A review by kythera
Bloodline by Claudia Gray

4.0

So this totally surprised me, a book written within a franchised universe is not my thing, but this was good. One, it puts a middle aged Leia front and centre. Two, the counterpoise character to her is excellent - an alt right (pro-Empire) supporter who is idealistic and has different political beliefs than her. We don't get a huge amount of him, but there's enough that it gives us a sense that there could have been a nuanced debate here, if only politics weren't so much about power and control. I didn't agree with this character - he made a lot of odd choices and his fetishisation of the Empire at the start is genuinely creepy - but we aren't supposed to do that, merely see that another side might have had valid arguments, had things turned out another way.
Second, we get references to multiple genders, polyamory and one of the other characters has been brought up by 'mothers'. There's no sensationalisation, it's just part of the world. THANK-YOU. Normalising this is so important. There's also a lovely line where Leia chides the other character to stop looking at the sex workers, and he does, not because there's shame there, but because it's socially rude to look if you aren't buying.
True, it's a fairly straightforwards politics and adventure yarn after that, and there is a bit too much exposition of explaining how politics works, and what Leia is wearing (okay, actually I quite liked that. Leia's cool - what she wears is cool and costume is a defining part of her), but this is good, lightweight reading. I didn't feel that it wasn't 'my' Leia, especially because she hardly mentions The Force and any uses of it in the book she rationalises away in a very in-character manner - this really did felt like a good solid story about her and again, the slightly older version portrayed here really appealled to me, a slightly older version of the girl who still loves her favourite General.