A Crash of Fate

Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge #1

by Zoraida Córdova

Izzy and Jules were best friends until Izzy's family abruptly left Batuu when she was six. But now she's back, and Jules, the boy who never left, is unsure what to make of her. While on the run from vengeful smugglers and an angry pirate, Jules and Izzy will come to terms with who they are, and what they mean to each other.

Genres: Star Wars, Science Fiction, Young Adult, Fiction, Fantasy, Romance, Audiobook

354 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 6, 2019

About the author

Zoraida Córdova is the author of many fantasy novels for kids and teens, including the award-winning Brooklyn Brujas series, Incendiary, and Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge: A Crash of Fate. Her short fiction has appeared in the New York Times bestselling anthology Star Wars: From a Certain Point of View, Star Wars The Clone Wars: Stories of Light and Dark, Come on In: 15 Stories About Immigration and Finding Home, and Toil & Trouble: 15 Tales of Women and Witchcraft. She is the co-editor of the bestselling anthology Vampires Never Get Old. Her debut middle grade novel is The Way to Rio Luna. She is the co-host of the podcast Deadline City with Dhonielle Clayton. Zoraida was born in Ecuador and raised in Queens, New York. When she isn’t working on her next novel, she’s planning a new adventure.

NOTE: Direct messages on this account may not be seen. Send her an email at zoraidabooks@gmail.com

Reviews

[Khurram · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome book. One of my favourite books from the Disney Star Wars era was Lost Stars. This story is right up there with that one. You never know how one person in one day will change your life.

This book is set in the during the Force Awakens era after the First Order declaration of war. This is not an action-packed story, but it is very enjoyable. Star Wars is the backdrop for the story. However, Zoraida Cordove describes the Star Wars Universe perfectly.

Izzy and Jules' story is awesome. This book is a great look at how every day people live their lives in the Star Wars universe. I really like new characters being added to the Star Wars. Never underestimate a farm boy. The greatest hero on Star War was a farm boy.

I really hope to see these characters again, I hope this book leads into the Black Spires, but I doubted it. This is a feel-good story. None of the big guns appear here, but you never know where these characters might re-appear.

[Justine · Rating 3 out of 5]

This wasn't bad; I didn't love it or hate it. I like Cordova's writing generally, although still, Claudia Gray creates the overall best Star Wars stories I think.

Here I did like the characters, the setting, and the basic premise, but I'm never a fan of books where everything takes place in a single day. It always seems unrealistic when a lot of action takes place, and I really like more character development. This would be the main reason I would rate this book below other Star Wars YA books I really enjoyed such as Lost Stars, Leia: Princess of Alderaan, and Rebel Rising.

[Emma · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5

[janel]

“May the spires keep you.”

Here I go again, back on my bullshit.

A Crash of Fate is a novel tie-in for Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge. My friend was able to get an ARC at BEA and share it with me so I could read it before going to the theme park. It follows two POVs: Izzy and Jules, two childhood friends who got separated for 13 years and then brought back together for an adventure. Jules, who’d always wanted to leave Batuu, has been sticking around and working as a farmer, while Izzy tried her hand as a smuggler after tragedy. They find each other again when Izzy is doing a job for someone that requires her to go back to Batuu.

I was about 100 pages into this book when I realized that I just didn’t care about it. I appreciated the backdrop of an area I’ll actually be traveling to in a month or so, but I couldn’t bring myself to care about the characters or their journey. There are a few reasons for this.

When childhood friends are separated at the beginning of a novel, I personally need more time with them estranged so that I can care about the situation the way they do. If, for example, there are only 1.5 scenes per POV before they’re having a forceful meet-cute, I don’t have a reason to be happy for their reunion. The beginning of this book simply wasn’t enough to make me care about it.

When Izzy and Jules are reunited, they are unwilling to discuss things that I felt would be pretty easy to explain. It falls into the miscommunication trope (because I said so) and we all know how I feel about that. It’s a nitpick and I can’t explain for spoilers, but it just felt like withheld information for the sake of plot and therefore both characters were on my shit list. They also jump preeeeetty quickly into flirting and jealousy, even for people who knew each other as children. Given what was going on in the context, it just felt rushed.

