In an exclusive from USA Today, the cover and synopsis, along with a brief excerpt of Claudia Gray’s upcoming novel, New Republic: Bloodline, was unveiled.
Though we don’t know if Ben Solo has made his turn to the dark side yet, we do know the novel takes place five years prior to the events of The Force Awakens. In this new story, coming May 3rd from Del Rey, Leia is embroiled in the politics of forging the future of the galaxy, but the shade of her ancestry falls over everything.
“I find myself remembering the Episode I posters, where you see the boy Anakin with Vader’s shadow stretching out behind him,” Gray told USA Today. “In this book, we find out just how far Vader’s shadow falls.”
More from Dork Side of the Force
- The High Republic Adventures (2023) 1 review
- Daniel José Older named a High Republic Adventures character after someone special
- How animation changed Star Wars: Ewoks and Droids
- Kelleran Beq comes to Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes
- The Mandalorian’s Pedro Pascal becomes No. 1 on IMDb’s Starmeter for 2023
Since the primary protagonist is Leia, Gray must be talking about how her father’s legacy affects her; but it may also delve into the pain of losing her son to the same darkness which took Anakin Skywalker.
While family is an important aspect of Bloodline, it’s not the focus, Gray implies. Family “has pretty far-reaching repercussions for several characters… However, 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).”
Bloodline should be an excellent bridge to what happened to the Organa/Solo family, before the events of The Force Awakens, even if we don’t get the family centric juicy details. What we all can hope for is, some sort of interaction — be it through flashbacks or real time — between Leia and Ben Solo.
And, while I wouldn’t not want a book about a strong female lead character, who has become a bright shining role model to young girls everywhere, there is an undeniable desire to see the origins of young Ben Solo, before he donned the mask and cloak of Kylo Ren. Bloodline hits shelves on May 3, later this year.