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3.35 AVERAGE
3.35 AVERAGE
Author: Alex Segura
Publisher: Disney Lucasfilm Books
US Release Date: August 4th 2020
UK Release Date: September 2020
Rating: 4 stars
Synopsis: Ages 12 and up
Learn more about the dashing hero from the new Star Wars films! Telling a story hinted at in The Rise of Skywalker....It's been a few years since Poe's mother passed away, and Poe and his father, who was a pilot for the Rebellion, have had more and more trouble connecting. Not sure what he wants to do with his life, teenage Poe runs away from home to find adventure, and to figure out what kind of man he is meant to be.
Thoughts: Well, there’s yet to be a Star Wars novel, canon, or legend, that I don’t enjoy and this was no exception. A gripping and fun adventure with one of the sequel trilogies finest characters, Poe Dameron himself! Alex Segura brings our cocky resistance pilot to life with skill and ease and I loved every second of his story. It’s very easy to read, flows well and quick too - but when it’s rated ‘Ages 12+’ you have to expect that quick and easy middle grade vibe. That being said, it’s no way off putting to an adult reader and i enjoyed reading something light and fun. I’d love to see more adventures following Poe on his path to becoming the resistance superstar we meet in Force Awakens. Marvellous!
Publisher: Disney Lucasfilm Books
US Release Date: August 4th 2020
UK Release Date: September 2020
Rating: 4 stars
Synopsis: Ages 12 and up
Learn more about the dashing hero from the new Star Wars films! Telling a story hinted at in The Rise of Skywalker....It's been a few years since Poe's mother passed away, and Poe and his father, who was a pilot for the Rebellion, have had more and more trouble connecting. Not sure what he wants to do with his life, teenage Poe runs away from home to find adventure, and to figure out what kind of man he is meant to be.
Thoughts: Well, there’s yet to be a Star Wars novel, canon, or legend, that I don’t enjoy and this was no exception. A gripping and fun adventure with one of the sequel trilogies finest characters, Poe Dameron himself! Alex Segura brings our cocky resistance pilot to life with skill and ease and I loved every second of his story. It’s very easy to read, flows well and quick too - but when it’s rated ‘Ages 12+’ you have to expect that quick and easy middle grade vibe. That being said, it’s no way off putting to an adult reader and i enjoyed reading something light and fun. I’d love to see more adventures following Poe on his path to becoming the resistance superstar we meet in Force Awakens. Marvellous!
3.5 stars
I received an ARC through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
Poe Dameron: Free Fall piqued my interest due to my love for the character and interest in his backstory, particularly since it also involved Zorii, who we were introduced to in Rise of Skywalker. While I’m a staunch FinnPoe shipper, I was willing to be swayed as to the viability of Poe and Zorii as a potential pairing if their history was compelling enough.
Poe’s story on his own is compelling. I liked learning about his origins prior to joining the Resistance, and how his parents’ role in the prior Rebellion against the Empire impacted him.
And there are some interesting things done with Zorii’s character too, in terms of giving her a bit of a complex history and past of her own. A secret about her was revealed that I did not anticipate, and I enjoyed the way it was grappled with, to an extent.
However, I didn’t think much of their relationship, even as friends. I never got the sense they truly connected, not in the way that Finn and Poe did, even with them being apart for the majority of both The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi. That could just be my bias coming through, but their friendship felt very shallow, and there wasn’t a real sense of depth there.
This is still a fun book, and it will excite other Poe fans who were upset that he wasn’t given that much to do in the sequel trilogy.
I received an ARC through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
Poe Dameron: Free Fall piqued my interest due to my love for the character and interest in his backstory, particularly since it also involved Zorii, who we were introduced to in Rise of Skywalker. While I’m a staunch FinnPoe shipper, I was willing to be swayed as to the viability of Poe and Zorii as a potential pairing if their history was compelling enough.
Poe’s story on his own is compelling. I liked learning about his origins prior to joining the Resistance, and how his parents’ role in the prior Rebellion against the Empire impacted him.
And there are some interesting things done with Zorii’s character too, in terms of giving her a bit of a complex history and past of her own. A secret about her was revealed that I did not anticipate, and I enjoyed the way it was grappled with, to an extent.
However, I didn’t think much of their relationship, even as friends. I never got the sense they truly connected, not in the way that Finn and Poe did, even with them being apart for the majority of both The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi. That could just be my bias coming through, but their friendship felt very shallow, and there wasn’t a real sense of depth there.
This is still a fun book, and it will excite other Poe fans who were upset that he wasn’t given that much to do in the sequel trilogy.
When Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker was released last year, one line of dialogue that raised a lot of eyebrows was the revelation that Resistance hero Poe Dameron was once a spice runner. The YA novel Poe Dameron: Free Fall by Alex Segura, released last week, covers this period in Poe’s life and attempts to have it make sense in the wider context of Poe’s life.
Please note: This post contains affiliate links.
Poe Dameron: Free Fall opens with a sixteen-year-old Poe living with his father Kes on their Yavin 4 farm. Poe, much like Luke Skywalker years before, yearns for more than life on a farm. Worse, Poe has grown up listening to tales of the heroics his father (Rebellion soldier Kes Dameron) and mother (Rebellion pilot Shara Bey) got up to during the Galactic Civil War and he is desperate to prove himself. However, since the death of his mother, Poe’s father has become overly protective of their only child, meaning the teenage Poe feels suffocated on the small moon where everyone knows who he is. That’s why, when he finds a bunch of smugglers in need of a pilot sitting in a local tavern, he offers to fly them off-world himself, anything to get away from Yavin 4.
It’s only after their daring escape that Poe discovers exactly who he has fallen in with. No ordinary bunch of smugglers, Poe is now a pilot for the notorious Spice Runners of Kijimi, a relatively new gang making the best of the power vacuum left behind by the collapse of the Empire. Poe’s loyalties are immediately at odds with one another. He knows he should return home to his worried father and that becoming a Spice Runner is the opposite of what his beloved mother would have wanted for him, but here is an opportunity for a lifetime of adventure and daring that he could barely have dreamed of.
And then there’s Zorii Wynn, a teenage girl who forms part of the team Poe met on Yavin 4. Zorii seems wise beyond her years and the rest of the hard-boiled crew are oddly protective of her despite her obvious lack of experience. As Poe and Zorii’s relationship develops, he finds it increasingly difficult to walk away from the Spice Runners, even as their missions become darker and ever more deadly, forcing Poe into moral choices that often turn his stomach.
The book climaxes as Zorii’s secrets are finally revealed, forcing Poe into a final showdown where he will finally have to make a choice between two very different futures.
Poe Dameron: Free Fall is a book that has clearly been written out of necessity in order to explain away the backstory that was dropped bombshell-like into the final film. Author Alex Segura has had to write something that explains how a son of Rebel heroes could wind up working as a Spice Runner and then, equally difficult, how he could have escaped from that life. After all, notorious criminal gangs are not known for letting people simply walk away from them if they change their minds. The result is a book that feels forced and, unfortunately, struggles to work.
Poe’s initial decision to join the Spice Runners was probably the most believable part of his journey. Rather than a conscious choice to fall in with a bad crowd, Poe is simply an impulsive teen who takes an opportunity to get away from his responsibilities without really thinking through the consequences—something I’m sure most of us can relate to. However, the longer he stays with them, the less that rationale holds water. As Poe witnesses and even participates in more and more criminal undertakings, the more he becomes complicit in them and no amount of painful ruminations after the fact can alter that. In fact, the endless moral dilly-dallying became annoying after a while. Poe knew full well that he was in the wrong but continued finding reasons not to leave and my sympathy for him as a kid who made a poor choice wore away to almost nothing by the end.
There were, of course, good points. The inclusion of the adorable and hilarious Babu Frik in several scenes was a natural highlight—how could it not be—and new droid character EV-6B6 was a delight. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if, given the events at the end of the book, we eventually discover that she and BB-8 have more in common than simply belonging to Poe. I’m not a huge fan of pilot-themed books but reading about some of Poe’s more imaginative maneuvers was also a lot of fun, even if it did take some significant suspension of disbelief to accept they were pulled off by a cocky teen who hadn’t flown anything beyond a beaten up A-Wing before the start of the book.
I do also feel the need to talk about Poe’s relationship with Zorii. Ever since the release of The Force Awakens, fans immediately began shipping Poe with his fellow Resistance hero Finn, something actor Oscar Isaac would have been happy to see progress in the later films. Naturally, that never happened, and there have been mutterings that Poe’s relationship with Zorii in The Rise of Skywalker was specifically added in to derail those theories and make the film more palatable to less LGBTQ-friendly markets. Free Fall explores this relationship in more detail and it is clear that Poe does have feelings for Zorii. However, it is also made clear that having grown up on the backwater of Yavin 4 with almost no others of his own age around him, this is Poe’s first experience of anything even vaguely romantic and both his and Zorii’s actions can best be described as fumbling. I suppose what I’m trying to say is that there is nothing in Free Fall that precludes Poe from being bi or pansexual, and thus nothing here that could prevent StormPilot from becoming canon one day in a future book or comic. That’s my opinion and I’m sticking with it.
