Every time I whip out a new star wars book, i check to make sure you have a vid on it. This was no disappointment! I think Luceno did a good job at tapping into the political stuff that everyone thought was boring about the Prequels, but he did it in a way that was refreshingly connective.
I actually read alot of the Prequel era novels near the tail-end of high school and during my year off between high school and college, so between 2005 and 2007. I borrowed them from the local public library because, knowing they'd mostly be about characters I don't really care about, I wanted to see if I'd like them before I bought them for my own collection. And for the most part I did, though the Clone Wars era novels were pretty hit or miss for me. Cloak of Deception was one of the first ones I read during that time period and I liked it because it did answer many of the questions I had about Darth Sidious's plan for Naboo, how Palpatine and the Jedi figured into all of this. So I enjoyed it for those aspects, but, like you, I'm not a big fan of political thrillers, so the political stuff didn't do it for me back in 2005. And keep in mind, this was back when Lucasfilm was trying to hide the fact that Palpatine and Sidious were the same person, even though I figured it out the second Sidious spoke in The Phantom Menace, plus Sidious looked like Emperor Palpatine as we saw him in Return of the Jedi.
I like getting to see the (seemingly) nice side of Palpatine here, even as he's stabbing Valorum in the back. I thought that Sidious's true identity was super obvious, but I know that many viewers were surprised! Thinking back, I think that the Clone Wars novels were also hit or miss for me (The Cestus Deception and Jedi Trials being definite misses) but I found interesting things in most of the prequels books.
@@MegReviews It also didn't help that George Lucas and Ian McDiarmid perpetuated the illusion that Palpatine and Sidious were separate indviduals right up until Revenge of the Sith came out. There were a bunch of telltale signs pointing to Sidious's identity back then. Lol. The Cestus Deception and Jedi Trial were ones I missed due to them not being available from my local library at the time.
@Jack Blakeney I think it was the worst kept secret in the history of fandom that Palpatine was Sidious. They tried so hard to hide it, it just didn't work. Lol.
@Jack Blakeney That's always possible. But I think the kids who saw the Original Trilogy, like myself, and others, were able to figure it out pretty easily. I mean for one Ian McDiarmid has this distinctive facial structure that is hard to miss even if he's wearing a hood. His voice is also distinctive. But that's just me looking back on it more than 20 years later. What made me connect the dots when I saw The Phantom Menace back in 1999 is Sidious saying he'd make sure things stayed the way they were in the Senate, and that he would make the Trade Federation's invasion of Naboo legal. How could he do those things if he WASN'T a senator? Palpatine is the only senator to have sinister motives.
@Jack Blakeney Exactly. It was the same way for me. Though in my case it was more to find out when Lucas would reveal it in the story. Like if he'd reveal it in Episode II or wait for Episode III.
13 minutes-Yes, the inactive got supreme chancellor Valorum kicked out, but I think the corruption made him lose a lot of his support first. I mean, yes Palpatine could have gotten Padme to make a vote of no confidence at any time, but it needed to have a majority backing. And if he was still untarnished and well-liked, he might have been able to weather that storm and stay in office
Yeah, I think it's not enough to portray Valorum as ineffective--he needs to look like all the worst bits of the Senate. It just feels so mean to a supposed friend, although the reader knows that Palpatine never has good, friendly intentions.
I read a few of those back in the day (cannot forget Obi-Wan and Siri's friendship, or Qui-Gon's evil padawan Xanatos!), but my sister has the complete Jedi Apprentice and Jedi Quest books. We might have a discussion about them!
Read the book this weekend and loved it. Books are a perfect medium to handle the politics which naysayers the films couldn't film properly or make entertaining. I found every character to be interesting to some degree or another, and am especially pleased we got a little bit of Vergere in the story, too.
Luceno wanted this book to be like the hobbit for lord of the rings, ie explain or introduce everything from common species, characters and weapons as if it is the starting point to the core films
About the fewer action scenes, aside from movie franchises, one of my favourite sci-fi series is (are?) the Isaac Asimov Robot/Empire/Foundation series. Those books have almost no action scenes in them!
PLEASE tell us that you've read Luceno's "Darth Plagueis" by now! I've read almost 200 StarWars books and it's #1 on my list 🤓 ps - you are really cute and I don't see a ring on that finger 😍
Thanks! It gives you the bigger picture of Palpatine's schemes in TPM, but it was also definitely slow in parts. (I enjoyed Darth Maul:Shadow Hunter more, but they're two very different types of stories!)
