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jskstarr 's review for:
Leia: Princess of Alderaan
by Claudia Gray
This is one of the most powerful YA books I've ever read - not only does it treat girls and women as a diverse group (compared to so many sci fi ensembles where there's a solo girl, as if that's the entire point of her character), but it also doesn't pull any "not like other girls" crap - diplomacy is valued, femininity is valued, physical strength is valued, agressiveness is valued, weirdness is valued. Like the Pathfinding teacher says - everyone has different skills, and they're useful in different enviroments. It's so refreshing to see that applied evenly to women and girls - not everyone has to be good with a blaster to be a worthwhile person.
I also loved that while it was written for a young adult audience, it didn't talk down to the reader about the difficult moral questions that the characters have to face - Leia and her parents and friends all have to come to terms with truths that some authors would sugar coat away from teenage audiences, much in the way things are hidden from Leia herself at the start of the novel. Claudia Gray obviously sincerly trusts and respects teenagers as people capable of dealing with powerful concepts of philosophy and morality. And I'm so grateful for that.
Thank you to Claudia Gray for making Leia's inner workings come alive for me. It really made me appreciate her with new eyes - and now I'm off to rewatch all of the films, to cope with finishing the book!
I also loved that while it was written for a young adult audience, it didn't talk down to the reader about the difficult moral questions that the characters have to face - Leia and her parents and friends all have to come to terms with truths that some authors would sugar coat away from teenage audiences, much in the way things are hidden from Leia herself at the start of the novel. Claudia Gray obviously sincerly trusts and respects teenagers as people capable of dealing with powerful concepts of philosophy and morality. And I'm so grateful for that.
Thank you to Claudia Gray for making Leia's inner workings come alive for me. It really made me appreciate her with new eyes - and now I'm off to rewatch all of the films, to cope with finishing the book!