Taken with a pinch of salt, Poe Dameron: Free Fall is a fun adventure novel and I’m sure younger readers and fans of movie-Poe will enjoy it. For those of us hoping it would fix the canon issues raised by The Rise of Skywalker, I’m not sure it does. I was hopeful at the beginning but Poe’s journey throughout this book didn’t work for me and left too many issues for me to feel fully satisfied. This is one I probably wouldn’t recommend to anyone beyond die-hard Poe fans and Star Wars canon completists.
GeekMom received a copy of this book for review purposes.
Please note: This post contains affiliate links.
Poe Dameron: Free Fall opens with a sixteen-year-old Poe living with his father Kes on their Yavin 4 farm. Poe, much like Luke Skywalker years before, yearns for more than life on a farm. Worse, Poe has grown up listening to tales of the heroics his father (Rebellion soldier Kes Dameron) and mother (Rebellion pilot Shara Bey) got up to during the Galactic Civil War and he is desperate to prove himself. However, since the death of his mother, Poe’s father has become overly protective of their only child, meaning the teenage Poe feels suffocated on the small moon where everyone knows who he is. That’s why, when he finds a bunch of smugglers in need of a pilot sitting in a local tavern, he offers to fly them off-world himself, anything to get away from Yavin 4.
It’s only after their daring escape that Poe discovers exactly who he has fallen in with. No ordinary bunch of smugglers, Poe is now a pilot for the notorious Spice Runners of Kijimi, a relatively new gang making the best of the power vacuum left behind by the collapse of the Empire. Poe’s loyalties are immediately at odds with one another. He knows he should return home to his worried father and that becoming a Spice Runner is the opposite of what his beloved mother would have wanted for him, but here is an opportunity for a lifetime of adventure and daring that he could barely have dreamed of.
And then there’s Zorii Wynn, a teenage girl who forms part of the team Poe met on Yavin 4. Zorii seems wise beyond her years and the rest of the hard-boiled crew are oddly protective of her despite her obvious lack of experience. As Poe and Zorii’s relationship develops, he finds it increasingly difficult to walk away from the Spice Runners, even as their missions become darker and ever more deadly, forcing Poe into moral choices that often turn his stomach.
The book climaxes as Zorii’s secrets are finally revealed, forcing Poe into a final showdown where he will finally have to make a choice between two very different futures.
Poe Dameron: Free Fall is a book that has clearly been written out of necessity in order to explain away the backstory that was dropped bombshell-like into the final film. Author Alex Segura has had to write something that explains how a son of Rebel heroes could wind up working as a Spice Runner and then, equally difficult, how he could have escaped from that life. After all, notorious criminal gangs are not known for letting people simply walk away from them if they change their minds. The result is a book that feels forced and, unfortunately, struggles to work.
Poe’s initial decision to join the Spice Runners was probably the most believable part of his journey. Rather than a conscious choice to fall in with a bad crowd, Poe is simply an impulsive teen who takes an opportunity to get away from his responsibilities without really thinking through the consequences—something I’m sure most of us can relate to. However, the longer he stays with them, the less that rationale holds water. As Poe witnesses and even participates in more and more criminal undertakings, the more he becomes complicit in them and no amount of painful ruminations after the fact can alter that. In fact, the endless moral dilly-dallying became annoying after a while. Poe knew full well that he was in the wrong but continued finding reasons not to leave and my sympathy for him as a kid who made a poor choice wore away to almost nothing by the end.
There were, of course, good points. The inclusion of the adorable and hilarious Babu Frik in several scenes was a natural highlight—how could it not be—and new droid character EV-6B6 was a delight. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if, given the events at the end of the book, we eventually discover that she and BB-8 have more in common than simply belonging to Poe. I’m not a huge fan of pilot-themed books but reading about some of Poe’s more imaginative maneuvers was also a lot of fun, even if it did take some significant suspension of disbelief to accept they were pulled off by a cocky teen who hadn’t flown anything beyond a beaten up A-Wing before the start of the book.
I do also feel the need to talk about Poe’s relationship with Zorii. Ever since the release of The Force Awakens, fans immediately began shipping Poe with his fellow Resistance hero Finn, something actor Oscar Isaac would have been happy to see progress in the later films. Naturally, that never happened, and there have been mutterings that Poe’s relationship with Zorii in The Rise of Skywalker was specifically added in to derail those theories and make the film more palatable to less LGBTQ-friendly markets. Free Fall explores this relationship in more detail and it is clear that Poe does have feelings for Zorii. However, it is also made clear that having grown up on the backwater of Yavin 4 with almost no others of his own age around him, this is Poe’s first experience of anything even vaguely romantic and both his and Zorii’s actions can best be described as fumbling. I suppose what I’m trying to say is that there is nothing in Free Fall that precludes Poe from being bi or pansexual, and thus nothing here that could prevent StormPilot from becoming canon one day in a future book or comic. That’s my opinion and I’m sticking with it.