The driving force for the plot is that Izzy needs money so she does this job, and Jules has no clear direction in his life till Izzy shows up again. Because the stakes felt, for me, so low (the big threat halfway through the book was getting blacklisted by someone), I just couldn’t attach myself to the story. I needed more reasons to care about them and the plot, especially since I’m an asshole and I tend to not care about new SW characters in books in the first place.

At the end of the day, I love Star Wars so much and to an extent I’ll enjoy all of these books. I just keep having problems with connecting to the stories as much as I want to and I wish I could love them more.


2/5

[Neil R. Coulter · Rating 3 out of 5]

At its best, A Crash of Fate does what I always hope a Star Wars novel will do: shows what the galaxy is like for normal people unconnected with the political conflict between good and evil. Most beings in the galaxy will probably never leave their home planet, never meet a Jedi, never have much interest in the galactic government and military. But most of the SW stories we get are directly affected by all of that, even when the protagonists are not named movie characters. In this novel, the story is a little smaller. The First Order and Resistance are occasionally seen on the periphery, but they have little to do with what’s really going on. I was glad that they never intruded any further.

What A Crash of Fate does poorly is the relationship between the two main characters, Jules and Izzy. Their ages are all wrong at each stage of the narrative. Kids who grow up as playmates and best friends but are separated at about age five do not spend their lives pining away romantically for one another. It’s just weird. "They were virtually strangers. But the part of him that had searched the skies hoping to see her again longed for the friendship they'd once had. No one, not even [his sister] Belen, had understood him the way Izzy had" (73). They were five years old!! There’s no way Jules and Izzy have felt about each other the way they say they do. And when they meet again at about age 18, they still feel wrong—world-weary in ways that they shouldn’t be at that age. This story would make a lot more sense if they were separated in the pre-teen years (age 12 or 13) and then reconnected in their late 20s. But the story is built on this destined romance, and the romance was really laughable.

Surface-level problems: I don’t think the scene on the front cover of the book happens. Also, there was never a crash of any kind, except a minor one near the end, which had little to do with anyone’s fate. I kept waiting for the cover picture and the title to happen in the book; they never did. “Crash of Fate” would be more appropriate for the other Galaxy’s Edge book, Black Spire, which does begin with a fateful crash that sets the whole story in motion. Did Lucasfilm mix up these titles?

It’s difficult to figure out the timeframe for this book and Black Spire. I think this book starts well before Black Spire and then shifts to a little bit after (because the Resistance has a base established on Batuu). But it’s never really clear. Is it Vi Moradi whom they meet at one point for the delivery? Is the battle at the end of the book the arrival of Kylo Ren that Black Spire ends with? It’s not important to this book, but if they’re going to hint at things like that, they may as well be clear.

Real-world intrusions: Star Wars now has DJs (usually droids). Does this mean they play music from discs? For me, this term raises a lot of questions.

Also, Bob Ross exerts his influence on SW for the first time: on page 159, we read "happy accident." :)

[myo ⋆｡˚ ❀ * · Rating 1 out of 5]

i’m sorry i just do not care about this book. i don’t care about the characters and i don’t care about the plot. i just finished reading lost stars which has a similar romance plotline and it just did it so much more justice.

[Christian Wermeskerch · Rating 3 out of 5]

Part of me has to hold this review with an open hand and admit that it wasn't for me. It was, in that it had Star Wars on the cover, but it wasn't because it was a YA love story at heart. So I don't want to be too harsh. So keep all of that in mind as you read this review. I think this book will go down in Star Wars history as...fairly average. (Doing a longer review here because a friend asked!)

As a Star Wars novel, it doesn't really do much to set it apart as unique. It's a kinda generic story, nothing really sets the characters apart as really unique (pirates, love-struck teens, uhh bounty hunters) or makes them really memorable. The plot is somewhat generic: smuggler on a run, also smugglers are evil? In a lot of ways, this book is fairly forgettable as a Star Wars novel and doesn't take much advantage of the context it is situated in. (It could essentially be reskinned as any franchise and still be essentially the same book.) At some point, being in the Star Wars galaxy should necessitate a story that couldn't be told in a different franchise.

