Ink of Blood

(I received a free copy of this book from Random House Publishing, through NetGalley, in exchange for a review).

(This review may contain spoilers).

I remember watching the Star Wars movies when I was really long. I’ve read a lot of tie-in novels between now and then – all of which ranged from good to bad.

I have a few mixed feelings about this book. I really liked seeing the characters from the original films again. I’d almost forgotten what it was like to see a younger, more innocent Luke Skywalker.

There were a couple of things that I didn’t think worked very well. For instance, there was reference made to a starting gun – which doesn’t work in a Star Wars universe. And Han says, ‘booze’ in reference to alcohol. That’s a current-time affectation.

I did like Scarlet, to an extent, but she seemed almost a bit too… perfect, in a way. Too good at what she was doing. In some ways, she seemed like a female Han Solo.

I liked seeing Leia in this book and it was good to see Chewie and his banter with Han. The issue, of course, was that there was very little tension with the main characters – since the readers know they’re in the next two films (and multiple books) of course.

I liked the appearance of other aliens in this and the technology. It was also good to see someone Han had known when he was a smuggler. What happened was really sad, but probably the only way it could have done and made sense.

This book has made me really want to watch the Star Wars films again. I’ll probably do that fairly soon.