Queen's Shadow by E. K. Johnston
Queen's Shadow by E. K. Johnston
Oh my goodness this book was brilliant!!! It gave us a peek into what Padme's life was like both as a senator and as a queen and did so deftly. We get to know her handmaidens both royal and senatorial and they are wonderful. While there was no real plot to this book--no baddie or conflict which Padme needed to conquer--the book certainly did not suffer for that omission. I am extremely grateful for this book and while the Epilogue rounded everything out for the reader quite nicely, I do believe a second book could be easily worked up and I would be first in line to purchase and read it!
It takes place about 4 years after The Phantom Menace so Padme is just finishing up her second term as Queen of Naboo--apparently there are term limits and although many would love to see her continue as queen, she knows her time is up and she wants to stick to Naboo tradition and law rather than shake things up.
Probably the most impactful part of the way this book is written is that it begins as it ends: "Padme Amidala was completely still. The brown halo of her hair spread out around her, softened here and there by white blossoms that had blown through the air to find their rest amongst her curls. […] Naboo carried on without her." This phrasing means something completely different at the beginning and end of the book but it is so poignant and so thoughtful being placed both at the end of her reign as Queen and the end of her life. Makes me want to cry all over again just writing this!
The crux of the book is Padme working in the Senate and trying to figure out her way in this legislative body. She finds it so different to being Queen and tries out several different methods to navigate before she discovers what is best for her and the path she wants to create for herself. Watching her work through this and become a new person was so heartfelt and beautiful--she really does just want to make a difference in the world! And she learns that she must do things a bit differently than she would like to to make that happen in the Senate. But she's willing to make changes in herself if that means she will be able to aid the greater good.
The book starts with Padme and her handmaidens parting ways as they all go to do something within their own talents after having served with Padme for four years. Sabe goes to free slaves on Tatooine with the main goal being freeing Shmi Skywalker (that's not the only place in this book that had me audibly exclaiming). Sache enters government as a planetary senator. Yane fosters children. Eirtae moves to Otoh Gunga for a residency in working with color and blue algae. And Rabe enters a music academy. I do wish we had gotten to see more of these royal handmaidens and the work they were doing post-Padme-as-Queen, but of course the book focused much more on Padme herself and her new senatorial handmaidens, except for Sabe who continues to aid her on Coruscant.
We get our first new LGBTQ characters in a while!! Sache and Yane are lovers from what I can tell with occurences such as: "Yane paddled next to her and ran her fingers through Sache's hair." "Yane dreamed of a house full of children that Sache would also call home." It wasn't made completely clear but the threads are definitely there!!! Sabe might even be bisexual with this particular phrasing, "It was rude to stare, but Sabe found herself mesmerized by Kooib-s's appearance. She didn't always go for nonhumans, but it happened on occasion, particularly with interesting females." It would have been nice to get more direct and open representation but the hints were definitely there and for that I am thankful.
The new handmaidens Padme takes with her as senator are Corde, Verse, and Dorme. Corde used to be Cordyn and had failed Panaka's initial training because she wasn't good with a blaster, but it turned out was still very good in the act of courtly deception. Dorme used to be Dorra and had gone through the same security training as Typho and was a very capable wardrobe mistress. Verse used to be Versaat and was an incredible slicer who could figure out the backers of certain holo-net news stories as well as create new identities for when Padme needed to pose as a handmaiden.
There are several wonderful callbacks to Qui-Gon including, "She hadn't fooled him for a moment, but he had allowed her to continue fooling everyone else, which she had appreciated, as it helped preserve her own life." I love this reference to the smirk Qui-Gon gives Obi-Wan after Padme's big reveal in The Phantom Menace. Apparently the Naboo people recognize Qui-Gon at every anniversary of the Trade Federation occupation. So happy to know his efforts were not forgotten! We even get a few references to "the little boy from Tatooine" which never calls out Anakin by name, but we all know who is being spoken of and I love it. Now I want a book that tells Padme's side of the story during Attack of the Clones so we can get an insider view on what it felt like to fall in love with that little boy.
