Books Leia Princess of Alderaan by Claudia Gray

The queens have term limits though, don't they? So having a new one in this book makes sense at least.

 

True, but I'm still confused by Neeyutnee's existence. She would have served less than three years. I'm curious how long those terms are and how many a Queen/King can have. Looking at the Legends timeline shows reigns as long as 29 years and as short as 1. I'd like to see a monarch besides Padme get more than one term.

 

Going by the table - it was the 150-121BBY Queen, who came to the throne at the start of the Gungan-Naboo war - before the title formally became an elected position:

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Gungan-Naboo_War

This was the first queen to be elected though.

 

That was Kylantha, who served around 18 years.

Having just looking at the page of the unnamed queen who ruled for 29 years, it turns out she was the last ruler of the hereditary monarchy, after which rulers were supposedly elected for four year terms with a max of two terms. Yet Tapalo served 19 years and Veruna 13, while Neeyutnee served only 1 year!

 

There's an element of overlap. She may have been elected from within the aristocracy as an informal "we need a leader for now" measure - but it wasn't till her death that the full switchover to Limited Terms was made.

 

It's not surprising as I imagine people elect Queens who are hostile to Imperial values and they find out they have no power or ability to change anything.

Sinrebirth. I'm also annoyed that conversation got stopped before I could get in it. I could have offered my professional writer opinion.

 

As I don't wish to be hit by Sinny's Big, Bad Banhammer I'll restrict my comment to this:

And no Roman numerals bro?

 

Naboo can have kings, and older monarchs, as well... they should show a little more diversity.

 

Two years - still a very short term.

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Apailana/Legends

Apailana was a female Human from the Mid Rim planet of Naboo. She was one of the youngest monarchs ever elected on the peaceful world, succeeding Queen Neeyutnee at the tender age of twelve,[5] following the latter's two-year term.[6]

 

Yeah, I'd like to see an antagonistic Naboo monarch at some point. I feel like the monarchy of Naboo has been subjected to the same treatment of aliens like Rodians and Hutts: almost all subsequent ones we see have the same traits as the first.

 

Darth Plagueis gave us the extremely corrupt Veruna (he'd been referenced before, but this was the first time we'd seen lots of him in person.

 

I admit to being a bit disappointed the world wasn't more Imperialized. Basically, making it the Risa for off-duty officers.

 

Holdo being bisexual is great! I'm bisexual too and I remember when Korra became canonically bi, it's great to see more characters having other sexual orientations than straight

 

Spoiler

I hope that we'll get some hint/nod to that in TLJ?

It could be as simple as Holdo subtly flirting with another women, or a quick mention of her having a wife/GF, or something like that. Nothing that needs to take up large amounts of screentime, but a nice nod at least.

 

Spoiler

A friend with a sharper eye than me caught this, but Claudia actually took something from one of her old Han/Leia fanfics. In one of her Han/Leia fics Leia tells Han one of the first times she knew she liked him was when he told her at a birthday party that she should put herself first and that no one had ever told her that before. She has Kier tell her this in the new book which is one of the (many) reasons she likes him. I thought that was kind of funny that she borrowed it but ended up contradicting it to have Han not be the first man to tell her that LOL.

Oh and the taking down the hair thing being the most intimate thing you can do as an Alderaanian culture thing is something that has been floating around Han/Leia fanfic forever but never canonized. It's cool to see a former Han/Leia fanfic author bring fanon stuff into canon.

 

Claudia Gray is the walking rebuttal to my nonstop mockery of shippers.

 

This may also be of interest to you - Both Martha Wells (who wrote Razor's Edge) and Jen Heddle (editor of LFL) are former Han/Leia fanfic writers who were well-known on the shipper scene since the 90s.

 

That's a stupid retort

 

That sentence lacked a period.

 

Sticking to Star Wars, it's mostly because "real life is diverse." It was a common joke that Lando was the only black man in the universe until Return of the Jedi and now there's Mace Windu, Finn, Panaka, Adi Gallia, Typho, and that guy piloting an A-Wing. A similar joke was made about the fact Leia, Mon Mothma, and Ion Cannon Girl were the only women in TOT. Star Wars was always meant to be a universe which incredibly diverse and full of unique as well as interesting things. Even though Alderaan's forces were lily-white and male, A New Hope created the sense of this when Luke enters the Mos Eisley Cantina.

There's a bar full of all manner of amazing things and you know what they all have in common? They're all Space Truckers. An infinite variety of diverse people who all have the same crappy job smuggling stuff to and from Jabba's desert world.

An equivalent scene in our world would be possible if you went to the Port of Los Angeles and a bar there with people from the Middle East, China, Africa, New Zealand, and plenty of other people. Which, in fact, you can do and I did a couple of times when I stayed in the city.

When I write my books, I've included plenty of gay characters. Not because it's an "agenda" but because why not? It makes them more detailed even if it's a random note. I've got a few 1 star ratings on Amazon because of it but also letters from people who feel like I included them in my world. Which is good.

 

Sinrebirth Edit: I said enough.

 

I giggled:

Spoiler

"Three pilots had turned her down so far; she'd also hurried after one YT-model ship that had looked promisingly run-down and probably in need of money for repairs, but it took off before she could even reach it."

As for a general thought:

Spoiler

The amount of bittersweet moments in this book was astounding for me. With so much description of Alderaan's beauty and its desire to be a light for the galaxy, to Leia's heartbreak of being isolated from her family to the joy - though tempered by the magnitude of the reasoning - of being brought back together, to those final lines...it was almost a 400-page gut punch.