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horizon_brave 's review for:
Queen's Shadow
by E.K. Johnston
**As per all of my reviews, I like to preface by saying that I listened to this book in audiobook format. This does indeed slightly skew my rating. I have found that audiobooks, give me a better "relationship" with the characters if done well, but also kills the book for me if narrated poorly. Also due to the nature of listening to the text, names and places may be spelled incorrectly here as I often do not have the physical volume in front of me.
Also, I have written this review in a "rolling updates" style. In that I basically chronicle my reading as I progress. This may make for a jarring and spoilery review so be warned.**
Well, this is an odd one. I found myself "peer pressured" into reading this one! I mean that jokingly but I was actually going to pass this one up… the "Y.A" name reared it's ugly head and sort of scared me off. But of course with my heavy involvement in the Star Wars community and podcasts I get a lot of opinions and reviews. And boy did this boy come up a lot of with a lot of positivity. So…peer pressured into this!
The book opens and is set in the time period after Episode I and before II. This is such a great nook in time period in that we have almost absolutely nothing in terms of canon. I started the book, no realizing when it was set, and was scratching my head as to how Palpaltine was Chancellor already, thinking it was pre-Episode I really really was happy to see when this took place, and damn, this opens up stroking some itches that I didn't know I had!
We get an awesome seen with Palpaltine visiting the young Queen Amidala on Naboo, and right away the bond between her and her maidens are established. They take up a very protective sorority feel. They keep this guardian like feel around her, and the banter between them is very real. Many many times especially with YA novels… teenage dialogue sounds laughable and very cringy. But here, and I suppose this is their more stoic personalities, it sounds very real…at least so far. And to that point the girls, the hand maidens are given personalities, and I think as I progress further they'll carve out their own unique personalities.
There's a really great description of Padme's lakeside retreat. Even from the description, it comes off as this natural, bright and very 'tropical' feel. This is all taking place during Padme's last days in office, and there's a big vote underway for a new Queen, and new staff. Palpaltine comes to visit Padme and her maidens come in and we see them how they take up positions in the room when the queen is hosting someone. Very cool.
There's some great character building so far, but I foresee a slight problem at least for me, in that because all of the names of the maidens sound so damn similar.. It's going to be a bit of a challenge to distinguish between them.
Even the Panaka's are seemingly going to be given a deeper personality than what we see in Episode one from Captain Panaka.
We're getting some good inner doubt of Padme thinking about what would be their fates once they leave office. What would the Handmaidens lives be like now? They were doing this since they were young girls, and never really had any life outside of this.
What's interesting is that we're seeing Padme's first days as a Senator, but again, is an area of time that has been pretty much ignored thus far. We get some nice 'growing pains' of her adjusting to Senator life. I find it very odd though that she still has Hand Maidens…I mean a senator may have a rentinue of people, but handmaidens seems like something that is a Queen's benefit. I suppose it's more from her lifestyle and culture. Either way we're then tossed a bunch of new faces to replace her old maidens. So many more girls with names ending in e` Not confusing at all…
Padme tries out her new personal 'decoy'… her and Corde` switch places and have a tour of the Senate building. (along the way we get a nice thought from Padme about Quigon and the Jedi Temple as they pass it by)
Sabe` the character portrayed by Keira Knightly in TPM, departs from the queen's service, but goes on her own quest to Tatooine to try to free as many slaves as possible. This sort of is in response to the question of why did Padme send aid later on to Tatooine to help out with the slave rights, and why she didn't specifically try to get Anakin's mother her freedom.
Lots of great moments that Padme has with Senator Organa. This is strange though…and makes sense, but I suppose I never really thought about it, But Padme daughter Leia is given to Bail Organa…so I assume he knew it was hers.
I'll say this, and this makes me a bit angry because it's a Y.A novel…but the switching back and forth between Sabe, and Padme, is getting a bit confusing and their goals. As cool and intriguing as the switching is between Padme and Sabe, I'm not really seeing the point or the great payoff. It's described that it took a week of dedicated practice to pull off one of these switches. But what exactly are they gaining?
