I just finished reading Path of Vengeance, and WOW it was a ride! I was really enthralled by this book the entire time I was reading. Each subplot is fascinating and every character had a really interesting arc. The book is really difficult to put down in spots, with some crazy reveals. It is the perfect wrap-up to Phase II of the High Republic, and makes me more excited to dive fully in to Phase III books. I really reccomend this book for anyone following Phase II's story, because it is the perfect ending, even though I hope it's not the last of this era being seen in storytelling.
Spoilers ahead for Path of Vengeance by Cavan Scott!
The Ro cousins were easily my favorite part of this book. That's not a knock on the rest of the book, it's a story filled with greatness- it's just a testament to how amazing the Ro cousins were. I fell in love with Marda and Yana in Path of Deceit, and I was so into this continuation of their story. Marda's arc was one that I especially loved. She starts as the proud Guide of the Path of the Open Hand, but her conviction and unwavering loyalty to the Mother is shattered by the Mother's own cruelty. She briefly assists Yana in saving the Jedi and turning on the Mother, but rather than following Yana by running far away from it all, she becomes something worse. She rallies the Path behind her, now as the Path of the Closed Fist. Instead of the 3 wavy lines across their forehead, they bear the jagged lightning bolts that will later be adopted by the Nihil, and kills the Mother with the very creatures that the Mother had used against the Jedi before. It's a wild evolution when you consider that Marda started as the sweet girl who takes care of the children and hands out flowers in town, but well earned throughout the story- and I believe it cemented her as one of my favorite characters in The High Republic.
Yana, on the other hand, follows the course she was set on from the end of Path of Deceit, though certainly with some speed bumps along the way. But Yana's road being more straightforward doesn't make it any less interesting to read. I loved reading how her disillusionment with the path only grows more and more, even as characters she cares about like the Herald of the Path or her own cousin grow more and more fanatic. That doesn't. stop Yana's compassionate nature, however. Towards the end of the book, in a fit of rage, Marda slices Yana's hand off with a lightsaber, and even then Yana still shows her love and tries to save Marda from her own choices.
What was especially cool about both Marda and Yana in the book was the specters they're haunted by. For Marda, she is constantly seeing an apparition of Kevmo Zink, her Jedi padawan love interest in the first book who was killed by the Nameless. This Kevmo, however, is not the well-meaning and kind boy we know. Marda's doubt and guilt take the form of a Kevmo who is cruel, sneering at nearly every thought Marda has and making biting comments formed only to hurt her. This Kevmo is hardly Kevmo at all through their brief fling, I think representing how little Marda truly knew of him, but also how the Path's view of the Force and hatred of the Jedi shapes her view of everything, even herself.
Yana, on the other hand, is haunted by the ghost of Kor, her longtime girlfriend and mission partner in the Path. Unlike Marda's visions of Kevmo, Kor is much closer to the character we knew in Path of Deceit, likely because Yana knew Kor much better. This Kor does not insult Yana the way that Kevmo insults Marda, but she does give her some tough love. She urges Yana to leave the Path behind, and questions Yana frequently- why doesn't Yana take the first opportunity to flee? Why does she still go back for Marda, when Marda clearly doesn't want to leave? They're questions Yana sometimes struggles to answer, but also ones she needs to think about.
While the Ro cousins were a delicious part of this story, there were others I loved too. Matty Cathley and Oliviah Zeveron were two characters that were new to me that I totally loved. Matty is chatty padawan navigating her connection with the Force and what it means to be a Jedi and handle these conflicts, while Oliviah is a Jedi Knight that is a bit more aloof. Matty lost her master in the Battle of Jedha and is now under the instruction of another Jedi Master that she knew, but has been sent to tag along with Oliviah to investigate the Path of the Open Hand. I know that both of these characters are the main characters of High Republic comics, and while my introduction to them is more at the end of their story, it made me really excited to get to those comics as I catch up. Both were endearing and interesting and I can't wait to experience their stories in full- especially Matty!
Oliviah, however, dropped the biggest reveal in this book, and possibly in all of the Phase II novels. Oliviah Zeveron reveals that the Mother's real name is Elecia Zeveron- that's right, the pair are sisters! Oliviah was taken in by the Jedi when she was young, but Elecia was not, and Elecia decided to use her powers in the Force to influence people to follow her, and she created the Path of the Open Hand because of her anger with them- her beliefs about ripples in the Force not being true, and that the destruction and death that the Path left in its wake was all because of this desire for revenge. While Elecia is killed by the enraged Marda, her damage has been done, as the Path of the Open Hand's fervent believers have evolved into the Path of the Closed Fist and will continue on, eventually evolving into the Nihil that plague the galaxy in Phase I and III of the High Republic.
This book was the perfect wrap-up to Phase II, tying plot threads together from the mysterious Planet X, the evolution of the Path and the what the Jedi do and don't know about the Nameless. It also shows the other sides of the Battle of Dalna, which I first saw in Cataclysm. It fills in a few blanks and explains some of the things that were happening there, and despite the fact that I already knew the outcome of this battle, I was still heavily invested in this new perspective of it.
If you're someone who was apprehensive of diving into the High Republic rabbit-hole, I can say with confidence that it's stories like these that make all of the time invested well, well worth it, not to mention how great of a ride it is along the way.
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