“What’s in there?”
“Only what you take with you.”

Neither Yoda nor Luke Skywalker make an appearance in Poe Dameron: Free Fall by Alex Segura yet those are the words that kept echoing through my head the entire time I was reading the book. With the exception of the novelizations, Free Fall is the first book published after The Rise of Skywalker to intimately deal with one of the Sequel Trilogy’s major characters. I bring this up mostly because I suspect that many readers won’t just bring their personal feelings about Poe Dameron to the book but more specifically, their feelings about how The Rise of Skywalker handled the x-wing flyboy.

Everything isn’t great on Yavin 4 if your last name is Dameron. The relationship between sixteen-year-old Poe and his father Kes has been somewhat fraught since the death of his mother Shara Bey years ago. When Poe’s latest joyride ends in disaster, he finds himself in need of a change. He just didn’t quite expect that change to be piloting a ship for the Spice Runners of Kijimi and all the trouble that comes with it. And he really didn’t expect to end developing a connecting with fellow young Spice Runner Zorii Wynn.

This isn’t the sort of review I particularly enjoy writing because the phrase ‘it’s fine’ is what immediately came to mind when someone asked how I felt about Free Fall. Those two words feel like the epitome of damning with faint praise, which I certainly don’t mean to do. Segura did fairly well with the hand he was dealt here because the bulk of what made me struggle with this book were elements introduced by The Rise of Skywalker. Poe Dameron as a spice runner is just something I have not been able to come to terms with yet. It’s not something that feels like it jives with the Poe we got to know in the first two films and the other books and comics.

The other thing I brought into the book with me was a completely different headcanon regarding Kes Dameron, how he dealt with Shara’s death, and his subsequently relationship with his son. Again, this is very much a personal problem that is not exactly the fault of the book but it was still a hurdle it had to clear. And ultimately, I’m not entirely sure that it did clear it or that I’ve come to terms with it. This is probably not something that’ll bother most readers but if you’ve ever devoted a significant amount of time to speculating about the Bey-Dameron family… it might.

On the other hand, teenage rebellion via running off to join smugglers does feel very Star Wars. Segura does a good job letting both Poe and Zorii feel like teenagers even though they’re definitely not in typical teenager situations. Seeing the relationship between them and how things ultimately go wrong adds a new depth to their scenes together in The Rise of Skywalker. If anything, this book makes me want to read more about Zorii especially after this book ends because there are definitely stories to be told there and I want them.

Oh! The one no-strings attached piece of high praise that I definitely can give this book is that I finally get why everyone loves Babu Frik. He only has a few scenes but every single one of them is a genuine delight and I would also like Babu Frik to be my friend and help me with my problems.

Could I write more words about this book? Probably yes but ultimately, I think they’ll boil down to this: your enjoyment of Poe Dameron: Free Fall is going to depend greatly on how you felt about the introduction of his spice runner history, Zorii Bliss, and how much of your brain you’ve dedicated to musing about the Bey-Dameron family since 2015. Regardless of how you feel about those three things, I do think Free Fall is worth giving a shot if you’re a fan of Poe and I certainly wouldn’t mind seeing future Star Wars books from Segura in the future.

Thank you to Disney Lucasfilm Press for providing an advance copy of the book for review purposes.

Descriptives

Page count: Hardcover, 384

Author: Alex Segura

Intended Audience: Young Adult

Timeline: Follows Return of the Jedi, precedes The Force Awakens

Main characters: Poe Dameron and Zorii Bliss

Brief synopsis: Having a dream of a life more than being stuck on Yavin 4, Poe joins the Spice Runners of Kijimi and gets more than be bargained for.

Gut Feeling

Personally, I thought that Poe was one of the less exciting main characters in the sequel trilogy. I didn’t dislike him, but his arc was all over the place and it was hard to keep track of. Free Fall certainly helps fill in some of the holes in his character arc, specifically for new plot points added to his character in The Rise of Skywalker. However, I think that the book should have given Poe’s character more depth. I would have liked to see more than just his life with the Spice Runners of Kijimi. With a larger scope, we would have learned more about Poe. However, his character wasn’t the main reason why I was interested in reading this book. I was really excited to learn more about Zorii Bliss. She didn’t have a ton of time in The Rise of Skywalker, but I loved what we got of her. She truly has the potential to be one of the better strong, female characters in Star Wars. She did get more depth in Free Fall, but like with Poe, I wish we got more. This will be a common theme moving forward in this review. However, it doesn’t mean that I didn’t enjoy the read. It was an overall exciting story that was easy to read. So without further ado, let’s get into the details.

