Star Wars Poe Dameron: Free Fall by Alex Segura, with cover
art by Phil Noto, follows one of our favorite newer Star Wars character in his
teen years with all that entails. There comes a time in every teenager’s life
when they’re away from home for the first time and trouble comes where they can’t
just call mom or dad to come pick them up or tell them what to do. They have to
decide what to do for themselves. Do they pick the easiest way? Do they do what
feels right? Is it the ethical thing to do? Would it make their parents proud?
Would it impress that person they have a huge crush on? Of course, it would be
Poe to find himself in this kind of situation when it’s literally a life or
death situation.
What doesn’t happen so often with books about teenagers is
their parents’ perspective. The older I get, the more I feel for Owen and Beru
Lars, just trying to do their best the only way they know how and keep their
adoptive son from harm, including who his father really is. Kes Dameron, like
most parents, doesn’t want to be the villain. He loves Poe, but Shara’s death
broken him, too. How can you keep a person close to protect them when you’ve
pushed everyone who cares about you away because it hurt too much? How can that
rift mend? Can it mend? “What have I done?” ask several characters which reinforces
the theme, but almost feels too forced and repetitive.
Yeah, it’s a bildungsroman, but this is Star Wars so it’s a
little different when you’re becoming an adult in a universe with the same
growing pains. Poe was just seven when the Empire was destroyed for good in the
Battle of Jakku. His parents had already retired to civilian life on Yavin IV. However,
the destruction of the Empire led to a plethora of opportunities for criminal
organizations taking advantage of a young government without a widespread Navy
with the proper budget and numbers to keep watch. Bad for them, but good for
the reader wanting excitement because this book also happens to be a crime
novel with double crosses, triple crosses and crosses that are later revealed
not to have even been crosses at all! Very few of the chapters can be predicted
from the chapter before it. Anything can happen and anyone can show up. Alex
Segura’s writing doesn’t waste a word either progressing the characterization
or keeping the momentum although sometimes, the shifts in character perspective
could be a little more clear or even eliminated with the less important
characters.
There are times when facing your fears can lead to some of your
greatest friendships and put you right on the path where you were always
supposed to be. It’s a reassuring message and even nicer disguised in a Star
Wars book. Being a Young Adult novel, it brings up the idea of wonderful topics
for a parent and child to discuss together.
For the hard-core Star Wars fan, there is so much revealed
that it will probably need to be read at least twice, probably more like 3-5
times to fully appreciate and write down everything learned within for use in
fanfiction, fandom essays and more. After downloading my Advanced Reader Copy a
week ago, I’ve read it twice and am looking forward to my third reading. Pre-order
your copy now wherever books are sold for August 4, 2020!
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