I have officially added Bloodline by Claudia Gray to my collection of Star Wars books. Being a huge Expanded Universe fan (Expanded Universe is now known as Legends), I admit to having a few reservations about this book — I bought it anyway and I have no regrets.
Claudia Gray’s book Bloodline is a prequel story to the film Star Wars: The Force Awakens and is set about six years before we meet Rey, Finn, Poe, and BB-8. It’s Leia’s story and Gray did a great job with Leia Organa — princess, senator, wife, mother, and granddaughter of Darth Vader.
Bloodline follows Leia while she’s serving in the New Republic Senate. There’s conflict between the Populists and the Centrists as well as a greater threat to the star systems lurking just around the corner. Han is off doing his thing, Leia is trying to save the New Republic (no surprise there) and Gray even teases readers with a hint of the great Luke Skywalker who’s busy training the Solo’s son in the Jedi arts.
Bloodline gives readers a classic Star Wars adventure with heroes to cheer for, bad guys to boo, politicians with an agenda, starship pilots not afraid to take chances, and a nicely balanced combination of familiar faces mixed with new, exciting characters. Bloodline has intrigue, some great dialogue, a solid story that helps set up some of the events in the movie The Force Awakens, and quite a bit of action. It’s great to see Leia getting her hands dirty and kicking ass. There’s also a poignant moment as Leia comes to a startling realization about her father, Darth Vader/Anakin Skywalker — you’ll have to wait for it, as it comes almost at the end, but it’s good.
I like author Claudia Gray’s style for moments like this:
“Someday was the sun disappearing behind a cloud, a morning lost to darkness long before night should have come.”
And
“They lifted their glasses and clinked them together, and the darkness in their pasts seemed farther away than it had before.”
And my favorite:
“The sun is setting on the New Republic. It’s time for the Resistance to rise.”
I recommend Star Wars: Bloodline by Claudia Gray to any fan of the Star Wars books and/or movies. You can check out more Star Wars books here. My personal favorite is the X-Wing series.
Find out more about author Claudia Gray here.