Star Wars: Dark Lord: Labyrinth of Evil

Written by James Luceno

Narrated by Jonathan Davis

The war that erupted in Star Wars: Episode II: Attack of the Clones is nearing its boiling point, as the dauntless Separatist forces continue their assault on the teetering Republic-and the diabolical triumvirate of Count Dooku, General Grievous, and their Master, Darth Sidious, fine-tune their strategy for conquest. In Episode III Revenge of the Sith the fates of key players on both sides of the conflict will be sealed. But first, crucial events that pave the way to that time of reckoning unfold in a labyrinth of evil. . . .

Capturing Trade Federation Viceroy-and Separatist Councilmember-Nute Gunray is the mission that brings Jedi Knights Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker, with a squad of clones in tow, to Neimoidia. But the treacherous ally of the Sith proves as slippery as ever, evading his Jedi pursuers even as they narrowly avoid deadly disaster. Still, their daring efforts yield an unexpected prize: a unique holotransceiver that bears intelligence capable of leading the Republic forces to their ultimate quarry, the ever-elusive Darth Sidious.

Swiftly taking up the chase, Anakin and Obi-Wan follow clues from the droid factories of Charros IV to the far-flung worlds of the Outer Rim . . . every step bringing them closer to pinpointing the location of the Sith Lord-whom they suspect has been manipulating every aspect of the Separatist rebellion. Yet somehow, in the escalating galaxy-wide chess game of strikes, counterstrikes, ambushes, sabotage, and retaliations, Sidious stays constantly one move ahead.

Then the trail takes a shocking turn. For Sidious and his minions have set in motion a ruthlessly orchestrated campaign to divide and overwhelm the Jedi forces-and bring the Republic to its knees.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Penguin Random House Audio
• Release date: Feb 20, 2007
• ISBN: 9780739357057

Reviews for Star Wars

[avhacker · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

i thought this was a great book! if your a big fan or just like it this book is a great lead in for episode 3. i loved how it gave grievous's backstory but i still wish there was more. some parts were boring but once you get reading it it's hard to stop!

[tjsjohanna_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The thing that struck me most about this novel was the incredible betrayal and evil of Senator Palpatine. Here he is playing everyone against everyone - no one knows fully what he is doing. He's like this malignant puppet master. The writing was a little uneven, and the characterization of Anakin is still troublesome for me. I just can't reconcile all the different views of Anakin with what he ends up doing.

[anduril85 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This book was a good read but it just didn't grab me for some reason it was nicely written with an interesting story strangely the thing I liked alot about the book was learning more about grievous and his past, i wouldn't recommend this one to a non Star Wars fan, but as far as books go this one was still pretty good.

[jonwwil · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Decent book, if a bit superfluous. It details the events leading directly into Revenge of the Sith, but unfortunately it doesn't really coincide with the Clone Wars cartoon (Volume 2), which does the same thing. It kept me entertained, but I don't really feel like this book added anything to the storyline. It's a chronicle of Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi trying to track down Count Dooku and the Separatist leadership while Mace Windu and others on Coruscant attempt to identify Darth Sidious. You don't really learn anything of value (other than "that business on Cato Neimoidia") that isn't covered in the crawl at the beginning of Episode III. Still, Luceno spins a decent yarn, and if you're a Star Wars fan, there's no harm in giving this a look. Just don't expect too much.

[Joseph Cowley · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I really enjoyed this book! Great intro for episode 3.

[kevinrubin · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

“Labyrinth of Evil” takes place immediately before the movie “Revenge of the Sith” with its conclusion leading straight into the movie’s opening.The story is only mediocre. Once we get far enough to see exactly where it is in the Star Wars chronology, the conclusion is obvious, with no surprises.It’s chock full of references to the movies, somewhat interfering with actually telling a story. Having seen the movies, of course, I just groaned at them. One, for instance, when several of the Jedi Council visit Chancellor Palpatine in his office, looking around at the various sculptures he’s accumulated and remarking that one is a demigod of “disguise”.Another groaner is on an asteroid base Obi-Wan has to go with a local to disable a large tractor beam so their ship can leave, later telling Anakin, of all people, that it was nice to learn a new skill, but he’ll never use it again.Luceno mentions a lot of characters and a lot of races that don’t really go anywhere. It gets confusing having to figure out if they’re people to remember or to blow off and forget.And it gets awfully repetitive to keep mentioning Nute Gunray’s “mechno-chair” instead of after a while just calling it his “chair”. The “mechno” part just isn’t a significant part of the story.The writing starts off feeling quite juvenile, simple words, simple sentence structures and so forth, but does move up a few grade levels after about the halfway point. The editors, however, didn’t proofread very well, so there’s a number of misspellings, mostly missing letters.Overall, it’s a quick, mildly entertaining way to pass some time. But it’s far from one of the great Star Wars “Legends” novels.

[revan97 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Star Wars Labyrinth Of Evil is one of the best Star Wars novels I've read. The story is engaging and feels just like Star Wars Episode III. Although you can read and fully comprehend Star Wars III: Revenge Of The Sith without reading this book, this story is still well worth the reading and lays essential groundwork for episode III. I recommend this Star Wars Tale to any fan.

[ailinel-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Leading up to the beginning of Revenge of the Sith, the novel oscillates between the ongoing adventures of Anakin and Obi-Wan, the machinations of Palpatine, Grevious, and Dooku, the Separatists, the Jedi, and the group of disgruntled senators who will eventually form part of the Rebel Alliance. The fight scenes are detailed, fast paced, and exciting, as are the instances of foreshadowing and scenes that parallel events that take place in the Star Wars Trilogy. Anakin continues to fight with his prescience and the Jedi Council’s apparent desire to ignore anything he says, Palpatine slowly moves players into an end game of his choosing, and Dooku and Grevious continue to act without ever truly understanding the parts they have been chosen to play.

[saltmanz · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I was fully prepared to give this book 2.5 stars, as I was only reading it to lead in to Stover's novelization of [i]Revenge of the Sith[/i]. But the gripping, action-packed final third of the book mostly makes up for the clunky, boring first two-thirds. It works well as prequel, building right up to the beginning of RotS, though it's not really worth reading for its own sake.