Characters (7/10 pts)

Because this book’s purpose was to essentially provide a background for Poe’s character, I expected it to be full of character development. Mostly for Poe, but also for other characters like Zorii. What Freed added for these characters was good. We get to learn a little bit about Poe’s life before he left home and learn the most about him as a spice runner. I do wish we got more details about him than with this period in his life and as I said before, a broader scope of his life would have allowed us to get a better overall understanding of his character. However, there was a significant character-defining moment for Poe that helps out the score for this section. It was essentially at the climax of the book and you’ll understand what I’m talking about if you read it. I still wish we got more details on Poe, but this moment was powerful and I’m glad it was included.

I also think it is important to talk about Zorii. We do learn more about her, but a lot of it is through Poe’s perspective. She is a second main character to Poe and I wish more of the book was devoted to giving her character depth. Like with Poe, the content with her was quality, I just wish there was more to it. There was potential to make her a strong character in Star Wars, and I don’t think that happened. I still love Zorii, I could just have more reasons to love her. For all of these reasons, I am giving 7 points for the characters.

Writing Style (7.5/10 pts)

For being a young adult (YA) novel, I thought that the writing style was a bit too simple. It felt more like a novel intended for teenagers. Not necessarily in the content (the content fit what I expect for a YA novel), but just how it read. It seemed there could have been many details added to the writing that would have helped the story come to life more. Also, at points, the flow of the writing seemed a little bit awkward. However, I do want to note that this never really took away from the overall quality of the book. All Star Wars novels are well written so I am just being nitpicky here. This is just how I can differentiate between different books. So even though this book is overall well written, it felt slightly less than average for Star Wars novels. I am giving 7.5 points.

Plot (6.5/10 pts)

I was pretty disappointed with the plot. It jumped around a lot and was sometimes hard to connect what just happened to what was now happening. It really lacked scenes in between the peaks to give the plot time to breathe (pretty similar to The Rise of Skywalker). These scenes would have also set up the peaks better giving them more meaning. Without them, the peaks weren’t high enough. So for about 75% of the book, the plot was pretty weak. But the ending of the book, which is very important, was excellent. Like I said in the character section, it was crucial for Poe’s character. It also brought multiple character arcs together which made it the most exciting part of the book, as it should be. While I did enjoy it, I think it could have been a lot better if there were more details in the plot prior to the climax. The plot was one of the weaker parts of Free Fall, so I am only giving 6.5 points.

Intrigue (7.5/10 pts)

As I stated before, Poe was not one of my favorite characters in the sequel trilogy so I have to try and control my bias for this section. Naturally, I had less intrigue than normal, but I understand that if you decide to read this book you probably like Poe more than I do. However, there were still reasons why the intrigue for Free Fall was less than average. While there were many exciting moments, because they lacked scenes that gave them meaning, it makes it more difficult to get invested in the story. Also, it was difficult to know what the book was leading towards (it doesn’t help that we know that Poe leaves the Spice runners) so I wasn’t as motivated to find out what was going to happen. Even though I did enjoy the ending, the intrigue only started to peak near the end of the novel. What is working for the intrigue is the easy to read writing style. I could read much of it at a time with hardly any effort. This helps the score a little bit, but I am still only giving 7.5 points for the intrigue.

What does it add? (6.5/10 pts)

This is the weakest part of the novel. There is nothing really that Free Fall adds to the Star Wars universe that is significant to more than the characters of Poe and Zorii. This makes the book mostly self-contained. This makes sense because the purpose of the book is mostly for these characters, but it just means that it won’t score well here. It isn’t a deal-breaker for the book, it is just the truth. The only thing that I can really think of that adds to Star Wars is more information on the Spice Runners of Kijimi. They seem to be a significant part of the universe in the New Republic era. Also, their leader at the time was VERY cool. However, it still doesn’t really change much about how I view Star Wars holistically. I am only giving 6.5 points for this section.

Logic (+0.5 pts)

The Rise of Skywalker introduced us to lightspeed skipping and although it is a cool concept, it is difficult to wrap one’s mind around. Lightspeed travel itself is difficult, but there are plausible explanations like computers having to path out strict hyperspace lanes to travel by. Lightspeed skipping kind of throws that to the curb. But, through Free Fall, we do get an explanation for how this method works. For that reason, I am giving an extra half point.

