I loved learning so much more about Poe’s background and all of the Zorii content! It really fleshed out references from the films. The book may begin a little slowly, but the payoff at the end is just amazing!

This book was a difficult one to review! It's a book that I might have liked in another universe, but part of the problem with Poe Dameron: Free Fall is that it's fundamentally a book that exists to provide a backstory to some lines of dialogue in a film. Is that a bad thing? No! That's what movie tie-in books do, and there are plenty of great examples of this in the Star Wars franchise.

The problem with Free Fall is that it almost feels like there are two Poe Damerons: the Poe Dameron that we met in the initial films and the Poe Dameron of the latest film and this novel. We had stories about Poe's parents and about Poe's career before The Force Awakens to get to know the character and where he came from.

The book tries its hardest to square those two backgrounds, and I think the earliest scenes in the book were some of the strongest for dealing with Poe's family background. But ultimately it's trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. This is no fault of the author's -- I think Alex Segura told a great story -- but the premise was ultimately a challenging one to work with and that marred the story.

Setting aside the issues with Poe, the story is enjoyable enough on its own! It was just unfortunately very hard for me to separate that from the story. Other readers who are less attached to previous Poe background stories may very well feel differently.

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.

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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.

This is a great book to get backstory on one of the most popular new Star Wars heroes and learn about the tribulations of his youth.

2020 is the year of Star Wars for me. I finally started watching the movies on New Year’s Day (thanks Disney+ for finally giving us a way to watch all of them in one place!). Poe Dameron quickly became one of my favourite characters of the franchise, so when I saw this book about a young Poe, I was intrigued. The Rise of Skywalker movie left me with so many questions - Poe was a spice runner? What was his history with Zorii? - and I was glad to have the opportunity to get some of those questions answered.

Since the death of Poe’s mother several years before, Poe’s dad has tried to quell Poe’s desire to be a pilot and seek more than a life as a farmer on Yavin 4. Poe longs for the type of adventure his parents experienced when they were fighting in the rebellion, but he knows he’ll never find it under the watchful, overprotective influence of his father. His life of adventure comes in the form of helping a stranded group of ‘smugglers’ off Yavin 4, but he gets more than he bargained for when he realizes he’s just offered to be a pilot for the infamous Spice Runners of Kijimi.

As a newbie to the expanded universe and origin stories, I wasn’t sure what to expect from Free Fall. It was interesting getting a look at Poe as a headstrong teenager, and seeing his character fleshed out a bit more. Like many, I wasn’t thrilled about the whole ‘Poe was a spice runner’ reveal in The Rise of Skywalker, but knowing the details made me feel better about it. You could really feel the conflict within young Poe - his desire to return home warring with his desire to stay loyal to the spice runners, especially to Zorii, with whom he’d formed a connection. He ultimately realized that while he wanted a life of adventure, he wasn’t cut out for the violence, thievery, human trafficking, and other horrors that came with being a spice runner. His misadventures were necessary to show him what he did want and that there were safer and more noble ways to get the adventure he craved.

While I mostly enjoyed Free Fall, I had a few issues with it. The pacing was off, I was often confused about the passage of time, the relationships were very flat, and the ending was abrupt and not very satisfying. Overall I found myself wanting more. More of a connection to the characters, more depth, more emotion. While I did feel Poe’s conflict, I wanted to really connect to him and feel more emotion from him. This book felt like a tiny piece of a snapshot and I wanted the whole picture, or better yet, the whole album.

Poe had lived such a sheltered existence and here he was thrown into this life of crime and violence, but we got more action scenes than actually seeing how it all affected him. And while we did get the history between Poe and Zorii, I wanted to know more about Zorii herself other than the one-dimensional impression we got of her having no morals and being driven by anger and a misguided sense of loyalty to the spice runners. I was also hoping for more depth in Poe and Zorii’s relationship; we were told they’d formed a connection and had moments of intimacy but other than a few brief on-page scenes, we didn’t see much of it. We were told the important bits and then shown the action.