Taken with a pinch of salt, Poe Dameron: Free Fall is a fun adventure novel and I’m sure younger readers and fans of movie-Poe will enjoy it. For those of us hoping it would fix the canon issues raised by The Rise of Skywalker, I’m not sure it does. I was hopeful at the beginning but Poe’s journey throughout this book didn’t work for me and left too many issues for me to feel fully satisfied. This is one I probably wouldn’t recommend to anyone beyond die-hard Poe fans and Star Wars canon completists.
GeekMom received a copy of this book for review purposes.
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This story is essentially Poe’s Origin Story. It’s actually a really good one and gives you a lot of the character development you would have missed from his appearances in the last trilogy which I think is important because he is such a prominent character in those movies.
We start with Poe when he is about 16 and he is on his homeworld, Yavin-4 looking for adventure and an escape from his boring life. Poe finds a way off Yavin-4 and that’s where his adventure really begins. He doesn’t want to do anything bad but to leave home he hasn’t got any other options.
As a character, Poe Dameron is an excellent one. He has personal issues with his parents that he is trying to deal with and has conflicts within himself surrounding what he wants from life and at what cost is he willing to pay to get it. For example, there is a part where Poe is willing to kill a certain being but later he doesn’t want others to die despite the fact that all of these beings are bad people.
Reading about Poe as a teenager and seeing the choices he had to make is actually really interesting to read. You will see what Poe thinks of droids and how that changes. He initially hates droids and thinks they’re worthless but a chance encounter with one slowly changes what he thinks about them, which makes so much sense when you see him with BB-8 in the movies.
His character really goes on a wild ride and along the way he has to make choices that are life or death for him. The supporting characters are also really well written and they push Poe to deal with his own thoughts. They also have their own very real issues and it brings them to life and to the forefront of your attention.
You get a huge backstory for a certain illegal group in the movies which I found really exciting to read about since I have only digested the movies, it’s a viewpoint I haven’t seen anything of in this universe.
The world is written really well and is Star Wars. There really isn’t much to say except that Alex has absolutely nailed it all and you might as well be watching one of the movies in book form. The action is well written and blasters, spaceships and droids are all as alive on paper as they can possibly be.
The book brings completely new content to the character and some other characters from the movies which I found completely refreshing.
If you enjoyed Star Wars then you will absolutely love this book. It’s a tale of personal battles, young love and doing the right thing for the right reasons.
This story is essentially Poe’s Origin Story. It’s actually a really good one and gives you a lot of the character development you would have missed from his appearances in the last trilogy which I think is important because he is such a prominent character in those movies.
We start with Poe when he is about 16 and he is on his homeworld, Yavin-4 looking for adventure and an escape from his boring life. Poe finds a way off Yavin-4 and that’s where his adventure really begins. He doesn’t want to do anything bad but to leave home he hasn’t got any other options.
As a character, Poe Dameron is an excellent one. He has personal issues with his parents that he is trying to deal with and has conflicts within himself surrounding what he wants from life and at what cost is he willing to pay to get it. For example, there is a part where Poe is willing to kill a certain being but later he doesn’t want others to die despite the fact that all of these beings are bad people.
Reading about Poe as a teenager and seeing the choices he had to make is actually really interesting to read. You will see what Poe thinks of droids and how that changes. He initially hates droids and thinks they’re worthless but a chance encounter with one slowly changes what he thinks about them, which makes so much sense when you see him with BB-8 in the movies.
His character really goes on a wild ride and along the way he has to make choices that are life or death for him. The supporting characters are also really well written and they push Poe to deal with his own thoughts. They also have their own very real issues and it brings them to life and to the forefront of your attention.
You get a huge backstory for a certain illegal group in the movies which I found really exciting to read about since I have only digested the movies, it’s a viewpoint I haven’t seen anything of in this universe.
The world is written really well and is Star Wars. There really isn’t much to say except that Alex has absolutely nailed it all and you might as well be watching one of the movies in book form. The action is well written and blasters, spaceships and droids are all as alive on paper as they can possibly be.
The book brings completely new content to the character and some other characters from the movies which I found completely refreshing.