Final Thoughts

My overall score for Free Fall is a 7.1/10, or a C minus. This is below average for books that I have reviewed thus far. As you can tell from the scores, there is no real strength to this novel and that is probably its biggest weakness. There’s nothing really that I can point to and say “this is what makes this book great,” outside of the defining moment for Poe’s character. I’d only really read this novel if you love the characters of Poe or Zorii. If you do, I don’t see any real reasons why you would dislike the book. But if you’re just looking for your next great Star Wars book to read, there are better options available.

'Poe Dameron Free Fall' by Alex Segura is more than just a story of a young man coming of age under the rule of the New Republic.. more than the story of one of the greatest pilots to grace the stars. The title to me.. sometimes referring to a very literal sense.. but also in the midst of an emotional free fall.

At sixteen, he's already full of hunger for adventure and challenge.. but after numerous arguments with his father, former Pathfinder.. Kes Dameron and a close friend of the family.. L'ulo L'ampar, he's desperate to get out and see what he can do. Happening across a group of scoundrels at a local bar who are in even more dire need of him than he thinks he is of them, he takes a leap of faith that will change the course of his life completely.

With his mother, A-Wing pilot Shara Bey, already lost to him.. he's a boy on the verge of adulthood who feels little more than distance between he and his father. He's struggling to decide what kind of man he's going to be.. what kind of man he wants to be.. torn between the memories of a woman he sees as a hero and the realities of his farmboy life on Yavin 4.

It's hard to say I blame him for taking the kinds of chances he does. In his position, anyone might strike out on their own with little thought to the cost of their actions.. yet deep down there's a consistent pull visible within him to do the right thing. Even caught up as he becomes, fearful at times, he makes an effort to be a good man.. and the decisions that so much as walk that morally gray line, are choices he revisits. He makes second guessing himself into a hobby at times, but I got that. The uncertainty in his own ideals.

There are definitely glimpses here in his youth.. of the man he would yet become. The seemingly fearless pilot and hero in his own right known for pulling half-baked plans out of thin air that actually usually work.. is already beginning to develop in this story.

I enjoyed getting to know how he found himself amongst the Spice Runners of all things, since they certainly don't hold the same moral codes he obviously does. Though, what I love about Poe is he isn't afraid to get a little gray if need be.. there are just limits to how far he's willing to go.

He's already a hothead and that gets him into more than his fair share of trouble, but it also just further endears him to me. After all, he's not so unlike that 'other' famous pilot in the Star Wars universe.

During his adventure, we get to meet a young Zorii as well. A character who clearly had some kind of serious history with Poe when she appeared in The Rise of Skywalker, it was exciting to get to experience her backstory firsthand. I loved learning not only where she came from.. and how she came to be who she was.. but also what they were to each other and what her motivations might have been in the film.

The book is filled with page-turning action, vividly described space chases, and battles great and small. Segura did an amazing job of allowing the reader a peek behind the misdeeds of the spice runners to the people beneath.

What a great addition to the Star Wars canon. I can't wait to read more..

Poe: Dameron: Free Fall is a new origin story for Poe. Before this, we knew he was a pilot for the New Republic, that he joined up with the Resistance and flew for Black Squadron. But The Rise of Skywalker revealed a past life for Poe that we knew nothing about. He wasn’t just a pilot, he was a spice runner. As an enjoyable little read, Free Fall explores that little tidbit revealed in the movie and how he and Zorii Bliss once knew each other.

The story starts off with a 16 year old Poe Dameron zooming through the skies of Yavin IV and getting in big trouble with the local authorities for his disregard of air traffic laws. If you’ve read the comic Shattered Empire, then you know Poe’s parents are heroes of the Rebellion. His father, Kes Dameron was a Pathfinder, and his mom, Shara Bey, was an A-wing pilot. The book starts off with his mom already dead and Poe and his father being in a very estranged relationship. His dad won’t speak of Shara because it hurts him too much, and he won’t let his son fly or leave. It puts Poe in a very defiant state and eager to leave at any opportunity. Even if it means joining up with some smugglers or space pirates to get away. Enter Zorii Bliss.