There's lots of scenes between Padme, and Palpatine and Mon Mothma. (It's also strange time line wise, who Mothma is in the Senate at this point) She would be in her teens…
So in wrapping up the book, I gotta say, I'm pretty surprised with out 'quiet' the book is. Aside from a space battle at the end (which to me even felt a bit forced into the story) there was no action. And I don't mean that in a bad way. It didn't need to have it. That's not what this story was about. If you want explosions and light sabers find another book. This deals with two major idea's. The first being how one handles the burden of changing your career, outlook and how you present yourself to others. It's the idea of dealing with your choices in a new place in your life. I can relate… Queen Amidala made choices in her career as queen, such as removing Chancellor Vallorum from office, a very well liked Chancellor as a whole, and replaced him with Palapatine…a Senator from HER own planet. The implications looking back on it, should have been massive. And this is related in the book. It does a fantastic job in showing that her decisions made to protect her people probably were not well looked upon by the other members of the Senate. We need Bail Organa and Mon Mothma, and normally these two characters are always portrayed in the best of light, in this book they come across as more suspicious and mistrusting. This is a good thing though as they should be. They don't know Padme from a hole in the wall, and just wouldn’t take her word of good faith. They saw her install someone in political power that would have had her best interests in mind. So to them, she's probably very suspect. So the book deals with Padme trying to cope with that past of hers and trying carve a place for herself in the Senate and gain the trust that she needs.
The 2nd big idea that this book deals with is the idea of what to do in life when your main purpose has been displaced. One of the queen's handmaidens "Sabe" is one of her most devout and loyal followers. She's basically given her whole life to the Padme and to say that that two are close is a drastic understatement. E.K Johnston almost delves into the territory of Sabe almost being in love with or atleast obsessed with Padme. The idea that because Padme is no longer queen and her need for such stringent security isn't really required as much, we see the transition of her now still trying to fill the role that she had before. But as the book sort of points out, the amount of work and trouble they went through for these "identity switches" far outweighs any real gain. I mean when I was reading the book, I was consistantly asking, what's the payoff for this? Sure Padme gets to 'see' things outside her normal scope but with the amount of trouble and risk, it doesn't seem worth it. So by the end of the book it's sort of settled and the conclusion drawn that Sabe's role wouldn't be as it was. I actually wish this would have been leaned into a bit more. I'd love to have explored Sabe's inner thoughts of her trying to cope with a sort of drifting life. Her being lost and without a purpose.
To tangent off of that for a moment, and I mean this is the most non perverse or sexual way, but I got the definite feeling as though Padme and her handmaidens shared a bond together that was almost a bit deeper than friend. All of them, and Sabe the most so, share almost this lovers bond between them. And it makes sense when you have a group dedicated to your protection the bond has to be there.
Also as a side note about the ending. The Epilogue of this book goes a long way to bring to light some critisism of Padme's death. One of the biggest complaints of Revenge of the Sith is how Padme just dies of "a broken heart". And how that would just not fly to others. Especially the amount of people that the Senator had around her. So there's this great scene in the book of Sabe, literally angry and embittered about this. She declares it her mission to find out what happened to her. This actually opens up quite an excellent path of a sequel and for a story that I actually didn't know I wanted. I'd love to see a book of Sabe and the her remaining 'team', trying to uncover and dig around with what actually happened to Padme. I can imagine it almost as a "Valkyerie" type story line where she gets too close and perhaps has a chance to bring the Emperor to light but is taken out before…
Anyway back to reality. Queens Shadow is a good book, it may not be the book you're looking for, and I'll say this. I am stunned that this book passes as a YA novel..Quite literally aside from the bigger font, nothing about this book says YA. And that title, that brand I’m actually having a problem with. I don't know why some books are branded as YA. It may be perhaps the author's previous works? Because to me this is just a Star Wars book without the battles. Which to me is a breath of fresh air honestly.