You might be quick to say that it takes full advantage of being set in Batuu, especially because of how many Galaxy's Edge tie-ins it manages to squeeze in. Ah, yes, you'll read the entire menu of Oga's Cantina, you'll know every beast available for sale at the creature shop, and you'll become extremely familiar with Dok-Ondar's Den of Antiquities (and the baby sarlacc we met in Galaxy's Edge #1!) But a giant ad doesn't a Star Wars story make. Yes, every Star Wars novel tries to sell you on more Star Wars, but this novel couldn't find it's way around product placement. I'm more generous to the author here because I wonder if she was more or less forced to put in those shout-outs rather than doing it organically. But it causes a lot of characters to speak fairly woodenly: "Celebratory Fuzzy Tauntaun's on me!" sounds a lot more like an ad than "drinks are on me tonight!" Ah, well.

As for the YA love story that this novel really wanted to tell, it was mostly okay. It was a somewhat contrived meet-cute that isn't really cute. I'm not super familiar with YA love stories, but I sensed what were probably some tropes. The two main character, Jules and Izzy, meet when Izzy accidentally punches Jules in the face. Cute!(?) Most of the early drama in the book is based on a lack of communication, which I hear is another trope, one that bugs me a lot. The manufactured tension of Izzy not telling the truth could have been, you know, real tension if the smugglers she used to work with were brought in sooner.

For the most part, I liked Izzy and Jules' story. I don't think I have much affection for them on their own because we're told more about them than we're shown. We hear a lot about the way they are, but we don't see a lot of places where these are demonstrated. And the prelude to this meet-cute reunion is only like..30 pages, maybe? So I wasn't too relieved that they were re-united because I didn't know what they were like together? That being said, it was cute and I admit I was caught up in the cuteness at times.

I wish the side cast had been developed more, but who knows if they were characters I'd meet in the park? Maybe the book expected me to know them. In the end, as someone who may not attend the park soon, I felt like this book kept me at an arms' length. It wanted me invested in the love story, but the park elements kept reminding me how I wouldn't be going soon.

[Skye · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was a bit surprised to see an editor named in the acknowledgements, because this book seems like it didn't have one. I won't nitpick too much about the typos and copy errors -- after all, maybe I'm the crazy one, and people on Batuu really do "run raster" and consistently forget whether the nouns they're describing are singular or plural. And I won't nitpick about the constant continuity errors (maybe Batuuans often suddenly change their decisions and opinions between one page and the next?), because, honestly, I don't want to give this book any more of my time.

2 stars because I only use the 1 star rating for my DNFs, and I unfortunately forced (hah) myself to finish this one in case there was some necessary canon knowledge in here. (There isn't.)

[Sophie_The_Jedi_Knight · Rating 3 out of 5]

*2.75

Ugh, I wish I liked this more.

I was looking forward to this one - I did really love the premise of it, and I had it on audiobook. Star Wars audiobooks are the best. And this one's audiobook really sold it for me - it has all the sound effects and background noise that you can expect, but it also did something that I haven't seen a lot of the SW audiobooks do. It had music playing in the background for many of the scenes, even the ones where there wasn't music actively playing in a cantina or something. The music when they visit Izzy's childhood home was my favorite, I think.

The premise of this story is about an aspiring smuggler and adventurer returning to her homeworld on a job, only to run into the boy she left behind, with only one day to try to reclaim her past and decide her future.

Phrased like that, it sounds pretty cool, I will admit. But the thing about this book is that its whole thing is tied to Jules and Izzy's childhood friendship. I didn't really care for the side characters or the really unthreatening villain, but I could've dealt with all of Jules and Izzy's hijinks and home-touring if it wasn't for the fact that their relationship is... really strange? Empty, in a way, I guess?

Here's the thing - Izzy and Jules were once childhood friends. By that, I mean she was FIVE and he was SIX. So yeah, emphasis on childhood there. And then suddenly Izzy's parents leave Batuu and Izzy and Jules are separated, not seeing each other until THIRTEEN years later.

So, look, that can work. But the thing is, if you're working on this dynamic of them not having seen each other for THIRTEEN YEARS then you need to focus on their relationship now. You can talk about how they have this basis when they were kids but things are different now - but this isn't what the book tries to do. Instead, they constantly reference about how these two know each other on a deeper level and how Jules was so obsessed in love with Izzy that he never stopped thinking about her - you know, the girl he was friends with when they were FIVE AND SIX. (I'm being harsh here, Jules isn't that bad, really.)

