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saguaros 's review for:
Queen's Peril
by E.K. Johnston
2.5
sigh. I'm disappointed. When I picked up Queen's Shadow I was a little reticent, because I hadn't been a huge fan of the author's Ahsoka book, but ended up happily charmed by it. It was, weirdly enough, soothing. I was a little disappointed that this one took us back to Phantom Menace era instead of continuing in the timeline, but was also excited to read about the first handmaidens and how it all started. Unfortunately, it just... didn't work for me. I didn't like the writing. Like in the Ahsoka book, it felt childish and clunky at times, and had too many descriptions of clothing and the type of details you could find in the fanfictions I wrote when I was 14yo. The book goes over the events of The Phantom Menace but... weirdly too vaguely? Obviously, I don't necessarily think that the book should stand on its own for people who have never seen the movie, but it really went too much in the other way where it glossed over so much, you almost have to have seen the movie RECENTLY to be able to fill in all the holes. And I still think it should stand a bit more on its own than that.
So yeah. It just didn't give me much. No soothing feeling, no excitement much about the handmaidens because it glossed too much over, preferring to linger over how clever they are and all the ways they were building their codes, instead of something deeper and more meaningful. And then the second half was more of a rehash of the movie, with some interesting moments (those not shown in the movie itself), and an ending that didn't leave me feeling much.
It's a quick read though, and I did like parts of it, as I like Star Wars stuff very easily, but ultimately lacked emotional weight.
sigh. I'm disappointed. When I picked up Queen's Shadow I was a little reticent, because I hadn't been a huge fan of the author's Ahsoka book, but ended up happily charmed by it. It was, weirdly enough, soothing. I was a little disappointed that this one took us back to Phantom Menace era instead of continuing in the timeline, but was also excited to read about the first handmaidens and how it all started. Unfortunately, it just... didn't work for me. I didn't like the writing. Like in the Ahsoka book, it felt childish and clunky at times, and had too many descriptions of clothing and the type of details you could find in the fanfictions I wrote when I was 14yo. The book goes over the events of The Phantom Menace but... weirdly too vaguely? Obviously, I don't necessarily think that the book should stand on its own for people who have never seen the movie, but it really went too much in the other way where it glossed over so much, you almost have to have seen the movie RECENTLY to be able to fill in all the holes. And I still think it should stand a bit more on its own than that.
So yeah. It just didn't give me much. No soothing feeling, no excitement much about the handmaidens because it glossed too much over, preferring to linger over how clever they are and all the ways they were building their codes, instead of something deeper and more meaningful. And then the second half was more of a rehash of the movie, with some interesting moments (those not shown in the movie itself), and an ending that didn't leave me feeling much.
It's a quick read though, and I did like parts of it, as I like Star Wars stuff very easily, but ultimately lacked emotional weight.