Once titled Star Wars: New Republic: Bloodline, USAToday revealed a new title Star Wars: Bloodline, its cover, that it’ll star Leia Organa herself “some” 6 years before The Force Awakens, and they have an excerpt from the novel’s 13th chapter. All the above, including the author being Claudia Gray, have bumped this novel up from possibly exciting to must read. My thoughts on some hints dropped by both the article and Gray herself regarding its content below. (UPDATE 5/10/16: My review of Bloodline is live!)
Claudia Gray quickly proved herself to Star Wars fans (like myself) with last year’s rather stellar Lost Stars, so knowing she was behind Bloodline in the first place was exciting. But now that we know it’ll be a Leia-centric novel, which takes a refreshing approach to the character as, “…this novel isn’t fundamentally about Leia as a wife, sister or mom; this is about the role she’s created for herself since the fall of the Empire, and the one she takes up by the time of (The Force Awakens).” With that comment alone, I look forward to how she’ll treat Leia in the character’s long overdue novel.
The book also looks to bring fans of TFA up to speed about the galaxy at large leading up the events of the film, including likely seeing the formation of the Resistance, how it functions with regards to the New Republic, delve into the government’s stalemated peace with the Imperial remnant slowly becoming the First Order under their very noses. As the TFA Visual Dictionary, Before the Awakening, and other supplemental material has revealed, Gray says, “…new generation doesn’t remember the lessons of the Rebellion or recognize the wrongs of the Empire, and Leia begins to see the cracks in the foundation that could lead to a dangerous future for the galaxy.” Count me in for when the book releases May 3!
Below features some TFA spoiler laden thoughts, so stop reading if you still haven’t seen it!
I put “some” in quotation marks because when Bloodline was originally announced, it was set 6 years before TFA. “Some” makes one wonder if it’ll still be 6 years or be set at a different time now, and it might all depend on something tied to the Solo-Organa family history revealed in TFA. If said family plays a key role in one of the major events of the book, it certainly sounds like the event would be when Ben Solo upends Luke’s Jedi Order, as this quote from Gray in the article heavily hints at seeing as the book’s big moment will have, “…pretty far-reaching repercussions for several characters.”
Playing into that thought, I came up with something that’s pure speculation but I will consider my personal headcanon for the time being. First off, if you haven’t read the excerpt, go do so now, as this thought is based off the ‘explosive’ moment within. Read it? Good. This will likely not happen, whatsoever, but I like to think the bomb was planted by the First Order and that Kylo Ren is the one who writes the note for Leia to run. Wouldn’t that be a whole gut punch of emotions?
Ryan is Mynock Manor’s Head Butler. You can follow him on Twitter @BrushYourTeeth. You can follow the website @MynockManor.
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