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A review by bradland
Cloak of Deception by James Luceno
5.0
James Luceno’s Phantom Menace prequel is definitely an acquired taste. One has to have an interest in politics to like some of the writing here.
I give this 5 stars because Luceno pulls off the impossible. He actually makes George Lucas’ Episode 1 more creditable! As has been witnessed in the last decade, Lucas has been descending further and further into insanity (the latest sign being his changes to the original trilogy on Blu Ray) so it’s been up to other writers to clean up his mess and try to win back those disillusioned fans.
I have to admit I was quite sceptical about this book, particularly after trying to read Luceno’s NJO books (which I couldn’t) and only ended up reading Cloak of Deception because I loved what he had done with the Darth Vader novel. I was glad I took to time out to read it.
The book fleshes out the back story and some of the characters in The Phantom Menace in a respectable (for Star Wars!) way, giving it some genuine backbone and motivation that was sorely missed in the movie. He also adds his own twists and turns including the expected Star Wars action scenes. It’s the type of novel that could never be adapted to the screen because it’s just too…. political for lack of a better word, even though the politics is better than Lucas’, it would still bore many people.
The characterisation of Palpatine is Luceno’s great achievement. He has Palpatine pulling the political strings wonderfully throughout, yet never revealing who he actually is. I would have thought that impossible considering Palpatine’s ultimate motivation wasn’t made clear until Revenge of the Sith, 4 years after this book was published, yet Luceno avoids this aspect masterfully without alienating the reader. I even got the sense Luceno thoroughly enjoyed writing Palpatine’s dialogue as it’s never a dull moment when he’s on the page. If there was ever a novelisation of Dark Empire (Palpatine’s last appearance) James Luceno would definitely be the person to do it as he knows how to use the character so well.
I give this 5 stars because Luceno pulls off the impossible. He actually makes George Lucas’ Episode 1 more creditable! As has been witnessed in the last decade, Lucas has been descending further and further into insanity (the latest sign being his changes to the original trilogy on Blu Ray) so it’s been up to other writers to clean up his mess and try to win back those disillusioned fans.
I have to admit I was quite sceptical about this book, particularly after trying to read Luceno’s NJO books (which I couldn’t) and only ended up reading Cloak of Deception because I loved what he had done with the Darth Vader novel. I was glad I took to time out to read it.
The book fleshes out the back story and some of the characters in The Phantom Menace in a respectable (for Star Wars!) way, giving it some genuine backbone and motivation that was sorely missed in the movie. He also adds his own twists and turns including the expected Star Wars action scenes. It’s the type of novel that could never be adapted to the screen because it’s just too…. political for lack of a better word, even though the politics is better than Lucas’, it would still bore many people.
The characterisation of Palpatine is Luceno’s great achievement. He has Palpatine pulling the political strings wonderfully throughout, yet never revealing who he actually is. I would have thought that impossible considering Palpatine’s ultimate motivation wasn’t made clear until Revenge of the Sith, 4 years after this book was published, yet Luceno avoids this aspect masterfully without alienating the reader. I even got the sense Luceno thoroughly enjoyed writing Palpatine’s dialogue as it’s never a dull moment when he’s on the page. If there was ever a novelisation of Dark Empire (Palpatine’s last appearance) James Luceno would definitely be the person to do it as he knows how to use the character so well.