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A review by nicoleziege
Queen's Shadow by E.K. Johnston
2.0
This book had so much potential, but it ultimately became a disappointment. I decided to DNF it at around page 164. While I will probably go back and finish it at some point, I know I won't finish it any time soon.
The book takes place between Episode I: The Phantom Menace and Episode II: Attack of the Clones in the Star Wars canon. Padmé Amidala is stepping down as Queen Amidala of Naboo and she is ready to return to life out of the spotlight. Then, the new queen asks her to become a senator & represent Naboo in the Galactic Senate, located in Coruscant (the legislative capital of the galaxy).
I have always adored Padmé Amidala as a character, and I think she is underrated in Star Wars because she is a leader, diplomat, negotiator and a strong female in general. There are many times in the Star Wars prequels where she stands up for her people and for democracy, and I've always liked that about her.
The first issues I ran into while reading this book were the handmaidens. The book puts a HEAVY emphasis on Padmé’s relationship with her handmaidens from Naboo, which seemed like an interesting take on the story when I first got started because Padmé is extremely close to them, and it’s always great to see positive representation of female friendships.
However, first, all of the handmaidens have names that are way too similar to Padmé’s — I mean, they are named Sabé, Saché, Yané and Eirtaé — and I always got them mixed up while I was reading because I didn’t feel like they were distinguishable from one another. It got very frustrating because the book would include a side quest from a couple of the handmaidens, and I couldn’t understand why those sections were included. I think the book should have narrowed its narrative focus down to only Padmé and Sabé, her most loyal handmaiden and decoy, because that could have been interesting,. And it would have been so much easier to follow.
I understand why the handmaidens have similar names and why they look similar in the context of the story, though. The planet of Naboo ensures the safety of its queen by instructing the queen’s handmaidens in how to be the queen’s decoys — teaching them how to act like the queen, mimic her behaviors and know all there is to know about her. That way, the handmaidens can switch places with the queen at any time and can protect her. It was really fascinating to learn about because I realized that Episode I includes this concept, and I had no idea that that was going on until I read this book.
However, there was an over-emphasis on how this maneuver was done, and it just became tiresome after a while. While it was important to include at the start, I don’t think they should have included so many other scenes explaining the technique throughout the book because it just became too much.
The second issue is that there is no sense of urgency in the plot. Characters just do things, and then do some other things, and then continue on. There are hints of political intrigue, but that political intrigue is then frequently undercut by dull breaks in the narrative, where Padmé and her friends talk about or do too many random, seemingly-meaningless things, like talking about boys, wishing they were back home, cracking a lot of jokes after a long day, or whatever else.
I definitely appreciate showing how close the girls are by including some scenes throughout where they hang out, tease each other and continue their friendship. However, if you include too many of those scenes — especially back-to-back without any action or a tense conversation with another important diplomat — it just gets tiresome and boring. It was very hard for me to continue reading because nothing made me want to pick the book back up.
It got to a point where there were just diplomat appearances, meaningless trade discussions, and the girls talking about dresses. There is so much talk about dresses in this book, and there are only a handful of actual meaningful scenes or scenes that include any kind of energy. It’s pretty dull throughout, and that was a major problem for me.
The third issue was that I was very confused what Padmé’s motivations were at certain points. There is this weird side-quest about her sending her handmaiden to purchase slaves on Tatooine in order to free them, and it was just bizarre. The logistics of that quest didn’t make sense to me, and I wasn’t sure why they continued to stop Padmé’s main storyline of becoming a diplomat to have this side quest that seemed to be meaningless in the grand scheme of the book. It just bogged down the pacing of the novel, which made it even more dull.
Overall, this book was a disappointment. I wouldn’t recommend it unless you’re curious about it or if you just like the Star Wars novels or Padmé in general.
With love,
Nicole xoxo
The book takes place between Episode I: The Phantom Menace and Episode II: Attack of the Clones in the Star Wars canon. Padmé Amidala is stepping down as Queen Amidala of Naboo and she is ready to return to life out of the spotlight. Then, the new queen asks her to become a senator & represent Naboo in the Galactic Senate, located in Coruscant (the legislative capital of the galaxy).
I have always adored Padmé Amidala as a character, and I think she is underrated in Star Wars because she is a leader, diplomat, negotiator and a strong female in general. There are many times in the Star Wars prequels where she stands up for her people and for democracy, and I've always liked that about her.
The first issues I ran into while reading this book were the handmaidens. The book puts a HEAVY emphasis on Padmé’s relationship with her handmaidens from Naboo, which seemed like an interesting take on the story when I first got started because Padmé is extremely close to them, and it’s always great to see positive representation of female friendships.
However, first, all of the handmaidens have names that are way too similar to Padmé’s — I mean, they are named Sabé, Saché, Yané and Eirtaé — and I always got them mixed up while I was reading because I didn’t feel like they were distinguishable from one another. It got very frustrating because the book would include a side quest from a couple of the handmaidens, and I couldn’t understand why those sections were included. I think the book should have narrowed its narrative focus down to only Padmé and Sabé, her most loyal handmaiden and decoy, because that could have been interesting,. And it would have been so much easier to follow.
I understand why the handmaidens have similar names and why they look similar in the context of the story, though. The planet of Naboo ensures the safety of its queen by instructing the queen’s handmaidens in how to be the queen’s decoys — teaching them how to act like the queen, mimic her behaviors and know all there is to know about her. That way, the handmaidens can switch places with the queen at any time and can protect her. It was really fascinating to learn about because I realized that Episode I includes this concept, and I had no idea that that was going on until I read this book.
However, there was an over-emphasis on how this maneuver was done, and it just became tiresome after a while. While it was important to include at the start, I don’t think they should have included so many other scenes explaining the technique throughout the book because it just became too much.
The second issue is that there is no sense of urgency in the plot. Characters just do things, and then do some other things, and then continue on. There are hints of political intrigue, but that political intrigue is then frequently undercut by dull breaks in the narrative, where Padmé and her friends talk about or do too many random, seemingly-meaningless things, like talking about boys, wishing they were back home, cracking a lot of jokes after a long day, or whatever else.
I definitely appreciate showing how close the girls are by including some scenes throughout where they hang out, tease each other and continue their friendship. However, if you include too many of those scenes — especially back-to-back without any action or a tense conversation with another important diplomat — it just gets tiresome and boring. It was very hard for me to continue reading because nothing made me want to pick the book back up.
It got to a point where there were just diplomat appearances, meaningless trade discussions, and the girls talking about dresses. There is so much talk about dresses in this book, and there are only a handful of actual meaningful scenes or scenes that include any kind of energy. It’s pretty dull throughout, and that was a major problem for me.
The third issue was that I was very confused what Padmé’s motivations were at certain points. There is this weird side-quest about her sending her handmaiden to purchase slaves on Tatooine in order to free them, and it was just bizarre. The logistics of that quest didn’t make sense to me, and I wasn’t sure why they continued to stop Padmé’s main storyline of becoming a diplomat to have this side quest that seemed to be meaningless in the grand scheme of the book. It just bogged down the pacing of the novel, which made it even more dull.
Overall, this book was a disappointment. I wouldn’t recommend it unless you’re curious about it or if you just like the Star Wars novels or Padmé in general.
With love,
Nicole xoxo