Bloodline Book Review

“Bloodline” by Claudia Gray

In “Bloodline” Claudia Gray paints the perfect picture of our political reality in the United States through the lens of the Star Wars Galaxy. In place of the Republican and Democratic parties we have the Centrists and the Populists parties butting heads in the Galactic Senate. Leia and other senators have become frustrated in the inability for the government to actually accomplish anything due to complete gridlock.

     

“Bloodline” is Claudia Grey’s second Star Wars novel after “Lost Stars”. The book takes place 24 years after the Battle of Endor, about 6 years before “The Force Awakens”. The book focuses almost exclusively on Leia and her efforts to save the New Republic from political collapse. Political drama can be tricky in Star Wars, and I would argue that the Prequels were cursed with it. However, Claudia Grey succeeds at marrying Star Wars to politics in a fashion that is both thrilling and scarily authentic.

Leia’s relationship to her father, Anakin Skywalker / Darth Vader is a very important plot piece in this book. The novel sheds light onto who knows this information and when. More importantly Leia’s emotions about her parentage is dealt with. Remember that this is a woman who was tortured by Vader at 19-years old- who saw Vader incinerate her home planet and her foster parents- who watched Vader freeze Han in carbonite and cut off Luke’s hand. It is clear that Leia does not share her brother’s rose-tinted view of Anakin Skywalker.

This book also sets up the very beginnings of the war between The First Order and The Resistance. Leia, of course, plays a big role in the formation of The Resistance.

Absent from this novel is Ben Solo and Luke Skywalker. Though they are mentioned several times, Disney is going to keep silent, for now, about that particular piece of mythology. 

Between this book and “Lost Stars”, Claudia Gray is batting 1000 (or is it 100? I don’t really get Baseball references). Gray’s third book “Leia: Princess of Alderaan” comes out this September. Unlike “Bloodline”, it features a young Leia and is for young readers.

Brock’s Star Wars Book Reviews

New Disney Universe

The Aftermath Trilogy by Chuck Wendig
http://roadto7.blogspot.com/2017/04/the-aftermath-trilogy.html

Thrawn by Timothy Zahn
http://roadto7.blogspot.com/2017/06/thrawn-book-review.html

Lost Stars by Claudia Gray

http://roadto7.blogspot.com/2017/06/lost-stars-book-review.html

Bloodline by Claudia Gray
http://roadto7.blogspot.com/2017/07/bloodline-book-review.html

Old Expanded Universe

Knight Errant by Jonathan Jackson Miller
http://roadto7.blogspot.com/2017/07/knight-errant-book-review.html

Shadows of the Empire by Steve Perry

http://roadto7.blogspot.com/2013/02/shadows-of-empire.html

Young Jedi Knights by Kevin J. Anderson

http://roadto7.blogspot.com/2017/04/young-jedi-knights.html

The Thrawn Trilogy by Timothy Zahn

http://roadto7.blogspot.com/2013/02/star-wars-renaissance-thrawn-trilogy.html

The New Jedi Order Series

http://roadto7.blogspot.com/2013/03/the-new-jedi-order.html

Death Troopers by Joe Schreiber

http://roadto7.blogspot.com/2014/10/death-troopers.html

Galaxy of Fear by John Whitman
http://roadto7.blogspot.com/2014/10/spooky-star-wars-halloween-special-part.html

Knight Errant Book Review

knight er·rant

/ˈnīt ˈerənt/

noun

1.    a medieval knight wandering in search of chivalrous adventures.

Lord Daiman created the universe. No other beings exist, save him. He alone determines when the suns will rise and set each day. All other matter and inhabitants in the galaxy are manifestations of himself. Even his enemies were created by himself to challenge him, to entertain him, to better him.

Lord Odion is Daiman’s older brother, or so he claims. Unlike Daiman, Odion believes that other beings exist, but he also believes that they must be destroyed. Hypersensitive to the mere existence of others, each death is a relief to Odion. The death of his younger brother would provide him the most relief of all.

Kerra Holt is the lone Jedi, trapped in Sith Space, behind enemy lines. Daiman and Oidon are just two of the warring Sith Lords causing pain and misery to every inhabitant of this sector of the galaxy. Kerra’s mission: to save as many refugees as possible and usher them back to the republic.

John Jackson Miller’s epic series “Knight Errant” is told over the span of 15 individual comics and one novel. It takes place one-thousand years before the birth of Luke Skywalker, a mere generation before Darth Bane established the “Rule of Two”.

The Knight Errant series is made strong by the worldbuilding that Miller utilizes. This is a rare example of Expanded Universe Star Wars material that is not connected to the Skywalker storyline and feels fresh as a result. Though this series is technically no longer canon, it does feel “new” compared to many things in the new Disney canon.

The high point of this series is the book itself, which is John Jackson Miller's first prose novel after years of writing comics. The comic series is of questionable quality near the beginning, though it is much stronger in the final collection- Escape- when Kerra starts to work for the Sith.

I’m not sure if this series was cancelled due to poor sales or as a result of the Disney acquisition and the Star Wars comic line moving from Dark Horse to Marvel. I would love to see the continuing adventures of Kerra Holt, though this seems very unlikely at this point.

Still, the series is worth the read.

 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Brock’s Star Wars Book Reviews (By Year of Book Release)

2017 (Thrawn by Timothy Zahn)
http://roadto7.blogspot.com/2017/06/thrawn-book-review.html

2015 - 2017 (The Aftermath Trilogy by Chuck Wendig)
http://roadto7.blogspot.com/2017/04/the-aftermath-trilogy.html

2015 (Lost Stars by Claudia Gray)
http://roadto7.blogspot.com/2017/06/lost-stars-book-review.html

2010 – 2012 (Knight Errant by Jonathan Jackson Miller)
http://roadto7.blogspot.com/2017/07/knight-errant-book-review.html

2009 (Death Troopers by Joe Schreiber)

http://roadto7.blogspot.com/2014/10/death-troopers.html

 1999 – 2003 (The New Jedi Order Series)
http://roadto7.blogspot.com/2013/03/the-new-jedi-order.html

1997 – 1998 (Galaxy of Fear by John Whitman)
http://roadto7.blogspot.com/2014/10/spooky-star-wars-halloween-special-part.html

1996  (Shadows of the Empire by Steve Perry)

http://roadto7.blogspot.com/2013/02/shadows-of-empire.html

1995 – 1998 (Young Jedi Knights by Kevin J. Anderson)
http://roadto7.blogspot.com/2017/04/young-jedi-knights.html

1991 – 1993 (The Thrawn Trilogy by Timothy Zahn)
http://roadto7.blogspot.com/2013/02/star-wars-renaissance-thrawn-trilogy.html