If you enjoyed Star Wars then you will absolutely love this book. It’s a tale of personal battles, young love and doing the right thing for the right reasons.
the heterosexual nonsense is far too much i'm so sorry. did love that there was a nonbinary character and no one batted an eyelash at using only they/them pronouns for them! also i do see the "poe has had feelings for PEOPLE before" lines and i do appreciate them. i think i just wasn't that captivated by the overall story as it was less adventure and more romance than i wanted.
**I received a digital copy from NetGalley and Disney Lucasfilm Press in exchange for an honest review. Thanks DLP for the opportunity to read this book!
Well, there are certainly words on pages here.....and not much else.
Poe Dameron: Free Fall expands upon the backstory introduced in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker that Poe spent at least some of his younger life as a spice runner with Zorii on Kijimi. In this book, we learn why 16 year old Poe joins the Spice Runners of Kijimi and his adventures while in their ranks. While there, he meets Zorii, the other spice runner his age, and many others throughout the organization. However, if you know Poe from the TFA, TLJ, Resistance Reborn, and the Poe Dameron comic series, you may not recognize him here, as this teenage Poe shows very little of the qualities that makes him stand out.
This book was a serious disappointment. While it was more focused than the latest DLP release, Queen's Peril, Poe Dameron: Free Fall suffers from a lack of any authentic and sensitive emotion. While the first part of the book focuses on the relationship between Poe and his father Kes, and their grief over the loss of his mother Shara Bey, there's no genuine sense to it that roots us to this emotion. We never got to see Shara Bey alive and make a connection with her as a character, and are told, rather than shown, their pain over her loss. There is also a kinda-platonic, kinda-romantic relationship between two characters in this book that comes out of nowhere and doesn't make much sense.
Telling rather than showing is a noticeable and recurring problem with this book. In addition to the telling about the grief over Shara Bey, there are multiple time skips in this book where we are then subsequently told that entire relationship dynamics are changed. This is jarring and unhelpful; the skipping doesn't allow us to get to know the characters authentically.
One thing that stood out to me and worried me as an adult reader of this YA book is how Poe (most often), and Zorii (to a lesser extent) describe one another. There are multiple points in the book when Poe will call Zorii a girl and then corrects himself and call her a woman. This also happens with Zorii about Poe. They are 16. They are not men and women, but in fact teenagers. I guess maybe this language is to signal to us that they are attracted to one another?? But.....it fell flat. At times this felt objectifying of Zorii and made it seem like the author really doesn't understand women or girls. Its 2020, let 16 year old Zorii be a 16 year old Zorii, and not 32 year old Zorii in the character of a 16 year old!!!
While the author does take time to introduce new species and planets, there is no depth to this book that makes it STAR WARS. The lack of depth makes this book unmemorable and unfortunately not a worthy addition into the Star Wars canon. I can't in good faith recommend this book and don't feel it a necessary read or buy, even for collectors.
Well, there are certainly words on pages here.....and not much else.
Poe Dameron: Free Fall expands upon the backstory introduced in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker that Poe spent at least some of his younger life as a spice runner with Zorii on Kijimi. In this book, we learn why 16 year old Poe joins the Spice Runners of Kijimi and his adventures while in their ranks. While there, he meets Zorii, the other spice runner his age, and many others throughout the organization. However, if you know Poe from the TFA, TLJ, Resistance Reborn, and the Poe Dameron comic series, you may not recognize him here, as this teenage Poe shows very little of the qualities that makes him stand out.
This book was a serious disappointment. While it was more focused than the latest DLP release, Queen's Peril, Poe Dameron: Free Fall suffers from a lack of any authentic and sensitive emotion. While the first part of the book focuses on the relationship between Poe and his father Kes, and their grief over the loss of his mother Shara Bey, there's no genuine sense to it that roots us to this emotion. We never got to see Shara Bey alive and make a connection with her as a character, and are told, rather than shown, their pain over her loss. There is also a kinda-platonic, kinda-romantic relationship between two characters in this book that comes out of nowhere and doesn't make much sense.
Telling rather than showing is a noticeable and recurring problem with this book. In addition to the telling about the grief over Shara Bey, there are multiple time skips in this book where we are then subsequently told that entire relationship dynamics are changed. This is jarring and unhelpful; the skipping doesn't allow us to get to know the characters authentically.
One thing that stood out to me and worried me as an adult reader of this YA book is how Poe (most often), and Zorii (to a lesser extent) describe one another. There are multiple points in the book when Poe will call Zorii a girl and then corrects himself and call her a woman. This also happens with Zorii about Poe. They are 16. They are not men and women, but in fact teenagers. I guess maybe this language is to signal to us that they are attracted to one another?? But.....it fell flat. At times this felt objectifying of Zorii and made it seem like the author really doesn't understand women or girls. Its 2020, let 16 year old Zorii be a 16 year old Zorii, and not 32 year old Zorii in the character of a 16 year old!!!