But honestly - there is only one section in this whole book with them as kids, and it's just the prologue. And there isn't even any emphasis on what their relationship was like then - it literally states that they just hung out out of convenience when their parents were busy. And all they do is climb ruins one time and talk about exploring the galaxy (like every other Star Wars character) and then Jules gives Izzy a family ring. That's it. Then Izzy's parents leave that night and they don't see each other for thirteen years -

Ugh, I'll stop saying that.

But that's just it - you can't base their newly romantic relationship when they're teenagers on a really dull childhood friendship when they were so young they realistically wouldn't have remembered each other on this level - seriously, they meet for the first time after this and Jules instantly somehow can tell when Izzy is lying. It's ridiculous. And then they're both confiding in one another how they always wanted to come back to each other, but were never able to - but they were children!

Also, the way information is revealed in here is also annoying. It's kind of "as you go" style, but not in a good way. Like "Oh hey, a lake, my dad used to teach me swimming!" or "Yeah, I remember how my mom used to do this specific thing!" right when the thing happens. I mean, Izzy was born and grew up on Batuu, yeah, for six months when she was five. If she bounced around to a lot of different planets after this, I get that Batuu would have a special place in her heart, but it's really built up to a strange degree when she was SO young.

The plot with Ana Tolla and Damar (who were so boring) and the side characters on Batuu don't really matter - the whole driving force of this book is about Izzy and Jules' individual characters and their dynamic. And that's where it fails - because, as I said, their whole relationship is fundamentally built on this brief friendship when they were very young. It's impossible to really root for them when this is your basis.

And, as characters, they're both kind of off - Izzy is all over the place. She's kind of a smuggler, but it's implied she's just doing this to see the galaxy, but then she doesn't really care about that. She vaguely references to Jules at one point that she's done terrible things with Ana Tolla's crew, but that is never mentioned again. And then there's the stuff with Izzy's mother, who really sucked and dragged her daughter around from planet to planet because of her bad decisions, but she loved Izzy's father so everything's fine. And still, what was the point of that?

Jules isn't much better. His whole thing is that he's stayed on Batuu because he hasn't been able to leave, but from the beginning he's very obsessed with his childhood friend (when he was SIX) and he's just chasing after Izzy the whole book, talking about how much he loves her and wants to be with her and missed her literally every single day (yes, that last part is an exact quote). Again, this would work if he and Izzy had a better foundation for their relationship, but they do not. There's exactly one line about Jules comparing his childhood best friend and the person she is now but that's it. Whenever they have a bonding moment it's about that very short time when they were friends thirteen years ago. That's it.

2.75/5 stars. The audiobook was really good, but this book didn't have great writing or a worthy relationship driving it. I will read the next Galaxy's Edge book when I get it on audiobook, but I'm disappointed about this one, even if it did have some nice parts. I did like that scene at the end in the cantina where people were cheering for Izzy and she reflected back to that "Nobody knows your name" line, but then it was instantly followed by "But Jules remembered me for years!" and I rolled my eyes again. I had fun at times, I will admit, but I couldn't get overall attached to the characters. I was kind of hoping for an unhappy ending (even though not a single SW couple ever gets a happy ending) just because it would be more interesting. But no. The epilogue was a bit cute, though, I guess. Onto Black Spire, then.

2.75/5 stars.

[Robert · Rating 3 out of 5]

So many mixed feelings! Wish I could be a coward and skip the star rating portion, because there were parts I really loved and then other parts that were so-so but it's mostly down to just one or two cringey story choices that made me park this one at 3 instead of 4 or even 5 stars.



First off, I think I delayed reading this for as long as I did not because I have anything against a book that's marketed as YA (Lost Stars is my favourite Star Wars book after all) but because I was leary about the theme park tie-in aspect and I was also concerned that a different author was going to try and catch the same lightning in the bottle that Claudia Gray did with her book for the Original Trilogy only for the much-less developed timeline of the Sequel Trilogy.

A third or so into the book, though, I realized that the author went a totally different direction and, barring a "Years Earlier"-style prologue all the action took place over the course of...I'm thinking a day and a half? two days tops? as much more of a wild day-in-the life approach to the thoughts, actions and feelings of the two teen protagonists reconnecting with each other after years apart and getting caught up in the schemes and politics of Black Spire Outpost. This aspect was very well done, Julen Rakab and Izal Garsea felt like real people and not action heroes or fantasy tropes.



