Poe Dameron: Free Fall is a Star Wars Expanded Universe Young Adult novel, written by Alex Segura.
Set over a decade before The Force Awakens, the novel revolves around Poe Dameron, future Resistance pilot, as a lost and rebellious teenager following the death of his mother. Struggling to connect with his father and find meaning in his life, Poe runs away and joins the Spice Runners of Kijimi, going on a journey of self-discovery that will eventually lead him to the Resistance.
The novel was released on August 4th, 2020.
Contains examples of the following tropes:
- All for Nothing:
- Sela Trune starts her revenge campaign against Zeva Bliss for killing her family. The New Republic closes the case of the Spice Runners of Kijimi, so Trune goes to Kijimi alone to deal with Zeva, and Trune herself ends up dead and Zeva's still alive.
- Kes almost sells his farm for a scrap of info for Poe and makes a deal with pirates to track him down...only to get bitten by a poisonous alien and for Poe to choose to stay with the Spice Runners.
- Poe joins the Spice Runners of Kijimi because he liked Zorii and thought they could run away from the Spice Runners together, and even abandons his dying father for her...only for their friendship to fall apart and for Poe to realize she actually likes being a Spice Runner.
- All-Loving Hero: Poe has shades of this even as a sixteen year old, such as him sparing Sela Trune despite the latter expressing nothing but hatred for him thanks to his association with the Spice Runners (who killed her family). He also tries not to shoot to kill his enemies (when he’s cornered by the New Republic) and trying to save Sela Trune again when Zeva Bliss wounds her. He fails, but the fact he tried at all is amazing.
- Ambiguous Situation:
- Kes. Last time we saw him, he was bitten by a poisonous alien and was being dragged to a shuttle by L'ulo. We don't know if he survived.
- Zeva. Last we see of her, she was facing off with Zorii. We don't know for sure if Zorii killed her.
- Poe. Did go back to Yavin 4 to try and make amends? Or did he head straight for the New Republic Navy?
- Big Damn Heroes:
- EV-6B6 saves Poe from getting seriously hurt by Zorii after he betrays her.
- Zorii saves Poe from being killed by her mother, Zeva.
- Bittersweet Ending: Poe finally left the Spice Runners of Kijimi, but he's on the run from them, Kes' fate is unknown, it's unclear if he would be allowed back on Yavin 4 after he helped criminals escape the moon, and his friendship with Zorii ended.
- Board to Death: Zeva calls a summit of all the gangs in the area ostensibly to form an alliance, but it turns out she actually intends to use the opportunity to execute all her rivals in one go so the Spice Runners can advance in the criminal underworld. Unfortunately for Zeva, Poe intervenes.
- Break the Badass: Kes Dameron. His wife is dead, he and his son constantly argue, his son runs away from home and fakes his kidnapping, and when he finally tracks him down, he get bitten by a poisonous alien, and his son chooses to stay with Zorii.
- Butt-Monkey: Boy, Poe sure pays for running away from home and joining the Spice Runners of Kijimi, doesn't he? At the beginning of the novel, he crashes his mother's A-wing beyond repair, then after he joins, he gets the crew captured, gets assigned thankless tasks, he's stabbed in the side by Ledesmar, his father and L'ulo track him down only for Kes to end up dying from a poisonous bite, his mentor is killed in front of him, then his first and only friend shows her true colors- accusing him of knowing his father was searching for him, showed no empathy for his situation, started making fun of him for being emotional, punching him, and later beating him half to death after he betrays her. Then once he betrays the Spice Runners, Zorii beats him to a pulp, his only companion EV-6B6 is killed, Poe is almost strangled to death, he tries to save Sela Trune only for her to die in front of him, then he is attacked and sliced up like a turkey by Zeva, and Zorii ends their friendship and tells him never to return. Now he is on the run and completely alone.
- The Cameo:
- Senator Leia Organa appears as a hologram giving a speech which pushes Poe to take his next step in his journey.
- Zade Kalliday, a smuggler who works with the Resistance in the novel Black Spire appears at the end to give Poe a ride off-planet.
- Coming of Age Story: The novel chronicles sixteen year old Poe's search for identity and purpose in the wake of his mother's death.
