Star Wars Poe Dameron: Free Fall by Alex Segura, with cover
art by Phil Noto, answers many of the questions we’ve been asking since Star
Wars: The Rise of Skywalker or even before. How did Shara Bey die? Why wasn’t Shara Bey’s
A-Wing in the final battle? How come Kes Dameron hasn’t been involved like Wedge
Antilles? When did Poe learn that “shifty stuff”? Who is Zorii? Does Poe being
a Spice Smuggler retcon his time in the New Republic Navy established in Star
Wars: Before the Awakening? When will Poe and Finn kiss already? All of these
questions are answered in the new book except that last one which continues to only
happen in our hearts and imagination.
The fourth moon of Yavin has lush jungles, exotic creatures,
and mysterious temples, but even less friends Poe’s own age than Luke had on
barren Tatooine. Shara Bey’s A-Wing came with her from the Rebellion. It was
where Poe learned how to fly by sitting on his mother’s lap. Now eight years
after her untimely death, it’s the only place where he can feel like she’s
still around and he’s destroyed it in a crash that should have killed him as
well. His almost death isn’t as important as his mother’s A-Wing or his
argument with his father over flying. Of course, Kes doesn’t want to lose him
the same way he lost Shara. Poe has too much of his mother in him to be a
farmer…a gender-bent plot that’s all too familiar to original fans of the
series. Lacking an old Jedi Master, Poe heads for the local equivalent of Chalmun’s
Spaceport Cantina and accidentally agrees to be a pilot for the Spice Runners
of Kijimi.
In Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Amilyn Holdo declared of Poe, “That one’s a trouble-maker. I like him.” She spoke for most of the audience, too. This book gives us the chance to see him progress from that grieving, yearning sixteen-year-old to a wiser, experienced eighteen-year-old. Segura does an excellent job characterizing who Poe was and what made him into the person we know while also incorporating those tidbits that the last film dropped about Zorii and Babu Frik. Zorii could have fallen into a Manic Pixie Dream Girl trope that so many assumed she was with her mysterious gold helmet and scenes that furthered Poe’s backstory more than anything. Segura lifts her above that. She’s just a teenager, about the same age as Poe, with her own motives and her own decisions to make about her future. It’s almost a shame that we already know how it’ll turn out, but it doesn’t kill the suspense of the story. Just to warn you, if you’re looking for romance, this isn’t your book. Go read Star Wars: Lost Stars again. Zorii and Poe kiss, they hug. They kiss. Whether they have sex seems to be ambiguous.
Kes Dameron may not have that many pages to himself. However, he's a constant presence in the book driving Poe’s actions just as much as
Shara even if Poe doesn’t want to admit it. Kes doesn’t often receive the same
fandom love as Shara since he’s not a pilot or known for special skills. He’s
not even confirmed to be on-screen on Endor with the rest of the Pathfinders
like Lucasfilm did with Rex. What Kes does have is tremendous love for his son
even if he can’t show it the way Poe wants. It’s a very lovely moment later in
the book when they’re reunited again and makes one all the more curious about
what happens to him after that and when Poe joins the Resistance. He doesn’t
appear to lose his Pathfinder skills or prowess. There are lots of wonderful
details to expand on previous canon knowledge of Yavin IV, the Rebellion, the
New Republic and these characters. On first reading, they can blend into the
story so well as to be overlooked, but less casual fans will to take their time
discovering all this new information like what Shara did after the Rebellion,
Zorii’s parentage and that Poe once had a fear of droids. It’s been almost three
months since I received my Advanced Reader Copy and it’s been hard to keep the
spoilers to myself. Well, there’s my mom, but even she has her limit of how
much I can discuss Poe being with Zorii compared to Poe being with Finn. Pick up
your copy today at any bookseller!
9.5 out of 10
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