In terms of this being a Star Wars book, though, I felt all the references to Oga's Cantina drinks or the First Order and Resistance were kind of shoehorned in and distracted from- rather than building up the core story of Izal facing up to her past and Julen deciding what he wanted out of life. The main plot involved a classic Western-style tale of some ruffians arriving in town looking to cause trouble and the co-protagonists getting caught up in it, but these ruffians have nothing to do with the broader galactic conflict, they're basically just garden variety crooked land rustlers.

Additionally, Izzy very conveniently finds something randomly at the very end of the book that really didn't need to be found but was thrown in for the purposes of closure, I guess? It's a universe of space wizards and sassy robots and even so I found it hard to swallow. The last part of the final epilogue, as well, was so infuriatingly vague and tacked on I personally prefer to pretend it wasn't there at all and the final scene was Izzy and Jules racing each other across Batuu in their respective ships, excited about what comes next.

None of this is to say that Zoraida Córdova is a weak writer or that she doesn't "get" or love Star Wars, she is clearly really talented and has a deep appreciation for the universe. This one just didn't hit for me, but I would be very interested in reading something more by her in-universe in the future where she perhaps has an opportunity to tell a piece of a bigger story or revisits these characters a few years down the road.

[Abigail McKenna · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this a lot! The romance is quite cute, and reading it with a Hollywood Studios map pulled up was an Experience™ that I quite enjoyed! 4 stars from me!

[Abe Froman · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was so excited for this novel. I had it marked on my calendar and went immediately to the mailbox on its release date so I could dive right in. I fully expected to be reading late into the night and finish within a day. Unfortunately, I had to force myself to pick up this book.

This is Star Wars, which I love more than anything in this world. It’s also a YA romance, which is my guilty pleasure. I was expecting this to be another Lost Stars. This novel had none of the charm of Lost Stars and more than that, it didn’t feel... Star Wars-y? If it wasn’t for the Star Wars references inorganically sprinkled throughout, this could be plopped into any other franchise or be considered a stand alone.

Speaking of Star Wars references, I understand that this book is an advertisement for the theme park. I knew that going in. But the constant descriptions of every single shop, cantina, restaurant, etc, really slowed down the narrative and stilted nearly every conversation. Take a book like Thrawn Alliances, which featured Batuu, but didn’t sacrifice the story in order to do so.

I could forgive the lack of good Star Wars references, because I think this is intended to be first and foremost a love story. It’s just not a great one. We are told rather than shown most of Izzy and Jules personality traits and I’m not entirely sure why they even like each other beyond being best friends when they were five. I rooted and cried for Thane Kyrell and Ciena Ree. If Izzy and Jules turned to each other at the end and were like “yeah let’s go our separate ways” I would have shrugged apathetically.

I was going to give this three stars because even though I didn’t care for it, it’s not THAT bad, and I think most of the flaws are not the authors fault. But this is just so bland. The only benefit I got to reading this is that it made me think of Hondo Ohnaka so I rewatched some of The Clone Wars.

[Robert Morvay · Rating 1 out of 5]

I believe this is my first 1 star review and I am so glad to give it to this novel. Jarringly horrible prose, unlikeable and inconsistent characters, a needless POV gimmick for characters that are usually together making the book read like a 14 year olds Wattpad fanfic, awful structuring and padding, a plot that's going nowhere, and just everything. It's just awful. And with such a transparently grimy LITERAL mystery box component, it's like the author knew they were writing garbage. A complete waste of time.

[Jim C · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book takes place along the timeline of the new trilogy. It is a YA book that tells the story of two star crossed lovers in a galaxy far, far away. In this one, Jules and Izzy are childhood friends when Izzy's family abruptly moves away. Years later Izzy returns back to her home planet and runs into Jules and an adventure ensues.

I have already read a book about star crossed lovers that exist in this universe and it is called Lost Stars. It probably isn't fair to compare this book to Lost Stars since that book was absolutely amazing but I have to because of the similarities. Once again we have childhood friends that reconnect after a length of time and once again we have a tale of will they get past their differences. I couldn't help but see how similar this book was to the book written by Claudia Gray.

