Star Wars: Labyrinth of Evil
James Luceno
Del Rey, Feb 2005, $25.95, 339 pp.
ISBN 0345475720

In the far distant future, peace is broken by the Separatists who want to leave the Federation and join the Confederacy. The Jedi Knights fight for the Federation, but nobody in the senate is prepared to believe that the enemy has infiltrated that august body even though many of its prominent members are allied with the Sith Darth Sidious. His allies, former Jedi Knight Count Dooku and cyborg killing machine General Grievous, are being pushed back to the outer rim by the federation forces.

This doesn't phase Sidious and his supporters at all because it is part of their master plan that will see the Sith as ruler of the galaxy. Jedi Knights Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker, regarded by the Jedi Knights as "the chosen one" who will defeat the darkside of the force, are following the villain's trails in the hopes of capturing them and putting an end to this war. Anakin doesn't know that he is being watched by Sidious to see if in the future he can be seduced to the dark side of the force. In the meantime, Anakin and his mentor seem to be always one step behind their enemies.

This is the direct prequel to the Star Wars episode opening in theaters in May 2005. The author sets up the finale nicely so that the book and the movie should tie seamlessly together. This space opera is at its best when Anakin and Obi-Wan-Kenobi travel from planet to planet in search of their enemies hoping that they can bring the galactic war to a close without further bloodshed. James Luceno captures the spirit and the essence of George Lucas's classic saga.

Harriet Klausner