Maul: Lockdown

Joe Schreiber has done it again. While not a straight horror novel as with his previous Star Wars entries I found it both engaging and thrilling. Basically take the Star Wars universe and ad dashes of the films Cube, Mortal Kombat, and The Usual Suspects, shake well and serve. Additionally, if you're a Rush fan, keep an eye on the chapter titles for a little bit of fun.

This review is written with a GPL 3.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at Bookstooge.booklikes.blogspot.wordpress.com by express permission of this reviewer   Synopsis: Maul is sent undercover to a prison to ferret out the identity of an Arm's Dealer and to buy a proscribed weapon from him to further one of Palpatine's devious schemes.   My Thoughts: I enjoyed this book more than I did the previous 2 by Schreiber. Mainly because it wasn't lame-o horror but a typical action/thriller.   Think Cage Match on a self-contained prison satellite. And Maul gets to do most of the fighting. The show more whole reason he is there is razor thin plotwise, but let us be honest with ourselves, I don't read Star Wars for it's Dickens' like plots, characters and settings.   I can see people enjoying or not enjoying this book, depending on their mood at time of reading. If I'd been grumpy, I'd probably have torn this book apart for the shallow piece of tripe that it is; but I wasn't grumpy, so I enjoyed the rollercoaster action and the all most non-stop fighting.   I also went into this with ZERO expectations. After the news about the gutting of the Extended Universe a little bit ago, my fandomometer went right down to empty. So since I enjoyed the action, I ended up enjoying the whole book.   Also, I really liked the fact that Schreiber makes a no holds barred confession that he's a Christian in his intro/ending/thanks/whatever. That encourages me.   Rating: 3 of 5 Stars Author: Joe Schreiber " show less

I really like the character of Darth Maul. Probably have liked the character since the second part of his staff lightsaber lit up in The Phantom Menace. It was more than just the new cool weapon, there was a difference between him and Darth Vader too. For one thing, there was so much more room for his backstory, and in this expanded universe sort of Star Wars novel we get part of that backstory.

Maul is on Cog Hive Seven to look for someone or something. Cog Hive Seven is a prison, but it’s also more. It’s a space station that can rearrange itself, and there’s a legend that a guy named Radique lives there and runs his shady business from inside. From there the story gets very complicated with multiple sides having multiple agendas, show more there are twists, turns, feints and bobs, not to mention quite the turn of the worm.

I was a little disappointed with who Radique turned out to be. And while some of the twists and turns were interesting, some of the others weren't’ as cool as I’d thought they’d be. Here and there I felt like, ‘that’s it, that’s the big twist?’

Weirdly enough I sorta started liking some of the characters in the novel, chief among them, the kid, Eogan. Which surprised me since at the beginning none of the characters were greatly likable.

It was also cool that there was a little bit of Dune (the addictive spice) and a little bit of Battlestar Galactica (the world fracking used as a swear). And are elevators really called turbolifts in Star Wars too? (I don’t think I’ve read enough Star Wars novels to know that).

Overall I really liked the book. Although there was a scene, the pressure cooker in the kitchen that hit me weirdly. Probably because of the fact that the two guys used pressure cookers to make their bombs when they hit the Boston Marathon in 2013. It just threw me for a loop for a second though.

I got this advanced galley through Netgalley on behalf of Random House Publishing Group - Del Rey Spectra and LucasBooks. show less

There were some things I liked about this book and some things I didn't. I liked the brutality--Schreiber brings a grittiness to his Star Wars novels that is often lacking from a universe so constantly mired in war. There was a lot of action, a lot of stuff going on, plots and subplots, so overall it was fun.

The stuff I didn't like was a little on the nitpicky side. I didn't like that one of the characters was a Noghri, long before their discovery, for no apparent reason. I didn't like the mention of Wayland, presumably before Palpatine had established his storehouse there (although perhaps not). I didn't like that Maul seemed soft, and almost even a little tender, in some of his interactions with Eogan Truax and Komari Vosa. Some of show more the dialogue is clumsy and a little dumb.

At any rate, I'm hoping that the upcoming Star Wars movies will nullify much of the Extended Universe; I imagine they will. If this book happens to be among the casualties, I won't shed any tears. show less

In a galaxy far, far away there lays a prison turned battle arena with an unexpected visitor. Sent to find a man who may or may not exist, Darth Maul has to wade his way through vicious guards, prisoners, and other wildlife that haunt the unfinished corridors of the prison. It is always interesting to see the Star Wars universe from the point of the Sith, and as such the ending is not conclusive and pleasingly dark.

Free review copy.

A LOT happening in this book; very confusing and entertaining. There are a lot of characters and species to follow but the book is action packed and the storyline is easy to follow. The one thing I didn’t like was Maul being called Darth Sidius’s apprentice by Plageus. Yes he knew about Maul but him being called his apprentice goes against the rule of two.

I was immediately drawn in, but also wondered if I would be able to stomach the rest of the book. The idea of Darth Maul fighting to the death inside a prison felt like a great idea, but the plot develops into something much more complicated, unfortunately. It started to drag on and on. It became difficult to understand and believe everything that was going on.

I appreciated the intent of trying to do something unique in Star Wars literature, but I wanted something a little more simplified and easier to follow.