Reviews

Queen Amidala by Jude Watson

ihateprozac's review against another edition

4.0

Good for younger fans of the Star Wars series (like tweens), to further understand the Phantom Menace installment in the series. Although it was annoying how she refers to C3PO as 'Seethreepio' and R2D2 as 'Artoo' but ultimately it doesn't matter too much.

graff_fuller's review against another edition

adventurous funny hopeful inspiring reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

These Middle Grade retellings of Star War: Episode I: The Phantom Menace...from a "certain point of view"...this one from Queen Amidala, was fun to read. 

Not a LOT of new things, but more from her POV. Since I've read the Padme trilogy by E.K. Johnston (Disney canon), I've read her POV through a lot of situations, but this early view was a LOT of fun.

There are three of these novellas, so I will be reading them BEFORE I get to the Middle Grade Jedi Quest series (which I'm excited for, but also want to get to more adult novels, too). Ugh.

justthatstarwarsbookgirl's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

1.0

I find it almost sacrilegious for me to be writing a bad review for a Star Wars book. It wasn’t that I hated this book and can’t stand it/hate the author and want to leave a bad review, I just didn’t ENJOY it whatsoever, it actually caused me feelings of minor annoyance at some of the characters and their actions and at the end of the book the last few pages sort of redeemed it in one scene but at the end of the day the rest of the book was not very memorable unless you remembered the bad aspects/parts, which weigh the entire book over on the scale of not being a good read overall. I actually LOVE almost every single one of Jude Watson’s Star Wars works, I truly loved her Jedi Apprentice Series as my first introduction to the EU Community, but one of her Jedi Quest books was my first ever DNF! So I guess it just varies with her works, but as a whole I love her works mainly, so this is sort of weird that I didn’t enjoy this book whatsoever really. The book left me with feelings of incompletion and that I may or may not have wasted my time reading all of it. Along with having nearly no feelings for the book, while I could be feeling expressions of happiness or joy, I felt annoyance at multiple times when reading scenes of this book. Overall in the book, everything seems very repetitive overall of the different events of Episode 1, like they weren’t told specifically from Amidala’s POV but from an overall outside viewer’s perspective as a summary of the different conversations and information displayed in the movie. I especially noticed this during the scene where the group eats dinner in Shmi and Anakin’s home. The author’s depiction of Padmé hardly seems accurate to me. It seems as if Jude Watson was attempting to lean more into the age factor of her being a 14-year old girl with high-running emotions and easily frustrated feelings. She seemed to behave very childishly, or at least her inner thoughts were. She appears far too fidgety as described in this book compared to her composure in the movie and novelization. I thought her relationship with Qui-Gon being so poor and the contempt she expressed feeling for him was highly overexaggerated, their relationship was nearly never this bad in the movie and novelization. The reason for this could possibly be due to how his death affected her in the end, the author could’ve been going at an attempt to make it a larger deal than it was between them for the time they spent as Guardian and Handmaiden on Tatooine. I thought the whole Queen vs Padme/handmaiden role difference was also extremely overexaggerated, with Padme believing she’d have so much more respect as a person if she was just in the Queen’s outfit. I thought that was extraordinarily silly, the royalty role and outfit would not have that much of a difference on how she was treated as a person and young girl. I thought Padmé’s character was more self-centered, outspoken and selfish than she ever was in the movies or books, as well as being far too concerned about things she shouldn’t be. I believe this book was definitely changed and made fairly overall inaccurate by the Canon Queen’s/Padmé Amidala Trilogy by E.K. Johnston published from 2019-2022, especially for the handmaiden’s basic understanding and scenes including and involving them, especially Sabé and Padmé’s swap scene early on in the book, and the explanation of the program of Panaka’s. I believe personally the Queen’s Trilogy explains these subjects much better and in fuller understanding. I think the lines with the foreshadowing between Shmi and Padmé, such as the ones mentioned where Shmi is “giving” Anakin to Padmé, is extremely odd to be written so early on, even if we know the ending of the story I thought the lines were unnecessary and weird to read. The book definitely put too much emphasis on the supposed fact that Padme relied so much on the Galactic Senate to fix things and never had a backup plan or belief that the Senate might not side with her. In the book she seems completely reliant on the Senate alone to fix all of her problems, it didn’t seem completely that way in the movie. However two pluses/positives from this book that I can seek out include: the book having beautiful images from the movie chosen for some of the appropriate chapters that were enjoyable to see and I loved the excerpt explaining that Padme did not want to have a Victory Parade due to Qui-Gon’s death, but Obi-Wan convinced her it was what Qui-Gon would’ve wanted. That part of the book was quite possibly the best part of the book overall and the most relatable to those who have ever dealt with recently deceased relatives, such as myself recently. That section of the book was extremely touching and a beautiful tribute to the character of Qui-Gon Jinn, to have  Padme and Obi-Wan have that little sensitive chat due to his passing. Overall, this book was my least favorite out of the Star Wars: Episode 1 Journals Trilogy. 

thebookslayer's review against another edition

adventurous inspiring mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

Another Star Wars Ep.1 tie in but this time from the perspective of Queen Amadala. Following her perspective through the acts of the film.

fandom4ever's review against another edition

adventurous emotional 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? No

5.0

This was a wonderful little book taking place from the first-person point of view of Queen Amidala, with the story of Episode I from her in-universe journal. This adds quite a bit of backstory to the history and happenings on Naboo and Amidala as a character. I loved learning a bit more of why she dresses the way she does as queen and how she manages to communicate with her decoy while acting as Padmé the handmaiden. This also shows Amidala’s changing view of Qui-Gon as she learns from him and comes to respect him. It was painful to read her having to learn about Qui-Gon’s death, but I really enjoyed the added conversation between her and Obi-Wan. It gave more depth as to why Padmé would be excited to see him again in Episode II. I would definitely recommend this as a companion book after reading Episode I! 

ofclumsywords's review against another edition

adventurous emotional tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

“Fate is a tangle. We can only follow a thread.”

This book added so much to Phantom Menace and we get to see everything through Padme’s eyes. The added moments she and Qui-Gon have right before he left to battle Maul was heart wrenching. As was the few moments Padme and Obi-Wan shared after Qui-Gon’s death, discussing how to honor his memory. It was an excellent book and paired very well with the junior novelization of Phantom Menace.

taytots24's review against another edition

5.0

This was one of my absolute favorite books as a kid. I read it soon after Episode I was released, and being a 9-year-old girl, I thought Padme was the bees knees. This book brought me hours of enjoyment.

evadion's review against another edition

4.0

I enjoyed reading Padmé’s perspective of the events from The Phantom Menace and the brief information and details of her life on Naboo

quigonchuy's review against another edition

3.0

A retelling of Episode I through Queen Amidala's eyes. A couple tidbits here and there that you don't get otherwise, but not a lot of new stuff you wouldn't know by watching the film. This is no longer canon though. In this book, the queen's decoy's are Panaka's idea, and in the Disney era, this was a new thing setup by Padme according to the new books.

naynayreads's review

2.0

The star wars journal books are great for younger readers. You find out what was going on in the minds of the characters while the rest of the star wars story is going on.