– Minor Spoiler Review –
Poe Dameron: Free Fall is a young adult novel written by Alex Segura, exploring the character’s newly revealed spice running backstory. With an enjoyable, action-packed pace and great characterizations, especially for a younger Poe and Zorii Bliss, Free Fall hits a few heights, but it can’t escape feeling like it’s crossing items off a list for this new backstory.
To me, Poe Dameron: Free Fall is for Poe what Solo: A Star Wars Story is for Han Solo, wrapping up many various threads of a beloved character’s backstory into one, compressed story that feels more like checks on a checklist than wholly organic, but still manages to be a fun time with great performances, or in this book’s case, writing/characterizations. Basically everything newly introduced to Poe as a character in The Rise of Skywalker, from lightspeed skipping, hot-wiring vehicles, to his fractured relationship with Zorii Bliss gets an explanation here, much like Solo showed us everything from Han getting the Falcon, how he met Chewie, to his fractured friendship with Lando Calrissian. By the end of Free Fall, Poe not only remains a hero of sorts, he’s back on the path we already know he’ll go on, finally following in his mother, and father’s, footsteps, which makes this adventure with a nefarious group of smugglers more of a bump on the road than anything terribly significant in Poe’s life, but this might be a feeling I have from consuming previous Poe expansion materials, like his excellent on-going comic or Before the Awakening, which provide more substantial looks into what drives him/how he handles choosing the right thing. And while the addition of a smuggling background to a Latino character like Poe felt problematic in TROS, thankfully Segura manages to mitigate it to some degree as Poe largely doesn’t actually commit any crimes, keeping him cleaner than the film suggests, but this book then also highlights how unnecessary and formulaic this whole part of his life seems. It doesn’t help Free Fall either that the chapters seemingly jump just enough time to give us a glimpse of him learning or trying something seen in TROS, as if lightspeed skipping itself, something similar character-prequel novel Rebel Rising managed to avoid in its exploration of Jyn Erso’s formative years. While many of these shortcomings mirror Solo’s, Free Fall also captures the film’s charm, as Alex Segura brings excellent and varied characterizations to life, while the pace, despite its focus on the checklist, is brisk and enjoyable.
Poe and Zorii Bliss’ burgeoning friendship takes center stage and thankfully Segura has a great handle on both characters, capturing Poe’s naivety and heroic spirit in stride, while expanding on the cold, but caring Zorii that Kerri Russel graced the The Rise of Skywalker with, despite small screentime. For Poe, seeing him in his younger, though still cocky years was entertaining, especially as he grows in maturity about the galaxy at large and earns the ability to be cocky. The expansion on his relationship with both his father, Kes Dameron, and surrogate uncle L’ulo L’ampar, were fantastic additions to Poe’s past, fleshing out some of the unknowns and offering time with characters I’ve been eager to spend more time with…especially L’ulo.* While Poe’s mother, Shara Bey, has already passed by the start of Free Fall, she was arguably the more important and touching parental interactions throughout the novel for me, as Poe frequently reminisces about her and what her teachings mean on his search for purpose and life outside the quiet confines of Yavin IV; it becomes clear by the end of the novel she lives up to the memories and pedestal he puts her on, making me glad we’re getting more time with her.† Every teenager has their rebellious ways, but for Poe not to immediately considering joining up with the New Republic military (which again would’ve drawn a big Solo comparison) made his joining the Spice Runners feel like a stretch, especially as he continuously tries to make peace with his choice, which pits him against the NR and therefore what his parents fought for, something he constantly mentions throughout. Poe is impulsive, and it shows here by making the choice to join the Spice Runners, but Segura does his best with Poe’s rationalizations to help string along the idea he’d stay with the group for the nearly year long time that he does, though of course Poe’s main reason for staying is love. The relationship between Poe and Zorii is written well and befits both characters, helping to flesh out why she gives Poe a less than friendly greeting on Kijimi in TROS, though I wish we got more POV time with her. In the end, Poe fans will enjoy Segura’s younger take overall, no matter the overall content of the story.
This brings us to Zorii, a character I was looking forward to exploring more in Free Fall than Poe, and the book largely didn’t disappoint. Zorii, about Poe’s age, has grown up living the life of the Spice Runners, so she comes from a much different place than Poe, but the two find a bond over having to prove themselves to their superiors and figuring out what they truly want in life. She may be pragmatic, less impulsive than Poe, and committed to the cause, but she isn’t all heartless, as we saw in TROS, and we get even better glimpses here, like a situation that involves uncovering a slavery ring run by one of the Runners’ contacts. Free Fall offers sections in her POV, but they are too infrequent, as Segura makes her even more compelling character once we get to see her rationalizations and feelings about Poe, the Runners, and her part in its legacy. Zorii’s sections are so good, it’s even more glaring we don’t get more time with her POV, as while I know the title is technically Poe Dameron: Free Fall, the overall book would feel even stronger with more time spent in the new character’s head. There’s a reveal late in the book, though it’s not hard to guess early on, regarding Zorii’s ties and importance to the Runners that offers even more intrigue and potential to have focused more on her, while the storyline provides a new angle and exposure to something Star Wars doesn’t cover often. It also feels like it comes into play far too late in the novel, robbing the moment of really hitting home before the thread is wrapped up shortly after. What goes down between Poe and Zorii, hence their icy confrontation in TROS, does remind me of Qi’ra and Han in Solo to some extent, which is meant as a compliment as it’s one of the film’s stronger aspects, and it’s why I wish this whole section was expanded on. Free Fall adds to and expands on Zorii Bliss in excellent, though somewhat limited ways, revealing the unfortunate brevity of her TROS appearance and making me wish for more of the character.
