Here are some things I love about “Star Wars”: Padmé, Padmé’s costumes, Padmé /Anakin falling in love?, Ewoks, the Millennium Falcon, Han’s relationship with the Millennium Falcon, Han’s relationship with Leia, Han’s relationship with Rey, Han’s relationship with Finn, Poe’s hair and facial profile and everything he’s ever done…
Here are some things I don’t love about “Star Wars”: how very clear it is the universe was created by, about, and for men. Thankfully, women never quite bought into that idea. We’ve come a long way from space bras strangling you, and it shows in “Queen’s Peril”. This is a book about ordinary teenage girls living in extraordinary circumstances and conquering them. And, perhaps most refreshing of all, the book discusses their periods! In my own reading experience, unless the book is specifically about puberty or pregnancy, people don’t get their periods in books. Not in YA fiction, not in adult fiction, not in middle grade novels — the subject is skirted or avoided completely. But here, in a Star Wars tie-in for young adults, multiple people get their period.