Now the book makes a big deal out of giving Zorii a different name at the beginning of the book, so don’t let that confuse you. It’s still the same character from the movie. Zorii is about the same age as Poe, but her background is a bit different. Whereas Poe wants to fly, Zorii wants to be a great pirate. She’s a member of an up and coming pirate gang called the Spice Runners of Kijimi. So you see, when Poe says he’s a “Spice Runner,” it’s a bit more than a line of work. He was actually affiliated with one of the most feared and fearsome gangs in the galaxy. Through the book, it explores about a year of Poe’s life with the gang and Zorii. We get a good idea of how far he’s willing to blur his morals in order to have adventure and to get to know Zorii better. The book explores different worlds and criminal gangs as the Spice Runners go off on missions. Poe gets close to some of the pirates, especially Zorii. Yet in the end, there’s the parting of ways. All in all, it’s a fun story that helps shed more light on these characters.

It’s not exactly a great story, though. It’s fun and has some great moments, but there’s also times where the book almost feels like fan fiction instead of a professionally written story. Sometimes it’s little things like introducing too many aliens and too many details on characters instead of slowly revealing the info over time, like with Poe’s spice gang. Other things have to do with how the plot points are developed or forced upon the reader. For instance, Poe’s relationship with his father is just given to us rather than feeling like a natural and understandable thing. Even his jaunt into space which gets him into trouble isn’t really explained. We know the authorities threatened to shoot him down, but it’s not made clear why they would make such a threat to a sixteen year old boy who they were really familiar with. The ending relationship with Poe and Zorii was another thing I had an issue with as it felt more forced and not fully developed or natural. Those flaws with the storytelling hurt the story, but not so much as to make the book not worth reading.

On the flip side, there’s some fun stuff in the book. Babu Frik gets a couple scenes, one of them is really hilarious. The book actually explains what hyperspace skipping is and it actually makes sense, which was a nice bonus as the novelization skipped out on that. There’s a lot flying in the book since the pirates hire Poe on as a pilot. The interesting thing is that this is a very young Poe, so he doesn’t have much experience flying. Seeing him pushed to the limit in this book with his flying skills reveals that one of his real talents is coming up with plans in the spur of the moment, whether they’re good or bad. Plus it’s just cool to see this backstory for Poe and Zorii as it puts The Rise of Skywalker in a little different light.

Overall, I give Free Fall a three out of five. It’s a fun read and explores some interesting things, but it definitely could have been better. If you really want to know more about Poe and Zorii, it’s worth checking out.

Young Poe Dameron’s life is drastically altered after the death of his beloved mother. For years since her passing, Poe’s still been struggling to find and keep a connection with his fighter pilot father. Eventually, Poe decides it’s better to put some distance between the pair of them. Poe’s only option is to run away from home and do his best on his own. Unsure of what to do and what exactly he hopes to find, Poe ultimately knows that whatever his path is, the journey will show him the kind of person he wants to be.

For all the fans of Star Wars who wanted to learn more about the dashing pilot who we first saw in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Poe Dameron: Free Fall is certainly for you. The novel by Alex Segura focuses on a teenaged Dameron after he leaves home and sets off on his own adventures. While there are some parts of Poe’s life that readers are familiar with after watching the latest Star Wars trilogy, there are still parts of his life that remain a mystery and Segura does a good job at bringing to life the story that was hinted at during Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.

Of course, without giving too much away, the book mostly focuses on what brought Poe into contact with the Spice Runners of Kijimi. You will likely recall the banter between Poe and Zorii Bliss in The Rise of Skywalker which revealed the brief glance into the pilot’s past life as a smuggler, and it is in Free Fall that readers discover what Poe’s life was like during this time. Being 16-years-old, Poe doesn’t truly know what he wants but he clings to the idea of adventurousness and spontaneity alongside the Spice Runners. However, it doesn’t take Poe long to discern the fact that the Spice Runners aren’t the kind of people he should be surrounding himself with.

Free Fall truly shines with Segura honing in on the characters in the book, specifically Poe and Zorii. While the book is about Poe, Segura did a good job of also relaying Zorii’s background to readers, showing that she is just as complex and interesting as Poe. In The Rise of Skywalker, my interest in the character was piqued and it was great to learn about her history. The dynamic between the duo gets more and more interesting as the book progresses, while the two are both battling inner turmoil and trying to find themselves. I wouldn’t be opposed to getting another book that focuses on the pair in the future, for sure.

Very much an origin story, readers will get to learn a lot more about a young Poe and just how he came to be. Ultimately, Segura created a fun adventure for readers. Anyone who is a fan of Poe should certainly check this book out.

3.5/5

This was not good. The author took characters I already care about and have an investment in and made me care about them less. Poe deserves better.