Mild potential spoiler: A friend of mine knows I ship Poe and Finn, and she sent me an article a few months ago about how this book appeared to keep Poe’s sexuality open in subtle ways. In the book, the author used neutral phrasing that would definitely leave Poe’s sexuality open to interpretation, for example, “He’d cared for people before - felt the flutter of excitement at something new with someone, only to see it dashed” and “He’d messed up relationships with people before”. The use of ‘people’ rather than a specific gender is subtle and I’m sure it’s as much as Disney would allow, but it gives me some hope that maybe somehow, someway, someday, we’ll get more.

While I didn’t love this book, I’m glad I read it. If you love Poe Dameron and want to know more of his back story and his history with Zorii, Free Fall makes for an interesting read that answers some of the questions raised by The Rise of Skywalker.

Alex Segura did a very good job with the plot and idea he was given. Overall, I thought it added a lot to the Spice Runners and he did a good job with Poe's inner turmoil as the book went on. I would have liked a little more to the end. However, the time jumps were jarring at best and made it hard for there to be any deep dives into characterization.

https://whatsnewonjakku.wordpress.com/2020/08/04/poe-dameron-free-fall-review/

Poe Dameron: Free Fall is Alex Segura’s newest novel and first novel within the Star Wars franchise. I thought this book was a well-rounded telling of Poe’s earlier years, and the time he spent as a spice runner. I am elated that Star Wars had a Hispanic author tell Poe’s story.

A lot of people compare Poe to Han Solo but I think this novel shows you exactly how dissimilar the two characters are. They are both wise-cracking pilots with questionable pasts but their demeanor and morals are very different, as well as their story. Finding out that Poe’s mother (Shara) was a pilot in the Rebellion and that she was friends with General Leia brings new meaning to the relationship Poe and Leia had in the Sequel Trilogy.

If you want to know more about Poe and Zorii Bliss, this book is a great resource.

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with an e-arc in exchange for an honest review!

FREE FALL follows a teenager Poe Dameron and his struggle to break out from his sheltered life and discover his true calling in the galaxy. To escape his home, he joins a crew of spice runners and meets Zorii (yes, his friend from The Rise of Skywalker) and they soon become close. However, their competing loyalties and values force them to re-evaluate their decisions.

This was a rather fun read! Poe is one of my favorite characters from the new trilogy and I enjoyed this deep dive into his character. His struggle to break out from an overbearing parent is definitely something universally (haha) relatable. While the younger Poe is vastly different from his older movie-counterpart, his core traits are still very much present.

Overall, another great Star Wars book!

This fills in the backstory from The Rise of Skywalker when everyone finds out Poe used to be a spice runner. I liked how he fell into the work because of his longing to leave home and find adventure. And I liked how he felt trapped in this path because of his choices and the fact that his new "friends" would probably kill him before they'd let him just leave.

Lots of potential here, but it didn't come together for me. I didn't love any of the characters. My favorite relationship was probably the one between Poe and his dad, which has a Prodigal Son feel to it, but that was a really small part of the story. The middle of the book dragged for me. It seemed to serve to cement Poe more into this group to make it harder for him to leave, but beyond that it didn't add to my understanding of the character. When it's all said and done, I know about events that happened, but nothing deeper than that.

Big SW fans and Dameron fans might enjoy this because of the focus on this "surprise" backstory. But if you are looking for a rich character-development sort of Star Wars tale, this might not be a great fit for you. (Light romance, typical Star Wars-style violence)

Alex Segura’s Poe Dameron: Free Fall illustrates the background of Poe as he, in an effort to escape his boring life on Yavin 4 jumps at an opportunity to be a pilot of what he believes are smugglers, finds himself falling into a seemingly inescapable void of joining the Spice Runners of Kijimi.

The main theme of this book deals with choosing to do what is right, no matter the consequences. This is something Poe struggles with throughout the story, and it’s especially difficult when his selfish and discontented desires get in the way. For example, while it is completely understandable why he would want to go out on his own and escape his (rightfully so) helicopter father, he quickly learns there may have been a better way to do it as he finds himself by accident in a life of crime.

Segura demonstrates a flawless characterization of every single role in this story, especially the lead. His words and descriptions provide the sarcastic, clever, stubborn, and impulsive Poe Dameron fans know and love from the films. Throughout the book, the reader will constantly see the wit and problem solving skills as well as the sass the character develops.