*hangs head* It came out in 2012, when I wasn't keeping up with all the SW books like I used to! I got a copy last year, though, and I think I'll read it after "Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader" and "Outbound Flight" as the grand finale of this prequels (re)read.
This is what should be getting adapted alongside Darth Plagueis rather than whatever The Acolyte is. This book is incredible. I think it is one of the overlooked and forgotten ones though
I disagree, James Luceno said that he wrote Cloak of Deception like a novelisation of a film playing in his head. I think CoD and TPM should've been a two-parter long movie
@@SardonicJosh I would have been all for that. But at least we can read the novels back-to-back as if they were filmed like that. I will say, too, that reading the novelization of TPM and *then* watching the film is a great experience; I found myself smoothing over the crap by referring myself to the better(!) treatment of the story in the novel.
I did not have anything half as fancy as Valorum or Palpatine's Chancellor robes, so I had to settle for a business dress and my Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess robe. ;)
Vergere being a Good Bird Jedi is the main reason I read Star Wars books.
Can I please have a Good Bird Jedi shirt? Thanks
Of course, by the time we get to the NJO she is a Chaotic Bird Mentor...I will try to come up with a design!
I love your pillows, especially the Naboo starfighter one.
Thank you! I've had the Naboo starfighter one since 1999--I actually "refreshed" it a few years ago by shoving a new insert inside. ;)
Every time I whip out a new star wars book, i check to make sure you have a vid on it. This was no disappointment! I think Luceno did a good job at tapping into the political stuff that everyone thought was boring about the Prequels, but he did it in a way that was refreshingly connective.
I actually read alot of the Prequel era novels near the tail-end of high school and during my year off between high school and college, so between 2005 and 2007. I borrowed them from the local public library because, knowing they'd mostly be about characters I don't really care about, I wanted to see if I'd like them before I bought them for my own collection. And for the most part I did, though the Clone Wars era novels were pretty hit or miss for me. Cloak of Deception was one of the first ones I read during that time period and I liked it because it did answer many of the questions I had about Darth Sidious's plan for Naboo, how Palpatine and the Jedi figured into all of this. So I enjoyed it for those aspects, but, like you, I'm not a big fan of political thrillers, so the political stuff didn't do it for me back in 2005. And keep in mind, this was back when Lucasfilm was trying to hide the fact that Palpatine and Sidious were the same person, even though I figured it out the second Sidious spoke in The Phantom Menace, plus Sidious looked like Emperor Palpatine as we saw him in Return of the Jedi.
I like getting to see the (seemingly) nice side of Palpatine here, even as he's stabbing Valorum in the back. I thought that Sidious's true identity was super obvious, but I know that many viewers were surprised! Thinking back, I think that the Clone Wars novels were also hit or miss for me (The Cestus Deception and Jedi Trials being definite misses) but I found interesting things in most of the prequels books.
@@MegReviews It also didn't help that George Lucas and Ian McDiarmid perpetuated the illusion that Palpatine and Sidious were separate indviduals right up until Revenge of the Sith came out. There were a bunch of telltale signs pointing to Sidious's identity back then. Lol. The Cestus Deception and Jedi Trial were ones I missed due to them not being available from my local library at the time.
@Jack Blakeney I think it was the worst kept secret in the history of fandom that Palpatine was Sidious. They tried so hard to hide it, it just didn't work. Lol.
@Jack Blakeney That's always possible. But I think the kids who saw the Original Trilogy, like myself, and others, were able to figure it out pretty easily. I mean for one Ian McDiarmid has this distinctive facial structure that is hard to miss even if he's wearing a hood. His voice is also distinctive. But that's just me looking back on it more than 20 years later. What made me connect the dots when I saw The Phantom Menace back in 1999 is Sidious saying he'd make sure things stayed the way they were in the Senate, and that he would make the Trade Federation's invasion of Naboo legal. How could he do those things if he WASN'T a senator? Palpatine is the only senator to have sinister motives.
@Jack Blakeney Exactly. It was the same way for me. Though in my case it was more to find out when Lucas would reveal it in the story. Like if he'd reveal it in Episode II or wait for Episode III.
