SUMMARY:
Pre-Episode 1, a Nemodian has disappeared with knowledge of Sidious planned blockade on Naboo. Darth Maul is sent to hunt the Nemodian down, but soon finds his task isn’t as easy as it seems.

Maul’s deepest desire, besides pleasing Sidious, is to hunt, fight and kill a Jedi. Be careful what you wish for, right?

REVIEW:
I was just about ready to give up on this book. Ninety pages deep into the book, I had decided that the next chapter I read would be the last. There were a couple reasons for this.

For one thing, if you were to take a course on “Star Wars Novel Writing 101” this book would have all the cliché’s typical of too many Star Wars comics and Novels. Hot Jedi chick? Check. The shady rouge with a heart of gold? Check. A humorous droid? Check.

So with all that in mind as I was reading the first third of the book, I grew more and more restless. There were a lot of characters Reaves seemed to be moving towards something, but it was taking a while to bring together. I started thinking back to Lucerno’s quite good Darth Vader book, where the other characters besides Darth Vader never grew into something truly involving.

But then, suddenly, everything clicked.

While on the surface it seems that Reaves has just grabbed the clichéd group of Star Wars characters, he’s actually made them unique and compelling. For example, Lorn Pavan, the rouge, is driven by motives and approaches problems in a way that separates him from the “Han Solo, but not Han Solo” cliché Star Wars rouge. His droid is actually droll and funny on purpose.

Another good example would be the Bounty Hunter who seems to fit the Fett mold, but as the story plays out*.

Once each of the stories starts threading together, the book really kicked into high gear for me. Reaves knows how to write a an enjoyable action scene, and manages to keep the chase towards the MacGuffin tense and fun.

While I think some of Maul’s internal thoughts about his past and duty toward Sidious gets a bit overdone and old, it’s not laid on as thick as it could be. For the most part, it’s fun to see Maul’s methodology, and the times when he truly questions himself. We understand Maul as a character who honors those who are strong enough to give him any sort of fight. We understand a little more about why he is so subservient to Sidious. Overall, he does a good job of fleshing out the nuances of the character in the film.

I also really enjoyed most of the Coruscant locations. The book takes place almost entirely on Coruscant and Reaves uses the setting pretty well, preferring to stick to the Bladerunner/C.H.U.D. side of the tracks.

The conclusion of the book is nicely handled, though I’m still a tiny bit mixed about the events at the very end. I like how it happens, but something doesn’t quite sit right that I haven’t pinned down. If you’ve read it, you can see my thoughts in the spoiler section.

GEEK STUFF:

It’s interesting to see Maul’s methodology and to also see why he is not really the Sith that Sidious is waiting for. Maul’s downfall might just be his subservience to Sidious. The struggle between the two Sith is part of what drives them towards greater power. They are both striving to not be destroyed by the other. Mauls is like an obedient dog, waiting to be let off the chain.

Dooku wasn’t quite right either. He hadn’t been twisted by Sidious form birth (as far as we know) but was led astray by his own hubris. That hubris and ego is needed to be a Sith, but maybe too much for Sidious’s taste. Dooku still had a sense of royal honor that has more to do with entitled manners than true honor. Sidious couldn’t rely on Dooku to get his hands truly dirty.  

Vader was a good mix of both. Twisted by Sidious since a child, but incrementally. Neither quite as forced into servitude as Maul or as autonomous as Dooku. Vader was able to be truly nasty in carrying out Sidious’s wishes, but also had enough Ego to push back a little.

Also the book says that Maul has "Red and black" tattoos. The mystery of his true skin tone continues.

SPOILERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Alright, first off, Lorn's sudden turn around on the merits of the Jedi as guardians for his son is too clean and smooth. Considering the rest of the book was willing to tread into some dark places, I would have preferred Lorn still having more of a mixed attitude to the Jedi as a whole, even if his assessment of individual Jedi had changed.  

I’m also really not sure if Pavan would have gone the route he did. It sits a little uneasy with me that he wouldn’t honor Darsha’s memory by sort of completing her mission for her and going back to the temple. Then again, by going after Maul, he may have just been pursuing his own sense of vengeance. Also he is finally able to take action in a situation that is bigger than he is (something he couldn’t do with his son). Still, I like the very ending, when Maul does strike him down it’s nicely poetic and reminded me of the dream sequences in ALIENS.

Pavan’s back story with his son is also a nice example of how the Jedi council had become too bureaucratic to really listen to the people it “served”.


I was really surprised by how dark the book ends. All the effort of the main characters is for naught, Sidious and Maul still win out in the end. Still, Reaves does an impressive job of not making those efforts feel wasted. The changes Lorn and Darsha go through make the book worthwhile. Lorn and Darsha get in their Rocky moments, even if they don't win the fight.  Reaves ability to create interesting characters was made evident to me by the fact that I was even saddened by the idea that I-Five's memory was going to be wiped clean. The book does not end happy, but it ends the way it should.

*Now that I think about it, I guess the Bounty Hunter’s end really does fit the Bobba Fett mold