Fans will remember the first hints of Poe’s past in The Rise of Skywalker when he (begrudgingly), along with Rey, Finn, BB-8 and C-3PO, head to Kijimi, running into Zorii and Babu. In the book, readers experience the young pilot’s interactions with not only these but other characters that appear throughout the books and games of the Star Wars universe, such as BoShek, Caryn, and Tarand Crowe, to name a few.

Zorii is a crucial interaction for Poe, and one could argue she is the antagonist in the story, pushing him to change as he goes on his journey as they both strive for the same thing but go about it in different ways. Hinted in the movie, they have a past together with a deep relationship. Not only do we witness their banter, teamwork, and chemistry, but there are moments of reminiscence that are only made stronger and more powerful in the film with flipped perspectives. As an example, Poe suggests they run away together in the book, and in the movie, Zorii brings up the idea. In addition, readers also get a crystal clear idea as to why Zorii would kill Poe when she first spots him.

This story seems to provide additional background to specific moments in The Rise of Skywalker. For example, Poe is shoved into the hot seat to try the risky move known as hyperdrive skipping, and through Segura’s narration it is made clear how dangerous and deadly it can truly be. Another instance is the reasoning and history behind Zorii’s outfit, specifically her helmet.

Poe Dameron: Free Fall is a roller-coaster, perfectly paced read, filled with fun and suspenseful moments. If you’re a Star Wars fan, this is a definite must-read.

A Star Wars novel is a keeper for me if it expands and /or adds depth to a character or a certain aspect of my favorite universe. E.K. Johnston does a fantastic job diving in the character of Padme Amadala in her books Queen’s Shadow and Queen’s Peril. She takes a couple sections of Padme’s life that are not featured in the films and uses them to help the reader get a better idea of the character’s motivations and life experiences. Alex Segura does the same with Poe Dameron when we meet him as a teen in Free Fall.

Poe is known as a good pilot on his home planet of Yavin 4 even though he hasn’t hit 20 yet. But it’s been hard growing up under the shadow of his deceased rebel hero mother. And his dad only wants to protect Poe… even going so far as to stifle his growth. An opportunity comes when a small gang of smugglers accepts him reluctantly into their numbers.

Much of the first part of the novel is spent with the initiation into the spice smuggling business. But as Poe’s moral compass starts spinning during each new job, he starts to wonder if this is the career for him. Another purpose of these early chapters is to meet a mercurial member of the group named Zorii. She will become a love interest and business associate, and will pop up in The Rise of the Skywalker.

We know he’ll eventually end up with the rebels… The question for the second half of the book is: How? And where do all those long stares come from in the latest flicks? What the heck is Poe thinking about? His father, his mother, his former life? Segura offers some much appreciated depth in Free Fall and makes me appreciate the character of Poe even more.

With the expansion of the galaxy, along with well-known characters and places, Free Fall is a Star Wars novel that can’t be missed!

5 out of 5 stars

Thank you to NetGalley, Disney Press, and the author for an advanced copy for review.

I really enjoyed this book even though it is geared towards younger readers. It is a great story on its own or to fill in a few gaps and add to Star Wars lore. I had almost as much fun reviewing this book as I did reading it.

Overall I enjoyed this book, as an extension of the Star Wars universe. Everything was in character, and it was really great to see Poe’s backstory. I think the story had a strong start, that set up a good book. My one complaint is that I really couldn’t see myself wanting Poe and Zorii to be involved with each other romantically. At times it felt like the only reason their relationship went in that direction was because it was hinted at in The Rise of Skywalker, rather than them actually being good together. But other than that I thoroughly enjoyed Poe Dameron: Free Fall, and will be on the lookout for more books by Alex Segura

The Rise of Skywalker fed us a feast of new information regarding the characters we’d grown to admire over the first two installments of the sequel trilogy. We learned the truth about Rey’s bloodline. We discovered Finn wasn’t the only soldier to defect from the First Order.

We also learned Poe Dameron used to be a spice runner -- information that led our heroes on a dangerous mission to translate the script on an ancient dagger with the help of one of the newest, smallest, and cutest additions to Star Wars.

This fragment of Poe’s past opened up dozens of questions about where he came from and how he came to join the Resistance. Who was he affiliated with before serving under General Organa? How did he and Zorii Bliss meet? And why lightspeed skipping?