A little over midway through the book, Padme travels to Alderaan to visit with Queen Breha and Senator Organa for a week. Gracious this part had me feeling all sorts of emotions. It was so sweet to see Padme take so quickly and easily to Breha, especially since (unbeknownst to Padme) Padme's own daughter would eventually become Breha's. You can tell how caring Breha and Bail are and how affectionate they are toward Padme. It really is beautiful. There's even references in this book to things spoken of in Leia: Princess of Alderaan by Claudia Gray--Breha's pulmonodes that keep her alive and Appenza peak where Leia must carry out one of her trials before becoming the true heir of the Alderaanian throne.
Besides Organa, Padme works closely with Mina Bonteri of Onderon, Rush Clovis of Scipio, and Jedi Master Depa Billaba (!). Bonteri has a couple of clandestine conversations that very obviously seem to be with Count Dooku himself--as one conversation ends with her saying, "Yes, my lord." We all know she becomes a Separatist so this may very well be the beginnings of the Separatist movement. Clovis didn't get near as close to Padme as I had assumed by how he acts in "The Clone Wars." I'd always thought they had an actual relationship but turns out the situation was very one-sided with Padme just wanting to do her job and Clovis wanting her affections. Billaba is very stoic and quiet but very supportive of Padme as well. I'd be super curious to get more content of her with Kanan when he was Caleb Dume because it seems that her personality is very different from his...but then maybe as a Padawan he was a little less headstrong...
One of my favorite lines from Padme in this novel is the following: "I've fought evil and it was easy: I shot it. It's apathy I can't stand." So funny but yet so true and directly to the point. I love her personality so much!
Trivia:
- The Queen who took Padme's spot was Queen Reillata.
- Halliket is a game that Sabe's brothers are famous for playing.
- We're introduced to a new planet--Bromlarch--inhabited by a humanoid species. It has a huge aqueduct system covering the entire planet that gets destroyed in a planetwide earthquake. The senator for Bromlarch is Caelor Gaans. The chair of the planetary government is Councilor Eema.
- Shadda-Bi-Boran was a planet whose sun was dying when Padme was 7 years old. Her father helped evacuate the people but no other sun could provide them with the vital nutrients they needed to live and so they all died out.
- Joh'Cire is a desert moon with a growing moisture market and population.
So although this novel didn't really have a normal plot with a build up to a climax and then a denouement, it was still super readable, joyous beyond measure, and pulled together so many threads from a variety of canon that I really can't say enough about how much you should pick up this book if you are a Star Wars fan!! I can't wait to see what E. K. Johnston has in store for us next!!
It takes place about 4 years after The Phantom Menace so Padme is just finishing up her second term as Queen of Naboo--apparently there are term limits and although many would love to see her continue as queen, she knows her time is up and she wants to stick to Naboo tradition and law rather than shake things up.
Probably the most impactful part of the way this book is written is that it begins as it ends: "Padme Amidala was completely still. The brown halo of her hair spread out around her, softened here and there by white blossoms that had blown through the air to find their rest amongst her curls. […] Naboo carried on without her." This phrasing means something completely different at the beginning and end of the book but it is so poignant and so thoughtful being placed both at the end of her reign as Queen and the end of her life. Makes me want to cry all over again just writing this!
The crux of the book is Padme working in the Senate and trying to figure out her way in this legislative body. She finds it so different to being Queen and tries out several different methods to navigate before she discovers what is best for her and the path she wants to create for herself. Watching her work through this and become a new person was so heartfelt and beautiful--she really does just want to make a difference in the world! And she learns that she must do things a bit differently than she would like to to make that happen in the Senate. But she's willing to make changes in herself if that means she will be able to aid the greater good.
The book starts with Padme and her handmaidens parting ways as they all go to do something within their own talents after having served with Padme for four years. Sabe goes to free slaves on Tatooine with the main goal being freeing Shmi Skywalker (that's not the only place in this book that had me audibly exclaiming). Sache enters government as a planetary senator. Yane fosters children. Eirtae moves to Otoh Gunga for a residency in working with color and blue algae. And Rabe enters a music academy. I do wish we had gotten to see more of these royal handmaidens and the work they were doing post-Padme-as-Queen, but of course the book focused much more on Padme herself and her new senatorial handmaidens, except for Sabe who continues to aid her on Coruscant.