And it isn’t the fault of this author that Poe was saddled with a blatantly racist drug dealer trope, but ugh.

There are other Star Wars novels doing it better. This is an easy pass.

Poe Dameron: Free Fall takes us back in time to a much younger and vulnerable Poe, still reeling from the loss of his mother while searching within himself for that same adventurous spirit. Free Fall is meant to fill in the gaps of Poe's spice-running past, as revealed in The Rise of Skywalker, and while I think it certainly shows us, it falls just short of showing how this experience truly shaped Poe into the Resistance leader we know him as.

I came into this book already having some issues with Poe's problematic spice-running history (and the optics around it). For me, the story did a good job initially of painting a more complete picture of Poe's family. It's evident that Shara's death is an open wound that never quite healed for Poe, one that is often reopened while butting heads with the overbearing Kes Dameron, who's afraid his son will follow those same pitfalls that took his wife. The opening scene where Poe flies his mom's A-Wing is fairly emotional, and I almost began to relate to Poe in his longing of a past that can never be reclaimed. These familial aspects had some promise in those beginning pages on Yavin 4 and I was hoping we would get more of that throughout the rest of the story, but it quickly became a sort of secondary storyline behind the logistics of spice running. Even though Poe is in his most angsty teenage phase, I questioned some of his choices thereafter, and by the novel's end, I didn't feel there was a satisfying conclusion with (or mention of) Poe's father.

Poe's time with the spice runners quickly fell into a noticeably mundane pattern: start a mission, get betrayed, escape. Poe would then question his decision to join the spice runners. It became a bit repetitive, and I kept waiting for Poe to have the decisive "I messed up" lightbulb moment. We gain a lot of insight into Poe's relationship with Zorii Bliss, but it falls just short of being fully convincing. Both characters complement each other well during the high-stakes sequences but it ends there, feeling less authentic during the quieter moments.

This book contained quite a bit of exposition and had several time jumps that I think could have been explored more thoroughly, such as by fleshing out Kes's experience, as opposed to Sela Trune (whom was a nice addition to the New Republic) or further exploring Poe and Zorri's dynamic. There were also a few action sequences that were enjoyable, such as the final battle. Author Alex Segura illustrates a galaxy in a state of complete disarray following the destruction of the Empire, and I have always enjoyed learning more about the overall political climate between factions and governments.

For those who enjoyed the Rise of Skywalker, this book could serve as an entertaining supplemental story that will give you a newfound appreciation during the film's Kijimi scenes. But if you're hoping for more of a psychoanalysis of Poe and how he deals with and overcomes his early childhood trauma, this may not be the book for you.

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 unfortunately 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 Poe's 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, because the story hasn't allowed us to authentically empathize with their fondness for one another.

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. I would have loved to see the ways and reasons why these dynamics changed, rather than being told them and moving on to the next action scene.

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 calls 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?? 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 truly feel like 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 in the canon.

**4.5-stars**

Teenager, Poe Dameron, wants adventure and freedom. On his home planet of Yavin 4, he feels smothered by a father her views as overbearing. He doesn't want to take over the family farm, he wants more. Why can't his father understand that?

His father, Kes Dameron, was a sergeant in the battle against the Galactic Empire. Along with his wife and Poe's mother, Shara Bey, a renowned Rebel pilot, the two lived the sort of adventurous life Poe dreams of. His mother taught him how to pilot his own craft and it's well-known that he is gifted behind the controls; well exceeding his peers.

Since his mother's tragic death, Poe and his father have had a difficult time connecting and it seems her death has made his father even more protective over him. Considering Poe is really all Kes has left, it is no surprise he may be holding on a bit too tightly. Poe doesn't see the reasoning behind it, however. He's young and just wants to be able to choose his own path.

When an opportunity arises for him to flee Yavin 4, he jumps on it without too much consideration. His means of escape just so happens to be piloting a ship full of Spice Runners. The Spice Runners of Kijimi, to be exact, one of the deadliest crime syndicates in the galaxy.

The Spice Runners needed a new pilot, after the demise of their own, and Poe just so happens to be in the right place at the right time. He jumps on his chance and off they go. Of the crew he now finds himself with, Poe bonds quickly with young, Zorii Wynn, a human female, a native of Kijimi and an all-around badass.

They become quite close. It's no surprise, considering they're the same age and they continue to rise up the ranks together. Their relationship has moments of romance, but mostly is built on a mutual respect. Zorii has grown up in the Spice Runners and Poe learns a lot from her regarding their lifestyle and practices.

