swbookclub | Queen's Shadow [part 2/4]

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Queen's Shadow [part 2/4]

Welcome to our second of four check-in and discussion posts for our Book of the Month.

This month’s book is Queen's Shadow by E.K. Johnston
The halfway mark on my eBook just as Chapter 14 begins. Spoilers up to that point in the post and comments below.

Queen’s Shadow: Part 2 of 4

1. How does the imagery from the book (ie. Naboo wardrobe, Senate chamber, etc.) compare with the imagery you might expect from the movies and/or animated series?

2. What are your thoughts on Sabé and Tonra? Was their mission to Tatooine a narrative distraction to have them arrive later than the others or will it come up again later?

3. The impact holonets/media has gotten some more traction as the story goes along. Do you think any of the named Senators are influencing them? (ie. Organa, Mon Mothma, Farr)

4. How are you liking the book so far? Any other thoughts? Predictions?

FYI - There's no need to answer all (or any) of the questions above - they're just talking points to get us started. Informal chatter is more than welcome! In-person book clubs often veer off topic, it's okay if we do as well. :)
All I ask is that you try to avoid spoilers for things past the first half of the book.

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I was rather amused that the very next section after we left off last week had to do with the holonets. LOL

The one reporter that Sabé met sounded interesting. I also liked how there was just enough flirting in there for you to wonder and also enough camaraderie between Sabé and Tonra for me to wonder if anything is going to come of any of it. It's YA and they're not the main characters, so possibly not.

I was happy to see Mon Mothma show up - it's hard to have any sort of Senate story without her and Organa at least mentioned. I also like that Senator Farr showed up - he was in an episode of The Clone Wars and it's interesting to view him and his interactions with Amidala (I note that way since it wasn't Padmé he spoke with) prior to those events. Nute Gunray was also mentioned in passing and I've never liked that guy. Heh.

It has to be a challenge to write a book nestled into and already established canon and really make it your own. I have no idea if the author ever wrote fan fiction (I suspect it's likely she did?) but that would've been great practice for a project like this.

I don't know if Johnston has written fic but she is/was active on tumblr Star Wars fandom, so she's probably at least read a fair bit of it. (I haven't checked tumblr in a few years, so idk if she's still there).

I follow a lot of authors on twitter and try not to dive too deeply into their fannish lives unless they put it out there. I'm sure it's something that could easily be discovered, but am not sure I want to know. But I agree, I'm pretty sure Johnston has been active in fannish spaces.

I may be guilty of having been reading a bit late at night, but the conversation with the reporter felt as if it didn't actually involve much information changing hands - although it did remind me of those early LJ days where tv magazines would spreadgossip in that "Teen actor A currently starring in a C-list comedy with former B-rated actor has more than just an online relationship going on..."

One of the things I like about this story is that it feels like those fics you get where people are basically writing scenes that fit so neatly into canon that they're both really satisfying and at the same way, can't be contradicted by anything we know from canon. Although I'm not sure how I'd feel about this novel if I'd read much of anything from the original Expanded Universe...

I agree that it didn't feel like there was a lot of information being exchanged, it felt more like an opportunity to a) show that Sabé was building a network and b) Sabé felt attraction to a woman. That's it. Maybe I'm projecting - - LOL

RE: the fanfic, it absolutely feels like that! (and not in a bad way, because I think fanfic is as legit as any "approved" tie-in novel - it's simply not canon) That's what made me feel like it was written by someone who'd previously practiced doing just that sort of thing!

It's good that Sabé's keeping her options open ;)

That kind of fanfic is possibly my favourite kind, which I think is adding to my enjoyment of the novel!

I'm about a chapter behind you, I have the book in hardcopy, which is 345 pages long. 345/2=172.5, chapter 12 ended on pg 173, so I stopped there, where they're planning for Mon Mothma's gala.

I really liked Padmé's conversations with Bail, Mon Mothma, and Mina Bonteri after the committee meeting. During TPM Padmé deposed Valorum without any thought to the fallout or collateral damage that might cause, then swanned off back home for four years. Now she's back, and hasn't really acknowledged or understood what she did back then, or how it affected the Senate/the Republic. The other Senators have no real reason to trust or support her if she acts only for the good of her own world without thinking of the repercussions on others.

(There's not a whole lot of discussion about what, if anything, the new Senator from Naboo did during the intervening four years, or what Padmé did as queen, either on Naboo or in the context of interplanetary relationships, I wish it was a bit more fleshed out. Padmé here is a bit of a blank slate in terms of relationships and priorities.)

I could also argue it's a similar case to the Shmi plotline, she and Qui-Gon took off with Anakin and waited too long to come back for her. I realize this plot point was kind of painted into a corner by the movies, but I think Padmé could and should have rescued Shmi while she was still queen. This book spends so much time on the people of Naboo honoring those who fought in the battle against the Trade Federation, it would only take a little bit of patriotic rhetoric to frame Shmi as a hero for helping them in their most desperate hour of need, and her freedom and help resettling somewhere nice as a just reward.

I've always interpreted Padmé not rescuing Shmi as a character flaw rather than a plot hole, and I think by trying to turn it into a plot hole and then fix it Johnston has opened up even more plot holes, like the fact that Padmé knows Shmi no longer belongs to Watto, even though Anakin is shocked in AOTC when Watto tells him he sold her.

I'm pretty surprised by how little time was spent on the Tatooine. I do like that they brought up Tatooine having its own abolitionist movement, even if it is small and mostly underground. I just don't know how much was actually added to the story by this subplot. (Maybe it is set up for something later in this novel or the sequel?) It does make it handy for Sabé to sneak around without having been identified before.

