Somehow, in the year 2022, we are getting our third book centered around Padmé Amidala and honestly, what a world we live in. Out today, Queen’s Hope by E.K. Johnston gives us more of the story of Padmé and some of her handmaidens as the galaxy becomes a less friendly place.
As the Clone Wars begin, it is a time of change for the galaxy… especially if your name happens to be Anakin Skywalker or Padmé Amidala. There’s now a war going on and they have to figure out how to make time for a secret wedding and then they have to figure out how to go about their lives while being secretly married. Meanwhile, Sabé and Saché both find themselves drawn into events swirling around the rapidly changing galactic situation that might have larger ramifications than any of them realize.
Every time the world gets more stories about Padmé and her handmaidens, the world gets a little bit better. Fandom spent twenty years waiting for a Padmé focused story and now here we are with three. We finally got the prequel and now the sequel to Queen’s Shadow that so many of us hoped for when the first book initially came out back in 2019.
Unfortunately, Queen’s Hope doesn’t soar to quite the same heights as its two predecessors. It feels a bit odd that a book set at the start of a war and that follows three distinct lead characters on their own plot lines across the galaxy feels small in scope, but it is the truth nonetheless. Perhaps if the book had been longer and each of the plot lines had had more space to breath, it could have helped but it’s difficult to say. The book was both too big and not enough. Another problem is how the Padmé-Sabé friendship was at the heart and core of the first two books and a huge part of what made them both work so well but felt far more secondary and only somewhat present here. That is almost certainly a feature and not a bug and done on purpose to parallel the growing relationship between Padmé and Anakin but the change between the friends felt almost as abrupt as the secret marriage due in great part to how little page them they shared. The book felt a bit lesser without it.
That’s not to say Queen’s Hope is a bad book. (The first two might have just set too high of a standard.) There’s certainly plenty to love here especially for those with a fondness in their hearts for characters like Saché, Dormé, and Captain Typho. Typho in particular gets some delightful moments in which to shine. There is also a surprising character development that was extremely welcome but to say anything further (even who it was) would be a massive spoiler but it’s nicely done. It’s also nice to see Star Wars literature continuing to have diverse casts be the norm.
One interesting thing Johnston had to contest with was making some sense out of how the handmaidens are somewhat bizarrely portrayed in stories set after Attack of the Clones and making it all fit together with how loyal we know they are to Padmé. It’s the best possible situation that those of us who are handmaiden fans could hope for given existing canon stories that just never quite fit with the close-knit friendships that had always defined Padmé’s relationship with her handmaidens.
Ultimately, Queen’s Hope left me wanting more but not in the same excited way that Queen’s Shadow did. It’s still absolutely a worthwhile read for Padmé fans and anyone who enjoyed the first two books. We got an entire Padmé book trilogy and we are all the more lucky for it. Here’s hoping we don’t have to wait another twenty years more for more stories about Padmé and her handmaidens.
Thank you to Disney Lucasfilm Press for providing a copy of the book for review purposes.
