Star Wars - The Literature [Books|Comics] Universe of Star Wars #2 - Page 20

**dracarys** · 05-28-2020, 10:18 PM

That was a really good review Steph, it makes me want to listen to the audiobook since I admired Padme the most in the prequels. Whilst I'm not a fan of retcon, it doesn't sound too awful and confusing for me to listen to

**BehrItAll** · 05-29-2020, 11:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by golden tattoo (View Post)

That was a really good review Steph, it makes me want to listen to the audiobook since I admired Padme the most in the prequels. Whilst I'm not a fan of retcon, it doesn't sound too awful and confusing for me to listen to

Yea, it is very minor.

It's not like they said Padmé served for 8 terms.

The prequel Queen's Peril comes out Tuesday.

Queen Amidala meets her handmaidens in new excerpt from Star Wars: Queen’s Peril

Quote:

From Polygon:

"The upcoming Star Wars prequel novel Queen’s Peril is for anyone who ever wondered about the inner workings of Padmé Amidala’s handmaidens, and how the young queen managed to fool the entire political circle of Naboo.

Written by E.K. Johnston, who penned Queen’s Shadow, a prequel about Padmé’s transition into senator, Queen’s Peril follows the young royal as she becomes Queen Amidala and forms her inner entourage of chosen handmaidens (some played by Keira Knightley, Sofia Coppola, and Rose Byrne in the prequels). It’s an origin story not just for the Queen of Naboo, but her most trusted confidantes, taking place before and during the Phantom Menace. As the girls work to create a tight system of decoys, bodyguards, and assistants, they must also face rising intergalactic tensions and great threats to Naboo.

Johnston talked to Polygon about fleshing out Padmé’s closest friends, approaching Star Wars canon, and coming from a fanfiction background.

Queen’s Peril hits shelves on June 2. Check out the interview and excerpt below:

[Ed. note: This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.]

What was it like crafting origin stories for each handmaiden? How did you figure out who had which strengths?

E.K. Johnston: That was so much fun. It was something that the fandom — which I’m part of — has been doing since 1999, right? It was really fun — and also challenging because I didn’t want to copy anybody, even by accident — to go through and figure out who they were all going to be. I started very basic. I wrote down everybody’s name. I wrote down what I needed, what the story needed their primary function to be. Sabé was going to be planning, Rabé was going to be intelligence, and Saché was going to be observation and all that kind of stuff. I built the characters around those traits to give them a function, and then fleshed out beyond that.

Padme and the handmaidens have to navigate through tense political situations — but there are also moments of teenage girl downtime. Why was it important to juxtapose the two together?

It adds to the relatability of characters. One of the reasons I love writing YA so much is that teenagers — or at least I did and my friends did and I’m assuming other people did too — they have these huge problems like, “What about university?” “The rainforests are on fire!” And all that kind of stuff. They have these huge problems, but they always have really personal problems, and the stakes feel just as high. So even though your friendship issues and your relationship issues don’t matter quite as much to the global economy they still matter that much to you. I love that juxtaposition of these personal problems, which are tremendously important, and also the Trade Federation, and playing them back and forth off each other. I think it makes them relatable. I think it helps make the human. And honestly, it’s fun.

Was there an existing and popular Star Wars character that was hard to write? Was there one that came more naturally?

The hardest one was probably Darth Maul just because I’m so used to seeing him as the grandiose version of himself that he becomes in the Clone Wars. So it was a challenge to go all the way back to the Phantom Menace and write him as this slightly more contained, like he hasn’t been betrayed yet, this almost feral and mean character, not this grandiose planner and the executor of all these grand schemes — because that’s way more fun! I had to be like No, no wait, Darth Maul’s not there yet. That was a bit of a challenge.

It’s always really hard for me to write Panaka because you know what’s coming in terms of his storyline, so everything that he does just becomes tragic.

And I wrote the first scene with Shmi towards the beginning of the book, and we weren’t sure if I was going to keep it — if we were going to keep the alternate point of views, so I started to dramatize them to write them into conversations with Padmé. So the same character stuff is happening, but Padmé is present. The first one I did that for was the Shmi scene. It happens later in the book, so it’s the second Shmi scene, and I wrote it and then I was like, Well, now I just have two Shmi scenes and I like them both. But she was a lot of fun. I like getting into her character. There’s so much tragedy involved, but she’s so hopeful and so positive and so good and I really love writing that character.

There’s a big stretch of Queen’s Peril that takes place during the events of Phantom Menace. How do you pick and choose which scenes and characters to focus on?

That was based on who was where at any given point. I skipped a lot of Padmé’s scenes in the movie because we’ve already seen that stuff. I wanted to do scenes that are just off-camera or scenes that we come into the very end of or [a scene] from a different character’s point of view. A lot of the time, it was the decentralized version of what was happening. Then by the time we got to the Battle of Naboo, I just had this gigantic picture in my mind of who was where at any given time and I was moving all the characters around to make sure that the story could still happen.

