Books Padmé YA novel CONFIRMED (Queen’s Shadow by EK Johnston)

TFN Main has an interview with E.K. Johnston that was done at Comicon in Toronto. Note that the article has a spoiler warning at the beginning.

 

I just started the first few chapters... wow is this like so many childhood handmaiden fanfics. I feel like it was only yesterday, back when we had no knowledge of anything post-TPM and we thought everything would be based on Naboo for the next two films, as if the Naboo gang was going to remain the main characters.

How I have missed the Naboo gang.

Oh and sheesh she even explained what Yane and Sache were up to when they were left behind. How many here wrote fanfic about that? Seriously that used to bother me as a kid.

Also this isn't really a spoiler, but I couldn't help but read Eirtae's chapter imagining Padme looking at her the whole time with the slightly worried-disturbed look she gives everyone in Annihilation. Like "dear god Eirtae what is wrong with you???"

 

SWCC exclusive cover. I know it's popular but I would have liked them to show her other outfits or even better, a completely new one.
https://www.starwars.com/news/star-wars-celebration-chicago-exclusives-revealed-part-2

 

Hmmmm. So my initial ecstatasism for this novel's plot by chapter 14 has begun to waiver. I hope it picks up. The brilliant part, of course, is the connotation that Amidala is a production number. That was the main theme of the book from the first chapter, and I'm glad they've stuck with it. But I'm getting the sense the "plot" of this novel is no more than to link TPM-Padme to AOTC-Padme by just having her meet-and-great a bunch of movie and TCW characters along the way. I'm hoping I'm wrong and there's a change at some point. It's not a poorly written book by any means, but my goodness it's slow.

More spoiler-ish thoughts...

Sabe, who I am conflicted on:

Spoiler

So.... Sabe was probably the most interesting person in this story up until they decided to quit the slave plot and bring her to Coruscant. I loved her relationship with Padme, and it was an excellent move to try to get her to free the slaves. I thought it was going to lead up to something, but then it didn't. She was moved from a fascinating plot on Tatooine to play decoy one last time at a gala on Coruscant. And her relationship with Tonra is just so... unromantic. It's stiff. He's the new Captain Cardboard of the EU. Besides the fact they live together, I can't see any chemistry between them, especially since he barely talks.

On that line, Clovis:

Spoiler

This was always going to be a tricky one for Johnston. I'm still waiting to see how this pans out. Padme and her entire retinue make fun of him at every opportunity, which makes sense. So why the heck did Yoda hook them together for a mission, assuming Padme's feelings for him would persuade him to perform for her? Why the heck did she even agree, if she just spent all those years making fun of him with her retinue? I mean even dullsville Tonra made fun of him! Good grief! I always hated the Clovis scenes in TCW because they were so sexist (Yoda's role as pimp made it so much worse), but now they don't even make sense. My hope is this gets resolved later in the novel, although it was always a tricky topic to tackle, and I can't blame the author for downplaying it.

The Amazing Panakas:

Spoiler

One of the brighter parts of this novel so far, especially because it's so new. I always felt they were a little shafted in the old EU, but now the whole family is a lot more interesting, what with this mysterious ion drama. And I absolutely love how Johnston has made Panaka such a conflicted character. He's the Captain America of Naboo, but he's got a lot of baggage from the years of carrying a world's security on his shoulders.

My favorite Neimoidian:

Spoiler

I'll have more to say about this when I finish the book, but something is bugging me here, no pun intended. I can't put my finger on it yet. Something about how the entire reason Padme needs the security force and double act, the entire reason she's persecuted, the entire reason she's stopped at every turn is because of Nute Gunray. And Padme and everyone around her knows it. And yet, for some odd reason, no one talks about it much. It's just like, "too bad things suck. Gunray is petty." I sort of wish there were more directness here. Like something significant is falling through the cracks. I am hoping the Bail and Mothma plot resolves this more, or at least shows it's not all Gunray causing Padme's grief, otherwise I need to go back to disliking Padme for being a typical bureaucrat, more obsessed with the system than confronting the problem directly (which, by the way, is exactly why I dislike the way the slave plot turned out; but perhaps that too will get more attention by the end). At the moment it seems Padme is intent on gaming the system, but she has no ultimate goal than to "do good." I find that goal vague and... you know the rest.

