Star Wars: Free Fall is a YA Novel written by Alex Segura & published by Disney Lucasfilm Press. This novel explores the history of Poe Dameron, so it takes place several years before The Force Awakens.
After the credits role in this video I’ll reveal a character that makes a brief cameo in the book that made me smile!
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SUMMARY: After the death of his mother, Poe Dameron has a hard time connecting with his father, who prefers to have Poe stick close by and live off the land on the family farm. However, Poe just can’t do it, he has too much of his mother in him (Shara Bey, former pilot), he’s desperate to get off Yavin IV and have an adventure.
A team of smugglers make a pit stop on Yavin IV. As luck would have it, Poe and the gang run into each other at a local bar. Coincidentally, they need a pilot, and Poe desperatly needs a way off Yavin 4. He’s duped into joining the group, who introduced themselves as smugglers. However, smugglers they are not, they are actually the Spice Runners of Kijimi. Smugglers are scoundrles, Spice Runners are also scoundrles, but also… much more dangerous and theiving.
Poe gets involved with the gang, but he is extremely conflicted by his decision to do so and can’t help but think of who he was, is, and who he will become. It’s a tale of hope, choices, love, & family. We follow Poe Dameron on his youthful adventure as a Spice Runner of Kijimi and how it shapes him into the man he becomes.
CHARACTERS: There’s a cast of many new characters, but I’m going to mention two that are familiar.
Poe Dameron: He’s stubborn and has a hard time staying true to himself. He craves adventure more than anything, and sacrifices much to get what he wants… or is it what he really wants? Poe is the son of veteran Rebel fighters. His mother was A-Wing pilot, Shara Bey. His father, Kes Dameron, had belonged to a ground force unit known as the Pathfinders. Poe is conflicted, he does’nt want to be told what to do or how to live his life. He faces challenges head on and tends to learn the hard way.
Zorii Wynn: That’s right I said Zorii Wynn, she goes by a different name at this point in her youth. She’s a young gun in the Spice Runners of Kijimi. She has a thing for Poe, but a bigger thing for the lifestyle of the Spice Runners. She’s strong willed and knows exactly what she wants. She’s prepared for action and ready to strike, whatever the target may be. Zorii’s portrayl in this tale explains so much more about who she is in The Rise of Skywalker.
OVERALL THOUGHTS: The book starts off with a bang, a pretty intense action sequence! We quickly learn of Poe’s relationship with his father and his hearts desires. The book is action packed, pretty much from start to finish. It does slow down in parts to build on character moments between some of the cast. These moments are necessary and done well. The book is a YA novel, but sometimes it reads like a junior novel. However, there are elements in the book that are too mature for a junior novel.
It’s a tale of hope, choices, love, & family.
I am a little disappointed overall with the book, some things just didn’t make much sense. The way some characters spoke was a little odd, like what they said was supposed to be smart or comical. Same goes for some of the writing in general.
For example, “The trio turned to see a group officers shooting first and asking questions later.” It just doesn’t make sense, “they saw a them asking questions later?” In the present?
Writing elements were repetitive making the structure predictable. Dialogue, action, thoughts, dialogue, action thoughts, repeat. The writing was nondescriptive, so imagining the story in my head was rather difficult. I don’t need everything described and laid out for me, but a little more description would have been beneficial.
It’s succeeds as a fast paced action packed Star Wars tale!
Hyperspace skipping, this book proves that it’s pretty dumb concept. When the group is in trouble, they decide to hyperspace skip, jump from one dangerous location to the next, with hopes of slowing down their pursuers. Why not just go somewhere far away or just correct the issue while in hyperspace? Maybe the book is confirming that hyperspace is pretty much instantaneous and doesn’t take days to weeks to travel somewhere at great distances? I don’t like that one bit. So for this, I don’t know if it’s author to blame the story group. My bet goes to the story group, because we’ve seen this on film.
The Spice Runners of Kijimi are supposed to be so awesome and dangerous, they don’t really come off as such, becuase I can’t recall a single spice running scheme. Yes, there are crazy things the group gets involved in, but seeing what the spice runners actually do isn’t a thing we see.
Zorii’s portrayl in this tale explains so much more about who she is in The Rise of Skywalker.
So, do I recommend that you read Poe Dameron Free Fall? I’m going to say yes, especially if you like Poe Dameron and want more backstory on Zorii Bliss.
If you would like to order this book, I have placed a link to purchase Poe Dameron Free Fall below.
We follow Poe Dameron on his youthful adventure as a Spice Runner of Kijimi and how it shapes him into the man he becomes.
RATING: I will give this YA Novel a C+. It wasn’t bad, it just take issue with some writing choices. Plus, it’s hard to suprise us when we know the outcome of major characters.
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