- Continuity Nod:
- With a smidge of Mythology Gag Among the preexisting characters that attend Zeva’s summit are:
- Bo Shek, a smuggler who can be seen in the cantina in A New Hope
- Caryn, a smuggler who operated on the fringes of the Galactic Civil War and was an NPC on Tatooine in the Galaxies MMORPG.
- Woan Barso, an extra on Jedha in Rogue One
- Astrid Fenris, who can be seen on Vandor in Solo
- Vranki, the slimy Hutt from season two of Star Wars: Resistance
- Tarand Crowe, another smuggler NPC from Galaxies
- Tomasso teaches Poe how to light-speed skip.
- With a smidge of Mythology Gag Among the preexisting characters that attend Zeva’s summit are:
- Conveniently Timed Distraction: Poe is about to be strangled to death by a Chagrian guard for betraying the Spice Runners of Kijimi, but is distracted by Zeva stabbing Trune, and Trune crying out in pain, enough for Poe to blast him in the head.
- Dark and Troubled Past: NRSB Officer Sela Trune's family was killed by the Spice Runners of Kijimi when she was younger.
- Dies Wide Open: Sela Trune dies in Poe's arms with her eyes open.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Zeva really did seem to truly care for her daughter and worries about her when she didn't show up for the summit. Also Zorii does care about the people in her life.
- Even Evil Has Standards: The Spice Runners of Kijimi for all their horrors do not allow slavers on Kijimi. Zorii (and Poe) free people who were to be sold off as slaves after being sold out by a slaver called Sotin.
- Foregone Conclusion: As established in The Rise of Skywalker, Poe will leave the Spice Runners and join the Resistance, and the way he does it will screw things up for the Spice Runners badly enough that Zorii Bliss is still hacked off at him years later.
- Inspector Javert: Sela Trune of the New Republic Security Bureau keeps chasing down Poe and his band of spice runners.
- Mythology Gag:
- Poe pilots a Corellian Frieghter escaping with fugitives just as Rey did with Finn and BB-8 in The Force Awakens
- Poe's mentor is run through by the Big Bad in a mask (Tomasso by Zeva Bliss in Free Fall and Lor San Tekka by Kylo Ren in The Force Awakens).
- Sela Trune starts a revenge campaign against Zeva Bliss for killing her family by turning her men against her and planting seeds of doubt. Zeva thinks her second-in-command Tomasso betrayed her. Terex will do the same thing to Poe in the Star Wars: Poe Dameron comics. Terex turns Poe's mechanic against him (by blackmailing him) and Poe has doubts about his squadron, even suspecting his Honorary Uncle L'ulo.
- Zeva Bliss gathers all her enemies in one place in order to kill them, just as Terex will do in the Star Wars: Poe Dameron comics.
- After Poe defects from the Spice Runners of Kijimi, Zeva attacks him in a Roaring Rampageof Revenge by slicing him up with her sword just as Kylo Ren will do to Finn at the end of The Force Awakens.
- Zorii gives Poe a We Can Rule Together speech after confronting Zeva. Poe rejects her. The same thing will happen with Kylo Ren and Rey in The Last Jedi.
- The Spice Runners of Kijimi lay low on Sorgan, which is a planet in The Mandalorian.
- Poe "steals" a holographic disguise matrix which Obi-Wan Kenobi uses in Star Wars: The Clone Wars.
- Prequel: The novel is set around 18 ABY when Poe is still a teenager, sixteen years before The Force Awakens.
- The Reveal: It's revealed near the end that the overarching leader of the Spice Runners is Zorii's mother.
- Revenge Before Reason: Sela heads to Kijimi ALONE to seek her vengeance on Zeva Bliss for killing her family after her supervisor told her they weren't focusing on the Spice Runners anymore.
- Running Away From Home: Poe runs away from home at sixteen and becomes a spice runner.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Fontis, the bartender at Gully's yells loud enough for the Spice Runners of Kijimi to hear "Well, if it isn't the best pilot on Yavin Four- Mr. Poe Dameron!". Zorii enticed Poe to approach her and offer his services as a pilot. Because of that, Poe joins the Spice Runners of Kijimi and fakes his kidnapping in order to escape.