We figured a future book or comic would explore Poe’s mysterious backstory … and we were right.

Alex Segura’s Poe Dameron: Free Fall is the latest addition to the growing collection of canon young adult Star Wars novels, and it’s a thrilling adventure you do not want to skip.

Plot

Free Fall locks itself firmly into its position as an action-adventure narrative from the moment the first word leaps off the page. The chaos captures the reader’s attention immediately: Poe’s ship is going down. He’s in trouble. Can he get out of it? Probably not.

But really, we’d expect nothing less from the famously adventure-hungry Poe Dameron. Crash a starfighter? Sure … as long as I do it while celebrating my victory.

Our hero’s motivations are clear from the start: He wants off Yavin 4. Away from his father; away from the people who have known him his whole life. He has big dreams! He doesn’t quite know what they are, but he has them, and he’s going to go find them.

He falls easily into the trap of believing a life among strangers will mend all wounds. So he soon finds himself off-planet, zipping through space with the exact kinds of people to whom you probably shouldn’t entrust your life.

Along the way, Segura makes a great effort to land Poe at as many figurative crossroads as one might expect to find while smuggling spice from place to place. Every questionable situation Poe finds himself in, he always finds a way out -- but you don’t always know how he’s going to manage it until he’s already free. As the pages turn, you start to feel more and more like this is a story you can predict in some elements … but certainly not in all of them.

Every critical choice a character makes not only carries the plot smoothly forward, but also guides them along their carefully laid out arcs. Being a primarily character-driven story, the plot came second to its subjects, which serves it well in this particular case.

Things don’t happen TO our characters. Our characters act, and the story responds.

Characters

It’s challenging enough to create an entirely new character within the Star Wars universe and warm audiences up to them within a single book, movie, or TV pilot. Telling a fresh, interesting story about a character whom audiences already know and love is a different game entirely.

Poe Dameron has already extended beyond the films with his own comic series and major roles in books such as Resistance Reborn. Having seen him in different mediums and at different points throughout his character development, Segura had to figure out how to write Poe as if he were an entirely new entity waiting to be discovered.

The good news? He absolutely nailed it.

Free Fall still gives us bits and pieces of the Poe we know. Reckless. A little defiant. Much inclined to jump into any and every situation before considering the consequences those around him might endure. But there are differences, too. This Poe is much more fearful. Far less sure of himself. And much more dependent on others to get where he needs to go.

This younger, less experienced version of the pilot we know so well makes for a story you know for certain is going to end up in a vastly different place than where it begins. If your worry is a potential lack of character development in a protagonist we’ve already seen grow to astounding heights, you’re free to leave your concerns to rest.

Unlike the task of making a familiar character feel new, writing Zorii gave Segura the chance to take a character with a very small role in one movie and compose a backstory that will leave readers desperate for an entire series with this woman on the front cover.

Intriguing to the point of almost overshadowing Poe is his love interest, who doesn’t go by the name Zorii Bliss you might recognize from her debut in The Rise of Skywalker. Her alternate last name immediately creates a stir of curiosity within the reader: Why is her last name different? What is she hiding … or whom might she be hiding from?

Without giving away the twist, Zorii’s arc is complex and about as coming-of-age as a young adult novel can get. It juxtaposes perfectly with Poe’s desire to distance himself from the past from which he has always longed to escape.

Where Poe wants nothing more than to craft his own story among the stars, Zorii wrestles with her deep-rooted attachment to her origins -- and what they may have in store for her future.

While the vast majority of the side characters in this story pale in contrast to the main players that drive the narrative, this also means they don’t distract from Poe and Zorii’s growth. The book revolves around not only their individual development, but also their relationship with each other, which delightfully adds to the delight of their banter many years later.

Originality

Free Fall’s originality stems largely from its third act, where we learn about Zorii’s troubling past and the unique villain our protagonists unexpectedly find themselves forced to confront.

As a whole, though, the story rings familiar perhaps in a few too many ways. A story can be exciting yet predictable when you analyze the entire project, and Free Fall does suffer slightly from the disadvantage of featuring two characters with preset backstories we’ve seen in Star Wars before.