Ultimately, Zorii is hardcore, she has loyalties that go much deeper than any Poe could ever feel for the Spice Runners. When the two begin to be at odds about what the future holds for them, tough decisions must be made, pushing both of them to their limits.

Y'all, I really enjoyed this. As an origin story for a character I love, I thought this was fantastically presented. I really felt for Poe. It can be so hard to be a kid who feels like you were made for great things, but you don't feel supported in pursuing those things.

I love that he had the boldness of character to set out on his own. Even though the way he went about that was reckless, it ultimately made his life what it is. I think he needed that experience with the Spice Runners to truly understand what he was meant to do; his destiny.

Overall, this is a great addition to the Disney Canon. I am so happy that I had the opportunity to read it. Finding out the details behind Poe's early life and his relationship with Zorii, a relationship that shaped them both, it was just so satisfying.

As far as the Canon timeline goes, this novel falls after The Mandalorian and prior to the novel, Bloodline. If you have watched the new trilogy movies, you are probably familiar with Poe Dameron's character and if you enjoy him, as I do, you should definitely check this book out. It's a heck of a good time!

Thank you so much to the publisher, Disney LucasFilms Press, for providing me with a copy of this to read and review. I was so happy to have the opportunity to get my hands on it early and provide my thoughts.

A Poe Dameron Origin story? Sign me up! Poe Dameron: Free Fall is everything it appears to be, and everything it promises to be. It's the tale of Poe Dameron, before he wound up in the hands of the Rebellion.
Written by Alex Segura, this novel offers refreshing insight into how Poe became the pilot we all know him to be. This is a younger version of the character, and it explains many questions that fans have come up with over the years.
Once upon a time, Poe was a rebellious teenager. He wanted to be a pilot for the Rebellion, just like his parents once were. That might not sound like much of an origin story, but the tale Poe is about to embark on is full of twists and turns.

“There was always a chance we wouldn't come back/ That there'd be dust where our ship had been a few seconds before. Your mom and dad knew that.”

Poe Dameron: Free Fall is a bold tale, one that isn't afraid to show off the sometimes darker backstory of one of the Rebellion's best pilots. This is the tale of Poe Dameron, and how he gained those skills.
Poe is a child that was always haunted by the ghost of his mother. When he was younger, all he wanted was to become a pilot like both his parents. As he grew older, and lost his mother to the job she loved so much, that desire didn't lessen.
It's actually kind of poetic when you think about it. All Poe ever wanted was to reach for the sky, yet his father's fear of more loss kept him grounded. Well, for a while at least. We all know that this did not last.
I really enjoyed this origin story, more than I expected to. Not only was it an absolute blast to read, but it was kind of funny at times – seeing a younger and even more rebellious Poe Dameron. It certainly explains a thing or two about him.
Speaking of, I've had a few questions about him ever since the latest movies dropped, and I feel like the pieces of the puzzle have all finally slid into place now. Now his life story makes more sense, as do the characters that he sometimes comes across.
Was I a bit surprised to learn of certain elements of his past? Kind of. I already knew about the Spice Runner twist (it was hinted at during The Force Awakens), but everything else was surprising. It was also beautifully human, showing off a side of his character that we don't normally get to see.
Personally, I would love to see another Poe Dameron novel come out into the world. I don't care if it continues from where this one left off, or told something completely different. I'd read it in a heartbeat.

Poe Dameron: Free Fall takes place about 16 years before Star Wars Episode VII: The Force awakens. And recounts how Poe ends up as a Spice Runner of Kijimi.

The book was an adventure throughout, with plenty of near escapes from certain death. A book about Poe Dameron wouldn’t be complete without many quips from the titular character.

Some other stand out parts from the book:

Zorii Bliss – We get to know a young Zorii whom we first met in Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker. She was an enigma when she first showed up, but we get to know more about her, and her connection with Poe, throughout the story.

Babu Frik – I don’t know anyone who didn’t fall in love with the little droid smith in Episode IX. His appearance in Poe Dameron: Free Fall, though brief, was enough to make my heart soar. Every time he talked, I could hear his cute little scratchy voice.

EV-6B6 – I’m a sucker for spunky droids, and Eevee is no exception. We find out that Poe is not a fan of droids, but EV helps change all that, which I imagine is what helps pave the way for BB-8 to become Poe’s best friend.

Planets and flying – It wouldn’t be Star Wars without flying around the galaxy and visiting planets, would it? Well, you’ll get lots of flying, seeing as the Poe we know is one of the best pilots in the Resistance.

