Maze of Deception

Star Wars: Boba Fett #3

by Elizabeth Hand, Peter Bollinger (Illustrator)

Boba Fett blasts into paperback with this spectacular, action-packed story.

Boba Fett must regain his fortune -- and battle against both other bounty hunters and Jedi foes -- in this action-packed adventure.

Genres: Star Wars, Science Fiction, Fiction, Young Adult, Childrens, Adventure, Juvenile

144 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2003

About the author

A New York Times notable and multiple award– winning author, Elizabeth Hand has written seven novels, including the cult classic Waking the Moon, and short-story collections. She is a longtime contributor to numerous publications, including the Washington Post Book World and the Village Voice Literary Supplement. She and her two children divide their time between the coast of Maine and North London.

Reviews

[Jim C · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is the third book of a series and I would read them in order. In this one, Boba is on his own and he is determined to get the money that his father Jango left him. One of the problems with this is that he teams up with Aurra Sing.

I thought this book was a step down from the previous book even though it is following the same formula. These books are for children so maybe I am viewing them through my adult eyes which could be affecting the rating. I do love the concept of this book and series. I can get behind exploring Boba after the death of his father. I also like the idea of exploring characters like Aurra Sing or delving into the Banking Clan. What took me away from this book was the disbelief I had to use for some of the reasons or actions in this book. I understand that is ironic considering I have no problem with a mystical practice in this universe known as the force. And I know that this is a kid's book so it is not going to be the tightest plot but I shook my head a couple of times during this book. When Boba sees a Twi'lek and remembers his father mentioning about a Twi'lek Bib Fortuna, Boba decides to follow him. Lo and behold it turns out to be Bib Fortuna. What are the chances of this happening in the whole galaxy?

I will continue with this series but I am hoping that the writing tightens up a little. This book was a little too much deus ex machina for my taste. That being said, Boba is going to Jabba's place so I am curious about that.

[Briar's Reviews · Rating 4 out of 5]

Maze of Deception really amped up this series to 10 real quick! If you want a lot of action and adventure, this book really does it! I do wonder if it's because a different writer was introduced (no more Terry Bisson, but instead of Elizabeth Hand!). Regardless, this is a great addition to Star Wars middle grade series that's showing us Boba Fett's childhood.

Definitely recommend reading these books in order, and if you have a kiddo you want to get into science fiction or Star Wars, this series is a great way to do it. It's a fairly fast and easy read, and would be a great book to read together! Especially for adult Star Wars fans.

Hopefully I will find book 4 soon!

Four out of five stars.

[Josh · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm here to read Elizabeth Hand writing Star Wars.

Young Boba Fett's adventures continue as he delves into the corrupt maze of the galaxy's banking planet. Taking more control of his own role in the galaxy, Maze of Deception takes us deeper into a lesser-known corner of the Star Wars universe, inhabited by bureaucrats, bounty hunters, and one boy looking to make a name for himself.

[Graff Fuller · Rating 4 out of 5]

Star Wars: Legends: Boba Fett series 03 Maze of Deception by Elizabeth Hand, Peter Bollinger

adventurous challenging mysterious sad tense
Fast-paced

Plot or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters are a main focus? Yes

4.0 Stars

We are witnessing the early life of Boba Fett, BEFORE he's the most feared bounty hunter in the galaxy.

His father, Jango Fett...set provisions that IF/WHEN he died, that Boba Fett would have a way the resources that he'd need to get ahead in the galaxy, but he did NOT make it easy for him.

Boba is also TEN years old. Think about losing EVERYONE in your life at that age, and now...put yourself in the 1313 level on Corescant. How would you fair. Damn, I don't think I'd fair well, there...at age 58. 

As I'm reading this story, and reading the clues that Jango left for his son, in the "book", and seeing how Boba is not making the correct choices (or the ones that I'd make, with the same information given), then seeing him through all these sketchy situations...and growing up QUICKLY. 

