Bloodline by Claudia Gray - My Review

I first got into Star Wars back in eighth grade, when my sheltering parents finally allowed me to watch all six movies since they were streaming on TV. I immediately fell in love with it. Lucky for me they were just then releasing the Clone Wars movie and show, so I had plenty of new content to devour. Every week I would check out one or two new Star Wars graphic novels or comic collections from the school library, and I drew endless fanart of the Original Trilogy characters. One day, at a used book store, I discovered the Thrawn Trilogy by Timothy Zahn. That was the first trilogy of books I had ever fallen in love with and actually enjoyed reading. Since then, every Star Wars book I've read hasn't disappointed me yet.

Bloodline was highly recommended among the Star Wars community on Twitter, so I went ahead and purchased it as an ebook on my Kindle. Unfortunately, I had started it at a busy and overly stressful time in life--one year ago--so my mind was elsewhere every time I tried to read it. I ended up stopping and reserving it for later, when my life cleared up a bit.

Having an Audible membership allowed me to use one free credit a month to get a new audiobook, so I decided it might be best to get the audio version of the book I had already started reading (before starting something completely new). I started the story over and would alternate between audiobook and ebook (fun fact: Kindle and Audible books are synced! If you leave off at a certain part on one, it'll skip to that part on the other medium next time you pick it up.) and thoroughly enjoyed it!

Synopsis

Bloodline follows the story of Leia Organa, 24 years after Episode VI and 6 years before Episode VII. Since defeating the Empire, she has gotten married to Han Solo, had a son named Ben, and become a prominent figure in the galaxy's politics. While Han is off flying around various worlds for work and Ben is in Jedi training with Luke, Leia works as a senator. There are two political parties: Populists and Centrists. Populists believe in each planet having their own governmental leaders to come together for decision making, while Centrists believe in a single leader for all planets at once. Leia is on the side of Populists, although she is growing tired of working in politics at all.

Just as she makes the decision to retire and travel the galaxy with Han, a secret issue involving a spice-dealing kingpin arises and she is the prime candidate for investigating it. Reluctantly, she puts off her plans to retire to look further into the issue. Unfortunately, however, she is forced to work alongside Ransolm Casterfo, a younger man who is deeply involved with the Centrists. Together they must learn to cooperate in order to accomplish their mission.

My thoughts (**contains mild spoilers**)

Characters

Leia was a very enjoyable character. I feel like we don't learn much of her in the original trilogy, since the focus is primarily on Luke. This story dealt a lot with Leia's internal thought process, as well as how she handled the news of her parentage as life went on after Episode VI. She seemed just as relaxed and reluctant to do unnecessary work as I expected, yet still dedicated to her cause. Her professionalism in the political realm versus her more authentic personality in laid back situations seemed to flow smoothly and nothing seemed jarring or out of place. My only concern was her lack of concern for her son, Ben. Of course, I'm quite partial to his character in general, but her thoughts regarding him seemed pretty sporadic. Sometimes it seemed like she forgot she even had a child at all, and other times she thought fondly of him almost like a friend or nephew, but not her son. Perhaps this was done on purpose to show that Han and Leia may not have been the most attentive parents in the galaxy, which contributed to Ben's turn to the dark side (not discussed in this book).

Ransolm Casterfo was my favorite character. He was charming, honest, and dedicated. While I think the reader was supposed to worry about his loyalties and possible eventual betrayal, I had no problem trusting that he would grow to have Leia's best interest in the end. I loved that we got to see his thought processes and point of view as well, which aided in me trusting his motives. He and Leia had incredible chemistry, but not enough for infidelity. They worked amazingly together and made wonderful friends, but I definitely found myself sometimes wishing she hadn't married Han and ended up with him instead! Thoughts of romance were never expressed by either character though, which I appreciated. Neither of them questioned Leia's loyalty to Han, nor did Ransolm test it. He was a very honorable character.

Greer Sonnel was a great addition to the story as well. She had a bit of a mini side story about her health that peeked in about halfway through--which seemed a tad out of place at first--but in the end it made sense. She was blunt, no-nonsense, and got things done. There was no question of her loyalty to Leia, and although outwardly hesitant to show any trust, she accepted new people into her circle. I really enjoyed her budding friendship with Joph Seastriker, as well as the interactions she had with Ransolm Casterfo.

Joph Seastriker was a delight. Perhaps it was his initial level of childlike innocence or his eagerness to join in on a secret mission, but he remained loyal to Leia just as Greer did and did his absolute best in every situation. He bonded with people easily and had others' best interest in mind almost always.

Other notable characters were Korr Sella, Lady Carise Sindian, and Rinnrivin Di. Korr was an assistant of Leia's, Lady Carise was a Centrist Senator, and Rinnrivin Di was the spice-dealing leader.

Plot

The plot was very educational in the events leading up to the rise of the First Order and the Resistance. I think this story was perfect to read as a precursor to The Force Awakens, explaining why and how the government changed in the way it did. It wasn't sudden, and yet it was. It was almost eerie how silently the First Order rose without anyone realizing it, which was very cool to see unfold in the story.

The spice-dealer mission didn't feel drawn out too long. Of course, that was the main reason for the story to get moving, but it didn't feel overpowering. Everything seemed logical and nothing appeared to be unusual or out of place. Every character's point of view was interesting and worth reading.

Pacing

Everything felt like it was paced perfectly. Scenes that required more depth were the appropriate length, and action scenes weren't dragged out for too long. In fact, much of the story was calm and civil as opposed to numerous chasing or fighting scenes. This made the whole book easy to follow. There were a couple of scenes that felt a tad rushed or sudden, but it was also apparent that this was the point.

Audiobook

The narrator for this book, January LaVoy, was phenomenal. She spoke clearly, maturely, and with the perfect amount of emotion. Her various character voices made it clear which character was speaking, which I appreciated. In fact, her voice actually sounded very similar to Carrie Fisher's at her younger age which worked perfectly! I felt emotionally invested and actually looked forward to listening to the audio version of this book.

Conclusion

Overall, I absolutely loved this book. I enjoyed everything about it, so much that I can't wait to read it again. It wasn't too action-packed, wasn't too boring, wasn't too plain, and wasn't too confusing. Claudia Gray's writing was eloquent and easy to follow. Claudia has been highly recommended among much of the Star Wars community, and for good reason! It was a delight to read this book and I highly recommend it to anyone who wants a good Star Wars story, especially one that dives more into the history and politics we don't always see in the films.

Overall Rating: 5 stars | ★★★★★

Thanks for reading, I hope if you read this book, you'll enjoy it too!

Talk to you next time,
Zayla