Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.95 AVERAGE
3.95 AVERAGE
Would you believe it’s possible for a book to make The Phantom Menace even worse than it already is?
Behold: Queen’s Peril, by E. K. Johnston. (or: The Handmaidens Tale: A Star Wars Story)
The book itself is purple, which goes well with the prose contained therein. Johnston’s writing is at the level of mediocre fanfiction. Though she doesn’t approach the level of Chuck Wendig, she’s definitely in the bottom tier of current Star Wars writers. This is a book that turns Star Wars into pretty dresses, makeup, and the travails and petty jealousies of flirty 12-year-old girls who run a planet. To be fair, page one left none of this hidden:
But it’s just bad.
The story is a prequel to a prequel—the events leading up to The Phantom Menace, and then the story of that film itself, played out very quickly from a few different perspectives. A lot of it is retconning, and yet plenty of odd plot points remain that still make no sense: a two-year-term elected position called “queen”; a teenager ruling a planet; the Jedi not able to sense what’s happening three inches away from them; what the taxation of trade routes actually has to do with anything; why the Trade Federation was allowed to create an enormous army of droids and attack ships; what Palpatine’s background is; how the queen can be anonymous; in what way the handmaiden-decoy system makes any sense; and much more.
A lot of the extra details Johnston manufactures actually weaken the story rather than enhancing it. So much time is spent describing dresses and makeup, for example, and it’s just not important at all.
We also learn that the death toll was not catastrophic. That line was just a code to tell Amidala that a couple of her gal-pals were still alive on Naboo. It made no difference whatsoever to anything that happens.
Some lines in the book are obviously just minor rearrangements of lines from the movie:
In fact, it’s not until page 250 that the true hero of The Phantom Menace finally makes his first appearance: Ric Olie. And though he’s only allowed to drop in for one paragraph, it’s still long enough for him to do what he does best: make a couple of really obvious statements.
I disliked everything about this book, despite the occasional chuckle it provided. It’s a prime example of what’s wrong with Star Wars currently.
EDIT: When I was telling the rest of the family about this book at dinner this evening, and saying that there's more about dresses than about the queen being in peril, my wife said, "It should have been called Queen's Apparel." I have the greatest wife ever.
Behold: Queen’s Peril, by E. K. Johnston. (or: The Handmaidens Tale: A Star Wars Story)
The book itself is purple, which goes well with the prose contained therein. Johnston’s writing is at the level of mediocre fanfiction. Though she doesn’t approach the level of Chuck Wendig, she’s definitely in the bottom tier of current Star Wars writers. This is a book that turns Star Wars into pretty dresses, makeup, and the travails and petty jealousies of flirty 12-year-old girls who run a planet. To be fair, page one left none of this hidden:
The more she looked into it, the more she realized that ruling the planet would be more of a challenge than she thought. The galaxy was a big place . . .Even aside from the number of times “more” appears in that sentence, it was clear that I was in for a book that at best could only hope to be so bad it’s good.
But it’s just bad.
The story is a prequel to a prequel—the events leading up to The Phantom Menace, and then the story of that film itself, played out very quickly from a few different perspectives. A lot of it is retconning, and yet plenty of odd plot points remain that still make no sense: a two-year-term elected position called “queen”; a teenager ruling a planet; the Jedi not able to sense what’s happening three inches away from them; what the taxation of trade routes actually has to do with anything; why the Trade Federation was allowed to create an enormous army of droids and attack ships; what Palpatine’s background is; how the queen can be anonymous; in what way the handmaiden-decoy system makes any sense; and much more.
A lot of the extra details Johnston manufactures actually weaken the story rather than enhancing it. So much time is spent describing dresses and makeup, for example, and it’s just not important at all.
Sabé’s face was starting to itch under the makeup. This was the longest she’d ever worn it. At the palace, they used the blend Yané had mixed up, but the stuff that had been stored on the royal ship was a generic brand, and Sabé didn’t like it as much. It was a ridiculous thing to be concerned about, she knew, but it was also her face, and so she couldn’t help it. Being the Queen was starting to get to her. (213–14)As Darth Maul prepares for the final duel with the Jedi, he thinks, “There were two Jedi, which meant that they had the advantage of attacking him from multiple directions at the same time” (228). (headdesk) A villain who actually has to consciously think that is most definitely going to lose.
We also learn that the death toll was not catastrophic. That line was just a code to tell Amidala that a couple of her gal-pals were still alive on Naboo. It made no difference whatsoever to anything that happens.
