Bloodline

this book is so beautifully written. the way that Gray describes the characters and how they dress really let's you picture it all. you feel like you're in the Senate or reminiscing with Leia. it breaks your heart and reminds you what's really important.

4.5 stars Claudia Gray writes the BEST Leia. I really enjoyed the political aspect while also giving more depth to her character post-Return of the Jedi. I was delighted by seeing glimpses of her marriage to Han and the callbacks to the original trilogy. The new characters were also lovely, and the antagonist really got theirs at the end. I'm angry I didn't read this sooner.

Well, it took me a while but I've finished it! For Star Wars fans, old and new, this is a fantastic insight into the political workings of the New Republic as well as some fantastic additional world building. Special appearances by a few favourites make the journey all the sweeter! Leia has wonderful characterisation in this novel, truly capturing the everlasting bravery and loveable snark our Princess and Senator embodies. Foreshadowing to events in TFA were simultaneously exciting and heartbreaking. Strongly recommend to anyone interested in the events between ROTJ & TFA. Though I'm sad we will never see Carrie bring this version of Leia to life, I am delighted that I got to experience even the slightest insight into Leia's political career. 4/5

4.5 Stars - a beautiful portrayal of a difficult friendship between two enemies. If you're a fan of Leia and/or wondering how the fall of the New Republic and the rise of the New Order came to be, this gives you lots of wonderful Leia, and some answers to your questions. It's perfect if you enjoy political maneuvering broken up by adventure and action, although the action parts always felt a little too short to me, and the mysteries solved a little too quickly - more unexpected twists and turns in the investigation would have been fun. But where this book really shines is in the difficult friendship between to enemies. Ransolm Casterfo is a fascinating, complex and memorable character and I'm sad he didn't make it into the movies. What's also special is that this is the story of not just one, but actually two purely platonic but moving friendships between a man and a woman - something we see far too rarely! Mood/tone: this story is a tragedy (but with a glimmer of hope and a sense of humor) and will leave you with an aching heart, and eager to continue with the story. What I particularly liked was that Leia's downfall comes not from something new and out of the blue, but by her past (which we know from the Original Trilogy) coming back to bite her when it's least convenient. The pacing is medium, I'd say - I've seen other reviews complain about it, but found no points at which the plot or character development didn't move forward. I'd say you might find it slow if you don't like reading about galactic politics, but well - Leia is a senator in this one and the whole plot revolves around how the New Republic crumbled into pieces. It's obvious it's going to contain politics! I was actually surprised how much time we could still spend gallivanting across the galaxy and investigating shady cartels - no pacing complaints from me. Finally, I really have to give huge props to the audiobook which features all that delicious Star Wars music (with the Imperial March slowly taking over as things slide into darkness), original sound effects from the movies, and a brilliant performance by January LaVoy. So why not 5 stars? Some things felt a tiny bit too predictable to me, and the ending is both tragic and wide open - it feels a lot like the ending of The Empire Strikes Back. It needs a continuation! I hope we'll get one.

I liked this a lot. The audiobook was especially good, because they did some fun edits to the voices to break up the single narration. It was a fun read, it did have some slow points and you have to be interested in the politics of Star Wars to get the full scope of things. But overall, a good Star Wars book that leads you up to The Force Awakens.

I love Leia Organa. Is that clear? Claudia is a queen of Star Wars novels. How she writes Leia always amazes me. I was in love with the way she portrayed a younger Leia in “Leia, Princess of Alderaan” and I am in love with the way she portrayed an older Leia in this novel too. I hope she gets to write more of her. Yes, Leia is a strong character who is gaining strength from her past but the past isn’t letting her go, it keeps haunting her and it’s showed very well here. She gets to the edge of breaking down so many times but instead, she rises up even higher every time which is one of my favorite things about her.

This one had far too many POV's that didn't switch frequently enough to justify the switching. Some points/timelines also contradicted what we already know to be true so that was a bit off-putting. All in all it was a pleasant audiobook experience, and I enjoyed a new story in a franchise I adore.

I'm so glad Claudia Gray is writing for the new Star Wars canon. It did take me a part of the book to wrap my head around my memories of the now "non-canon Leia" and this new version, but I'm very pleased. I also enjoyed the secondary characters and Leia's foil, the Centrist senator Ransolm Casterfo, who was just as "correct" in his political views some ways as Leia was in her's. My only sadness so far with the new canon is the utter lack of lightsabers thus far. I understand WHY, but I am ever hopeful Episode VIII will be cock full of my favorite weapon. SPOILERS (view spoiler)[Ben is still Ben, not Kylo Ren! This book is only five years prior to The Force Awakens, so he hasn't turned yet and is off on some sort of elusive quest with Luke. I WANT MORE. We get a little more of Han, and he and Leia are also still married, and reasonably happy. So, still no clues as to how all hell apparently broke loose. (hide spoiler)]

Loved it!!!!! so many plot twists, ties into the force awakens really well.

A fun read with enjoyable characters