As for this book on its own you do end up rooting for our protagonists to come together. Everything else fell flat. I do like the idea of an adventure not affecting the entire fate of the galaxy or not being related to a Skywalker but I wasn't interested in this adventure. I never felt any stakes to it. This can be attributed to all the characters involved in it besides our main characters. There wasn't any development to them and I felt like they were just cardboard cutouts. I will probably forget all about them within a week.

This book wasn't aimed for me. This book concentrated on the relationship of the two main characters and everything else took a back seat. It felt more like a romance novel than it did as a novel situated in this universe. That being said, I have read a novel that had basically the same premise and it was infinitely better.

[Italo De Nubila · Rating 1 out of 5]

One of the worst if not the worst Star Wars novel I’ve read so far, and I’ve read everything except for high republic era!

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

New characters! They don’t all die! Takes place almost completely on a single planet!

[C. A. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Zoraida is now a Star Wars historian and I think that is great. I feel like Star Wars has lost its luster for me, but I read this solely because Z wrote it and I enjoyed Izzy and Jule's story so much. Both their early connection and their meet-cute in the middle of this sci-fi adventure really compelled me to keep going. Also, the production on the audiobook was amazing.

[Bailey Chadwick · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[Aaron Goins · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am definitely not the target audience for this book. It reads a little younger than Lost Stars and has a lot of teen romance elements. But it was a fun story with likable, believable original characters and has a satisfying conclusion.

[Jacqueline · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have a few thoughts. All in all it was a very cute story. I really enjoyed it, in a different way then the way I wanted to like it.
It's a starwars novel...so it sld be, ya know, like a starwars novel right? Do starwars and plan romance mesh togeather well??? In my book, no, not entirely.
I was disappointed because this was more a romance, and you all know I love my romances! But I love my Starwars too. It's my favorite universe to escape too. But this seemed to be all romance...yes there was some action and I enjoyed it. But it was a slow read.
It was cute. But not a want for a fanatic like myself.

[Tokio Myers · Rating 2 out of 5]

My feelings of this book are conflicting. For one, I actually like Disney taking their approach to the Star Wars EU by writing stories that do not involve the Skywalker bloodline. This causes the Star Wars universe to be extensive and opens up new doors for characters that aren't controlled by the force or have a relation to jedi, the empire, or the first order. I love the idea of reading a Star Wars book that is just about normal people in the Star Wars universe. I think this is great. The book on the other hand is just not.

A Crash of Fate is a book about two childhood friends meeting up and having a little adventure. Too bad the boy and girl were bland and how they met up was also bland, and the conflict of the story was bland, and now I am writing a bland review because I can't even think of anything bad or good about this book. I have forgotten the plot and everything that happens right when I stopped reading it, and I am flabbergasted at Zoraida writing something like this since her other work is really good.

-sigh-

I am still not giving up on the Galaxy's Edge books. One of them is going to be great and perfect for the Star Wars universe! I just know it!

[Bethany (Beautifully Bookish Bethany) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Actual Rating: 3.5 stars

A Crash of Fate is a fun adventure romance set in the world of Galaxy's Edge (the new Star Wars area in the Disney theme parks). I was really excited to pick this up because I will be going to Disneyland this summer and it was really fun to get descriptions of some key locations I expect to see there! This story in particular follows childhood friends reconnecting and developing feelings for each other while having adventures on the outpost planet of Batuu. I didn't realize going in that this was a romance, so do be aware that is the primary plot of the story, and the bulk of it takes place in a single day.

Even if they were childhood BFF's, I'm not entirely sold on everything happening so quickly, but I still found this to be an enjoyable read if a bit slow at times. I would definitely recommend it if you are a Star Wars fan or are planning on visiting the parks! I really loved the fleshed out world and thought that a lot of the side characters were fascinating. And the relationship between Izzy and Jules is very cute. He is a complete cinnamon roll and this is a very sweet teen romance, if a rapidly developing one. I received an advance copy of this book for review from the publisher, all opinions are my own.

