A review by berenikeasteria
Star Wars: Labyrinth of Evil by James Luceno

4.0

Initially I was looking forward to re-reading this book because I remembered how good it was, remembered it being evocatively dark, and scenes of Anakin grappling with an ‘inner dragon’. Now I’ve finished, I realise that what I remembered was actually from Matthew Stover’s novelisation of Revenge of the Sith. It makes sense in hindsight; Stover is well-known in the Expanded Universe for his hard-hitting, no-punches-pulled entries, including Shatterpoint and Traitor. Mea culpa – it has been a decade at least since I last did a Star Wars books marathon re-read. But I still remembered enjoying Labyrinth of Evil, and the book didn’t let me down on that front.

It may not be as stark as Stover’s immediate sequel, but Labyrinth assuredly has its chilling moments. It’s hard not to feel the icy knife of grim sobriety when confronted with the fate of the determined Intelligence agent on Darth Sidious’ tail, or discovering that Anakin, when left alone without Obi-Wan, behind his back bullies and tortures witnesses in hopes of getting the information he deems vital at any cost. This is fairly mature stuff, and, as an adult, I appreciate the exploration of such difficult situations and themes. That said, I wouldn’t call it replete with gore. It summons the moments of horror when needed, but much of Labyrinth is an adventure chase as our protagonists travel to strange alien worlds in hopes of unravelling the mystery. Your mileage may vary of course – I have a pretty strong stomach and this seems pretty light to me, but others may find a different experience.

It’s that heart that really makes and dominates this story. Our Sith are not shown to have everything sewn up and in the bag – one mistake brings the Jedi in this book breathing down Sidious’ neck and you feel the tension is real and the outcome still changeable and resting on a knife’s edge. That’s a very nice thing to have when most of us reading this book already know what happens and these stories could so easily have been lazy and predictable with nothing deviating from the master plan laid out by the Sith. The story actually has stakes. But it isn’t made easy for the good guys either. Obi-Wan and Anakin have to follow a lengthy trail of minor hints and clues, all in hopes that it will lead to some substantive information, and facing resistance at every step. This ends up with them going on what is mainly a rollicking adventure across five different worlds; with interludes on Coruscant with Bail Organa reminding us of the grave risks when the fate of a galaxy is on the line. I suppose I can say that I wish more time had been spent on those worlds – but then, I openly admit that I love the books that deep dive alien worlds and locations, considering this sort of stuff to be the guest stars of any sci fi novel. That’s a minor wishlist criticism from me though, and a very personal one, based on what I prefer and enjoy.

The story feels well-plotted out, certainly, and definitely dovetails very smoothly with the opening of Revenge of the Sith, where we’re thrown right into the middle of the action and perhaps left to wonder a little bit exactly how we ended up with a battle above Coruscant, when the Republic were supposedly winning the war, and how such a high profile and well-guarded figure as the Chancellor could have been captured. Labyrinth answers all those questions. It also draws from and makes references to plenty of the other Clone Wars novels, making this feel like a coherent, joined up world. The downside to this is that there are frequent mentions of some of the not-so-good entries that I’d rather forget and cut from my personal canon.

When it comes to the rating I give this book, a caveat is in order. Labyrinth is not among the best the Expanded Universe has to offer. It wouldn’t make my top ten. But I do think it is a decent entry, decent enough to keep not cut, and I feel reasonably well disposed towards it because it is one of the few Clone Wars era novels that I consider satisfactory. I’ve found, during this re-read, that I didn’t enjoy quite a lot of them. Some were completely out of step with the universe and characters they purported to portray, some were just utterly boring, some were just mediocre. Luceno here at least creates a world that is recognisable to Star Wars fans, giving Anakin and Obi-Wan a plausible relationship instead of one that is hopelessly out of character. Throw in a decently constructed plot on top of that and some good tension, and yes, this is good enough to make my cut, even if there are better books out there. It’s set it up well, and now I’m looking forward to Stover’s novelisation of Revenge of the Sith.

7 out of 10