Yeah, this was a lot of fun and edge of your seat, while reading it.

Obviously, we know he doesn't die, but we don't KNOW his lineage and history...up to the time we see him in The Empire Strikes Back. So, this mysterious bounty hunter is being revealed to us, page by bage.

Onward to Hunted, the fourth book in the Boba Fett middle grade series.

[Dimitris Papastergiou · Rating 3 out of 5]

Set on 22BBY

A nice continuation of Boba Fett's adventures along with Aurra Sing and others! A simple plot with a linear story of young Boba Fett trying to make his way through the galaxy.

What I like for a weird reason is the book his father gave him with rules and do's and don't's and all that, like a rulebook for a mercenary, that he wrote for little Boba, and he goes by this book like it's the bible. You will like Jango's influence on Boba and you will like this whole connection with him since the first book until now and I'm guessing that goes on for the next novels in the series too.

But what I really liked about this, is that -and don't get me wrong here, I haven't watched the show yet- but his dad gave/left him this book before he died, and, now Boba is pretty much living by this book, this code of mercenary honor that he goes by, and the show is called The Book of Boba Fett, and I mean.. come on! I know this is Legends and I knowthis is a stretch, but hey, I like the consequence of that.

Good stuff!

[Jared · Rating 2 out of 5]

Star Wars Legends Project #105

Background: Maze of Deception was written by Elizabeth Hand and published in April 2003. Hand wrote the 3rd through 6th books in the Boba Fett series (taking over for Terry Bisson). These are her only Star Wars books, though she has written a number of non-Star Wars novels, short stories, comics, and novelizations.

Maze of Deception takes place right after Crossfire (my review), 22 years before the battle of Yavin. The young Boba Fett is the main character, along with Aurra Sing . The story takes place on Aargau, a major hub of the InterGalactic Banking Clan.

Summary: Having fallen back in with Aurra Sing aboard the Slave I, young Boba Fett reluctantly agrees to split his father's enormous fortune with her in exchange for her help recovering it. Once they arrive at their destination, Boba soon sees an opportunity to give her the slip and make a run for the fortune himself. But Sing isn't the only danger inside the banking clan's massive, labyrinthine pyramid.

Review: This isn't that different from the previous two books in the series, but there are two significant problems (and several less significant problems) that really sink it. First, the entire premise of the story makes no sense. Aurra Sing seeks out Boba Fett because she knows where Jango's fortune is located, and she at least implies that she got that information from Jango himself. So this is potentially a big payday for her for very little work. But in the previous two books, Jango had instructed his son to go to Dooku to collect the money, and Dooku had hired Aurra Sing to deliver Boba to him. Why would Jango tell Boba to go to Dooku if it was Aurra who could provide access to it? And why would Aurra accept and make the delivery, taking Slave I as her payment, only to turn right around and offer it back to Boba after he accompanies her to claim the fortune that she knew about all along? Suddenly, nothing that has happened in the series so far appears to make any sense.

As a more minor corollary to this first point regarding Aurra Sing, throughout the entire book I kept expecting a revelation that Aurra had somehow planted a tracker on Boba Fett because there is no other explanation as to how she keeps finding him no matter how completely he eludes her. At one point, she even walks directly to his hiding place and plucks him out of it. Force-sensitive or no, that's a bit much.

The second problem is with the world-building . . . if you can even call it that. Aargau seems to consist entirely of one massive pyramid, and I don't understand how any of it works, even though pretty much the entire story takes place inside of it. It consists of 7 levels, each lit by a different color to distinguish between them. This seems to be the full extent of what is available to help anyone navigate it. There are no information kiosks or labels or directions anywhere, just miles and miles of twisting tunnels (none of which are labeled, apparently, shooting off in every direction. The entire pyramid is somehow dedicated to banking, and there are lots and lots (hundreds? more?) of banks located inside it . . . although why the prime repository of the Bank of Kuat should be located in a pyramid on Aargau instead of on, I dunno, Kuat is left unexplained. But, despite the fact that apparently most of the galaxy stores their valuables inside this pyramid, security is so lax that the entire bottom level, which is also the largest level, is completely lawless and is apparently run by criminal gangs.