I suppose one complaint that I can levy on the book is that it seems to really rely a surprisingly large amount on knowledge that the user would need from specifically the Clone Wars animated show. I mean all Star Wars books require outside knowledge, but for a book like this, it's a bit strange, that there's two sort of sub plots that don't really land as well if you don't know the material around it. You can do just fine without it, but it very much adds to the very superficial casual thread with it.
Also, I have written this review in a "rolling updates" style. In that I basically chronicle my reading as I progress. This may make for a jarring and spoilery review so be warned.**
Well, this is an odd one. I found myself "peer pressured" into reading this one! I mean that jokingly but I was actually going to pass this one up… the "Y.A" name reared it's ugly head and sort of scared me off. But of course with my heavy involvement in the Star Wars community and podcasts I get a lot of opinions and reviews. And boy did this boy come up a lot of with a lot of positivity. So…peer pressured into this!
The book opens and is set in the time period after Episode I and before II. This is such a great nook in time period in that we have almost absolutely nothing in terms of canon. I started the book, no realizing when it was set, and was scratching my head as to how Palpaltine was Chancellor already, thinking it was pre-Episode I really really was happy to see when this took place, and damn, this opens up stroking some itches that I didn't know I had!
We get an awesome seen with Palpaltine visiting the young Queen Amidala on Naboo, and right away the bond between her and her maidens are established. They take up a very protective sorority feel. They keep this guardian like feel around her, and the banter between them is very real. Many many times especially with YA novels… teenage dialogue sounds laughable and very cringy. But here, and I suppose this is their more stoic personalities, it sounds very real…at least so far. And to that point the girls, the hand maidens are given personalities, and I think as I progress further they'll carve out their own unique personalities.
There's a really great description of Padme's lakeside retreat. Even from the description, it comes off as this natural, bright and very 'tropical' feel. This is all taking place during Padme's last days in office, and there's a big vote underway for a new Queen, and new staff. Palpaltine comes to visit Padme and her maidens come in and we see them how they take up positions in the room when the queen is hosting someone. Very cool.
There's some great character building so far, but I foresee a slight problem at least for me, in that because all of the names of the maidens sound so damn similar.. It's going to be a bit of a challenge to distinguish between them.
Even the Panaka's are seemingly going to be given a deeper personality than what we see in Episode one from Captain Panaka.
We're getting some good inner doubt of Padme thinking about what would be their fates once they leave office. What would the Handmaidens lives be like now? They were doing this since they were young girls, and never really had any life outside of this.
What's interesting is that we're seeing Padme's first days as a Senator, but again, is an area of time that has been pretty much ignored thus far. We get some nice 'growing pains' of her adjusting to Senator life. I find it very odd though that she still has Hand Maidens…I mean a senator may have a rentinue of people, but handmaidens seems like something that is a Queen's benefit. I suppose it's more from her lifestyle and culture. Either way we're then tossed a bunch of new faces to replace her old maidens. So many more girls with names ending in e` Not confusing at all…
Padme tries out her new personal 'decoy'… her and Corde` switch places and have a tour of the Senate building. (along the way we get a nice thought from Padme about Quigon and the Jedi Temple as they pass it by)
Sabe` the character portrayed by Keira Knightly in TPM, departs from the queen's service, but goes on her own quest to Tatooine to try to free as many slaves as possible. This sort of is in response to the question of why did Padme send aid later on to Tatooine to help out with the slave rights, and why she didn't specifically try to get Anakin's mother her freedom.
Lots of great moments that Padme has with Senator Organa. This is strange though…and makes sense, but I suppose I never really thought about it, But Padme daughter Leia is given to Bail Organa…so I assume he knew it was hers.
I'll say this, and this makes me a bit angry because it's a Y.A novel…but the switching back and forth between Sabe, and Padme, is getting a bit confusing and their goals. As cool and intriguing as the switching is between Padme and Sabe, I'm not really seeing the point or the great payoff. It's described that it took a week of dedicated practice to pull off one of these switches. But what exactly are they gaining?