[Jedimelinda · Rating 2 out of 5]

All in all, I probably would give A Crash of Fate 2-1/2 stars, if possible. It was a little bit better than "OK" but not quite to the point of "I liked it" (the 3-star rating).
When I picked up Cordova's Star Wars novel, I wasn't aware it was a YA novel (I am unfamiliar with her works). I think she did a pretty good job of developing Izzy's and Jules's characters, their motivations, etc., but beyond that, everyone was pretty tepid in the character-development state. And the motivation for Izzy's former crew abandoning her -- totally unexplained, even when Izzy runs into her former crew mates on Batuu -- left me empty, and not really caring about any of the peripheral characters at all (this includes disliking them as well). And to be perfectly honest, the un-named entity who sent Ana and her crew to do the dastardly deed they were sent to do on Batuu (that's all I will say about that deed) -- and Ana agreeing to do it in the first place -- was so lame and unbelievable to me that all I wanted to do was get to the book's conclusion.
If I was 15, and reading A Crash of Fate, I probably would have liked it just fine. But as an adult used to reading novels -- including "Star Wars" novels -- that are more riveting and well-rounded with characters who have more depth to them, this 300+-page book just didn't cut it for me.
Happy Reading! :-)

[Erin Phillips · Rating 5 out of 5]

Zoraida Córdova is one of the best authors of our time. I'm convinced.

I've always loved Star Wars and read so many EU books growing up, so it was really fun to pick up a Star Wars book again, especially once set in the new era (sequal trilogy)!

Jules and Izzy (oh I could cry thinking of them!) are just AMAZING characters. You can't help but love them, hurt for them, feel like you understand them because they understand you. Córdova has such a way with characters and I have yet to find her equal! She is able to make them so realistic, with flaws and failures and weaknesses and rough edges, and yet they are so sympathetic and relatable. I see myself in both Jules and Izzy, and in experiencing their story, I feel like I have been emboldened to grow as a person.

In the words of Jules, "Just because you get food poisoning one time, doesn't mean you stop eating." Truly, the themes of trust and selflessness in this story hits so close to home for me. So close. And I really appreciate the care with which Córdova handled that message.

It was also especially fun to have all of the lore of Batuu in these pages! I haven't been to Disney's Galaxy's Edge yet, but reading this book makes me want to go so badly so I can walk where Jules and Izzy walked and really live in their shoes for a day! I want to tie a string on the wishing tree, and swim in the cenote, and touch the obilisk. I feel like I've already lived there in my spirit and I can't wait to do it physically someday!

Plus, this book was a quick read! Exellently paced, I read this book in two days (and maybe slacked on some things but it was so worth it!) I just loved living in these pages and I can't wait to read it again when I'm in a reading slump or need a cozy adventure.

[Jose F. Martin del Pozo · Rating 2 out of 5]

According to Wookieepedia, at this moment the new Star Wars canon comprises 9 young adult novels (with a 10th coming out next November). I have read them all. Some are so good that I have reread them a few times (Lost Stars, Ahsoka).

My problem with this YA novel is that it's the least Star-Warsy book I've read in this new canon. What you read in many chapters could happen in any universe.

Except for a scarce few mentions to the Resistance and the First Order, and some name-dropping (Naboo, Mandalore...), the only real connection to the GFFA is that it happens on Batuu.

[joanna · Rating 2 out of 5]

Oof. Wish I could say I enjoyed this but it was a disaster. The plot made no sense. The writing was choppy and the characters were unbelievably flat. One day I'll stop reading the cheesy YA Star Wars books...but today isn't that day.

I will say this one was infinitely better than Lost Stars so there's that?

[Allison Tebo · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF.

[Kels · Rating 4 out of 5]

let zoraida write every star wars romance novel she wants!!!

[abi · Rating 3 out of 5]

*2.75 - rounded to 3


Star Wars Whore rating - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5


Star Wars Time Period - First Order/Ben Solo, Rey, Finn, Poe Dameron, etc.,


Goodreads rating - ⭐️⭐️.75 (rounded to 3)


