Wednesday, April 18, 2018

Bloodline (Star Wars) by Claudia Gray (Del Rey)

No spoilers:

I’ll be honest, ever since Lucasfilm decided to set a “new precedent” for their Star Wars literature, relabeling the old as Legends and introducing the new as official canon, I haven’t been a huge fan of the books that have followed. Sure, some of them were okay, my favorites being A New Dawn, Aftermath, and Lost Stars. But I’ve waffled on which I liked more. While they were good, none of them really stood out as being my clear favorite. Well that is no longer the case.

Bloodline (Star Wars) by [Gray, Claudia]

Bloodline is now, by far, my favorite Star Wars book in the canon, ranking as high as some of my absolute favorite books from the old Expanded Universe, now Legends. And that’s saying a lot. While I won’t dive into spoilers in this review, here are some of my thoughts to get started with.

First of all, let’s talk politics, because the book certainly does . The Force Awakens had almost nothing to tell us about the political landscape of the universe, even less than we saw in the original trilogy. At least then we knew there was an Empire, an Emperor, a Senate that had been recently dissolved, etc. Bloodline takes place 6 years before The Force Awakens and it will tell you everything you ever wanted to know about the state of the galaxy prior to the events of the film. Now, the funny thing about politics is that it’s become almost something of a dirty word among some Star Wars fans, due largely to the backlash of the politically-charged prequel films. Fortunately, one of the best mediums to present politics is in book form; we can get inside the heads of the characters, and suddenly it becomes a game we can participate in. Bloodline does this to perfection, and I might add that students of early United States politics might find some of the political arguments familiar.

But let’s move away from that and talk about characters. Princess Leia is the primary protagonist of the book, and Gray hit the nail right on the head. Everything about Leia, from her political views, to her pessimistic and impatient demeanor, to her relationships with other characters, represents realistic growth for her character from when we saw her in Return of the Jedi. Other characters, though not given the same spotlight as Leia, are quite interesting. Gray is able to present likable characters despite completely different viewpoints. Gray’s last Star Wars book, Lost Stars, did something similar by having the two main characters take opposite sides of the war between the Rebellion and the Empire. Both were likable, relatable, but still had completely opposing views. Perhaps the most likable character in Bloodline, besides Leia herself, was a senator who existed on the opposite side of the political spectrum from the princess.

Lastly, if you’re a chronology fan like myself, you will find this book fascinating. The book is full of clues and events that will inform your viewing of The Force Awakens. Since these events are considered canon, we can rely on their accuracy. I won’t spoil anything here, but I promise that this book will change the dialogue that fans have about The Force Awakens, in a big way. It answers questions.

Bloodline is literary gold even outside of the Star Wars universe. It’s one of the best science fiction books I have read. Bloodline makes you think, it makes you cry, it makes you want to jump up and down in fanboy/girl glee. The only thing it won’t do is make you stop reading. So the remaining question is: why are you still reading this review and not reading Bloodline?

Review originally posted on my site: [...]

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