Was that intimidating to approach?

I don’t think so. I come from a fanfiction background. I learned to write [by] basically writing different scenes and writing my own extensions and stuff. For me, it was kind of like coming home. It was a lot of fun. There were definitely challenges because you don’t want to get too self indulgent. You don’t want to rewrite scenes that are already there just because you can. But it was very much like a sort of homecoming for me because of my fandom background.

Does it feel surreal to be writing officially approved fanfiction?

Totally! With Ahsoka, my first Star Wars book, I was really contained like, Oh no, I can’t do this I can’t do this I can’t do this like has to be very professional. But there were a couple of things that I kind of squeaked in around the sides and I was like, they’re gonna get cut, and then they didn’t. Ever since then I’ve kind of been like, you know what, if I’m going too far, they’ll tell me. If I’m doing something I’m not supposed to do, they’ll tell me. It’s really a great kind of collaboration because it lets me still have fun. I don’t restrain myself the way that I did the first time through. It’s been nice every time to approach the story and be like OK, I trust my team, let’s do this, which is wonderful as a writer

Out of the handmaidens, do you have a favorite?

I am always going to love Sabé, she’s the nearest and dearest to my heart for a variety of reasons. But in this book when we were writing Rabé’s background and she kind of became our con artist/grifter and that just catapulted her to the top. She became so much fun immediately because everything she does has this noir-ish background. Like she could sneak through a room and then all the paintings are gone. She was definitely something I wasn’t expecting with her character but it was definitely a fun time.

And now read this exclusive excerpt from chapter six of Queen’s Peril:

Read more of this post

**BehrItAll** · 05-30-2020, 06:11 PM

Lucasfilm has confirmed new dates for the launch of Star Wars: The High Republic, due to general marketplace delays.

Quote:

Both Charles Soule’s adult novel Star Wars: The High Republic: Light of the Jedi and Justina Ireland’s middle grade novel Star Wars: The High Republic: A Test of Courage will both now release on January 5, 2021. Claudia Gray’s young adult novel Star Wars: The High Republic: Into the Dark has moved to a new release date of February 2, 2021.

Del Rey Star Wars has announced that the upcoming Thrawn Ascendancy: Chaos Rising by Timothy Zahn is publishing earlier than originally announced. Thrawn will return on September 1, 2020.

**dracarys** · 05-30-2020, 10:13 PM

^ Makes sense

Queen's Peril sounds like a really good read if you are interested in Naboo politics and how Padme navigated her way through this period

**BehrItAll** · 06-01-2020, 05:52 PM

I will get to it eventually. Right now I am listening to Master and Apprentice by Claudia Gray.
Then I’m taking a Star Wars novel break.

**dracarys** · 06-01-2020, 07:00 PM

^ Fair enough, I might try and find a Star Wars novel in my library when I get the time

atwoodsmariano · 06-02-2020, 04:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BehrItAll (View Post)

I will get to it eventually. Right now I am listening to Master and Apprentice by Claudia Gray.
Then I’m taking a Star Wars novel break.

how are you liking it?

**BehrItAll** · 06-02-2020, 07:43 PM

I like it so far. Been making notes for my review.

**dracarys** · 06-03-2020, 09:54 PM

It'll be good to see your review Steph

**BehrItAll** · 06-04-2020, 01:12 PM

Master and Apprentice by Claudia Gray, narrated by Jonathan Davis.

Quote:

Length: 11 hrs and 42 mins

An unexpected offer threatens the bond between Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi as the two Jedi navigate a dangerous new planet and an uncertain future in the first canon Star Wars novel to take place before the events of Star Wars: The Phantom Menace.

A Jedi must be a fearless warrior, a guardian of justice, and a scholar in the ways of the Force. But perhaps a Jedi’s most essential duty is to pass on what they have learned. Master Yoda trained Dooku; Dooku trained Qui-Gon Jinn; and now, Qui-Gon has a Padawan of his own. But while Qui-Gon has faced all manner of threats and danger as a Jedi, nothing has ever scared him like the thought of failing his apprentice.

Obi-Wan Kenobi has deep respect for his Master but struggles to understand him. Why must Qui-Gon so often disregard the laws that bind the Jedi? Why is Qui-Gon drawn to ancient Jedi prophecies instead of more practical concerns? And why wasn’t Obi-Wan told that Qui-Gon is considering an invitation to join the Jedi Council - knowing it would mean the end of their partnership? The simple answer scares him: Obi-Wan has failed his Master.