Alex Segura did a fantastic job at sharing another story from our favorite galaxy from long ago. He captured the spirited nature of the adventurous Poe Dameron and helped me to fall in love with the pilot even more.

This book is about Poe and Zorii's beginning, Poe's parents and the spice runners of Kijimi.

My initial interest in reading this book was for Zorii because I liked her in The Rise of Skywalker. Unfortunately, I am feeling a bit of Poe exhaustion because there is just so much Poe content. We have never seen a 16 year old Poe, so I went into this book cautiously optimistic that I would find something different here.

This book falls very flat. The writing is very dry and without character. The bland uncharacteristic writing made reading this book a chore. This book relies on you knowing Poe from other content because I felt like this book didn't give him any personality. In the very few moments where characters were given characteristics, they felt like a ripoff of other characters in canon.

I do think there is a good idea for a story somewhere deep under a lot of editing and fine-tuning. I had hoped Free Fall would tell me who Zorii and Poe were as teenagers and I still feel like I don't know the answer to that question.

Free Fall is just fine. It's neither the rousing back story that Poe deserves, nor is it a complete dud in the
Sequel Trilogy's expanded universe, but it could have been so much more.

Free Fall focuses on a 16 year old Poe after he falls in with a group of Spice Smugglers, and attempts to give clarity and life to an underutilised storyline from The Rise of Skywalker. The problem is, Free Fall spends too much time on a handful of Poe's missions with said Spice Smugglers, without any real interesting or satisfying arc running throughout. Yes, it introduces Zorii, Poe's old flame from The Rise of Skywalker, and it digs a little deeper into his parents back stories (which is great if you've read Shattered Empire), but it doesn't ever do much with these characters. Remembering that Spice is essentially space drugs, it would have been a great way to give Poe an edgier backstory and made him feel less like Solo 2.0. Instead, Free Fall is a collection of fun but ultimately forgettable dogfights with little to no weight to them.

Remembering however, that this is a young adult novel, it's well written fiction and absolutely serviceable throughout, but it never hits the dizzying heights of many of the novels that make up the new Canon.

If you enjoyed Poe Dameron’s mysterious past being partially uncovered in The Rise Of Skywalker, then Poe Dameron: Free Fall will give you a more in-depth into his past.

Poe Dameron: Free Fall seemed to be aimed at more the Young Adult age group form the writing style; but don’t let that stop you from a good background story book. In the sequel Star Wars trilogy, Poe always came across to me as a clean cut guy who was honourable and always did the right thing. Then in The Rise of Skywalker we find out that before he joined the Resistance, he was not the clean cut guy that he seemed to be.

Poe is 16 in Free Fall, but at time he did not act like a typical 16 year old would. But then again I do not have the ability to travel around the galaxy as freely as they are able to so it is possible that they mature quicker than me. That being said it felt like there was forced conflict for conflict sakes and not because there was a driving force for what needed to occur.

While this is a fun and very easy read, I wish that there had been more substance to this story. It just felt like it was missing something, which just might not have been able to be explored in the Young Adult genre. Poe is such an interesting character in the movies and I hope that more books about him come out expand on his background.

Overall an enjoyable read that most will enjoy.

Some years after the demise of the Galactic Empire, trouble brews in a galaxy far far away.

Sometimes, novels offer the opportunity for fans to explore and discover the stories of their favorite movie characters beyond what’s shown in films. In this case, it fell on Alex Segura, a crime fiction author, to write the origin story of Poe Dameron, the rugged and dashing pilot of the Rebel Alliance from the Star Wars franchise.

“We meet Poe as a 16-year-old kid with dreams of exploring the galaxy,” Segura says. “But feeling stranded on his home world of Yavin 4. When he meets a band of mysterious travelers, Poe sees his chance to escape his backwater home planet and his father—who he loves, but who Poe feels is being overly protective in the wake of his mother’s death. Early on in his journey with the group, Poe discovers they’re actually Spice Runners—and he must grapple with his desire for freedom and the price it comes with, namely, working with a band of criminals that go against everything he was raised to stand for. It’s a story about growing up, choosing your destiny, and the weight of legacy, through the eyes of one of the best characters to come out of the Star Wars mythos. In short, it’s a rollicking crime novel in space.”

Continue reading in The Big Thrill...

This felt like general Star Wars happenings with Poe Dameron kind of shoehorned into it. It felt uninspiring in terms of Poe but interesting in the way that Star Wars has always been interesting.