While the author does take time to introduce new species and planets, there is no depth to this book that makes it STAR WARS. The lack of depth makes this book unmemorable and unfortunately not a worthy addition into the Star Wars canon. I can't in good faith recommend this book and don't feel it a necessary read or buy, even for collectors.
When Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker was released last year, one line of dialogue that raised a lot of eyebrows was the revelation that Resistance hero Poe Dameron was once a spice runner. The YA novel Poe Dameron: Free Fall by Alex Segura, released last week, covers this period in Poe’s life and attempts to have it make sense in the wider context of Poe’s life.
Please note: This post contains affiliate links.
Poe Dameron: Free Fall opens with a sixteen-year-old Poe living with his father Kes on their Yavin 4 farm. Poe, much like Luke Skywalker years before, yearns for more than life on a farm. Worse, Poe has grown up listening to tales of the heroics his father (Rebellion soldier Kes Dameron) and mother (Rebellion pilot Shara Bey) got up to during the Galactic Civil War and he is desperate to prove himself. However, since the death of his mother, Poe’s father has become overly protective of their only child, meaning the teenage Poe feels suffocated on the small moon where everyone knows who he is. That’s why, when he finds a bunch of smugglers in need of a pilot sitting in a local tavern, he offers to fly them off-world himself, anything to get away from Yavin 4.
It’s only after their daring escape that Poe discovers exactly who he has fallen in with. No ordinary bunch of smugglers, Poe is now a pilot for the notorious Spice Runners of Kijimi, a relatively new gang making the best of the power vacuum left behind by the collapse of the Empire. Poe’s loyalties are immediately at odds with one another. He knows he should return home to his worried father and that becoming a Spice Runner is the opposite of what his beloved mother would have wanted for him, but here is an opportunity for a lifetime of adventure and daring that he could barely have dreamed of.
And then there’s Zorii Wynn, a teenage girl who forms part of the team Poe met on Yavin 4. Zorii seems wise beyond her years and the rest of the hard-boiled crew are oddly protective of her despite her obvious lack of experience. As Poe and Zorii’s relationship develops, he finds it increasingly difficult to walk away from the Spice Runners, even as their missions become darker and ever more deadly, forcing Poe into moral choices that often turn his stomach.
The book climaxes as Zorii’s secrets are finally revealed, forcing Poe into a final showdown where he will finally have to make a choice between two very different futures.
Poe Dameron: Free Fall is a book that has clearly been written out of necessity in order to explain away the backstory that was dropped bombshell-like into the final film. Author Alex Segura has had to write something that explains how a son of Rebel heroes could wind up working as a Spice Runner and then, equally difficult, how he could have escaped from that life. After all, notorious criminal gangs are not known for letting people simply walk away from them if they change their minds. The result is a book that feels forced and, unfortunately, struggles to work.
Poe’s initial decision to join the Spice Runners was probably the most believable part of his journey. Rather than a conscious choice to fall in with a bad crowd, Poe is simply an impulsive teen who takes an opportunity to get away from his responsibilities without really thinking through the consequences—something I’m sure most of us can relate to. However, the longer he stays with them, the less that rationale holds water. As Poe witnesses and even participates in more and more criminal undertakings, the more he becomes complicit in them and no amount of painful ruminations after the fact can alter that. In fact, the endless moral dilly-dallying became annoying after a while. Poe knew full well that he was in the wrong but continued finding reasons not to leave and my sympathy for him as a kid who made a poor choice wore away to almost nothing by the end.
There were, of course, good points. The inclusion of the adorable and hilarious Babu Frik in several scenes was a natural highlight—how could it not be—and new droid character EV-6B6 was a delight. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if, given the events at the end of the book, we eventually discover that she and BB-8 have more in common than simply belonging to Poe. I’m not a huge fan of pilot-themed books but reading about some of Poe’s more imaginative maneuvers was also a lot of fun, even if it did take some significant suspension of disbelief to accept they were pulled off by a cocky teen who hadn’t flown anything beyond a beaten up A-Wing before the start of the book.