An additional observation here: The book suggests that this is the primary headquarters of the InterGalactic Banking Clan, which is of course run by the Muuns. Why isn't it on Muunilinst? Additionally, a major subplot has San Hill, chairman of the Clan, arriving on Aargau to try and raise additional funds for the Separatists from the Hutts on the 7th level. First of all, why would the head of the Banking Clan need to do anything of the kind? Second, how is it that the Republic is so unaware that the InterGalactic Banking Clan is part of the Separatists that they're still keeping a lot of their money at the Clan headquarters, and have sent troops to protect the planet from the Separatists? And how has the IGBC not taken advantage of this foolishness? Again, none of this makes any sense.

Finally, perhaps the smallest quibble of all, but still a very odd moment: Boba is wandering around without a clue on the 7th level at one point when a Twi'lek brushes past him, and he thinks, "My dad told me about a Twi'lek named Bib Fortuna once! I should follow this Twi'lek, just in case it's him!" Now, that's really really dumb, even for a 10-year old . . . but what's worse is that it turns out to actually be Bib Fortuna. Is this a whole galaxy we're talking about here, or a small town?! Apparently there are only 2 Twi'leks . . . If it's a Twi'lek carrying a lightsaber, it's Aayla Secura. Otherwise, it's Bib Fortuna. Guh.

Not good. I hope this series gets it together. This was a pretty rough hand-off from one writer to another.

D+

[Adam Kiewel · Rating 2 out of 5]

This one was a huge letdown after the last two. The story was basically confined to one location, and about 2 plot points. Apparently boba didn't learn his lesson from the last book, despite having multiple warnings in front of him that he didn't listen to. Huge regression for him. Not to mention, a lot of events feel very convenient. This is the first book that felt like it was really meant for young readers, but it still pushed the story along and the worldbuilding was good.

[Jeri · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book has good vocabulary and is pretty good as far as Star Wars goes. I hate having to read aloud all of those wierd names, but there are not too many in this one. We've read the first two and are working on the fourth, Hunted. My boys sit still for hours on end as long as I'm reading it, so that's something in its favor. ;)

[Alexander Draganov · Rating 3 out of 5]

Boba is trying to get his money in a deadly banking planet. I really hope that he'll get deeper into action, so far too kiddy, although fast-flowing and readable. Novels by Jude Watson are better.

[Justin Tapp · Rating 3 out of 5]

This review encompasses all six in the Legends series, some of which are available for free with Amazon Prime, but are numbered in incorrect or confusing order on Amazon:
1) The Fight to Survive
2) Crossfire
3) Maze of Deception
4) Hunted
5) New Threat
6) Pursuit

I read these as bedtime stories for my 12 year old. They chronologically span the end of Attack of the Clones and the earlier seasons of The Clone Wars animation series. It is the story of the development of Boba Fett from the only unaltered clone child of Jango Fett to Jabba the Hutt's top bounty hunter. The books are on the slightly younger side of YA, namely as it's about a child who figures out how to survive and become one of the galaxy's top bounty hunters before he hits adulthood. It's easier for a younger reader with shorter chapters than the Legends series, and sanitizes certain scenes such as when Boba retrieves Jango's helmet from his decapitated head (there is no decapitated head).

There are plenty of dry and uninteresting bits, some books have not been completely edited for typos, and being somewhat familiar with The Clone Wars cartoon is a prerequisite. Many scenes are difficult to visualize from the author's vivid imagination or without the source material (from Clone Wars?) the author may have been looking at while writing. It's interesting enough from a Star Wars fan standpoint with hypotheticals.

