Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge – A Crash of Fate
Hardcover | Kindle | Audiobook
Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge book 1
Written by Zoraida Cordova
Narrated by Brittany Pressley
Publisher: Disney Lucasfilm Press | Listening Library
Release date: August 6, 2019

In Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge – A Crash of Fate, the first of a new series of books centered around the Black Spire Outpost on the planet Batuu, Jules and Izzy are the best of friends. They do everything together. And when you’re six and five years old, respectively, living in the last known habitable outpost on the edge of wildspace, you come to rely on having that friend. You need each other.

When Izzy’s family up and leaves in the middle of the night with no warning whatsoever and no chance for the kids to say good-bye, to say your life has been upended is an understatement.

13 years later, even though each has moved on with their lives, they still think of and have reminders of each other. When a simple delivery brings Izzy back to Black Spire Outpost, those reminders become all too real when she literally runs right into Jules — fist first. This, folks, is what Hollywood calls a “meet-cute,” although, technically, they already knew each other.

Now that they’ve become reacquainted, Jules is feeling emotions he never thought he’d feel again and doesn’t want to let Izzy go… ever. Izzy, while experiencing similar emotions, wants off this rock… ASAP. Especially as her “simple” delivery starts to go awry in oh-so-many ways.

While this may sound like a potentially cliche sort of story, I found Zoraida Cordova‘s writing to be very engaging and, combined with Brittany Pressley‘s narration, it kept my interest level piqued. Plus it had one thing that I don’t think we’ve really had much of in the Star Wars universe of books (either the Legends or Canon series)… a decent romantic plot. It was neither cheesy nor heavy handed. Honestly, it was just enough to keep the Jules/Izzy relationship believable, but not so much that it bogged down the rest of the plot.

Admittedly, the ending was pretty predictable, but I prefer to think of it only as the end of the first stage of their tale as I’m hoping Izzy and Jules make return appearances in future stories set on the Galaxy’s Edge. Although, based on the first 30% of Book 2, Delilah S. Dawson’s em>Black Spire, which I’m reading now, that’s not necessarily happening right away.

From the publisher:

Izzy and Jules were childhood friends, climbing the spires of Batuu, inventing silly games, and dreaming of adventures they would share one day. Then, Izzy’s family left abruptly, without even a chance to say goodbye. Izzy’s life became one of constant motion, traveling from one world to the next, until her parents were killed and she became a low-level smuggler to make ends meet. Jules remained on Batuu, eventually becoming a farmer like his father, but always yearning for something more.

Now, thirteen years after she left, Izzy is returning to Batuu. She’s been hired to deliver a mysterious parcel, and she just wants to finish the job and get gone. But upon arrival at Black Spire Outpost she runs smack into the one person who still means something to her after all this time: Jules.

The attraction between them is immediate, yet despite Jules seeming to be everything she’s ever needed, Izzy hesitates. How can she drag this good-hearted man into the perilous life she’s chosen?

Jules has been trying to figure out his future, but now all he knows for certain is that he wants to be with Izzy. How can he convince her to take a chance on someone who’s never left the safety of his homeworld?

When Izzy’s job goes wrong, the two childhood friends find themselves on the run. And all their secrets will be revealed as they fight to stay alive?