As good as the movies

The story was thrilling, the music was amazing, the sound exactly like movies. Overall one of best audible I had listened to.

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2 people found this helpful

amazing story and narrative

great book with great narratives. Definitelly adds wholes in the story amd brings some background

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1 person found this helpful

Supplemental Material as it should be.

Star Wars novels, particularly those that rely on the use of legacy characters, are far more likely than not to be mediocre. This, in my opinion, is a truth that should be nigh-universally acknowledged. Be it the tendency of the Legends canon to strain credulity, or the terrified tiptoeing of the new canon material that can't really have anything *too* substantial happen for fear of stepping on the toes of the movies or TV shows, which, to put it lightly, really kneecaps them in the stakes department.

One solution then, is to tell a more personal story, with more personal stakes, which is the route Bloodline takes, and as a result, I may actually have a new favourite Star Wars novel. (my previous favourite is Dark Desciple in case you wondered.)

Bloodline is essentially a political thriller, following the disillusioned Princess Leia, as she volunteers for a mission no one else in the senate seems to want to bother with. I don't want to include plot details here, as I think this book is worth experiencing as unspoiled as possible, but what follows, is a crime story coupled with an interpersonal character drama that takes some unexpected, and rewarding chances, set against the background of political deadlock that also manages to provide much appreciated context for the state of affairs by the time of the Sequel Trilogy.

Claudia Gray keeps the prose energetic and at a good pace whether the scene be a firefight, conversation or senate-hearing, a lesser writer could easily have fumbled the ball on this one, but at no point did I feel the length of this book. As for the presentation of the audiobook, January LaVoy delivers a game narration accompanied by the usual suite of music and sound effects common among Star Wars audiobooks, no complaints there.

Between this, and The Fallen Star being my favourite High Republic book so far I think I'm just going to start recommending Claudia Gray by name instead of specific Star Wars books if people ask.

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2 people found this helpful

An enjoyable listen

Found myself drawn into the story and couldn't stop listening, good narration and was left wanting to hear more of the birth of the resistance.

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Amazing

Claudia Gray is on of the best authors and this is one of the best Star Wars books

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So good

I didn't realise that this was a canon novel for ages. There I was waiting for an appearance of Jacen and Jaina. Not sure I would have bought it if I'd known. But, this was excellent. Plots, reversals and the beginnings of the First Order. A great listen, and the voice actor is excellent here too.

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Political Intrigue

I throughly enjoyed this story, both in book form and audio.

It’s quite heavy on the politics of Star Wars, but personally I’ve always found this fascinating since Episode I.

There are a few plot points that I would question, but on the whole I found it worthy of the Star Wars title.

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4 people found this helpful

Interesting new characters

Aside from giving more of an insight into Leia’s life in the senate, this book introduces some amazing new characters and I genuinely had stakes in their stories. For a 14+ hour story essentially about government, it didn’t drag at all. I’d also definitely recommend this book if you want to know more about the origins of the first order and the resistance.

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The best Star Wars production. Seriously

I’ve never read a Star Wars book before, but this blew me away and made me feel like this was the Star Wars I knew and loved. Not only is the plot intriguing, novel and deeply interesting, the audio production on this is second to none. It’s so good it makes episodes 7-9 less awful. That’s how perfect Bloodline is.

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A surprise to be sure, but very welcome one.

Started this book for backstory to the films, not expecting much. It greatly exceeded expectations.

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4 people found this helpful