*Spoilers ahead.* While the author stays as close to the "canon" of existing materials as he can, there is some speculation. This book had Jango Fett as a non-Mandalorian with Mandalorian armor gifted to him as opposed to what Dave Filoni revealed about Boba Fett in the last episode of The Mandalorian Season Two. Boba Fett is one of the few people in the galaxy who understands that Count Dooku and Tyranus are the same person, creating both sides of the destructive conflict. He holds that secret as his most valuable possession, aside from the memory of his father and the holorecorded book that Jango Fett leaves him. (It's possible this book is what the title of Disney's upcoming The Book of Boba Fett series refers to as creator Dave Filoni is known to draw from the literature out there). That secret is what ultimately both saves him and makes him self-sufficient. I found the conclusion very satisfactory. Some books in the series are better than others, overall I give them three stars out of five.

[Jordan Anderson · Rating 3 out of 5]

For some reason a lot of folks really love the Boba Fett series. Even though he only wrote the first 2 books, Terry Bisson’s works always seem to get a good amount of praise and seem to average somewhere in the aggregate average of 3.5 stars.

Full disclosure: I hated the first Boba book. It was childish, boring, and felt dumbed down just for the sake of young readers. I had no desire to read anymore of this series until I found “Maze of Deception” for a measly 50 cents. Seeing that it wasn’t Bisson writing this, but Elizabeth Hand, I figured I’d give it shot since it was short and i hadn’t really spent any money on it.

Hand is no Jude Watson or Alex Weaver, however she is a far better author than Bisson ever was. Yes, this series continues to feel too juvenile in comparison to other young reader Star Wars novels, but at least this one was mostly enjoyable. There’s just enough of plot to keep readers invested, Boba doesn’t do as many dumb things as he did in “The Fight to Survive” and Hand keeps the pace up pretty much the entire time.

Of course this is a kids’ book about Star Wars so it has a good amount of issues like hardly any explanation of the planet Aargau (which in and of itself is almost a retcon of the planet Munnilinst), as well as some gaping plot holes that throw a wrench into the overall Star Wars timeline, yet to be honest, this wasn’t nearly as bad as I had feared.

And as it only took about an hour to read and cost me a measly 50 cents, I can’t really complain.

[Kaine · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book represents an improvement, but not to say that the series is becoming or is on the way to being one of the best. We have Aurra Sing and Boba going in search of Boba's inheritance. Enjoy the moment when Boba escapes from Aurra, and seeks to hide in this strange Intergalactic Bank. The bad comes when once again Boba is cheated and loses almost all the inheritance that Jango left him. At this point things like the Book that Jango left him no longer matter because they only say pure nonsense there. It is also sad to see how an element as important as Boba knowing Dooku's true identity, as Tyranus, the man who commanded the creation of the clone army, is so wasted in a series like this. How many stories could not be told with this vitally important information, but instead we get a story devoid of imagination, zero creativity, and lacking in the essence of a character like Boba Fett.

[Ursula Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

New Author and New Focus

This edition of the Boba Fett series features a new author taking over named Elizabeth Hand. It is a marked improvement. Young Boba is now 11 and is off to a special planet with another bounty hunter and is ready to claim part of his inheritance.
Spoilers below.
Boba managed to lose Aurra for a while, though he gets legally robbed of most of his funds. Aurra tracks and finds him, but he does manage to get away.
This is an improvement over the last novel, with some great chases, fast paced action and clever manuevering. It's also not as juvenile as the last edition. While the books are written for a younger audience, this chapter has a more mature tone.

[Steven Shinder · Rating 4 out of 5]

The more of these I read, the more I'm reminded of how stupid Count Dooku's plan is. Seriously, why let the Fetts in on the fact he's Tyranus? Boba has this valuable information, but is ultimately afraid that if it gets out, the Count will go after him.

The interactions with Aurra Sing are interesting though. Seeing how she and Boba are in The Clone Wars TV show, it feels as though George Lucas gave a general guiding trajectory saying at some point the two work together. The bank account stuff is weirdly relatable as an adult just trying to make it through life.

