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dzaida 's review for:
Queen's Shadow
by E.K. Johnston
4.5/5
Out of all the main characters in all three Star Wars trilogies, nobody got a worse lot than Padme. Introduced as a tough, intelligent, kind-hearted queen, by Episode III all her storylines were cut out to where she is just Anakin's wife who dies in childbirth. Largely ignored in the EU, even the much-lauded Clone Wars never gave her much attention or did much with her character like it did with others.
Queen's Shadow gives her the focus she deserves and makes her more than "Anakin's love interest." No, it's not the classic swashbuckling space opera that most Star Wars stories are--there are no heroic pilots or scheming rogues, and the jedi only feature tangentially-- but the story doesn't suffer for it. The book is a character study of Padme and serves to show how she bridged the gap between being queen and senator. It shows politics at its most banal and self-serving while sowing the seeds for the Clone Wars.
Like the best SW novels, Queen's Shadow adds depth to the rest of the universe. Not only does it make Padme a better character, but also gives personality to her handmaidens and Captain Typho. Dorme's death in AOTC is now something to be sad about, instead of a "blink and you missed it" opening scene. And while a reader does not need to have seen The Clone Wars in order to enjoy or understand the book, Queen's Shadow also gives the backstory of some major characters in the Padme centric episodes.
Out of all the main characters in all three Star Wars trilogies, nobody got a worse lot than Padme. Introduced as a tough, intelligent, kind-hearted queen, by Episode III all her storylines were cut out to where she is just Anakin's wife who dies in childbirth. Largely ignored in the EU, even the much-lauded Clone Wars never gave her much attention or did much with her character like it did with others.
Queen's Shadow gives her the focus she deserves and makes her more than "Anakin's love interest." No, it's not the classic swashbuckling space opera that most Star Wars stories are--there are no heroic pilots or scheming rogues, and the jedi only feature tangentially-- but the story doesn't suffer for it. The book is a character study of Padme and serves to show how she bridged the gap between being queen and senator. It shows politics at its most banal and self-serving while sowing the seeds for the Clone Wars.
Like the best SW novels, Queen's Shadow adds depth to the rest of the universe. Not only does it make Padme a better character, but also gives personality to her handmaidens and Captain Typho. Dorme's death in AOTC is now something to be sad about, instead of a "blink and you missed it" opening scene. And while a reader does not need to have seen The Clone Wars in order to enjoy or understand the book, Queen's Shadow also gives the backstory of some major characters in the Padme centric episodes.