Just finished Cloak of Deception. And just... wow, I can't believe I took so long to get to this one! Ok, so I originally skipped it because back in the TPM era I didn't care much about the Prequels EU, and later I was more interested in wars and battles and death than political maneuverings. But since RotS, when I was able to see Palpatine's plans come to fruition (he may be one evil dude, but he's the master of subtle manipulation and deception... I remember the first time I watched RotJ after RotS, and he said "Everything that has transpired has done so according to my design" and I realised he wasn't just talking about the Death Star II... he meant absolutely everything!), this is all very interesting to me. Wow. And this book adds SO many more levels onto what I knew before, and definitely onto what was depicted in TPM.

People who whine that TPM was boring because it's about a boring trade dispute (*yawn*) ... I laugh spitefully about how little they understand now.

Things I appreciated about the book:
- The bit with Mas Amedda at the end. It explains why the Senate is bogged down in procedure in TPM.
- The Valorum/corruption subplot. Of course Palpatine was behind that too!
- The subtle implied romance between Cohl and Rella. This was so good! The first romance between two original characters in a Star Wars book that I really liked - wasn't annoying or predictable or contrived. Cohl/Rella forever! (Well, or not. )
- Adi Gallia!
- The way the other Senators decided themselves that Palpatine would be a good replacement for Valorum... Palpy may have been subtlely manipulating events to prepare for his election, but he never once asked for support or did *anything* overt.
- More details about the Sidious/Trade Federation 'deal'... and why the TF had such a large army (which was kinda strange in TPM, if you think about it).
- Why Valorum had to "secretly" dispatch Jedi Knights to settle the conflict in TPM... and why Sidious wanted them dead. They didn't go with his plan - though of course, he made it all work. He's nothing is not creative and resourceful. Wow.

On the whole, good stuff. Definite top ten of books.