Also surprised that Jabba has a nephew named Gorga. Why is there a line about most Bothans becoming spies, though? What a weird extrapolation to base on just one line from a movie.

[J.B. Mathias · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book could have been named Boba Fett goes to the bank but that probably wouldn't have sold as well. Nothing really happens, I keep waiting for Boba to start becoming a bounty hunter or do anything other than stumble around while stuff happens around him but it doesn't happen. All that happens in this one is he shows up to the bank to get money his dad left for him. Aurra Sing is chasing him but is barely in the story.

[Olmota · Rating 4 out of 5]

Genauso gut wie die Teile vorher, vielleicht ein bisschen besser (deswegen 4 Sterne mit dem Hinblick dass es ein Jugendbuch ist). Kein must-read in der Legends Timeline aber sehr unterhaltsame Geschichten. Das legendäre "ich bin zehn und niemand bemerkt mich" hat aufgehört, dafür wurde das legendäre Bluffen von Boba erweitert.
Cool war, dass er ENDLICH Mal mit einem Klon verwechselt wurde. Auch cooler Einblick auf den Planeten Aargau, welcher stark nach Muunulist klingt

[Alyce Caswell · Rating 2 out of 5]

A frustrating read, because Boba was still written as a gullible kid (so gullible, in fact, that my 10-year-old self would have despised him in this book!). At least he had a couple of good moments this time. There seems to be no real difference in writing style, despite another author taking over the series.

[L. A. · Rating 5 out of 5]

First of all, keep in mind that this is for younger readers. That being said as a Boba Fett obsessed, teen in the 2000s I inhaled these suckers. This entire series is a lot of fun and I wish they had done even more with it because I think it has so much potential.

I absolutely loved that we got to see Aura Sing in this and this is a lot more enjoyable than the second book .

[Christin Ford · Rating 5 out of 5]

First of all: I love Boba Fett. I tried to get my hamds on everything to do with the galaxies most notorious and best bounty hunter. The books are for a younger group but I really loved it. The writing is exciting and I got hooked so bad I read them all in 3 days.

[Alexandr Iscenco · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good continuation of the young Boba Fett's story.
I especially like to see the continuation of "lessons" of his father, Jango Fett, throughout the book and to observe how they are shaping the character of the future bounty hunter.

[Hazel · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun little book about Boba Fett and Aurra Sing going to claim Boba's fortune, that he was left when Jango died.

I enjoyed the adventure, though perhaps I shook my head at young Boba's foolishness.

[Brad · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was torn to whether this was a 2star book or a 3 star. It follows the story of 10 year old Boba Fett as he tries to make his way in the Star Wars Universe now that he is an orphan. Really tried to like this book, but it is a bit too simple and transparent. Hope the series improves.

[Kat V · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sentence one: this new author is clearly far superior to the author from books one and two. It’s definitely still a children’s book but so much better written and a very enjoyable and more detailed plot. I’m actually enjoying this. Fun story, well told. Worth a reread.

[Kai Charles(Fiction State Of Mind) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Boba reunites with Aurra Sing in this volume but he can't trust her. As the two land on a banking planet to try to access Jango Fett's funds Boba takes a risk to break free of Aurra's control.

[DOUGLAS J BERRY · Rating 5 out of 5]

Continuing adventures of young boba fett.

Disney brings us the adventures of a young Boba fett. Boba fett is trying to get his father's ship and fortune.

[Jurgen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this one. Full of tension and excitement.

[Chloe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another interesting read about Boba Fett! Only three more and this childhood series will finally be finished.

[NATHANIEL MASON · Rating 4 out of 5]

I feel like this book was a little bit different than the others because instead of the beginning being the "boring" part was at the middle at the book.

[Elijah Benjamin Moore · Rating 3 out of 5]

A much more concise story than the first 2, and certainly marks the shift in Boba from boy to man.

[Kieran McAndrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Boba Fett must regain his father's wealth to finance his mission of vengeance.

Hand continues to develop Boba's adventures in this chapter book.