The character development just fell completely flat.

In Alex Segura’s debut Star Wars novel, the early life of Resistance pilot Poe Dameron is explored, further explaining his family and shady life as a spice runner.

Ever the impulsive and headstrong pilot we’ve grown to love in the sequel trilogy (is it even possible that a teenage Poe might be more-so?!), Free Fall was a super fun read! As a giant lore nerd who loves to learn more about the state of the galaxy, I was definitely pleased by the way Segura gave insight into the different facets of Star Wars society. From the New Republic to the sketchy streets of Kijimi, a very cinematic lens was used to describe action and detail, even giving fun nods to prior movies and comics. In continuation of pre-existing media, I also loved seeing Poe’s interactions with Zorri Bliss. I loved their interactions in the newest Star Wars film, and am excited to say that their teenage interactions made me even more of a fan!

For fans of Solo and action-packed YA, I totally recommend this read! Not only did it scratch the new Star Wars content itch, it also left me content with Poe’s characterization post-Rise Of Skywalker.

Thank you so much to the publisher, NetGalley, and the author for giving me this opportunity to read such a fun new adventure!

Review post at https://www.instagram.com/p/CDUIgyxAcsJ/?igshid=14yq28om7mdz1

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.

I received a free digital copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Poe Dameron is tired of the small, backwater moon where he lives. He's tired of being kept from adventure and excitement-especially after hearing tales of his parents' adventures during the rebellion. But ever since Poe's mother died, his father has worked to keep him safe. Now, at sixteen, and freshly in trouble (and quite upset with himself) after crashing his mother's ship, Poe finds himself unwittingly joining up with a group of spice runners. At first, he's simply filling in for a pilot, but then he becomes part of the crew and helps with various jobs.
It's been a few days since I finished this book, but beyond remembering the ending-when Poe happens to see a prominent rebellion/New Republic figure making a speech-this was mainly just a book of Poe running around and having adventures. I haven't been as interested in the current/recently finished trilogy, so a lot of the characters didn't really matter to me (I'm assuming that Zorri might have been an important person in the trilogy).
Anyway, it's an okay book, but I just didn't really enjoy it the way I have other Star Wars books in the past.

Poe Dameron: Free Fall is a solid adventure tale that presents an interesting look at the Star Wars galaxy's criminal underworld during an under-exploited time period. Unfortunately, it isn't quite up to par with the other largely-excellent YA Star Wars books from Disney Lucasfilm Press.

The writing feels closer to middle-grade than YA and the narration fluctuates often between confusing and redundant. The biggest single issue here is Segura's over-reliance on in media res when beginning a new chapter; once or twice this can be an effective way to capture (or recapture) the reader's attention but when the book almost immediately flashes back to the current event's backstory it just means that I often lost track of whether I was reading the thing that was actually happening or a flashback to earlier that day/week/month, and by the time I did get back to the present I'd forgotten what was happening in the first place. That disorientation is compounded by a tendency to underline the significance of a given moment or statement by expanding the POV of the narration into the future, i.e. "words that would haunt Poe Dameron for the rest of his life." It created the impression of simply being told an event is important to someone rather than doing the work to make it feel important organically.

All that said, there are some very strong aspects of the book. Poe and Zorii are very well-developed and consistent, and even as someone who wasn't wild about them being romantically involved I bought into it here. Poe's gift for banter is also captured very well. I can forgive a lot if a book makes me laugh and that was often the case here--only the final section on Kijimi really lost me. Segura uses a great mix of new and preexisting characters and I often found myself wanting to know more about what they were up to and what happened to them after the narration had moved on, which I suppose is both praise and criticism given the writing's overall tendency to elide a lot of detail in favor of keeping things moving. While I was surprised that the story ended as abruptly as it did I appreciated the choice to leave the the climax of the Spice Runners plot a little vague--this is Poe's story, and with few exceptions, Segura sticks to him like glue. While more information would have helped in some cases, I respect the underlying intention there.

In conclusion, I would say Free Fall is worth reading if you're interested in this backstory or just want to spend more time with Poe and/or the Spice Runners, but DLP has set a very high bar for themselves over the last several years and I can't say they quite reached it here. A full reaction piece is forthcoming at Eleven-ThirtyEight upon the book's release; it will focus on the role the underworld plays in the post-Empire Star Wars galaxy and Poe's complicated status as both a criminal and a hero.