Which leads us to ask: What makes a story about a smuggler on the wrong side of the fight unique? Have we tired out the trope of a young wanderer in search of bigger things ending up with the wrong crowd for the right reasons?

Perhaps this is a pain point that will resolve itself now that the Expanded Universe is beginning to explore completely new eras (The High Republic). It was already established that Poe Dameron was a former smuggler, and though the story didn’t necessarily need to be told, as a whole, it ended up part of a larger story that serves as a worthwhile read for any Star Wars fan looking for a fast-moving adventure.

Segura took what he had to work with and made something delightful. Even with the constraints of characters born of other storytellers’ imaginations, he created a story that feels like your favorite meal. These are ingredients you’ve tasted a dozen times before. But you’re certainly not mad about it.

In the near future, authors may have more freedom to create their own backstories for a variety of characters and circumstances to keep things fresh and exciting.

Writing

Every author faced with the monumental task of writing a Star Wars book comes to the table with unique experiences painting, expanding, and even creating worlds and universes with words.

Segura, best known outside of Star Wars for his crime novels, brings his knack for crafting page-turning action sequences that balance perfectly with slower, more intimate dialogue and prose -- only to gradually build up suspense just in time for more edge-of-your-seat thrill.


Segura’s biggest strength of all ended up being the dialogue between characters -- particularly between Poe and Zorii. If you’re going to sell readers on a relationship, you have to go all in, and the author does just that -- with plenty of the usual awkwardness that always seems to find its way into budding romances between teenagers.

This brilliantly mirrors the feats of Star Wars authors such as Claudia Gray and E.K. Johnston, who both frequently use dialogue as a meaningful tool to craft real, relatable relationships between potential love interests in their stories.

Entertainment

Free Fall is, first and foremost, an absolute blast to dive into. If you go into it ready and willing to have a good time, you’re going to enjoy the story even if you’re not happy with the way everything plays out in the end.

What makes this story enjoyable is its authentic Star Wars feel. Some stories are set in the Star Wars universe -- it’s on the cover; you know it’s Star Wars. But something about their tone or the characters just doesn’t feel like the full galaxy far, far away experience.

Segura absolutely nails it, though, taking readers on a multi-planet journey where danger looms even in corners you’re sure couldn’t possibly betray you. We start out on Yavin 4, a place that’s as Star Wars as can be, and end with Poe Dameron listening to a particularly stirring speech from one of the most inspirational figures imaginable. Even when we’re lightspeed skipping across the galaxy, it feels like the Star Wars we’ve come to expect, in a good way.

A Star Wars book that spins a thrilling tale you can’t wait to relive a second time is a success in our book. Even if you might be able to predict how it ends, there will be moments during which you question yourself -- and plenty more that will leave you demanding more Poe Dameron.

There’s no such thing as too much Poe.

Conclusion

Free Fall is the perfect bridge between the Poe Dameron of rebellions past and the Poe Dameron we meet in The Force Awakens. As with any coming-of-age story, this one introduces us to a lost, uncertain character and ends with a slightly less reckless, much more guided soul.

He may not know exactly where he’s headed. But he knows where he’s been, and everything he learned that got him to where he stands as the novel comes to a close.

This is a story constructed for anyone who has ever felt as though the life they’ve been living is no longer the life they crave. For anyone who has ever left the comfortable and familiar behind in search of purpose; of acceptance; of hope.

It’s not generally recommended that you become a spice runner to aid your journey of self-discovery. But whichever method you do choose, you can follow Poe Dameron’s example in one significant way: Never doubt the person you can become because of the person you’ve been.

Also: Be kind to droids. They deserve better.

Free Fall by Alex Segura is the fast-paced, shoot 'em up origin story of Poe Dameron. Ever since the release of The Rise of Skywalker in theaters, fans have been scrabbling for answers to certain questions about their favorite characters. One of those burning questions: Poe was a spice runner?!

Indeed, Segura details all of Poe's youthful misadventures with the Spice Runner of Kijimi. After deserting his father on Yavin in a spur of the moment decision, Poe finds himself acting as the newest ace pilot for the group of smugglers. Though his bravado and skill in the cockpit are never lacking, Poe soon realizes he is over his head. Amidst his constant struggle to blaze his own trail in the galaxy but still stand up for the right cause, Poe frequently butts heads with the spice runners==including their shadowy leader, Zeva. It doesn't take long for Poe to realize that navigating the criminal underworld proves trickier than navigating hyperspace...even when you're skipping it.

