(no subject)

[skygiants]

E.K. Johnston's Padmé book Queen's Shadow was good enough that I have now followed up with her Ahsoka tie-in novel (titled, helpfully, Ahsoka) and a.) it is not as laser-targeted to my interests as the Padmé book but it is also quite good! b.) I have so much respect for E.K. Johnston's determination to edge every big-name Star Wars character she's handed as close to canon queer as she possibly can under the constraints of her contract; a deeply noble quest and one in which she absolutely must be supported.

The book takes Ahsoka on her journey from keeping her head down as a fugitive in the wake of the [as yet un-filmed] end of the Clone Wars to becoming an active participant in the nascent Rebellion, by way of a small farming planet, where she meets a girl --

JOHNSTON: Who will be her love interest!
DISNEY: You cannot make Ahsoka gay.
JOHNSTON: OK, but I can make my OC gay, right?
DISNEY: Sure --
JOHNSTON: And give her a crush on Ahsoka, right? Ahsoka's a protagonist, it makes sense that people would fall for her, yeah?
DISNEY: We guess --
JOHNSTON: And then, I mean, obviously she'll confess her feelings to Ahsoka when Ahsoka rescues her from an Imperial prison --
DISNEY: Wait a minute --
JOHNSTON: And then I'll end the scene before Ahsoka has a chance to say anything more than "Thanks and we're not going to die!"
DISNEY: You're on thin ice here, Johnston.
JOHNSTON: SCHRODINGER'S GAY 🏳️‍🌈

-- and accidentally ends up organizing the resistance to Imperial occupation! She also befriends a smuggler family and fights some Jedi hunters while figuring out how to protagonist in a different way than the military leadership role she played in the war.

I generally appreciate both Johnston's big-picture and small-picture takes on the Star Wars universe; I like the broad sweep of Ahsoka's journey, but also the text was full of small pleasing moments, such as "Ahsoka is startled to find that the universe is full of people who are just ordinary good at things and not world-altering protagonist prodigies" and "Bail Organa is concerned that his daughter will somehow teach herself to read secret dossiers and get involved in the Resistance at the age of three."

My biggest complaint: I am here for the brief glimpses of Ahsoka's clone feelings that we got, especially at this particular moment in Star Wars canon time right after Order 66, but I wanted more of them! However, I understand that I cannot expect every good professional Star Wars fanfic to be perfectly tailored to all my interests.

Comments

[sovay]

"Ahsoka is startled to find that the universe is full of people who are just ordinary good at things and not world-altering protagonist prodigies" and "Bail Organa is concerned that his daughter will somehow teach herself to read secret dossiers and get involved in the Resistance at the age of three."

I like both of these elements.

[skygiants]

I really feel like E.K. Johnston deeply understands both the things that are appealing and the things that are ridiculous about the Star Wars universe.

[musesfool]

Some people have speculated upon seeing the trailer for season 7 that in the new episodes, a character who was initially a boy in Ahsoka's arc is now a girl (or possibly nonbinary? Star Wars seems like a really good place for nonbinary characters to be introduced), so maybe Johnston has nudged them a little towards canon gay (or bi) Ahsoka? (I mean, there is subtext with Barriss, Riyo Chuchi, and Steela Gerrera, so it's not like she needed more than a nudge via Kaeden...)

[skygiants]

I'll believe it when I see it but I live in hope!

[kore]

JOHNSTON: And then, I mean, obviously she'll confess her feelings to Ahsoka when Ahsoka rescues her from an Imperial prison --
DISNEY: Wait a minute --
JOHNSTON: And then I'll end the scene before Ahsoka has a chance to say anything more than "Thanks and we're not going to die!"
DISNEY: You're on thin ice here, Johnston.
JOHNSTON: SCHRODINGER'S GAY

BRILL

[skygiants]

As with Queen's Shadow, it's clearly exactly as far up to the line as she could get and then maybe just a toe edged slightly over.

[aberration]

aaand right, this and Claudia Gray were the other textual Star Wars "we're queer and no one in-universe seems to care" sources.

Bail Organa is concerned that his daughter will somehow teach herself to read secret dossiers and get involved in the Resistance at the age of three
tbf I'd say from Princess of Alderaan he kind of had a point

But I'd say that one thing I liked about this book was that Ahsoka's narrative was about her out on her own, and the mostly other women characters she encounters, rather than her relationships with men. Okay there's Bail Organa, but from how I remember it, it was mostly "oh potential ally" and that's about it. Most of Ahsoka's stories in the cartoons have been about her and Anakin, or her and the Clones, so I specifically liked seeing her without those. I think Filoni has created some great women characters, but I also think he has a lot of trouble decoupling their narratives from those of male characters, so I appreciated Johnston taking her firmly out of that space.

[skygiants]

oh he for sure does have a point, it's ten times as funny because it's absolutely in character...in his place I too would be deeply concerned!

As much as I'm attached to the clones, I did really like the various women that Ahsoka encounters and connects with throughout the course of the story - especially the women of the smuggler family, and the Force-sensitive kid that she meets, and how ... significant but low-key that connection is? That Ahsoka doesn't swoop in to save her or adopt her or anything like that, she's just a kid that made an impact on her and is on her mind.

[starlady]

I loved Queen's Shadow but didn't like this one anywhere near as much. I have major questions about the timeline, and based on the Siege of Mandalore flashbacks, I don't think Johnson quite understood the shape of Ahsoka's arc and the importance of certain things that happened there. (I'm not entirely sure this is her fault, but the book definitely doesn't match things from the Ahsoka's Untold Tales panel, and it is definitely going to be jossed by the TCW finale this year.)

It was weird, because I really loved her take on Ahsoka the character, but the (mostly nonexistent) plot just didn't do it for me.

[skygiants]

I also liked Queen's Shadow a bit better, but to be fair I don't think it actually had more plot than this -- both of them felt to me like very interstitial kind of books, less an actual story and more a series of occurrences to work through how the character's motivations and interiority shifted Point A where we last saw them to Point B where we'll see them next. (I AM very curious about how the TCW finale is going to play into or contradict what we saw here!)