called the GFFA now....Im sure things will change in the post NJO books, because GFFA is far too long a name

yeah, Luceno is among my fave SW writers, right up there with Matt Stover and Mike Stackpole

mtfbwya

[Pho3nix]

I may buy it, But it's kinda hard to find any SW books in Finland, the latest book that i read was a Clone Wars novel called "Cestus Deception" it was pretty good.

[Astrotoy7]

Originally posted by Sivy
...i probably will get the book when it's released, just as i'll watch season 3 of the clone wars cartoon.

yes of course. but we all know you are the spoiler king of LF

as May gets closer I'm gonna close my eyes every time a post bears your name!



mtbwya

[wassup]

Originally posted by Rogue Nine
All these prequel books are pretty much the only SW books I can get nowadays. The NJO is total garbage and there hasn't been a lot of New Republic stuff for years, which saddens me. But this new book looks good, so I'll probably pick it up.

Stop bashing the NJO every chance that you get, have you even read the entire series yet?

Back on topic, what's with the title "Labyrinth of Evil", sounds like something from D&D. Ah well, at least from the cover it looks like we'll get to see more of

spoiler:

Grevious

.

[Astrotoy7]

Originally posted by wassup
Stop bashing the NJO every chance that you get, have you even read the entire series yet?

Back on topic, what's with the title "Labyrinth of Evil", sounds like something from D&D. Ah well, at least from the cover it looks like we'll get to see more of

spoiler:

Grevious

.

he he. This is part of the reason Astro was made a mod here. As the others are NJO bashers here, I suggested that a NJO friendly person would be valuable to promote/describe the books, answer questions, and moderate NJO discussion.... see my new revised NJO thread (its stickied now)

As with "Labyrinth" I wish these damn americans would learn how to spell it right......"Labyrinthe"(UK and rest of world english spelling)


Yes,

spoiler:

Grievous

seems a most interesting character. I only know of him from seeing the final episode of the Clone wars cartoon. Man, he looks pretty badass. Though Im not sure if he would work underwater

mtfbwya

[Kurgan]

Spoiler tags added... *cough*

[Astrotoy7]

Originally posted by Kurgan
Spoiler tags added... *cough*

I thought about this, I figured since coupes uses him as his Av, his pic is in the above pic, and he was in Clone Wars everyone might have an inkling. I guess, its OK to look at him but not name him ??

anyway, sorry boss. Wont happen again without taggage

You probably better should get onto coupes about his Av ??

re-reads Ep III spoiler policy !

mtfbwya

[Prime]

Originally posted by wassup
have you even read the entire series yet?

Why would he read a series he thinks sucks in its entirety?


Jeez Astro, haven't you clean up this place yet?

[Astrotoy7]

Originally posted by Prime
Why would he read a series he thinks sucks in its entirety?


Jeez Astro, haven't you clean up this place yet?

Howdy Prime ! I was put here as an affirmative action repsonse to the NJO hatred that plagues LF Any further NJO comment belongs in the stickied NJO thread which I organised for all your whining convenience

*flies off in coralskipper*

mtfbwya

[Sivy]

on www.starwars.com there's an interview with James Luceno about 'Labyrinth of Evil' (which BTW is out today and sounds pretty good)
at the end of the interview James Luceno talks about another star wars book he is working on. "Star Wars: Dark Lord"

At the moment I'm working on a book that will form a loose trilogy with Labyrinth of Evil and Matt Stover's adaptation of Revenge of the Sith. Focusing on Darths Vader and Sidious, along with a band of Jedi that survives the events depicted in the film, Star Wars: Dark Lord begins before Revenge ends, and takes place over the course of the subsequent month or two

it sounds like the book will focus on the Jedi Purge with Vader and Sidious hunting down the Jedi.

cool eh?

[Astrotoy7]

LUCENO + JEDI PURGE = COOLAGE

man, just gotta wait for ep3 first

mtfbwya

[Astrotoy7]

interesting to note that Luceno will be writing an Ep3 follow up as well...'Dark Lord'.....

Im bumping this thread...hopefully someone heremight be picking it up soon...I am *very* tempted but i am really trying to be super spoiler free !!

I also am eagerly awaiting TFNs review for LoE...

mtfbwya

[Revan Solo]

I have read several books from Star Wars but I haven't read one from Luceno so far.
I like Timothy Zahn. Can you compare him with Luceno?