Perhaps the biggest triumph of this novel is not Poe's own backstory, but that of Zorii Bliss. As one of the standout new characters from The Rise of Skywalker, fans have been clamoring for more information about her. This novel provides that in spades. Without spoilers, readers will learn who Zorii is, where she came from, and just why she had such animosity towards Poe on the snowy streets of Kijimi in The Rise of Skywalker.

Overall, this story is a must read for sequel trilogy fans, fly boys, and lovers of Babu Frik alike!

If you watched Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, you will know that the powers that be introduced an interesting hint at a backstory for Poe Dameron. This caused great scandal as no Star Wars media prior to this novel gave us a clue about Poe Dameron, other than the idea that he idolized Leia Organa and was an excellent, if not reckless, pilot. The movie hinted at a much darker history for Poe…that of a spice runner. Shocking! In his new novel, Star Wars: Poe Dameron: Free Fall, Alex Segura seeks to shed some light on the secret scandalous past.
It all begins some decades after the construction of the New Republic with a teenage Poe recklessly piloting his mother’s A-Wing on Yavin 4. Poe’s mother and father were heroes of the rebellion and Poe had inherited his mother’s flying skills. Unfortunately, after his mother’s death, Poe’s father made every effort to dissuade Poe from flying, trying to get him settled into a farming life that Poe had never quite fallen in step with. Poe wanted adventure…he wanted to see the stars.
After a particularly reckless journey in his mother’s A-wing that finds the starship destroyed and a nasty argument with his father, Poe heads over to a local cantina and discovers a group of individuals looking for a pilot. Seeing this as a way of getting off the planet and finding the adventure he had been searching for, Poe agrees to become a pilot for the group, never realizing what he was getting involved in until it was too late. Poe had now become a member of the notoriously ruthless smuggling group known as the Spice Runners of Kijimi.
Once he becomes a member, Poe finds it difficult to leave thanks to another teenage member of the group, Zorii. Though the two have very different moral compasses, Poe finds himself falling in love with Zorii, but a couple of missions gone awry and a surprising revelation causes Poe to rethink everything he believed about the world and what he wanted in life.
Star Wars: Poe Dameron: Free Fall is a young adult novel – that didn’t stop me from reading it. Anyone who knows me will realize that I scarf up all things Star Wars – adult, young adult, etc. in an effort to educate myself about the Star Wars Universe, new or classic. Actually, I found that this novel read a bit more maturely than past young adult novels from the Star Wars Universe, so that was helpful. I found that I really enjoyed this Poe Dameron adventure. Alex Segura did an excellent job in explaining just how a hero of the Rebellion could find himself in such a bad situation. For me, it was not hard to fathom, considering Poe’s youth and brashness that often found him jumping into action without fully thinking out the situation. It wasn’t hard for me to see the younger Poe getting himself into a situation he couldn’t quite get himself out of because he didn’t quite think things through.
There may be some that find parts of the book were rushed…some adventures a tad bit truncated, but I found the length of the novel to be just right. I enjoyed the new characters introduced, though I would have liked to see a little more fleshing out of those characters, particularly certain members of the Spice Runners. I loved the way Segura not only explained Poe’s darker past, but his reasons for joining the rebellion and his relationship with droids. I found the book was definitely not lacking in action, giving fans a little bit of everything from dogfights to gun battles to hand-to hand combat.
To sum it up, I thoroughly enjoyed reading Star Wars: Poe Dameron: Free Fall and would definitely recommend it to anyone who wants to know the backstory of a member of the new generation of Star Wars heroes.

fun and light book that helped to fill the void left from completing the star wars trilogy. I did not expect much from this book but it did deliver a lot more than I expected. Very fun read and highly recommend to anyone that is interested in the franchise.

I have been reading for 28 years and have spent 25 out of 28 of those years reading Star Wars. I have spent more time reading up Star Wars than either astronomy or warfare (far more practical subjects.) And, like most Star Wars fans, I have very self-important opinions about Star Wars, including the character of Poe Dameron.

