A Crash of Fate – Review

“I know the galaxy will never be big enough to fill that emptiness in you heart, Izzy, because you don’t want it to. You want to keep running because you wound’t know what to do if you had to stop.” A Crash of Fate pg. 241-242

Since the sale of Lucasfilm to Disney in 2012, the public has eagerly anticipated, what would be named Galaxy’s Edge, that has opened at the Disney theme parks in California and Florida. To celebrate and promote the new parks, the publishing line of Star Wars books and comics has been readying fans for their visit with stories that take place on the world of Batuu and the Black Spire Outpost there, which is the place fans can visit. Black Spire Outpost was mentioned in Solo: A Star Wars Story, it was featured in Thrawn: Alliances, there is a comic series about it and both arms of publishing have books being released in the month of August 2019 staring it. First up is A Crash of Fate by Zoraida Córdova.

A Need To Be Loved

The story of A Crash of Fate is a simple one. Jules and Izzy are best friends growing up on Batuu until one night Izzy and her family leave unexpectedly. As fate would have it, Izzy returns to Batuu for a smuggling job and her and Jules are thrust together after years apart. As they work to stay alive and complete the mission, they must deal with the unresolved feelings they have for one another that have resurfaced throughout their day on Batuu.

There is a beautiful theme that runs through the story. Izzy has been left alone in the universe with the death of both of her parents. Her mother had taught her that to survive, you can only rely on yourself, which has led to a very lonely life. She begins to question this worldview in her time with Jules. She finds that deep longing that all beings have, to be known and loved by someone. She struggles with the desire to belong to a family and to have a home, when all of her experiences have told her that you can’t trust either. The story plays this out well as Izzy realizes throughout the story that not only was her mother wrong, but that she can be known and loved, not just by Jules, but by the people of Black Spire Outpost as well. It’s a good reminder of the importance of community in our lives and that life is much better as part of group than as a lone ranger.

The Book

The theme of the book is good, but the story itself does have some issues. One: it is a terribly cliched love story. Unlike all of the other Young Adult books so far in the new canon, A Crash of Fate is never able to transcend it’s genre, it’s firmly intrenched in the YA tropes. Now this is not bad per say, since it is a YA book, but it is disappointing with the track record these books have so far. Second: because the book is based on Batuu, most fans won’t have any connection to the place unless they have been to Galaxy’s Edge already. Since this book has nothing familiar, in either characters or place, it is hard to feel like it matters much in the canon of stories. Lastly: the story has very few connections with the larger Star Wars universe. It takes place after the destruction of Hosnian Prime in The Force Awakens, with some very tangential connections to Resistance and First Order activity on Batuu, but it’s just not enough to actually feel important. With these issues, A Crash of Fate is mildly entertaining but inconsequential, it is rated 3 out of 5 stars.

This review was completed using a copy of A Crash of Fate  provided by Disney Lucasfilm Press.

Author: Matt Rushing

Matthew Rushing is the host of Trek.fm‘s The 602 Club and co-host of TheNerdParty.com‘s AggressiveNegotiations: A Star Wars Podcast. He can be found on Twitter @mattrushing02.