Star Wars Poe Dameron: Free Fall

One of the things I love in the Star Wars Universe is the way a character barely seen in a movie, or a storyline that clearly is the result of something that happened before can become a novel. Such is the case with the realization that Poe was spice runner before joining the Resistance in the ROS. Here is the story of Poe Dameron and Zorii Bliss. Well told, the story is.

As an aside, a reread of Shattered Empire comic book series is a nice setup for this book.

Poe Dameron is an unhappy teen. He wants to follow the adventurous footsteps of his long gone mother, but his father won’t consent to any of it. After an antic goes awry, a hot-headed Poe enlists with an organization with a notorious reputation, the Spice Runners of Kijimi.

As an outcast and low level member of the cell he is part of, he only finds friendship in Zorii Wynn, another teenager, totally committed to the ideals of the organization. Together they acquire experience and improve their rank, through several missions.

Back on Yavin 4, his father works with Sela Trune, a talented but young investigator from the New Republic Security Bureau. She’s been building a case against the Kijimi organization, and will do anything in her power to stop them. But will she be able to keep her personal motivations in check?

Raw action, intrigue and plenty of betrayals make this a really entertaining novel, who will let us understand better the Poe of the trilogy. Props to Alex Segura for his smooth writing and for weaving all the small or big canon connections with the movies, TV series, novels and comics.

Recommended!

I really enjoyed this book, but I wish it had been exclusively about Zorri Bliss and taking over the Spice Runners of Kijimi. Having Poe Dameron involved thanks to JJ Abrams’ mostly nonsensical additions in The Rise of Skywalker was really hit or miss for me.

Basically, while I understand that this book is effectively about Poe Dameron, it should’ve been exclusively about Zorri Bliss.

For those of you curious about Poe Dameron and the scene involving a certain character from The Rise of Skywalker, here is an account of their previous adventures. Poe starts out a farm boy on Yavin Four but becomes involved with a gang of smugglers and cutthroats who have (and had) shady dealings. I enjoyed most of the book though it got a little slow at first. But on the whole, it’s a good book and it offers a backstory to Poe Dameron and the planet Kijimi. If you’re not a fan of Poe Dameron, you might want to skip it. Still, it had action where it counted. And that makes a book worthwhile.

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!