 

Just finished it!!! I loved it!!! Maybe because I was raised during prequel era and became a fan after AOTC so those stories will always have a sweet spot in my heart. But this book was really interesting and I really enjoyed beginning of her alliances and the whole thing with Bonteri.

Plus it was so good to see how all those transitions between characters looked like. Highly recommend this book!

And it only reassures me that all those seeds of rebellion deleted scenes from ROTS should have been included in the movie. Either way, they are canon in my mind

 

I might end up ordering this from Amazon US - found a few books on my list there not available on UK. So I think that justifies paying the shipping. It would be a waste for just one book.

 

Just ordered this and a non-SW book from Amazon US. Should get the delivery around April 10 or so.

 

Isn't Padmé like 15-16 in this book? And isn't it made a point that she regularly goes back to Naboo to visit her family and whatnot? The Clone Wars episodes in question takes place 10-11 years later. Padmé could've easily absorbed some of Bonteri's wisdom in that time frame. Not exactly a perfect explanation but I feel like there's tons of plausible ways to do so.

 

I do too but people have to try to bitch and catch the story group on random canon errors that aren't really canon errors

 

Padme is 18/19ish in the book.


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Oh wait, yeah, you're right.

 

Actually she's 17 at the beginning the novel..started it last night!

Spoiler: I'm up to chapter 4

I love how the idea that Padmè's meeting with Ani had an impact...headcanon delivered!
Palps gives me the creeps already..

 

I finished this one pretty quickly but after a 48(?) hour audiobook, an 8.5 hr audiobook is very, very short. I've been trying to type up some of my thoughts, but have not had time or forgot. Also I've been digesting some my thoughts on Queen's Shadow. I'll need to relisten again sometime.

Warning: I plan to include Legends comparisons, I can't help myself.

Anyway, I've been waiting for this book for a loooong time. I've put on my wish lists in the Literature Forum at least twice from what I recall. I even preordered it, something I don't do very often. That and I had enough Audible credits. I'd even forgotten that it came out this month so one can imagine my surprise when I opened my email on that Tuesday a few weeks saying my preorder of Queen's Shadow was available.

Overall it was alright, I'm not gonna lie, it was not amazing though perhaps I'll feel differently after a second listen. Also my expectations for QS were incredibly high. I'd recommend it to any Padmé, PT, or SW fan.

I'm not the biggest TCW fan but Catherine Taber narrating the audiobook was perfect choice.

Spoiler

I'm glad it took place between TPM and AOTC, even before the Disney purchase that era wasn't explored very well. We didn't even know much about Padmé's early days in the Senate. I enjoyed seeing her struggle, the media, Nute Gunrays trials brought up, etc.

YAY! We got more of the Naberries. That made me so incredibly happy. I've always loved Padmé's family and those deleted scenes. I loved how they were out in the garden. It was just so ordinary, nice, and natural.

It was nice learning more about the handmaidens and what they did after Padmé's time as Queen ended. I'm not sure how much we knew about them. I only knew about from Wookieepedia articles and such. They even finally confirmed they all used codenames. Makes sense Padmé also adopted a regal name.

I wish we had gotten more of Tonra, but oh well. Though I'm glad to know Richard Armitage's character has a name, I like the actor. I don't think he had a name in Legends.

I also found Sabe's talk with Tonra about her feelings towards Padmé very interesting, for lack of a better word. I had never really thought about that ship outside an occasional rare pairing I might see on ff.net, but it does make sense. Sabe and Padme knew each how long, spent countless hours, and know very intimate things about one another. I don't know if I'd say I ship it, but I do understand it and could see it. Though as Sabe said Padmé is busy with Naboo. She was married to her work and democracy until Anakin came into the picture.

Loved Palpatine and his shenanigans. I also enjoyed seeing Padmé semi going against Palpatine. I had also never thought about beings in the Senate mistrusting her because of him, the vote of no confidence, Valorum, but that makes sense.

The part where Bail caught Padmé and the handmaidens LOL! And Padmé got to visit Alderaan. Also I liked them pointing out the similarities in their worlds.

