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amidalas-rey · 5 years

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QUEEN’S SHADOW

Just finished the book, and boy do I have Emotions! Reactions and random thoughts below. I no longer have any idea how to add a Read More cut on mobile so just scroll along really fast because Spoilers!

- The opening paragraph paralleling Padme’s death. I caught it without knowing anything about the Epilogue, that’s how vividly descriptive it was. Amazingly depressing.

- The lesbian handmaidens. Yes, they were fairly minor, but they were still so lovely and domestic.

- SAND

- Sabe and Padme’s subtle way of expressing affection at the beginning of the book. And then of course how eventually it’s explained. Their relationship is beautifully complex, and I don’t know that I would have it any other way.

- Padme thinking about Qui Gon made me Emo.

- Looking at the Jedi Temple and touching her necklace (probably anakin’s japor snippet) also made me Emo.

- PAPA FUERTE lol Always down for more Bail Organa. Padme disliking him at first was pretty funny.

- Johnston’s love for these characters is obvious in the small ways they interact, the obvious affection they all have for each other. How a little bit in love with Padme everyone is.

- Love how the Tatooine plot addresses a major flaw in Padme’s politics that fandom has harped on about for a long time now. It’s hard to try to add it in there as, canonically, Shmi does die and we don’t see Padme working towards this in the clone wars or the movies. So all in all, I thought having it in there was the best way to go about it.

- Subtle nods to the beginnings of the CIS in Padme’s interactions with Bonteri. Nice Dooku references, as I’m sure that’s the mystery guy Bonteri was associating with.

- Sabé flirting with Kooib-s openly. Nice.

- Very self indulgent in its descriptions of procedure, planning, and dress. Though not all of those things are bad.

- I like little nods to some lines in the prequels. “I would be more worried about her doing something than him” from Typho in AotC has new meaning now that we know how exhasperated he gets with Padme’s schemes. And Sabé thinking Clovis would have more a problem with Padme than the other way around.

- Whenever anyone would talk about Panaka so nicely made me even angrier at him for being a traitorous snake.

- I like the way Sabé and Tonra are handled. It’s not that I ship them, per se, but I like that it was an open acknowledgement of them both saying yes Sabé loves this other woman, but that doesn’t mean she didnt want to be with Tonra.

- Interesting that Padme and Mon didn’t see eye to eye on everything. But nice to see them work together, as Leia and Mon will too someday. Mon’s extreme pacifism was a nice nod to the fate of the new republic in the sequel era as well.

- The scene where Padme talks of being a senator for life, and being able to see that as a possibility, thinking about going home to her family to consider her future, and knowing that she will only work for 9 more years.... fuck me up.

- “From everything I heard of you, your heart was not the mountain’s to take.” Padme meeting Breha is everything. And the sweet and subtle romance between her and Bail is just 👌🏼

- R2 playing with a baby, how precious. All of the R2 in the book was great, actually.

- “We’ll come back here, you and I. We’ll do what we need to do out there, and then we’ll come home.” This scene killed me. Really drove home that Padmé would never truly go home again. Not really.

- Con: Sabé just seems so randomly off on her own sometimes. She has a task, but they seem so trivial in comparison to everything else that’s going on. And when we get a glimpse of them from her POV, it’s very short. Not sure if this was done on purpose to show Sabé’s disconnect from Padmé new guard?

- Naboo encouraging public service to youth to “ensure they were awake.” As a teacher, I feel this.

- Yikes at the Padme/Clovis kiss.

- All of the bills Padme had been working on before her death. That she was still working towards the freedoms of slaves even through the war. THE CARE SHE HAD FOR THE CLONES. God.

- THAT CLIFFHANGER!!!! I need to know if Bail tells Sabé about Leia. I need it like I need air.

- Overall: Johnston really understood Padme’s character. While I found myself wanting more emotion from the writing style itself, towards the end I found it fit. Padme is cool and levelheaded, and so was the writing. While I still think some of the plot was a little listless and disconnected, it almost reminded me of a Clone Wars arc, and that made it okay for me. Ultimately, it’s everything I’ve ever wanted from a Padmé novel, and I really couldn’t ask for more. Beautifully done.

Quotes that made me Feel Things:

- “Sabé thought she might supernova with anger, giving Tatooine another sun” what a beautiful way of putting that, I’ll never describe my own anger in any other way lol

- “She missed Sabé like she missed the sun” I died.

- “You thwart the plans of one galaxy wide trade conspiracy and they hold a grudge forever” lmao

- “You can like something even when you know it’s not going to last.”

- “I don’t know why anyone ever thinks they can’t trust you. You’re so honest it hurts.”

- “I’m afraid that if someone breaks through, I’ll let them, and it would be catastrophic.” UGH ANAKIN.

- “My hands are yours.” Sabé/Padmé one way pining, it’s great.

- “I would try a thousand times, even if I only ever saved one being. I would try ten thousand times.” This is Padmé in a nutshell.

- “Evil? I’ve fought evil and it was easy: I shot it. It’s apathy I can’t stand.” Again, as a teacher, I feel this.

- “Cordé was dead. Versé was dead. Obi-Wan was dead. Master Billaba was dead. Anakin Skywalker was dead. Padmé Amidala Naberrie was dead, her dreams with her.” And I’m dead too, thanks E. K. Johnston.

#queen’s shadow #ek johnston #padme amidala #star wars #sw spoilers #personal #long post

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