[swphreak]

I'll pick it up when it comes to paperback. I hate hardbacks so much.

[Prime]

I think I'll pick this up for my long trip to New Zealand. Sounds like it will be good...

[Shok_Tinoktin]

Originally posted by Revan Solo
I like Timothy Zahn. Can you compare him with Luceno?

Timothy Zahn is far above everyone else. Nonetheless, Luceno is one of the best.

[El Sitherino]

Frickin sweet.[/Napoleon Dynamite]

[Astrotoy7]

Originally posted by Prime
I think I'll pick this up for my long trip to New Zealand. Sounds like it will be good...

goin to NZ huh.....stay away from teh sheep

and make sure you write us a review of LoE when you finish it. Do you plan to finish it before Ep3 ??

mtfbwya

[Kain]

Originally posted by StarWarsPhreak
I hate hardbacks so much.

Made my day with that little comment.

[Astrotoy7]

I hate hardbacks so much

werdage. I dont know why publishers bother with hardcovers..... they are almost double the price to buy, and are freakin cumbersome. ... they do look nice on your shelf, but that's hardly a saving grace ! With Survivors Quest, for example. I wanted to check that out, but am still waiting for the softcover..

*sigh* when are we going to be able to DL books to our PDAs.... ?? It is surely teh way of the future, snuggling up in bed with your pda and a good book

of course, I'll need to buy a pda first

mtfbwya

[Prime]

Originally posted by Astrotoy7
Do you plan to finish it before Ep3 ??

I hope to, but I still have to finish the Silmarilian, which is a slow read.

[Revan Solo]

What is the favourite word of Luceno? I noticed that every Star Wars author has his special words he uses all the time.

[Kurgan]

Remember what forum we're in guys, but this sounds to me like another bad sign... that the "Jedi Purge" is going to happen "off screen," ; p


Basically my nagging suspicion is that Lucas has been going about this too much like the Wachowski (sp?) brothers with the Matrix sequels.... force fans to read some books, play some video games, and watch some cartoons to get the "real story" of a movie, that should be able to tell the story itself (considering its budget and how long we've waited for it). ; p

A few details are fine, but the main story, not just some soap opera thing, should be the movie, not leaving major important stuff, like the Clone Wars and the Jedi Purge to second rate media, just to further cash in.

Okay, rant over for now, I may be (hopefully) wrong...

[Shok_Tinoktin]

Originally posted by Astrotoy7
I dont know why publishers bother with hardcovers..... they are almost double the price to buy, and are freakin cumbersome. ...

That is why they bother with hardcovers. They know there are impatient people who will pay way more to get a book a few months sooner.

[Skinkie]

Seriously I was expecting a movie entitled Attack of the Clones to have a large part of the Clone Wars in it. They make it seem like a big deal in the old trilogy, and yet its hardly in the movies. I was pissed. In the same vein if I don't see Vader go medevil on a whole lot of Jedi, I will again, be pissed.

[El Sitherino]

Well they can't exactly show him killing all that many people, slicing them up and such, otherwise they'd end up with an R rating. I think Lucas will cover it enough to where we have a basic concept of it all. The books will just go into a much better detail of it because they aren't restricted in what they can do because there are no visuals. It's up the the imagination.

[Astrotoy7]

Originally posted by Shok_Tinoktin
Timothy Zahn is far above everyone else. Nonetheless, Luceno is one of the best.

I beg to differ....

Tim Zahn's writing does *not* stand the test of time.... his characters have, but his characterisations leave *much* to be desired..... He does write some good action sequences, but so do the likes of allston and stackpole..

James Luceno wrote quite a few of teh NJO novels...but unless you plan on reading the NJO, I'd stick with his non NJO novels if you want to get a feel for his writingt. Try "Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter"

mtfbywa

[Pho3nix]

Star Wars books really don't come out in Finland

So I guess i'll never be able to read "Star Wars Dark Lord".