I do also feel the need to talk about Poe’s relationship with Zorii. Ever since the release of The Force Awakens, fans immediately began shipping Poe with his fellow Resistance hero Finn, something actor Oscar Isaac would have been happy to see progress in the later films. Naturally, that never happened, and there have been mutterings that Poe’s relationship with Zorii in The Rise of Skywalker was specifically added in to derail those theories and make the film more palatable to less LGBTQ-friendly markets. Free Fall explores this relationship in more detail and it is clear that Poe does have feelings for Zorii. However, it is also made clear that having grown up on the backwater of Yavin 4 with almost no others of his own age around him, this is Poe’s first experience of anything even vaguely romantic and both his and Zorii’s actions can best be described as fumbling. I suppose what I’m trying to say is that there is nothing in Free Fall that precludes Poe from being bi or pansexual, and thus nothing here that could prevent StormPilot from becoming canon one day in a future book or comic. That’s my opinion and I’m sticking with it.
Taken with a pinch of salt, Poe Dameron: Free Fall is a fun adventure novel and I’m sure younger readers and fans of movie-Poe will enjoy it. For those of us hoping it would fix the canon issues raised by The Rise of Skywalker, I’m not sure it does. I was hopeful at the beginning but Poe’s journey throughout this book didn’t work for me and left too many issues for me to feel fully satisfied. This is one I probably wouldn’t recommend to anyone beyond die-hard Poe fans and Star Wars canon completists.
GeekMom received a copy of this book for review purposes.
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Poe Dameron: Free Fall opens with a sixteen-year-old Poe living with his father Kes on their Yavin 4 farm. Poe, much like Luke Skywalker years before, yearns for more than life on a farm. Worse, Poe has grown up listening to tales of the heroics his father (Rebellion soldier Kes Dameron) and mother (Rebellion pilot Shara Bey) got up to during the Galactic Civil War and he is desperate to prove himself. However, since the death of his mother, Poe’s father has become overly protective of their only child, meaning the teenage Poe feels suffocated on the small moon where everyone knows who he is. That’s why, when he finds a bunch of smugglers in need of a pilot sitting in a local tavern, he offers to fly them off-world himself, anything to get away from Yavin 4.
It’s only after their daring escape that Poe discovers exactly who he has fallen in with. No ordinary bunch of smugglers, Poe is now a pilot for the notorious Spice Runners of Kijimi, a relatively new gang making the best of the power vacuum left behind by the collapse of the Empire. Poe’s loyalties are immediately at odds with one another. He knows he should return home to his worried father and that becoming a Spice Runner is the opposite of what his beloved mother would have wanted for him, but here is an opportunity for a lifetime of adventure and daring that he could barely have dreamed of.
And then there’s Zorii Wynn, a teenage girl who forms part of the team Poe met on Yavin 4. Zorii seems wise beyond her years and the rest of the hard-boiled crew are oddly protective of her despite her obvious lack of experience. As Poe and Zorii’s relationship develops, he finds it increasingly difficult to walk away from the Spice Runners, even as their missions become darker and ever more deadly, forcing Poe into moral choices that often turn his stomach.
The book climaxes as Zorii’s secrets are finally revealed, forcing Poe into a final showdown where he will finally have to make a choice between two very different futures.
Poe Dameron: Free Fall is a book that has clearly been written out of necessity in order to explain away the backstory that was dropped bombshell-like into the final film. Author Alex Segura has had to write something that explains how a son of Rebel heroes could wind up working as a Spice Runner and then, equally difficult, how he could have escaped from that life. After all, notorious criminal gangs are not known for letting people simply walk away from them if they change their minds. The result is a book that feels forced and, unfortunately, struggles to work.
Poe’s initial decision to join the Spice Runners was probably the most believable part of his journey. Rather than a conscious choice to fall in with a bad crowd, Poe is simply an impulsive teen who takes an opportunity to get away from his responsibilities without really thinking through the consequences—something I’m sure most of us can relate to. However, the longer he stays with them, the less that rationale holds water. As Poe witnesses and even participates in more and more criminal undertakings, the more he becomes complicit in them and no amount of painful ruminations after the fact can alter that. In fact, the endless moral dilly-dallying became annoying after a while. Poe knew full well that he was in the wrong but continued finding reasons not to leave and my sympathy for him as a kid who made a poor choice wore away to almost nothing by the end.
There were, of course, good points. The inclusion of the adorable and hilarious Babu Frik in several scenes was a natural highlight—how could it not be—and new droid character EV-6B6 was a delight. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if, given the events at the end of the book, we eventually discover that she and BB-8 have more in common than simply belonging to Poe. I’m not a huge fan of pilot-themed books but reading about some of Poe’s more imaginative maneuvers was also a lot of fun, even if it did take some significant suspension of disbelief to accept they were pulled off by a cocky teen who hadn’t flown anything beyond a beaten up A-Wing before the start of the book.