Padmé's twin comment LOL and so sad since she did not get to raise them. It was also incredibly sad when Sabe went through her paperwork in the Epilogue. All those things that would have helped and could have prevented some of the issues like reinstating the Chancellor's term limits. Though I'm glad Bail contacted her though about what, that I'm curious to see. Perhaps we'll get a sequel? I remember in Legends it was vaguely mentioned that Sabe went on serve the Organas in the Imperial era. So if that does I'll bet she'll figure out Leia's parentage.

There were a few things I did not like. One, how they changed the how long the monarchy's term length. They are now 2 years instead of 4. I can't see how one would even get much done in 2 years, 4 in they get reelected. Also it messes up the timeline and my headcanon severely. I suppose I'll get used to it. Also is the monarchy just made up of Queen's? That's what I seem to gather. In Legends, Naboo had Kings as well, Padmé had followed two Kings. I also don't like how they cut Sola's husband, Darred from canon. Yes, we hardly knew anything about him, but still. Grrrrrrr.

My other complaint is that again, it's short. The audiobook was only 8 hours which was very short compared to the first 3 A Song of Ice and Fire series. Though in a way that's actually a compliment. I hope we get a sequel, another book leading up AOTC and perhaps one that takes place after AOTC though I suppose there is the comic series going on but I'm waiting for the paperback.

Anyway thank you for releasing this Lucasfilm and thank you to the author E.K. Johnston.

 

@mes520 yeah, I'm on chapter 10 already, and it feels more like an overview of Padmè's life rather than a study of her arc and her story; specially when compared to the journeys of ASOIAF Series.

That being said, Johnson does not only honors the PT in way that trumps over the horrific characterization of Padmè in TCW considerably, but it honors what little there was written before.

I truly hope that we get a Sequel. Specially one with Anakin ..TCW owes me.

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Spoiler

How was Darred Janren cut?

 

Given the relative sizes - the first two books of Fire & Ice were doorstoppers and Book 3 got split in two - isn't this rather an unfair criticism?

I think there's only one conclusion to be drawn: Can we haz sequel?

 

Annoyingly I had to take a break from this book due to real life stuff, but I was able to get through chapters 14-18 last night. When I'm done I'm going to go back and reread what other folks are hiding behind the spoiler tags. I now have a better sense of where this book is going, but it's this first novel in quite a while where I've been of two completely different minds about. It's... very slow. Very, very slow. I guess if you like teatime and dresses and fancy descriptions of rich people's houses, this book is awesome. And usually I wouldn't mind that, but in this case it's more style than substance. The book lacks a strong plot. I like the characters, but they're moving from one tea party to the next without doing anything but talking about doing stuff.

Minor spoilers I guess, but so far nothing's happened in this book to warrant a serious spoiler:

Spoiler

So far the book's major flaw is summarized in one scene: When Padme returns to Naboo and speaks with Queen Reillata, the latter is eager to hear news about what's really going on at Coruscant. Padme explains in about a few paragraphs what's up. The majority, at least two thirds, describe how she's been maneuvering her way into office. This is what she says:

This is all maneuvering. It’s not “I was on X committee to solve X problem” or “Senator Organa and I are working together to solve X problem” or “I’ve been trying to tackle X problem in the senate and/but ABC happened”. It’s all meta. It’s all “I maneuvered to maneuver some more.”

Padme’s actual schtick is the protection of planets, that tricky issue of how much defense is too much. When she finally gets to it in the report she doesn’t say anything Reillata doesn’t already know. Some people want defense. Some people don’t. No one’s been attacked like Naboo. Ric Olie couldn’t do a better job.

And so far this is my major issue with the book. It’s a lot of time spent on Padme maneuvering at parties and dinners. I suppose that’s the plot, but we know where it ends up (a war, death, etc). I think the main plot is supposed to be Sabe and Padme’s interplay as “Amidala”, but it’s often hidden behind chapters of tea parties and Padme maneuvering for the sake of it.

While I don’t dislike the book, and some of the sections about the handmaidens have been a joy to read, it flounders. I might the able to finish it tonight, although I have a strong suspicion where it’s going (besides AOTC).

Also this is what AnakinFan is gonna do to me after this post:

 

Spoiler

Padmé mentions to Queen Breha that her sister had just given birth to a daughter, Ryoo and has no desire for a partner. I guess he could still be Ryoo's and later Pooja's father. Though I doubt we'll ever get an answer.

What I meant is that it's short and I want more and wanting more of something is compliment I think.

Yes!