[Astrotoy7]

Originally posted by Pho3nix
Star Wars books really don't come out in Finland

So I guess i'll never be able to read "Star Wars Dark Lord".

are you able to read english versions ? if so, just order online, amazon.co.uk would be a safe bet to deliver there

mtfbwya

[Astrotoy7]

Originally posted by Prime
I hope to, but I still have to finish the Silmarilian, which is a slow read.

woe to you O Prime of the Northern Ranges, for ever daring to read that book !

as much as we all love the story/movies/characters etc, Tolkien was *never* a good 'writer' . Nowadays he would have a very tough time getting past a publisher with that dry style of his....

mtfbwya

[Astrotoy7]

oh BTW.. TFN has their LoE review up... Scott, the TFN reviewer seems to be getting jumpy as may approaches and gave it a 2.5/4 !

he did note that spoilerised ppl would find it infinitely more fun to read

read the review ! remember - BOOK AND EPISODE III SPOILER WARNING !!!
http://www.theforce.net/books/review...inthofevil.asp

actually, I recommend one browse the TFNS books section, theres alot of EP3 related stuff up there, including a summary of the novelisation (Im staying clear tho ! gotta stay spoiler free )

mtfbwya

[Revan Solo]

Or when you can speak/read German go to Amazon.de!

[Prime]

I've finished the Simarillion (I should get a cookie) and have read about 30 pages of LOE. Pretty good so far. The has been quite a bit of relationship stuff between Anakin and Kenobi which is interesting. There has also been a bit of overview as to the state of the galaxy and how life has changed...

[Astrotoy7]

Ive succumbed to evil and picked up LoE. I hope it doesnt super spoil me, or I will commit acts of evil upon you all

JK

I'll let y'all know what I can when I start to read it

mtfbwya

[Prime]

My LOE review:


Labyrinth of Evil is one of the latest Clone Wars books that covers events leading right up to the point where Episode 3 starts (as far as I can tell). It follows a variety of characters, but for the most part it focuses on the adventures of Anakin and Obi-Wan.

This is the third Clone Wars novel that I have read. The other two being Shatterpoint and The Cestus Deception. I would have to say that LOE is by far my favorite of these, and it is definitely one of the better novels in the EU. The main reason being that unlike the other books I mentioned, this book covers, gasp, some of the major events and battles of the Clone Wars. Even though they are good books in their own right, one of the complaints I have about the other CW books is that the events seem to have very little to do with Clone Wars as a whole. No big battles, and for the most part, no Seperatists. Many of the events they mentioned were relatively minor focusing only on at most a few worlds. Where is the big sweeping galactic conquest the Clone Wars is supposed to be? LOE does a much better job in this regard.

Another strong part of the book is the characterizations. I find that they closely mirror the characters as seen in the movies, and in some cases, like Kenobi and Skywalker, even take them to a new level. In LOE the relationship between the two is really fleshed out, and it is clear that they really are best friends. They act very much like brothers, which means that even though they are extremely close, they can still get on each others nerves and have disagreements. Both has their own way of doing things, but each recognizes the strengths of the other. In this regard, I think it will make the movie better for me because the final duel is really going to destroy their friendship, and it may seem a bit more tragic to me now. We also see how Anakin is starting to use his anger as his driving force, and how he justifies it.

LOE goes into great detail about many of the new characters, specifically General Grevious. We find out where he came from and how he has become what he is. His Magna Guards give the Jedi serious competition and they are in full force in the story. Palpatine is also discussed a great deal, and we learn who his master was and how he recruited Dooku, as well as the story behind the clone army and Sifo-Dyas. We also learn a lot about Dooku's thought process and what he thinks about current events. For example,

spoiler:

he trained/programmed the Mangna Guards and Grevious with the Jedi Arts, or lightsaber techniques. Even though they have factual knowledge, the fact that they can't show finesse and the emotional elements that make lightsaber combat a higher form sticks in his craw. He also views the Jedi in much the same way, feeling they have lost the appreciation of such skills. Also, even though he is after Kenobi and Skywalker, he respects their abilities and teamwork. Finally, it appears that only Dooku and Palpatine know who Sidious really is. That includes Grevious, Ventress, and all their other minions. They are using them just as much as everyone else.

In the end Labyrinth of Evil is an excellent book that really fleshes out the state of all the characters and the galaxy as a whole. It also discribes the major events leading up to Episode 3, and what the situation of each character is. I highly recommend checking it out before the flick arrives.

[Astrotoy7]

*shields eyes from screen !!*

thanks for that review Prime

Im reading it atm so I didnt read your review !!

you planning to read the ROTS novelisation in April ??

mtfbwya

[Prime]

Originally posted by Astrotoy7
you planning to read the ROTS novelisation in April ??

I'm not sure. I was disappointed with the AOTC one. I want more than a simple retelling of the movie. I want more background information as well.