Hi, welcome back, today I'm going to be reviewing this book, and also starting a new thing on my Goodreads. If your curious by what I meant of that last statement, let me explain. So I'm a whore for Star Wars. I will be a whore for Star Wars till the day I die, and absolutely nothing will change my love for it. I've decided, every time I read a Star Wars related book, I'll rate it in the 'Star Wars Whore Rating' and add in the time period of Star Wars the book is set. Star Wars Whore Rating means how well the author captured the world of Star Wars, how well they did the characters, and how they explained everything in my taste of writing etc., And Star Wars time period means when and where (if it's a popular planet) the book is set. My Star Wars Whore rating will most likely always be different from my Goodreads rating too. My Goodreads rating is my enjoyment, and my Star Wars Whore rating is how well the author interpreted Star Wars into a different media. Hope that makes sense, because every time I have a new Star Wars book, I'm going to be rating it in my 'Star Wars Whore Rating' system or SWWR


Let's start with my SWHR rating. I really loved how Zoraida Córdova put Star Wars in a whole different media. She captured it so well! I've actually never gotten around to playing the video game "Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge" (even though I have wanted to for some time). That's what this book is mainly based off of; Batuu a smugglers planet in the video game. But even though I've never played the game, it doesn't mean I can't comment on how well the author exceeded in making this feel just like a Star Wars movie. I felt the tone I always do when watching Star Wars, and I felt that feeling I get when I watch Star Wars.


The way the author also described things, and made things felt like I was watching one of the films, rather than reading about these characters. The only thing I really have to critique for my SWWR is the lack of light sabers. But I guess I can't really complain to much, because none of our main characters are a Force sensitive or even remotely close to a Jedi so I shouldn't be complaining. But it just missed that extra...thread for me? Idk light sabers are such a HUGE part of Star Wars, and it just wasn't fully complete without them.


Now I'm gonna end with my personal enjoyment, which ended up being the rating I gave for the book on Goodreads. I enjoyed our main characters Izzy and Jules well enough, and I enjoyed the plot, but I didn't love the execution.


I thought this book was going to take place over more than a day, but it didn't, and sometimes I can get past those stories, but this one wasn't believable. I don't like stories that take place over a day. I've not liked one that I've read. And this wasn't an exception. I just couldn't believe this book takes place over a day. Even though the book is under 400 pages (maybe even under 350), so much happens in such a short period of time and I didn't believe it.


And the plot was so SLOW. The Star Wars movies I like the least are the ones with the slowest moving plots (The Phantom Menace, Solo, A New Hope, The Rise of Skywalker - which is not slow but painstakingly stupid. Anyways not the point). And I will agree with myself and say that I don't like Star Wars being slow I'm book form either. Theirs nothing wrong with a slow moving plot, as long as we at least get some action towards the end (it's sci-if I want action). But the action we get was stupid. Like really stupid.


I just thought maybe we'd get like Stormtroopers, and fighting against the First Order, and maybe even the two main characters joining the Resistance, especially because they both seemed lost on what to do with their lives. Alas, we didn't get that.


I will say though that I did really like the romance. Even though it's highly unbelievable, it's good. I don't usually like 'best friends to lovers' but this one, for some reason hit the mark. I think it was because our two main characters were super different from each other, yet they were so similar in so many ways, and that's what really made me like their chemistry.


And no, their isn't anything coherently WRONG with this book, it's a solid book, a lot of the things I complained about are because of my pettiness. Or im better terms, just things I want to knit-pick at.


Overall, this is a very solid read, I just rated it so low mainly because I was bored. I definitely recommend this though if your looking for a Star Wars book that captures the world, and the sci-if aspect very well. (You have been warmed their are no light sabers unfortunately *sad face*).

[kesseljunkie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I want to be clear my rating isn’t the fault of the author. She’s a good enough writer, it’s just that this has the overbearing aura of “mandatory marketing messaging” all over it and along the way manages to feel like a signpost of all the ways Disney misfired in its marketing for Galaxy’s Edge.

I’ve been many times to GE and enjoy it. It’s well themed and clever. But the marketing has been all over the place and it’s unfortunately tied to a Star Wars timeline in which I, like many others, am not terribly invested. And so this book’s obviously-mandated moments of MENTION DRINK HERE and SET EVENTS AT ATTRACTION HERE just feel ham-handed and the story at the center of it isn’t enough to root you.

I’m sure some might say “but it’s a YA novel” and I can only respond that there have been delightful YA novels in Star Wars - and all of them were obviously free to run with their better impulses. This just reads more like it was carefully managed by a domineering force that didn’t let Cordova “run with it” as it were.

Again, not her fault. She’s a capable writer. It’s just obvious they didn’t give her the freedom she deserved.