Book Review - Bloodline (Star Wars)

Bloodline (Star Wars)Bloodline by Claudia Gray
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I love Star Wars, but when it comes to the literary editions of the films, I have been woefully lax in catching up. This one, however, I had heard plenty about. Much hype surrounded it and I couldn't wait to get into it.

Imagine my surprise when I chanced upon the book sitting on one of my colleague's book shelves. After much eyeing, and no insignificant amount of hint-dropping, he finally lent me his copy, and I raced through it. Spoilers abound in this review, so beware.

The book follows Leia, now a Senator of the New Republic, desperately trying to maintain her enthusiasm for politics in this new era. It takes place at least a couple of decades after the Battle of Endor. Han and Leia are married and Ben is already off with Luke, who has maintained a private existence.

The book excels in painting Leia as a war-time politician, struggling with the banalities of peace. She's hands on and quick-thinking, but this new order of Populists and Centrists is inclined towards artifice and no real action. Politics of this time is mired in bureaucracy and committee hearings - no decisions are ever made. Restless for a more active life, Leia decides to resign, ending her tenure with an investigation into criminal activities on Ryloth. She is joined by Centrist senator Ransolm Castorfe. They get out of that planet by the skin of their teeth, but with plenty of ammunition to help the disenfranchised on the planet.

Just as Leia is ready to bow out of politics and enjoy galactic travels with Han, a new proposition is brought to the Senate - the institution of a First Senator to bring order to the political chaos.

Her party proposes her as their candidate, but, as luck would have it, her deep secret is revealed. The Senate is informed that she is the daughter of Darth Vader, and consequently her standing in the Senate is destroyed forever. This revelation is made by none other than Ransolm himself.

Despite her political career in ruins, she continues her plans to investigate the criminal Rinnrivan Di (I'm sure I got that wrong), who has been running smuggling rings and could be part of a greater danger to galactic peace.

She gets to the truth, a planet blows up (with most of the evidence), Leia is saved by Han, she heads back to the Senate to ask for a further investigation, which is approved. Then, just when things seem to be calming down, an assassin kills the new Populist candidate for First Senator, and accused of hiring her is Ransolm! He is sent back to his system to be tried and executed.

Disheartened and disillusioned, Leia does what she knows best - she heads a rebel band of followers to resist political corruption and prepare for the inevitable galactic war they will be facing.

I was looking forward to this book, but ended up being disappointed in the end. I don't know if I'm jaded, or if I simply don't know enough about Star Wars books, but the book came across as lackadaisical, unimaginative and poorly written. The author gives her readers no credit, justifying and explaining most of the dialogue, as if we're children incapable of reading between the lines.

The characterisations were uneven and unoriginal. Leia's aid Greer was a hotshot pilot and racer, but has the rarest of rare diseases which means she's 'stuck' with a desk job. Apathy for her role should be slowly killing her, but the author can't bring herself to make Greer hate her job, even if its a good one. She's also made potentially ineffectual and just an observer, while the male characters tuck into the action.

There's the Joph Seastriker character who is basically a Luke Skywalker/Poe Dameron mish-mash, without half the charm. He's overzealous and a rule-breaker, but instead of having his hide, Leia keeps him on her team.

The real villain of the piece is Lady Carice, written as women are typically written - pretty, petty and frivolous on the outside, and conveniently devious on the inside. Everything about her reminded me of Ursulla and the Little Mermaid - aka, the plotline with her was as adult as a Disney story (and no, I don't care if Disney owns Star Wars, that's not how the stories should read). She is just a tool in the author's hand, made to act in whatever way will progress the story.

The worst is Ransolm. He's gaunt, but handsome, initially coming across as an Empire-lover with his collection of goods. But since he has to be the male lead of this story, he's actually a good guy with a good heart. He has a painful backstory about the cruel Empire and he wins Leia's trust and friendship. And then, he betrays it. He does it constantly, actually, and the author never lets Leia hate him for that. He backs Lady Carice's decision for First Senator, and despite Leia knowing that a similar power move for Senator Palpatine created the Empire, she doesn't hate him for it. Also, this decision by him ruins her plans to retire.

Then, when Lady Carice finds out about Leia's Vader connection, she hands that knowledge over to Ransolm, who blurts it out to the whole Senate. And, aside from one angry outburst, the author makes Leia forgive and pity him! What the heck! Leia has known nothing but duty all her life, and this a-hole took that away from her by dangling her biological father in front of all to see - and Leia just... didn't kill him. That is not Leia.

Also, the way the characters get after Leia because of Vader is reminiscent of how women in reality are often maligned for the actions of those around them (because if Luke was the Alderaan princess and senator, he'd not have faced half as much vitriol as Leia does), I still don't understand why the author didn't attempt to a) subvert the trope, b) make a commentary on how invalid the use of this technique is.

The author also had a weird writing tic that irked me no end. Both Lady Carice (I'm sure I've got these spellings wrong) and Leia, at different stages, attempt to make bold propositions to the Senate. Both times, their words go almost unheeded till they are backed up by Ransolm. Why? Why must they be validated by a man - real life is stupid, but Star Wars doesn't need to be. Definitely not Star Wars that is written in the 21st century.

It bothered me that the author wanted Leia to be all-good and all-forgiving at all times. One of her aids rudely leaves when the Vader announcement is made - then comes crawling back for forgiveness. Leia should have acknowledged the aid's mistake with a withering glower and left it at that, not made the person feel like they can get away with anything because Leia is so nice.

There are some things the author got right about the characterisations. Leia's inability to forgive or accept Darth Vader as good just because Luke saw him become Anakin again is ingenious. Of course Luke would think of him only as Anakin, but he wouldn't be able convince Leia, no matter what. I really liked that.

There's also much speculation by the characters in the book about Anakin and how he became Vader - and more importantly, what was there between Padme Amidala and Anakin? It felt raw and real, because we have seen Anakin, and how much Bail Organa and Obi-Wan loved him, and what it felt like for them to betray them in the way he did. Harking back to the man he was and the monster he became felt like authentic Star Wars moments in the book.

Without such muddled and erratic storylines and characterisations, I believe the book would have been better. I ended up being disappointed with the book, despite enjoying being sucked into the galaxy far, far away.

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