It’s been rumored that Star Wars: Episode VIII will be a bit
more political, as it will be the middle part of a trilogy, it can’t be that
action packed. Its goal, most likely, will be to set up Episode IX’s conclusion.
But one hopes that if the next movie must start explaining the rise of the
First Order, we don’t see the endless people sitting and talking that was so
distracting in Episodes I-III.
Claudia Gray
returns to the Star Wars universe with
Bloodline, a novel set about eighteen years after the Battle for Endor (Return of the Jedi) and begins six
years before the events of Star
Wars: The Force Awakens.
“In that time, the glorious New
Republic, the governing body that grew out of the Rebellion following the
defeat of the Empire, has split into two partisan factions, each of which has
its own specific viewpoint on how the galaxy should be run. And neither group
is willing to meet the other one halfway, even when the safety of countless
people and planets are on the line. The two factions are known as the Populists
and the Centrists, with the former believing that planets should be allowed
more control over their laws and regulations than a central government and the
latter believing that every planet in the Republic should be managed by a
strong central governing body. Leia, who is now a respected veteran senator, is
a Populist because she lived through the reign of the Empire and thinks
everyone answering to a central authority could be a good way to revive tyranny
of the Emperor and the Empire. While she does make some headway with one
senator, she realizes no one else is willing to compromise, which eventually
makes her realize her allies are small and may be alone in stopping the rise of
a mysterious force in the galaxy.”
It’s fairly
obvious that Gray is borrowing the Populists and Centrists political gridlock
from today’s headlines, which will make you smile or groan. Still, science
fiction has always been about setting a story in the future (or a long time
ago) and framing it with modern problems and issues. But the gist here is to show
that the New Republic is pretty much doomed as political infighting has taken its
toll.
Much like
her YA debut writing for Star Wars, Lost Star, I found all the characters
to be well written, and Gray has an uncanny ability to capture the true voice
of the many famous characters. It’s a brisk thriller that easily blends the
details of what happened after ROJ
and what we all saw in TFA (and how
both the Jedi and Darth Vader fell into myth and legend than real things). It
is dense with politics, but it’s also wry, often clever and really expands the
character of Leia that Episode VII
sort of ignored. This version of the princess, six years out from the newest
trilogy, reminds me why she should be a more iconic character than she is –at least
in the film series.
These books,
though, do have a tough sell ahead of them. Much like the old Expanded
Universe, this new timeline created for their rebooted big-screen adventures
are destined mainly for hardcore fans. Yes, these books are deliberately designed
to give out dribs and drabs of information that will be part of the newest
live-action movie series, and maybe some might find them interesting, but on the
whole, they’ll go ignored by the broader audience. It’s a shame, though,
because Claudia Gray is a fine writer and it takes talent to weave everything
together that explains the rise of the Resistance.
No comments:
Post a Comment