I say this to contextualize my review, because going into the book I already had some pre-existing judgments about it. One is because it is impossible to for me to look at the framing of Poe's character, as a franchise property, without contrasting his character against Finn and under a lens of exploring media and anti-blackness. While correlation is not causation, I do know that when Poe was initially written to be a black male character, he died in TFA. Cast as Oscar Isaac, not only did the character survive, the character eclipsed Finn in story, marketing materials, and tie in materials.

My initial reaction to hearing about this book was: We have so much tie in material about Poe, including a ton of comics about him and even his parents. Is this the backstory I am dying to read?

It's also clouded by what fans have pointed out is a potentially problematic aspect of Poe in IX. Oscar Isaac has long disdained stereotypical Latino roles he has been offered, such as "drug runner." Not to mention some fairly well-justified fan suspicion that the character of Zorii Bliss (and Poe's repeated, ham-fisted, unwanted romantic advances towards her) was part of Disney trying to kill StormPilot (Isaac's intended portrayal of the character as in love with Finn.) Isaac has quite adamantly expressed his disappointment that Disney did not allow for this in the sequel trilogy.

This is all to say, going into Freefall, I had some high expectations. There have been a lot of Star Wars books published in the past three decades that have not been worth reading, as well as some fantastic space opera stories and everything in between. I wanted to see how a Latinx-identified author would explore Poe's character. I was curious to know if Poe was childhood friends with Ben Solo. Mostly, I was hoping with bated breath that the book would acknowledge Poe as bisexual, pansexual, or otherwise queer-identified (even if it would be Disney doing so after the fact.)

<b>What I liked:</b> Poe as a Disney princess who wants so much more than this provincial life (on Yavin IV) The story is set in the sequel era but not really about the Resistance or First Order.

<b>What I was meh on:</b> Poe's mom got "Disney'd" (aka deceased before the start of the story).

I had a really hard time following the switches in POV to the point where I became frustrated.

Moving from Zhang's artwork to Noto's is potentially a move away from marketing the books, from the more "fangirl" appealing pretty-boy cover to a more staid, "neutral" Star Wars cover that looks like other Phil Noto covers. That bummed me out.

Star Wars publishing has been really selective about what stories are told (like, oh my god, if I have to read another story about the year between ANH and ESB...) I assume Segura was given the prompt "Poe backstory" and that Poe backstory was chosen because it was deemed "safer" or to have more popular appeal (or less timeline finagling) than say a more complex Finn or Ben Solo novel. I think my lack of enthusiasm for the premise, couples with the story's slow start, really killed my interest.

<b>How's the romance?</b> Poe and Zorri have a staid romance, he is attracted to her competence and jealous when he thinks Babu Frik might be a rival to her affections. It kind of feels like she was the cute girl in his adventure story.

<b>Okay, but are there PoC?</b> Yes, and also a character who uses they/them pronouns.

<b>Bottom Line:</b> Free Fall is likely to whet the appetite of non-FinnPoe, Poe Dameron fans, but was not compelling enough to capture my middle aged fan girl interest. I actually stopped reading the book to pick up Star Wars: Landscapes with a Blur of Conquerors, a top rated Star Wars fic on AO3.

Free Fall seems to fall between the (male protagonist dominated) middle grade and the (female protagonist dominated) YA Star Wars books. Like Rae Carson, Segura was given an unenviable task of having to spin story with the flawed Rise of Skywalker script. But ultimately, there are so many more complex Star Wars new EU novels out there, that Free Fall feels incredibly staid and safe--more like a controlled descent.

Good book and fun to dive into Poe Dameron's backstory some more! I enjoyed getting a better feel for what really made Poe into the person he was in the movies. And it helped piece together his relationship with Zorii better. Definitely would recommend to others!

This book was BEYOND amazing!! I have liked Poe since Day One and to read his backstory was truly a treat. I am literally counting the day’s until I can buy a hard copy of it!

Alex Segura really captures Poe’s personality in a way that made all of the character’s actions make sense! It’s a Star Wars story as fans want it: character development, stunning worlds, great friends (eventually), ace piloting, action, and adventure. If you are looking for a wild ride, join Poe Dameron—he’ll bring you into a “free fall!”

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC, it was a true pleasure!