Hello everyone!
Ahem.
Haha, it's actually already the fifth on my end BUT, given that the blog post is only a day late from the actual date of it, I figured a Star Wars-themed book wouldn't be completely off-topic, would it?
So here we are.
When it was announced that there would actually be a third one in this particular lineup, I was very excited.
Mostly because it's about pretty much my favourite character of the galaxy.
However, of the previous two, I only REALLY enjoyed the first one, while the second was floundering a little, or so I felt.
So while I was excited, I was hesitant, and turns out my hesitation proved correct. But let's stop waffling and look at Queen's Hope, shall we?
You'll find links to the previous books in the trilogy down at the bottom of this page, as I've reviewed them both by this point.
Of the three books E.K. Johnston's written concerning Padmé Amidala, I feel like this one was her most ambitious yet in terms of the sheer number of characters and their POVs in the book, because we not only get Padmé, but we also have Anakin, there's a bit of Obi-Wan, Palpatine, Sabé, a few other different handmaidens, and then random off-shots and one-shots of characters you never hear from again afterwards.
So, best be prepared when you're heading into this, alright?
Good.
The book begins RIGHT before Padmé's wedding to Anakin on Naboo, and while she's having a fashion crisis, the Queen asks her to go fetch some unruly artists home while she's at it, because the growing spread of the Clone Wars is beginning to threaten the Chommell sector as well.
So, our couple goes to do just that, then hops back to Naboo to finish this whole, let's-get-married business, after which it's time for them to return to their duties, which is she to the Senate, and he to the Jedi Order.
The Jedi are being sent out across the galaxy as generals for the clone troopers, so he and Obi-Wan begin the first steps of what will be a pretty distinguished career afterwards, as we all know, while Padmé returns to her continuous battle for peace and democracy in the Senate.
It's where Bail Organa presents her with a problem of some sort of information they've gotten from the Jedi, about someone who only wants to meet with a Senate representative, and somehow the only solution these jokers can think of is to send Padmé to meet him, while bringing Sabé in to pretend she's the Senator on Coruscant while this is going on.
If you're wondering what Sabé's been doing, well, she's been freeing slaves all around the Outer Rim and sending them over to the Chommell sector, and she's back on Tatooine where she and Tonga screwed up last time, when she gets the call and heads back to Coruscant.
It's during this time that she realizes she can't really do this job Padmé needs her for anymore - this whole doubling thing - because not only is she not comfortable with the backstabbing and politics anymore, but she's equally not comfortable with NOT being told every single thing she needs to know to be successful, aka, when Anakin sneaks into Padmé's bedroom, he finds Sabé instead of her, which is how Sabé figures out, first, that they're having an affair, and then later that they're married.
So while she's making her decisions, Padmé's off doing reckless things again, pretending to be a security guard or something and also helping with a rescue mission when the clone troopers ask for help, and she also realizes that their contact was a Neimoidian who, along with a section of his people, wants to one-up the Trade Federation and do good, so for that, he needs the one Senator who would have said no to his race otherwise because of her history with them.
Padmé being Padmé, she says yes, returns to Coruscant (successful) and explains things to Organa and Palpatine both (which later prompts a temper tantrum from Palpatine because THIS WAS NOT IN HIS PLANS! and a mini cameo from Count Dooku).
Then she and Sabé have it out and the handmaiden basically asks to be released from service, which the Senator agrees to. Sabé then returns to Tatooine, and Padmé to her now secretive, separated life which she needs to keep contained in segments so that nobody learns about Anakin.
As a bonus, we get a few one-offs of Shmi, Padmé, Beru and Breha Organa, though I will admit some felt a little less connected to the story as a whole than the others (specifically Breha's), and a whole subplot about Naboo and Saché trying to negotiate some sort of agreement with the Chommell sector that Palpatine is totally behind and only waiting to be confirmed Emperor so he gets to do things his way.
But, that's about the gist of the book!
And I have to say, while it had an overall OKAY story-line, there were gaping plotholes in it.
My most confusing one: why couldn't Padmé send Sabé out to do the security job for her, while she stayed at the Senate? For all intents and purposes, the only reason it had to be herself was so that she could get in trouble and get a fix on her adrenaline rush, because otherwise, it's a whole lot of risky. In the Senate, ANYONE could have recognized that Amidala wasn't Amidala - out with the troopers and people who've never seen her, however, it could have been any woman whatsoever, and she would be safe.
So for strategic people, that was a VERY boo boo strategy, and clearly only meant as a means of getting Padmé out onto the front lines just because the story otherwise didn't feel dramatic enough.
Also, she was a hypocrite, allowing Sabé to operate without knowing all the facts - cough Anakin cough - and her explanation afterwards is even WORSE because she says it's all so THRILLING, and they have no time to work through anything because one or the other is always rushing somewhere. So take a beat on that: Padmé Amidala admits that she's with Anakin because of the thrill of it, not anything else.
There are a couple other bits and bobs that make no sense to me, but one that I've been trying to piece together is this one: Padmé's household was always very inter-connected and everyone was in everyone's business. Once she gets back from Naboo, she pretty much immediately asks Sabé to come to Coruscant, and Sabé doesn't exactly take months to get there, it's a day or two, tops.
But she already describes it - and Dormé describes it - as if the Senator's household has been separate and with alone time for her since ... forever. Only, it's later explained Padmé put all this stuff in place because of ANAKIN, so that he wouldn't be discovered. Now my question is, why would anyone think that this has been going on since forever if they've only JUST gotten married, he's been shipped off to war, and she's only been in the capital for three days?
The way it's written, you get the sense that they're talking about this already being a whole thing for AGES, which doesn't make sense.
Then again, a lot of things in the book don't, and again, while this is billed as a Padmé book, it's basically a book about everybody, and only about half of it is dedicated to the Senator. So while the author and people seem to be so happy that we got THREE Padmé books, I cry wolf on this one and say we maybe got ONE, if we pull all of her bits into one cohesive novel.
Which, I'm not mad that we caught up with other Naboo people. I've always loved them. However, I would have loved to actually get a PADMÉ book, about her own emotions, trials and tribulations as she works out the ins and outs of her clandestine marriage, not just off-shot commentary and marginal notes of 'she kept her house separated, her evenings free for him' (which, she goes to parties in the evenings, how are they free for him??).
Overall, all three together are a three star from me. They're okay, but they could have definitely been better.
xx
*image not mine
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