13 minutes-Yes, the inactive got supreme chancellor Valorum kicked out, but I think the corruption made him lose a lot of his support first. I mean, yes Palpatine could have gotten Padme to make a vote of no confidence at any time, but it needed to have a majority backing. And if he was still untarnished and well-liked, he might have been able to weather that storm and stay in office
Yeah, I think it's not enough to portray Valorum as ineffective--he needs to look like all the worst bits of the Senate. It just feels so mean to a supposed friend, although the reader knows that Palpatine never has good, friendly intentions.
This is one of my favourite prequel books
defiently check out the Jedi Apprentice series for Obi and Qui Gon time
I read a few of those back in the day (cannot forget Obi-Wan and Siri's friendship, or Qui-Gon's evil padawan Xanatos!), but my sister has the complete Jedi Apprentice and Jedi Quest books. We might have a discussion about them!
I love that they leaned into the political elements of the films with this book. Definitely on my to-be-read-soon list. Thanks for the review.
Read the book this weekend and loved it. Books are a perfect medium to handle the politics which naysayers the films couldn't film properly or make entertaining. I found every character to be interesting to some degree or another, and am especially pleased we got a little bit of Vergere in the story, too.
THUMBS UP FOR KITTEH!
Kitteh has been spending 24/7 in that cardboard bowl--she has an actual bed but cat logic I guess.
I love this book. Luceno is my favourite SW author....
Luinara unduli first appereance. Luceno is a great writer. great book for an attack of the clones prequel
Awesome review it’s weird I love political intrigue but after reading this I think I only like it on screen now
Yeah, I don't mind political intrigue in films, but I don't usually seek it out in fiction!
Luceno wanted this book to be like the hobbit for lord of the rings, ie explain or introduce everything from common species, characters and weapons as if it is the starting point to the core films
About the fewer action scenes, aside from movie franchises, one of my favourite sci-fi series is (are?) the Isaac Asimov Robot/Empire/Foundation series. Those books have almost no action scenes in them!
This is on my reading list.
PLEASE tell us that you've read Luceno's "Darth Plagueis" by now!
I've read almost 200 StarWars books and it's #1 on my list 🤓
ps - you are really cute and I don't see a ring on that finger 😍
This book sounds kinda interesting, but it also sounds like it's kinda boring. I'd have to think about reading this one. Great review! 👍
Thanks! It gives you the bigger picture of Palpatine's schemes in TPM, but it was also definitely slow in parts. (I enjoyed Darth Maul:Shadow Hunter more, but they're two very different types of stories!)
I love yr reviews keep it up!
I guess you are correct in mileage varying. I really like Luciano's writing-I am a HUGE fan of the 22 Robotech novels-they really expand the cartoon
Great Review! Because of your enthusiasm and description, I just bought the book! (I LOVE political thrillers.)
Wait. You haven’t read Darth Plagueis? How?
*hangs head* It came out in 2012, when I wasn't keeping up with all the SW books like I used to! I got a copy last year, though, and I think I'll read it after "Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader" and "Outbound Flight" as the grand finale of this prequels (re)read.
This is what should be getting adapted alongside Darth Plagueis rather than whatever The Acolyte is.
This book is incredible. I think it is one of the overlooked and forgotten ones though
luceno is top 3 authors for me so of course while this was one of his lesser books compared to others i still think its fantastic
I wish I knew half as much about Star Wars as Luceno does! Sometimes his books are too dense for me but I always respect his encyclopedic memory. :D
Cloak of Deception is what TPM should've been. A strong political thriller in which Palpatine manipulated things to get more power
The TPM novel is what TPM should have been cloak of deception is good novel but making a blockbuster film out of that would not work at all.
I disagree, James Luceno said that he wrote Cloak of Deception like a novelisation of a film playing in his head. I think CoD and TPM should've been a two-parter long movie
@@SardonicJosh I would have been all for that. But at least we can read the novels back-to-back as if they were filmed like that. I will say, too, that reading the novelization of TPM and *then* watching the film is a great experience; I found myself smoothing over the crap by referring myself to the better(!) treatment of the story in the novel.
OK but your outfit tho
I did not have anything half as fancy as Valorum or Palpatine's Chancellor robes, so I had to settle for a business dress and my Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess robe. ;)