Review: “Star Wars: The High Republic: Path of Vengeance”

A new novel for the second stage. We’ll see what’s inside with a light burn.

Contents (fuss)

Marda and Jana belong to the “Way of the Open Hand” – a religious group led by a charismatic woman who calls herself “Mother.” Path believes that force in general should not be used by anyone. Meanwhile, Marda joins a dangerous expedition to the planet whose goal is to wrest the Path of the Open Hand from Mother’s control. Marda and Yanna are now forced to decide not only their fate, but the fate of the entire galaxy.

criticism

With “Path of Revenge” a new part of the second stage of the High Republic appears – and in fact it should be the last if you look at the story. This means that this phase would have been very short, which is of course not a bad thing on the one hand, but on the other hand it raises the question of whether it was absolutely necessary.

However, the story here thrives on good character scenes. In my review of The Last Path, I had already suggested that it would be nice to read more from our heroines Jana and Marda – and we hear that here, because the two are at the forefront here again. In this case, the heroines are relative, because they are still members of the cult that sparked the Battle of the Jedi and actually want to destroy the Jedi in a certain way.

The fact that you approach it from the other side and don’t always focus on the radioactive Jedi is definitely a plus point in the novel. The Jedi also appear and are given some space, but the majority of those scenes only happen at the end. Until then, we accompany the two women whose doubts about the path grow with each passing page, and this is conveyed very well. You can already see it in its predecessors and here the further development of these two is constantly being pushed forward.

But this time there are also good personal scenes with other suspicious heroes like Mother or Sunshine. This time, the latter shows some concern for his fellow human beings, which distances him at least a little from the unscrupulous killer. The mother’s descent into madness becomes abundantly clear from the beginning. When she is confronted near the end, you almost want to scream “finally” against the pages, because it is so necessary because of the injustices that the mother casts upon her members. This is a good way to tell stories, because you feel for the characters from beginning to end.

Speaking of the beginning: we start here with the aftermath of the Battle of Jeddah, which (in German publications) is still not quite comprehensive (but it’s getting close). The subsequent journey to the planet and the individual volumes somehow seem to mesh better with each other than they did in the first phase. The arc of the later novels, in effect the first phase, was also successful. Because in the end Marda escapes on the ship that Nihil will later develop on. The equations are also cleverly hidden from the Jedi – although it may be suggested here that it is a coincidence that when a Jedi encounters one of the creatures, something happens that they do not allow him to see. The story is bent a little here to make it consistent, but you can live with that.

It’s probably also worth noting that the fight scenes are always dealt with in short sentences, especially at the end. Of course, it’s always difficult to describe fight scenes, but here it’s more clear, especially since the character scenes beforehand are great and there’s a small problem with the movement. But it will likely be less than a B grade.