Scott's Rating:   3.5 out of 4

This is a "Step Into Reading" book from Scholastic. It is intended for Grades 2 - 3 and is written for beginning readers.

Darth Sidious traces Queen Amidala and the Jedi to Tatooine and sends Darth Maul to pursue them. Maul arrives and dispatches his probe droids. He proceeds to wait for them to return with news. While he waits, he is attacked by a large group of Sand People. Maul fights them, then retreats in order to save his strength. The droids return with the location of Qui-Gon and Maul goes after them. The book ends with the battle near the Queen's ship on Tatooine.

Scott:

    This considers the "Jedi Readers" series which is great for kids learning to read.

There's not much here for the older Star Wars fans. The book simply recaps a couple of events in the film, the rehashes the Tusken Raider battle first described in Darth Maul's Journal. However, the real highlight is the awesome Darth Maul art by Tommy Lee Edwards. This is the reason older collectors will want to pick this up. The art is dark and dramatic. All of the action scenes are particularly impressive. Edwards does a good job of switching between art patterned after movie stills and new poses. It all comes together nicely for Darth Maul fans.

Scott:

    Not much to complain about here! I just wish it had been a totally new adventure rather than being tied to the films or previous books.

Scott:

    Edwards manages to make Darth Maul pretty darn ugly in this book. Way to go! :)