I'm going to hold off on commenting about Tonra, I'm not sure I can adequately discuss him without spoiling a couple of the other Star Wars YA novels. He certainly is a male character existing in the general vicinity of a female character, and they're already holding hands.

I am excited for more Sabé & Padmé switcheroo spy shenanigans.

(I hope I'm not being overly negative, I am enjoying parts of the book, but I also feel like it is missing something, a layer of complexity I feel is found elsewhere in the Star Wars universe.)

Oh... yes. Very good points about the four years between her deposing the previous Chancellor and now when she's a new Senator.
I always got the sense the Palpatine manipulated more than we saw, especially when it came to Padmé (we obviously saw the result of his claws in Anakin).

The whole storyline with Shmi makes me sad. The separating children from families is bad enough, but leaving her as a slave was just cruel. I never understood how more people weren't outraged when the prequel movies first came out. On one hand, I'm glad it's being brought up at least, and that Padmé is at least trying to do something - even if it's vicariously through Sabé. I hope it's a setup for something more to happen on Tatooine.

I didn't realize Tonra was a character outside this book (I REALLY have prequel gaps in my SW knowledge). Maybe I'll look him up after we finish. Yes, they're holding hands and she's flirting with the journalist - which makes me hopeful for a bi-character, even if neither relationship goes anywhere.

I am with you and fully onboard for more switcher spy shenanigans!! :)

(not at all! you are so very far from bashing for the sake of bashing - criticism is absolutely part of responding to any book)

Oh, Tonra isn't in any of the other novels I've read, I was more talking about, hmm, patterns in YA romance. I read another Star Wars YA novel a couple of years ago because people told me it contained f/f romance, and lets just say Sabé/Tonra is already much more explicit than that one ever got.

I would love for Sabé to be bi as well.

Ah... I understand. It sounds like one of those romances people see in subtext but isn't really satisfying in the source.

Pretty much, it was a little bit better than subtext, more like a one-sided crush with a single hug at the end of the novel. The author acknowledged the relationship as canon, though.

As my copy of the book only arrived late last week, I had to catch up, so I apologise for missing last week's conversation :)

I think Sabé and Tonra's mission served a good narrative purpose, although it felt a bit rushed in what it was doing. I know that the fact that no-one went back for Shmi Skywalker prior to now is one of the plotholes in the movies, but I think the problems Sabé and Tonra created for themselves when they went in by posing as smugglers and their initial blunders highlighted how while the core cast of characters are clever, well-trained and skilled, they're also somewhat naive in how they approached theproblem on Tatooine, which could be implied as being a theme intended to echo Padmé's initial days in the senate.

I'd be amazed if there wasn't someone senior influencing the Coruscant tabloid media :P I know that the Trade Federation are the obvious suspects, but I'm also wondering if Palpatine could be involved, in an attempt to keep Padmé a useful tool without having her gain too much influence in her own right.

It feels in some ways as if this novel is as much royal court drama as it is senatorial politics - or maybe it's meant to be echoing ancient Republican Rome? While I know that Bail Organa and Mon Mothma will be in the resistance, I'm very curious to see exactly what it is their proto-movement is trying to do at the moment. At what point did people start to pick up Palpatine's imperial itnentions?

That's a great point - that the author is highlighting how skilled and competent the team is, but also how naive.

Palpatine is always involved, that's my default. It's not that I'm a fan of him being the 'big bad' over basically 3 generations of the galaxy (I'm not) but it seems that TPTB are in love with the idea he's behind everything.

The balance between a royal court and political drama I think is spot on, and intentional. Especially considering it's a transition from one to the other.
I remember reading an article about the governmental setup for the prequels and the opinion that Lucas really didn't have any idea how governments worked - which made the whole Republic-to-Empire story kind of messy from the political stand point. I'll try to dig up some of those links for next week's post.

How many books are there in this particular series? I find that I have less patience than I used to where very young characters win through situations constantly because of their talent/destiny/training. On the other hand, a story where people have potential but have to go through the process of aging and learning from defeats and surprises and grow into that strong blend of talent, competence and experience is one of my favourite things.

It would be rather nice if it turned out that Palpatine isn't actually behind everything... but, like a slick politician, is actually really good at taking credit for things and making people think that he arranged things, to enhance his reputation...

I'd always assumed that Lucas was going for deliberate ancient Rome parallels, what with an emperor/a senate/a republic/an empire, but maybe he liked the sound of it and didn't think much about it ;)

It's not really a series, per se. There is another book published after this one by the same author called Queen's Peril. A quick goodreads scan shows that it is set before the events of this one (which is weird, but it's Star Wars and I'm convinced they're incapable of rolling anything out in chronological order).

Lucas might've been going for Roman parallels, but I don't think he got to the level of detail where it would actually make sense. I'm not sure anyone in 1977 thought it would be particularly popular.

This is SUCH a strange book, especially considering it is for YA audience. Like, what is even HAPPENING? There is very little action, it's mostly just...discussion. So much discussion. Maybe I'm just not good with political intrigue but I've never missed Anakin so much as in this book LOL.

I think the sad part is that we kind of know how this all ends? There is so much we know that the characters don't and I'm sort of dreading where it all ends...but I'm wondering if it will end on the landing pad where AotC starts, with the explosion...

side note: I've been listening to this in the car and they spaceport background noise sound like sirens in the distance and I keep having to check to see if an ambulance is coming up the road behind me. :|

LOL - talk talk talk - blegh.

That does make it rather sad. I think I've felt that way about her storyline for some time, even though I enjoyed her character in the animated series. It's like I don't want to get too attached because I know it doesn't end well.

Well, it's only natural to pull over for star destroyers I guess? (LOL)

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Queen's Shadow [part 2/4]

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