Some lines in the book are obviously just minor rearrangements of lines from the movie:
Shmi Skywalker watched as her son’s podracer caught fire and crashed into a dune. She wanted to scream, to rage that Watto made him do it when it wasn’t safe. No other humans had ever competed in a podrace . . . (101)If you’re familiar with the film, then you can see exactly where these lines came from—and reading them here in the novel adds nothing to what we already know from the film.
In fact, it’s not until page 250 that the true hero of The Phantom Menace finally makes his first appearance: Ric Olie. And though he’s only allowed to drop in for one paragraph, it’s still long enough for him to do what he does best: make a couple of really obvious statements.
I disliked everything about this book, despite the occasional chuckle it provided. It’s a prime example of what’s wrong with Star Wars currently.
EDIT: When I was telling the rest of the family about this book at dinner this evening, and saying that there's more about dresses than about the queen being in peril, my wife said, "It should have been called Queen's Apparel." I have the greatest wife ever.
adventurous
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Padme/Queen Amidala has been my favorite Star Wars character since she was introduced to us in 1999. I really enjoyed this back story. Honestly, this telling cleared up some questions I always had about how the handmaid situation worked.
whenever someone other than our main characters showed up, I was filled with excitement. it was so refreshing and exciting!! I don't think I mesh well with this writing style? I found it to be very surface-level. we would get brief conversations with two characters and it would feel flat; I was expecting drama and intrigue or a few tears shed and they would just...move on. There was no suspense in those scenes. I did really like the fluffier aspects of the novel, like Panaka constantly being a stressed mother-hen figure to the girls and the girls sneaking out. I think this would be perfect for a young girl just getting into Star Wars! It was so nice returning to this era of the franchise.
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
It was kind of cool to learn more about Padme's handmaidens but it was just an average Star Wars book. There really wasn't anything very interesting added to the side quests of Phantom Menace.
adventurous
hopeful
informative
inspiring
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
One of the first Star Wars novels I have read I really enjoyed reading about Padme's Backstory. I liked being able to understand her guard and how they not only protected Padme but also protected each other . I found Padme and her guard to be somewhat relatable to myself and even though they are in politics you realized they were still teenagers during certain parts of the story. Overall, a great read and I'm looking forward to the next books in the trilogy.
adventurous
tense
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Oof. I was really excited to read this book based on how much I ended up enjoying the first of the Padmé books, Queen’s Shadow. Unfortunately, this one was quite a bit of a letdown. There are some really interesting and promising elements that are good about this book— learning more backstories for each of the handmaidens, including their areas of expertise and how they come together to support each other, a little bit of what happens with the handmaidens while Padmé is busy living the events of The Phantom Menace, a little bit of teenage fun and flirtation. But unfortunately someone seems to have decided that we need twenty POVs in every chapter and to rehash events that happened in the movie. I love Obi-Wan Kenobi and Mace Windu and Yoda and I love to hate Palpatine, but I grew very impatient with constantly getting their POVs at the expense of the main characters of the book, who are supposed to be Padmé and the handmaidens. I would’ve loved to have more of them training together or getting to know each other, but every time one of their plot lines gets going, it stops so we can switch to another character’s POV, or a scene that was in TPM or something else. There’s a flirtation/romantic relationship that sort of goes from zero to 65 in no time flat and then gets completely dropped. There are interesting elements with Panaka’s level of control of the handmaidens’ security (or lack thereof) but not much is done with that. The other thing this book suffers from is something that can’t be helped given the setting: the fact that these handmaidens are really just teenagers, and young teens at that, which makes some of the action hard to believe or hard to stomach. I don’t want to see 14-year-old girls in peril, but at the same time I don’t need to know what Obi-Wan is thinking right now on another planet if it’s going to interrupt the story.
Basically, the book can’t really decide whether it’s a TPM novelization, a book about the handmaidens, a book about coming of age and navigating relationships in the GFFA, or a book about Palpatine’s machinations, so it tries to be all of these things at various times and doesn’t quite get us there on any of them. It’s too bad, because it has a lot of promising elements but doesn’t deliver on them.
Basically, the book can’t really decide whether it’s a TPM novelization, a book about the handmaidens, a book about coming of age and navigating relationships in the GFFA, or a book about Palpatine’s machinations, so it tries to be all of these things at various times and doesn’t quite get us there on any of them. It’s too bad, because it has a lot of promising elements but doesn’t deliver on them.