Book Review: Queen’s Peril

Queen’s Peril by E.K. Johnston

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I want to start this off by saying I am not a huge fan of Star Wars. I have nothing against it, I am just not a person who knows a ton about it. So I was really curious how I would like this book, considering it is set in the Star Wars universe, which I do not know a lot about, and how much I would feel like I understood it.

This book is about 14-year old Padmé, the newly elected queen posing as Amidala. Panake, her Royal Guard, has found her a handmaid, a girl names Tsabin. Tsabin looks very similar to Padmé, which is the reason Panake chose her. Panake’s plan is for Tsabin to be Padmé’s body double, in case of any danger that may arise. However, Padmé points out that having only one double wouldn’t work very well, as it would be suspicious if the “queen” was left all alone. Because of this, Panake agrees to try and find more doubles. Eventually, he finds 4 more doubles, and Padmé and the group start to get closer. Padmé plans to host a summit, and she informs Senator Palpatine of her plan (spoiler alert- he’s evil). The girls later sneak out to a party, and Sabé ends up having to pretend to be Padmé because Padmé gets glitter on her hand that won wash off. Sabé then gets mad at Padmé because Padmé offended Harli while posing as Sabé, and Harli got angry with Sabé. But will the girls be able to bond together as true danger approaches? Read the book to find out!

I ended up really liking this book, for multiple reasons. First of all, I think Padmé’s character was similar to how a 14-year-old would act, and I think the author did a great job creating the characters. Additionally, the storyline was really interesting in my opinion. I was able to understand (most of) it despite not knowing a ton about Star Wars. Last but not least, I loved that there were multiple strong female characters in the story, but it wasn’t mentioned too many times that they were girls. I liked the fact that they were powerful as a female, and it wasn’t their biggest characteristic. Overall, I recommend this book to anyone who likes Star Wars, books about adventure, and books with strong female characters.