I do also feel the need to talk about Poe’s relationship with Zorii. Ever since the release of The Force Awakens, fans immediately began shipping Poe with his fellow Resistance hero Finn, something actor Oscar Isaac would have been happy to see progress in the later films. Naturally, that never happened, and there have been mutterings that Poe’s relationship with Zorii in The Rise of Skywalker was specifically added in to derail those theories and make the film more palatable to less LGBTQ-friendly markets. Free Fall explores this relationship in more detail and it is clear that Poe does have feelings for Zorii. However, it is also made clear that having grown up on the backwater of Yavin 4 with almost no others of his own age around him, this is Poe’s first experience of anything even vaguely romantic and both his and Zorii’s actions can best be described as fumbling. I suppose what I’m trying to say is that there is nothing in Free Fall that precludes Poe from being bi or pansexual, and thus nothing here that could prevent StormPilot from becoming canon one day in a future book or comic. That’s my opinion and I’m sticking with it.
Taken with a pinch of salt, Poe Dameron: Free Fall is a fun adventure novel and I’m sure younger readers and fans of movie-Poe will enjoy it. For those of us hoping it would fix the canon issues raised by The Rise of Skywalker, I’m not sure it does. I was hopeful at the beginning but Poe’s journey throughout this book didn’t work for me and left too many issues for me to feel fully satisfied. This is one I probably wouldn’t recommend to anyone beyond die-hard Poe fans and Star Wars canon completists.
GeekMom received a copy of this book for review purposes.
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
tense
medium-paced
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
I wanted to love this.
I love Star Wars and Poe, Free Fall didn’t do either justice.
I think it’s hard to tell a story with suspense and real consequence when we already know the two main characters live beyond it. It’s especially difficult when the story primarily relies on action more than characters and therefore we already know that every fight, flight, and risk taken will work out for them in the end. I couldn’t really connect with any of the additional characters either which didn’t help.
Overall it was a slog to get through for me.
I listened to the audiobook of this which was actually great with music and sound effects that really helped the atmosphere. Typically I don’t like any added sounds but this was so well done. I just wish the story could have lived up to the production value.
I love Star Wars and Poe, Free Fall didn’t do either justice.
I think it’s hard to tell a story with suspense and real consequence when we already know the two main characters live beyond it. It’s especially difficult when the story primarily relies on action more than characters and therefore we already know that every fight, flight, and risk taken will work out for them in the end. I couldn’t really connect with any of the additional characters either which didn’t help.
Overall it was a slog to get through for me.
I listened to the audiobook of this which was actually great with music and sound effects that really helped the atmosphere. Typically I don’t like any added sounds but this was so well done. I just wish the story could have lived up to the production value.
Oh boy. I don’t know why we needed this book or who it's for but here we are!
Free Fall is the story of 16 year old Poe Dameron who, longing for adventure and running away from his problems, joins a band of spice runners only to discover spice runners are bad. It’s basically just Solo, with Poe finally becoming the Han Solo 2.0 many thought he would be. There really isn’t anything to this story and you can tell it was only told to tie in with The Rise of Skywalker. And if you are looking for any connections to the Poe we see in the comics or in Resistance Reborn, you won’t find that here.
What gets me the most is that it feels like the story never got out of the “idea” stage. It’s almost written like a script, and is so exposition and battle heavy that I think the author forgot to give it any heart. All the characters came off as robotic versions of themselves and it was impossible to sympathize with any of them.
It makes me sad that this is the first thing we got with our sequel trilogy cast after TROS, like they are just trying to retread everything to make it fit better with the film. Like TROS, this book is empty, heavy handed, and made me worry that this is all Star Wars is going to be now. I’m giving it 1 star because it was rushed, poorly written, and in no way stands up to the other new canon books.
Free Fall is the story of 16 year old Poe Dameron who, longing for adventure and running away from his problems, joins a band of spice runners only to discover spice runners are bad. It’s basically just Solo, with Poe finally becoming the Han Solo 2.0 many thought he would be. There really isn’t anything to this story and you can tell it was only told to tie in with The Rise of Skywalker. And if you are looking for any connections to the Poe we see in the comics or in Resistance Reborn, you won’t find that here.
What gets me the most is that it feels like the story never got out of the “idea” stage. It’s almost written like a script, and is so exposition and battle heavy that I think the author forgot to give it any heart. All the characters came off as robotic versions of themselves and it was impossible to sympathize with any of them.
It makes me sad that this is the first thing we got with our sequel trilogy cast after TROS, like they are just trying to retread everything to make it fit better with the film. Like TROS, this book is empty, heavy handed, and made me worry that this is all Star Wars is going to be now. I’m giving it 1 star because it was rushed, poorly written, and in no way stands up to the other new canon books.
adventurous
medium-paced
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A