One of the other big characters in the novel is its antagonist of sorts, Sela Trune, an officer in the New Republic Security Bureau. She has a personal history with the Runners, though her relentless pursuit of them, in an attempt to bring them to justice and stop them from becoming the next big gang, pits her against Poe, Zorii, and their little Runners cell throughout the novel. She’s also a character I would’ve loved more time with too, as I enjoyed her crusade and how Segura framed and handled it. The rest of the Runners crew that Poe and Zorii deal with aren’t particularly memorable, but all enjoyable for the parts they play. There’s a confrontation with an escaped Pyke slave Ledesmar, who takes over a fleet of ships from a strange race, in the middle of the novel which is one of the highlights of Poe’s whole Runners experience, and of the book for me, as it’s a section of plot that isn’t part of the checklist feeling that permeates the rest of the story; it focuses on the developing feelings between Poe and Zorii, Poe’s allegiances to his past and future, and Trune’s ambitious attempts at vengeance. In the end, I can’t really blame Free Fall for having this story to tell, that’s on the writers of TROS, so it’s admirable how Segura manages to make the story engaging and fast paced, with great characterizations centering the narrative, but the limited scope of Poe’s choice holds the overall story back, making it feel more of a diversion than anything terribly important to the character’s life.
Here are a few other things:
- *We first meet L’ulo in Shattered Empire, alongside Shara Bey and Kes Dameron. L’ulo didn’t get much panel-time then, though he does help convince Shara to retire, but later he has a starring role in the Poe Dameron on-going comic, though it ends in tragedy with a big sacrifice. Getting more time with him in Free Fall was some much needed therapy, though it re-opened the wound a bit too!
- †Besides Shattered Empire, Poe’s parents haven’t been in too many appearances. Thankfully, they’re a part of the 2nd Volume of Star Wars, so if you want to see more of them, check that out!
- Covers have been known to change, but I’m curious about the switch from Alice X. Zhang’s in the original announcement to Phil Noto’s for the final one. I like both: Noto’s has more from the novel than just Poe, but Zhang’s I felt better depicted a younger Poe; either way, good covers both.
- This is not a knock against the novel at all, but having to read the “Spice Runners of Kijimi” hundreds of times in Free Fall certainly made the name feel even more uninspired and dull than originally imagined when mentioned in the lead up to TROS. Most gangs and crime syndicates have imaginative names (Crimson Dawn, Black Sun), or interesting sounding ones even if it’s just the name of their species (Hutts, Pykes, etc.), but the criminals out of Kijimi put the name of their business right on the box, a name which doesn’t jive well with what happens in Free Fall, as I can’t remember them actually smuggling any spice. We get a lot more background on the organization, like how they swooped in on the Pykes’ Kessel situation post-Endor, but it doesn’t help the name “Spice Runners” from feeling so…bland. If I don’t have to read about them for a while, I’ll be much happier.
- Yes, there is more Babu Frik and it’s as great as you’d expect.
- There’s some crossover with questionable Galaxy’s Edge tie-in novel Black Spire at the end, interestingly enough.
- Check out Chris’ review here!
Poe Dameron: Free Fall is the title character’s own Solo: A Star Wars Story, an overall enjoyable adventure romp that can’t escape feeling like it’s ticking off boxes on the backstory sheet.
+ Poe and Zorii characterizations shine/Segura’s writing overall
+ Takes some of the good from Solo: A Star Wars Story…
– …and some of the meh as well
– Overall feels like a diversion, not important backstory
Ryan is Mynock Manor’s Head Butler. You can follow him on Twitter @BrushYourTeeth. You can follow the website on Twitter @MynockManor and Instagram @mynockmanor.
DISCLOSURE: I received a copy of this book from the publisher at no charge in order to provide an early review. However, this did not affect the overall review content. All opinions are my own.
OTHER POE DAMERON CONTENT:
Poe Dameron (on-going comic) | Resistance Reborn (novel) | Before the Awakening (novel) | Age of Resistance – Poe Dameron #1 (comic issue) | Spark of Resistance (novel)