Queen’s Hope by E.K. Johnston
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Queen’s Hope is a YA-Star Wars Canon novel mainly following Senator Padme Amidala. To put it in timeline perspective, this novel falls concurrently with some of the events of Attack of the Clones and directly thereafter.
This is also a time of upheaval in the galaxy as the Clone Wars are raging.
Padme and Anakin have decided to take their relationship to the next level, even though they have to keep it 100% secret.
They are a committed to one another, completely in love and want to make that commitment binding. There’s no doubt there will be some challenges, but they really want to give it a try as husband and wife, so they do.
The honeymoon period is but the blink of an eye, however, as Anakin, a Jedi Knight, is called forth to actively fight in the Clone Wars.
Padme’s involvement in the Wars is more subtle, but no less important. In fact, as Padme is prone to do, she ends up getting herself way more involved in the political investigations than the average government official would; as in willingly puts herself in harms way.
During the time Padme is off on a secret mission, one of her most loyal and best handmaidens, Sabe, takes over the role of Senator Amidala.
Sabe makes her own discoveries during her time posing as Amidala. The halls of leadership aren’t as copacetic as they would lead you to believe.
And of course, looming quietly on the fringes of this narrative is Chancellor Palpatine, like a dark cloud hovering over a picnic.
I enjoyed this novel quite a bit. In a way, it felt like I was adding some behind-the-scenes substance to the content I have previously read and watched. That’s always what I am looking for with Star Wars novels and why I continue to pick them up.
I love the feel of continuously building-out this world that has been a part of my life for practically my whole life.
Before I started really getting into Star Wars novels, it was just a fun, nostalgic movie and t.v. franchise that I enjoyed. Having the boosted content of the novels has elevated my fan status to a whole new level.
If you enjoy Star Wars films, or any of the t.v. shows, or comics, I highly recommend checking out some of the Canon novels. In my opinion, you can really start anywhere, pick a timeline era you find interesting and just dive in!
I personally have been absolutely loving all of the content that has been released over the past few years. There’s a great list of contributing authors and the stories are so well done!
Padme is a fascinating character to me, so I have loved having this trilogy from E.K. Johnston. It has really enhanced my understanding of her, particularly being able to see and understand her relationships with her handmaidens in a different light.
I was slightly disappointed that we didn’t get to see more of Padme and Anakin’s relationship in this one, but I do understand they really didn’t have much of one at this time, due to them both being pulled in different directions during the Clone Wars.
So, it does make sense, but I still would have liked to have gotten a little more of them together.
Overall, I think this is a great book. The audiobook is freaking fantastic, with the sound effects included really adding to the intensity. You can’t go wrong with Star Wars audibooks!! 10/10 recommend that format.
Thank you so much to the publisher, Disney LucasFilms Press and Disney Audio, for providing me with copies to read and review. I had a blast with this one and look forward to more Canon content in the future!!