We get our first new LGBTQ characters in a while!! Sache and Yane are lovers from what I can tell with occurences such as: "Yane paddled next to her and ran her fingers through Sache's hair." "Yane dreamed of a house full of children that Sache would also call home." It wasn't made completely clear but the threads are definitely there!!! Sabe might even be bisexual with this particular phrasing, "It was rude to stare, but Sabe found herself mesmerized by Kooib-s's appearance. She didn't always go for nonhumans, but it happened on occasion, particularly with interesting females." It would have been nice to get more direct and open representation but the hints were definitely there and for that I am thankful.
The new handmaidens Padme takes with her as senator are Corde, Verse, and Dorme. Corde used to be Cordyn and had failed Panaka's initial training because she wasn't good with a blaster, but it turned out was still very good in the act of courtly deception. Dorme used to be Dorra and had gone through the same security training as Typho and was a very capable wardrobe mistress. Verse used to be Versaat and was an incredible slicer who could figure out the backers of certain holo-net news stories as well as create new identities for when Padme needed to pose as a handmaiden.
There are several wonderful callbacks to Qui-Gon including, "She hadn't fooled him for a moment, but he had allowed her to continue fooling everyone else, which she had appreciated, as it helped preserve her own life." I love this reference to the smirk Qui-Gon gives Obi-Wan after Padme's big reveal in The Phantom Menace. Apparently the Naboo people recognize Qui-Gon at every anniversary of the Trade Federation occupation. So happy to know his efforts were not forgotten! We even get a few references to "the little boy from Tatooine" which never calls out Anakin by name, but we all know who is being spoken of and I love it. Now I want a book that tells Padme's side of the story during Attack of the Clones so we can get an insider view on what it felt like to fall in love with that little boy.
A little over midway through the book, Padme travels to Alderaan to visit with Queen Breha and Senator Organa for a week. Gracious this part had me feeling all sorts of emotions. It was so sweet to see Padme take so quickly and easily to Breha, especially since (unbeknownst to Padme) Padme's own daughter would eventually become Breha's. You can tell how caring Breha and Bail are and how affectionate they are toward Padme. It really is beautiful. There's even references in this book to things spoken of in Leia: Princess of Alderaan by Claudia Gray--Breha's pulmonodes that keep her alive and Appenza peak where Leia must carry out one of her trials before becoming the true heir of the Alderaanian throne.
Besides Organa, Padme works closely with Mina Bonteri of Onderon, Rush Clovis of Scipio, and Jedi Master Depa Billaba (!). Bonteri has a couple of clandestine conversations that very obviously seem to be with Count Dooku himself--as one conversation ends with her saying, "Yes, my lord." We all know she becomes a Separatist so this may very well be the beginnings of the Separatist movement. Clovis didn't get near as close to Padme as I had assumed by how he acts in "The Clone Wars." I'd always thought they had an actual relationship but turns out the situation was very one-sided with Padme just wanting to do her job and Clovis wanting her affections. Billaba is very stoic and quiet but very supportive of Padme as well. I'd be super curious to get more content of her with Kanan when he was Caleb Dume because it seems that her personality is very different from his...but then maybe as a Padawan he was a little less headstrong...
One of my favorite lines from Padme in this novel is the following: "I've fought evil and it was easy: I shot it. It's apathy I can't stand." So funny but yet so true and directly to the point. I love her personality so much!
Trivia:
- The Queen who took Padme's spot was Queen Reillata.
- Halliket is a game that Sabe's brothers are famous for playing.
- We're introduced to a new planet--Bromlarch--inhabited by a humanoid species. It has a huge aqueduct system covering the entire planet that gets destroyed in a planetwide earthquake. The senator for Bromlarch is Caelor Gaans. The chair of the planetary government is Councilor Eema.
- Shadda-Bi-Boran was a planet whose sun was dying when Padme was 7 years old. Her father helped evacuate the people but no other sun could provide them with the vital nutrients they needed to live and so they all died out.
- Joh'Cire is a desert moon with a growing moisture market and population.
So although this novel didn't really have a normal plot with a build up to a climax and then a denouement, it was still super readable, joyous beyond measure, and pulled together so many threads from a variety of canon that I really can't say enough about how much you should pick up this book if you are a Star Wars fan!! I can't wait to see what E. K. Johnston has in store for us next!!
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