Star Wars: Queen's Hope Will Return to the Clone Wars From Padme's Point of View

Star Wars fans will soon be able to see the tragedy of the Clone Wars and Revenge of the Sith through Padmé's eyes. Star Wars: Queen's Hope is the third novel in E.K. Johnston's trilogy starring Padmé, following Queen's Peril and Queen's Shadow. Where those previous two novels explored Padmé's early life and first days in the Galactic Senate, Queen's Hope covers her time secretly married to Anakin Skywalker, from the end of Attack of the Clones through her death in Revenge of the Sith. When a secret mission calls Padmé away from the senate, she must call on faithful handmaiden Padmé to act in her stead.

"I'm going to be real with you: Anakin Skywalker is a bit of a downer for me in terms of writing because everything he touches ends badly," Johnston tells StarWars.com. "Qui-Gon dies, his mom dies, Padmé dies. The galaxy falls apart. It does not go well for people involved in Anakin Skywalker's story when he's the main character. However, he's not the main character of Queen's Hope. He is the romantic interest. He's the love interest. And because of that I was freed up to write him a little bit more fun, I guess. He's kind of….not happy go-lucky because Jedi don't really do that. But like his life has literally never been better than it is right now. He's really good at fighting. He really likes clear-cut 'these people are good, these people are bad' conflicts. And he's married to the love of his life so, ya know, everything's coming up Anakin at this point, which does make him very interesting to write because, of course, we all know what's coming. But you get these sort of moments with them where they do have a genuine love. They like each other so much, they just never have any time and that's their tragedy. They never have any time to talk, they never have any time to work things out, and I got to write a very, very small sliver of that time, which is something I think people have been looking forward to seeing for a while now."

All this takes place while Chancellor Palpatine continues to manipulate the war behind-the-scenes. Here's the official synopsis for the book:

"A peace-loving senator faces a time of war in another thrilling Padmé Amidala adventure from the author of the New York Times best-sellers Queen's Peril and Queen's Shadow!

Padmé is adjusting to being a wartime senator during the Clone Wars. Her secret husband, Anakin Skwyalker, is off fighting the war, and excels at being a wartime Jedi. In contrast, when Padmé gets the opportunity to see the casualties on the war-torn front lines, she is horrified. The stakes have never been higher for the galaxy, or for the newly-married couple.

Meanwhile, with Padmé on a secret mission, her handmaiden Sabé steps into the role of Senator Amidala, something no handmaiden has done for an extended period of time. While in the Senate, Padméis equally horrified by the machinations that happen there. She comes face to face with a gut-wrenching decision as she realizes that she cannot fight a war this way, not even for Padmé.

And Chancellor Palpatine hovers over it all, manipulating the players to his own ends…"

Are you excited about Queen's Hope? Let us know in the comments. Queen's Hope goes on sale on November 2nd.