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MsRowdyRedhead
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Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter by Michael Reeves is a chase story, plain and simple, a group of characters slapped -- the usual verb, thrown, seems unduly refined -- together, and propelled through a series of perils, always pursuing or being pursued.
The plot, which must bamboozle the reader into thinking something important is happening, is doomed from the start, no less from its own defects than from the fact that, with Episode I arresting the dramatic development, it can do nothing that matters to anyone who matters.
Why some elements are present is a mystery. Why some elements aren't present, or simply disappear, is also a mystery. The Crimson Corridor makes no sense. It's so dangerous that it presents a Jedi Padawan sufficient challenge to qualify as a Knighthood trial, yet ordinary beings without Force powers seem to manage just fine there. There are too many gimmicks to blunt Maul's edge, to put him in tight situations, including the introduction of yet another species that blanks out the Force.
So, we have a bad novel -- bad characters, bad ideas, bad prose -- shoe-horned into a gap in continuity so constrained by the events of Episode I, that the outcome is never in doubt. It's impossible to become involved in the characters, or to care about the outcome. Even Maul himself is completely overshadowed by the other characters crowding the narrative, and the maladroit writing, in what, judging by the title, should be "his" novel.
If you're determined to read it,oh well.... If not, rest assured, you're not missing much. IMO
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