Queen’s Peril & Queen’s Shadow worthwhile?

[T.J.]

I’m just getting back into the canon novels. Just finished “Master & Apprentice”.

The next two book on my list are Queen’s Peril & Queen’s Shadow. I’m a 40 year old man and just found out these are Young Adult novels.

Are they worth the read?

[Bruce]

I’m a 52 year-old man and have enjoyed most YA Star Wars novels. Sometimes the YA books are better than the adult books.

In this case, I’ve read both of the Queen’s novels and was underwhelmed. It’s not that an adult man wouldn’t enjoy them. I did enjoy learning more about Padme and especially the handmaidens. It gave them more depth as characters. I just thought the first book lacked a plot, and the second book was rushed at the end.

[Patricia]

I agree with Bruce! Though I'm much closer to the target audience, both books didn't do it for me. Queen's Shadow is fun and a quick read, but doesn't really deal with anything and Queen's Peril is a retelling of Episode I from characters we don't grow close to. Hope that helps, of course I don't want to keep you from forming your own opinion, but there are way better books in the new canon in my opinion! :)

[Khurram]

read them in chronological order Peril first them Shadow. These are not my favourite books, neither is great. For my the main take away is a certain handmaiden stood out more than Padme. It would be interesting if they made a third book of the story continues.

[N.E.C.C.]

I haven't started Queen’s Peril yet but i liked Queen’s Shadow.
In my opinion (when it caomes to Star Wars novels from the new canon) i would pay more atention to what the novel is about rather than the young adult thing. Most of them are young adult type books and they are pretty good. If you like Padme and Naboo and politics then i'll say read them, if not, then skip them.

[Sarah]

I am much closer to the target audience (22 & a woman) for both Peril and Shadow and feel that both have their merits and their challenges.

I think as a reader, it's really important to know what you're getting into with these two books, or they can be automatic letdowns. They are both more about the handmaidens than they are Padme. Peril is about the early days of Amidala's rule, with the girls coming together as handmaidens. It turns into a TPM retelling from another POV. I ultimately found this to be incredibly disappointing. Shadow is about Padme's time in the Senate. There's interesting talk about the fashion, some bit of politics, and a genuine emotion about the first round of girls parting ways. Both are more about the characters than they are the plot, so keep that in mind as well. They are certainly not action packed.

At the end of the day, I ultimately liked Shadow and disliked Peril. Many have opposite opinions of me. I don't think that either of them are *must-reads* or deeply enrich the canon, but both are not unpleasant to read. If you care for Padme or the handmaidens, I generally find them to be worth the time.