There's lots of scenes between Padme, and Palpatine and Mon Mothma. (It's also strange time line wise, who Mothma is in the Senate at this point) She would be in her teens…
So in wrapping up the book, I gotta say, I'm pretty surprised with out 'quiet' the book is. Aside from a space battle at the end (which to me even felt a bit forced into the story) there was no action. And I don't mean that in a bad way. It didn't need to have it. That's not what this story was about. If you want explosions and light sabers find another book. This deals with two major idea's. The first being how one handles the burden of changing your career, outlook and how you present yourself to others. It's the idea of dealing with your choices in a new place in your life. I can relate… Queen Amidala made choices in her career as queen, such as removing Chancellor Vallorum from office, a very well liked Chancellor as a whole, and replaced him with Palapatine…a Senator from HER own planet. The implications looking back on it, should have been massive. And this is related in the book. It does a fantastic job in showing that her decisions made to protect her people probably were not well looked upon by the other members of the Senate. We need Bail Organa and Mon Mothma, and normally these two characters are always portrayed in the best of light, in this book they come across as more suspicious and mistrusting. This is a good thing though as they should be. They don't know Padme from a hole in the wall, and just wouldn’t take her word of good faith. They saw her install someone in political power that would have had her best interests in mind. So to them, she's probably very suspect. So the book deals with Padme trying to cope with that past of hers and trying carve a place for herself in the Senate and gain the trust that she needs.
The 2nd big idea that this book deals with is the idea of what to do in life when your main purpose has been displaced. One of the queen's handmaidens "Sabe" is one of her most devout and loyal followers. She's basically given her whole life to the Padme and to say that that two are close is a drastic understatement. E.K Johnston almost delves into the territory of Sabe almost being in love with or atleast obsessed with Padme. The idea that because Padme is no longer queen and her need for such stringent security isn't really required as much, we see the transition of her now still trying to fill the role that she had before. But as the book sort of points out, the amount of work and trouble they went through for these "identity switches" far outweighs any real gain. I mean when I was reading the book, I was consistantly asking, what's the payoff for this? Sure Padme gets to 'see' things outside her normal scope but with the amount of trouble and risk, it doesn't seem worth it. So by the end of the book it's sort of settled and the conclusion drawn that Sabe's role wouldn't be as it was. I actually wish this would have been leaned into a bit more. I'd love to have explored Sabe's inner thoughts of her trying to cope with a sort of drifting life. Her being lost and without a purpose.
To tangent off of that for a moment, and I mean this is the most non perverse or sexual way, but I got the definite feeling as though Padme and her handmaidens shared a bond together that was almost a bit deeper than friend. All of them, and Sabe the most so, share almost this lovers bond between them. And it makes sense when you have a group dedicated to your protection the bond has to be there.
Also as a side note about the ending. The Epilogue of this book goes a long way to bring to light some critisism of Padme's death. One of the biggest complaints of Revenge of the Sith is how Padme just dies of "a broken heart". And how that would just not fly to others. Especially the amount of people that the Senator had around her. So there's this great scene in the book of Sabe, literally angry and embittered about this. She declares it her mission to find out what happened to her. This actually opens up quite an excellent path of a sequel and for a story that I actually didn't know I wanted. I'd love to see a book of Sabe and the her remaining 'team', trying to uncover and dig around with what actually happened to Padme. I can imagine it almost as a "Valkyerie" type story line where she gets too close and perhaps has a chance to bring the Emperor to light but is taken out before…
Anyway back to reality. Queens Shadow is a good book, it may not be the book you're looking for, and I'll say this. I am stunned that this book passes as a YA novel..Quite literally aside from the bigger font, nothing about this book says YA. And that title, that brand I’m actually having a problem with. I don't know why some books are branded as YA. It may be perhaps the author's previous works? Because to me this is just a Star Wars book without the battles. Which to me is a breath of fresh air honestly.
I suppose one complaint that I can levy on the book is that it seems to really rely a surprisingly large amount on knowledge that the user would need from specifically the Clone Wars animated show. I mean all Star Wars books require outside knowledge, but for a book like this, it's a bit strange, that there's two sort of sub plots that don't really land as well if you don't know the material around it. You can do just fine without it, but it very much adds to the very superficial casual thread with it.