Hello everyone!
Wouldn't you know it, I'm back with another story from the galaxy far, far away.
You didn't think I'd left it ALL behind, did you?
I was only waiting for another awesome release.
A lot of people will argue (and do argue actually) that the post-Disney era is garbage, and I respectfully disagree with that. At least this post-Disney era gives us books focusing on some of the characters we've been dying to hear more about!
Plus I read books not by the era they were published in, but by what interests me at the time.
And a book about Padmé Amidala is ALWAYS going to win my good graces.
When it was announced that E.K. Johnston would be writing a prequel, or basically just another Padmé story, I was beyond thrilled.
Because character-driven stories like Queen's Peril are what we need.
There will be links to other Star Wars book works at the bottom of this page, specifically of Johnston's previous work of Queen's Shadow, in which we catch up with newly elected Senator Amidala of Naboo as she navigates the waters of Coruscant and finds a niche for herself, then a very firm place as time goes by, transitioning from the Queen she was to the Senator we all came to love desperately when she appeared on screen in Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith.
Now, in Queen's Peril, we're taking a look at a different timeframe altogether.
This book isn't about Padmé's time as senator, nor is it really about her time pre-elections on Naboo for the queendom.
This book is about the moment she gets elected Queen by her people, and gathers her group of handmaiden's around her so that they may become a well-oiled machine.
Actually, if you think about it, this is more an ode to the handmaidens than it is to Padmé, as we don't really get to know anything new about her outside of what we know already, BUT we DO see her in scenes with Captain Panaka and the way they both butt heads and work together on occasion, which sheds delightful light on what Padmé might have been like with the people immediately surrounding her.
And then of course, there are the girls.
It's actually a scheme Panaka and the Queen devise of finding a girl who looks a lot like her so that she may be a double in dangerous times, and then of course because just one might be too easy to discover, they add others onto the group, which is how we land with Sabé, Eirtaé, Rabé, Yané and Saché.
But once all the girls are together, they actually have to be able to FUNCTION together as a group and more specifically as a group that is devoted solely to the Queen.
Not to mention to the point that if need be, Sabé becomes the Queen while Padmé is hidden away under the hooded outfits the handmaidens quickly adapt, and half of Theed begins wearing in response as well.
Naturally, since these are teenage girls, nothing is ever really easy and they bicker as much as they're on each other's side, and Yané and Saché don't even want to be in the same room together (this may or may not be the obligatory addition of a same-sex pairing into any book that gets published nowadays as more information on this is expanded on in Queen's Shadow; for some reason it feels slightly less organic in this one, though, which makes it stand out, but not in a good way).
They do manage some sort of rhythm, however, because each of the girls is skilled in different aspects. Sabé doubles for Amidala on the regular and as a rule, Eirtaé is incredibly skilled at design and engineering and tinkers all the time, Rabé is actually drafted because she has counterfeit and other survival skills, Yané is a weaver, and a brilliant one at that, and as for Saché, she can make herself practically invisible and can observe like a pro.
Things APPEAR to run smoothly as Amidala starts her term as Queen and they tour the countryside districts to see the problem of potential food shortage - they may have to ask for grain from elsewhere, and the previous Queen had practically isolated Naboo.
Amidala wants to change that, since Naboo is the chief planet of the Chommell Sector, but there ARE others, so she sends out an invitation to other planets and hosts a gathering when some of the leaders actually arrive (not all of them, because annoyed aliens are annoyed, but some).
This is also when they have the real fiery test with Sabé posing as the Queen - but first, the girls have to party!
That's right, there's some sort of concert going on, and Sabé gets invited by one of the visiting female dignitaries (considering that she's with a man in the other book, I think it's safe to say our chief handmaiden is at the very least bisexual), so the girls, minus Saché, tag along - and it's how Sabé ends up pretending to be the Queen later, because, this is what happens:
Saché stays behind not feeling well, and because Panaka installed a blood-alert in the Queen's bedroom, when her monthly cycle starts he and his wife crash in, learning about the other girls and the sneaking out of the palace (it's priceless because Panaka's wife tells him he's an idiot for installing that alarm in the bedroom of a TEENAGE GIRL 🤣). And at the concert, Padmé gets covered head to toe in glitter that they can't get off her the next day, so to keep up illusions, Sabé sits in as Amidala.
And Padmé fends back romantic advances from their evening host who thinks she's Sabé, which then leads to a blow-out between the girls.
It's not the prettiest thing, and considering Naboo teenagers are supposedly mostly all prodigies, one has to wonder, but it's clear that at this point at least Sabé doesn't quite understand yet that her life ceased being her own when she signed up for her current job, something Padmé warned them all about BEFORE they signed on, but has no control over anymore since she can't give them the freedom they want and still keep them by her side.
And it's unfair for Sabé to behave like she can.
But that aside, they all agree not to do these kind of experiments anymore, and just in time too as something fishy is going on outside of Naboo.
Well, not exactly fishy really, but deadly.
The Trade Federation's here to crash the party.
The final part of the book is a quick recap of The Phantom Menace, but mostly focused on the prisoners of Naboo as they try to organize some sort of rebellion or at least messaging system, and Saché gets caught and tortured, though she doesn't break (if you remember in the movie, Padmé doesn't have all her handmaidens with her when they rush the blockade and travel to Coruscant; Saché and Yané stay behind). Once the Queen returns, they successfully break the invasion and Sabé poses as the Queen to give Amidala her chance of deceiving the Viceroy, and then the Jedi arrive for the funeral of Qui-Gon Jinn.
The book finishes off with a repeat of the prologue, of a girl in white waiting for something, but it turns out not to be Padmé this time: it's Leia right after the events of A New Hope, at the head of the nascent successful Rebellion, waiting for Luke, Han and Chewie to arrive so she can award them medals of honor.
And with THAT, the book ends!
People waiting to get an action-packed, star-flying and lightsaber-wielding book were ... quite frankly probably disappointed.
People waiting on a more character-driven book, however, were hopefully delighted.
I know I was! Especially with a young Obi-Wan Kenobi cameo.
I was also slightly confused that the invasion happened so soon after Padmé's election, but that's because I completely forgot about the timeline of events, and I remember now that Palpatine mentions 'recently-elected' when she addresses the Senate. So that one's entirely on me. And speaking of Palpatine, there are definitely delightful little snippets throughout the book, of him and his alter-ego Darth Sidious, indicating more is afoot than there seems to be.
So as a character study of both the young Queen and her flock of handmaidens trying to figure out how to do this whole thing, this is an entertaining read and definitely a recommendation from me. You'll learn more about each of the handmaidens, get some extra information about Panaka, too (in the old canon he actually went on to rule Naboo after the Empire took over!) and tie everything off with a neat bow just watching these teenagers try to run a planet.
That's still mind-boggling to me, but it's addressed and explained a little bit in this one since Naboo teenagers (and kids in general) are, apparently, encouraged and raised to give back from the moment they're consciously aware of it.
And that's kind of a worthy cause, really.
Now, can Johnston write more Padmé books? Maybe about her time during the Clone Wars?
Please???
xx
*image not mine
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