I’m not sure how to review this book. Bloodline is the first time that I have ever read a novel set in the Star Wars universe. Or, really, any universe that I knew first from movies. I was not a kid who stalked the science fiction and fantasy aisles of libraries of bookstores looking for the next hit of my favorite universes. As far as I knew, the movies were all there was and I was happy to revisit the story of Leia, Han, and Luke (and the true hero – Chewbacca) as often as our VHS tapes and cable television would allow me.
I did not know what to expect going in, and outside of a raving happy review from narfna I probably wouldn’t have picked it up. Once I got over the entry issues (trying to wrap my head around this world without the visuals) I settled in for a political thriller which focused on Leia. I mean, who doesn’t want more time with Leia? Excellent writing by Claudia Gray (pseudonym for Amy Vincent) also certainly helps it.
In the years leading up to the action of The Force Awakens this novel finds Leia in her forties, tired with life in the senate and looking forward to living a more traditional husband and wife life with Han. But, one last mission turns into one last catastrophic discovery, which turns into needing to get the band back together again to save the day (hey Admiral Ackbar!) which in this case means forming the Resistance to go against the too corrupt to save Senate. Building from one crises to another, Gray crafts a familiar story in a familiar world, but somehow makes it more than its parts.
I don’t think I’ll be readventuring into the written world of Star Wars, but I certainly don’t mind that I put a toe in.
If this is the only Star Wars book you ever read, you literally could not have picked a better one, IMO.