I for sure enjoyed Queen's Peril more than this one, but it was still good. It was cool getting to see the characters from The Clone Wars take a little more center stage in this one. ( )

I love reading about Padme. This covers the time between Revenge of the Sith and the Clone Wars and provides an excellent look into the beginning of her senate run, including the development of her relationships with Mon Mothma and Organa. ( )

This was excellent. Excellent in a way to understand the politics of the Senate. How relationships were built, and who undermined the plans of letting certain bills pass.

This is an amazing addition to the Star Wars universe. Padmè was a strong character - I liked her ideas and saw her growth. I loved how she had visited Alderaan (some gaps make sense now).

I am thrilled and scared to read the last book in the trilogy. . . so here we go. ( )

Spring 2019 - Book/Kindle/Audiobook,

I waited twenty years for this book to exist and it did not disappoint. This tale is set at the end of Padme's reign as queen through the first year of her being a Senator, and I am in love with everything about it.

I love the careful attention given to the handmaidens everywhere in this book. I love the absolute heartbreak choice of how she started chapter one and mirrored it the start of the epilogue (which I will leave that vague so as not to spoiler anyone who hasn't read/doesn't know the reference yet). I love how she's made to pay politically the hard game of fixing the fact the Senate has no reason to trust anything she says after he absolute rejection of them at 14. I love how slow she figures out what she's good at and how the relationships with Bal and Monmothma actually come about (with slow, canny wariness).

Read it. Read all of it. Tell your friends. Especially all your girl-friends. ( )

The character of Padmé Amidala (and all of her gorgeous costumes) was my favorite part of the prequel trilogy, and I'm so happy that (20 years later) she finally gets a story of her own. Sure, parts of it were slow-moving and the focus was more on politics, but I think it succeeded in filling in the blanks of Padmé's story that the movies didn't tell.

I had my doubts about how well this story would be written, but I was pleasantly surprised. In some ways, it took me back 25 years to when I first started reading books in the Star Wars (then) canon, like The Truce at Bakura and The Courtship of Princess Leia among others. My number one complaint? It ended too soon - there's definitely more story to be told, both for Padmé, but also (especially) Sabé. ( )