When Jedi Rael Averross, another former student of Dooku, requests their assistance with a political dispute, Jinn and Kenobi travel to the royal court of Pijal for what may be their final mission together. What should be a simple assignment quickly becomes clouded by deceit and by visions of violent disaster that take hold in Qui-Gon’s mind.

As Qui-Gon’s faith in prophecy grows, Obi-Wan’s faith in him is tested - just as a threat surfaces that will demand that Master and apprentice come together as never before or be divided forever.

I did the same thing that I did for Queen's Shadow. I bought a hardcover special edition at Celebration Chicago 2019 and I downloaded the audiobook, because I like the music and sound effects included. And I read along as I listened.

I really enjoyed this book, but let me get the things I didn't like out of the way. These little things knocked off a star in the rating.

- No character, especially Jedi, in the Star Wars universe, in the films or other mediums says "By the Force" or "Thank the Force." Actually, it's a big pet peeve of mine when I see it written in fan fiction.

- The voice for Mace Windu was totally off. Which was a let down because the other voices were spot on. I don't know what that accent was.

- Young Obi-Wan's love of flying felt out of character.

Ok, so on to the likes!

- Great voice work for Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan, Dooku, and Rael Averross (a new character).

- I loved the flashbacks with Dooku and studying the prophecies.

- I loved any discussions and debates the Jedi had about prophecies, and how wanting to control the future lead to the Dark Side.

- I loved Rael's renegade Jedi attitude and disregard for the Jedi Code, especially when

Spoiler:

- I really liked Rahara and felt such sympathy for her.

- I found the idea of performance artist demonstrators really amusing.

- One of my favorite things were seeing the fault lines in the Jedi Order because it makes their downfall understandable. Like how they would serve the government of the Republic over being guardians of justice. Also, how some of their methods of raising young Jedi are wrong. I made a lot of bookmarks.

- I loved the little preludes to The Phantom Menace.
Like the plight of the enslaved people that Czerka corportation owned.
The Chosen One prophecy.

Spoiler:

Everything tied together to well. Sometimes the pacing was a bit slow, but I liked the plot of story and the conclusion of it. I had so many suspects and was actually surprised by the twist.

4 out of 5 Prophecies.

**dracarys** · 06-05-2020, 09:57 PM

^ Thanks so much of the review Steph, I've been looking in to reading this novel myself after I've read my mountain of must reads

Obi wan likes flying in this novel? That's weird considering he disliked it when he and Anakin were chasing after that Changeling in AOTC.

**BehrItAll** · 06-06-2020, 12:23 PM

Yea.... that is why I was like, ehhh about that.

Claudia Gray has an incident happen that explains why Obi-Wan no longer likes flying, so that explains why he doesn't in AotC and RotS.

But still. It's not something I would have thought about being young Obi-Wan's likes. It's a minor thing though. I didn't fret it that much.

atwoodsmariano · 06-06-2020, 10:46 PM

thanks for sharing your review Steph

glad that you liked the flashbacks with Dooku as well

I felt like Rael was underdeveloped if I'm remembering that correctly from the review I posted on this board last year (okay yeah I checked and I did say that)

here's my review

http://www.fanforum.com/97872083-post153.html

yeah the way they said force in that way was kinda weird to me to read

I've never read it used that way in Anidala fics I've read before

Spoiler:

**BehrItAll** · 06-07-2020, 12:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by atwoodsmariano (View Post)

thanks for sharing your review Steph

glad that you liked the flashbacks with Dooku as well

I felt like Rael was underdeveloped if I'm remembering that correctly from the review I posted on this board last year (okay yeah I checked and I did say that)

here's my review

http://www.fanforum.com/97872083-post153.html

Thanks.

Yea, the scenes with Dooku were really compelling. I wanted to get into Dooku's head.

I really liked Rael, though at times I wasn't sure I trusted him. I would have liked to know him more, especially since he is such a rebel in the Order. Smoking death sticks, and sleeping with women.

Thanks for finding the link to your review.

Quote:

Originally Posted by atwoodsmariano (View Post)

I honestly didn’t care too much for any of the other characters that were introduced

That is interesting that you said that because some reviews on Goodreads said they didn't like how she wrote Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan but liked her original characters best.

Quote:

Originally Posted by atwoodsmariano (View Post)

yeah the way they said force in that way was kinda weird to me to read

I've never read it used that way in Anidala fics I've read before

Spoiler:

It is not something I see often in fics, but some olds ones from back in the day would use those phrases.
I think it is better to just say they used bad language. Like, "they muttered a curse."

I did not see that coming. I feel like I should have, but

Spoiler:

**dracarys** · 06-08-2020, 06:14 PM

Rael seems to be a complete opposite to Anakin which is quite interesting

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Fan Forum > Sci-Fi/Fantasy > Star Wars > The Literature [Books\|Comics] Universe of Star Wars #2