Star Wars The High Republic: Path of Vengeance Book Review

Phase II of The High Republic comes to a dramatic end with Path of Vengeance, the last Young Adult Novel and final book of this period that takes place 150 years before Phase I.

Cavan Scott writes Path of Vengeance. It is available in audio, physical, and digital formats. Earlier copies were sold at Star Wars Celebration 2023. It was released for the rest of the world on May 2nd while the audiobook wasn’t out until June 6th.

This is not an illustrated novel so most of the images you’ll see are for illustrative purposes. Most of them are taken from High Republic books and comics but a few are from other Star Wars media.

This first section of the review is free of spoilers. There will be a warning when spoilers begin later in the review.

Before reading Path of Vengeance

As I mentioned above, this is the last book of Phase II of the High Republic. Path of Deceit, Convergence, Quest for the Hidden City, The Battle of Jedha, and Cataclysm lead to the events that happen on Path of Vengeance.

It’s crucial that you read at least Path of Deceit, Convergence, The Battle of Jedha, and Cataclysm in order to understand what is happening.

While the Path of the Open Hand has always been at the center of almost every story, we’ve only read from their perspective on Path of Deceit.

The rest of the novels have focused on Creighton Sun, Aida Forte, Gella Nattai, Xiri A’lbaran, Phan-tu Zenn, Char-ryl-roy, and other characters related to the Jedi Order, The Republic, Eiram, and E’ronoh.

Path of Vengeance is very similar to Path of Deceit, the last and first novels of Phase II respectively. The story is focused on a few characters and the pace of the book is very slow, too slow for my taste but it’s cool that the structure of both novels is so similar.

Even the climax of both stories happen in the same physical location. I’m not sure if it was planned like that but I always enjoy when things like these “rhyme”, as George Lucas says.

A different point of view

The Battle of Jedha and Cataclysm were all about big battles and events that could lead to the downfall of the Republic and maybe even the Jedi Order.

We met and lost great heroes that gave everything to ensure that the fragile peace between Eiram and E’ronoh wouldn’t be disrupted by a series of unfortunate (but intentional) events.

For hundreds of pages, we didn’t know anything important about one of the Path’s most important members, Marda Ro. Marda’s blind devotion to the Mother, her love for the people of the Path, and her innocence made Marda the perfect candidate to be named “the Guide”.

Star Wars The High Republic: Path of Vengeance Book

Path of Vengeance covers the events of The Battle of Jedha and Cataclysm from Marda’s perspective. This is also where her character evolves into the being that will indirectly change the future of the galaxy.

The Force will be free

For me, one of the best things about Phase II of the High Republic is the Path of the Open Hand. Across the different eras of Star Wars, the Sith have fought against the Jedi without none of them truly achieving victory.

That eternal fight of Jedi vs Sith is always entertaining but sometimes it’s good to have a different type of antagonist. The Path of the Open Hand might not wield the Force but The Mother has learned to weaponize an idea and the people that believe in it.

It doesn’t matter that none of them has studied the Force or the different points of view regarding it. Every idea or concept that members of the Path have about it has been fed to them just like a beast feeds its cub. In groups where indoctrination of this kind is so prevalent, questioning the beliefs of the group can lead to exclusion or worse.

As a result, these cults turn into massive echo chambers where everyone gets radicalized over time. When Phase I began, only the Mother and the Herald would resort to violence.

By the time the events of Path of Vengeance take place, everyone is committed to hurting and killing anyone that doesn’t align with them. Even small children are convinced to plant detonators because “it is to ensure the future of the Path”.

The Mother doesn’t use the dark side of the Force but her incredible manipulation skills allow her to turn a small group of refugees into a big and dangerous cult that almost makes Eiram and E’ronoh destroy each other.

Marda Ro

Path of Vengeance properly ends Phase II in a way that is very similar to what we got in Path of Deceit. Returning to Dalna, where the Path of the Open Hand has lived for many years and where Marda Ro first met Kevmo Zink, the Jedi Padawan who made her feel a different type of love for the first time.

Instead of a big battle where dozens of important characters are involved, this story is more about the power dynamics within the Path of the Open Hand and the relationships of its members.

For the first time, The Path of the Open Hand is in true danger. Werth Plouth (The Herald), Yana Ro, and Marda Ro get tested to their limits. It is only under the hardest circumstances that the true self comes out, for better or worse.

All of them show their true colors, but while The Mother and The Herald are more than predictable, Yana and Marda truly surprised me. Yana is constantly grieving the death of her loved one, despite her being a woman that has shown no remorse when taking lives before, she shows a very vulnerable side.

On the other hand, Marda has always been naive and too trusty of whatever The Mother says. Always believing the words and ignoring the evidence of her clear double agenda. For the majority of Phase II, Marda Ro has been a gullible child that anyone older than her could manipulate without any problems.

This changes in Path of Vengeance. Marda finds a new purpose and with it, a courage that she has never experienced before. The new Marda has a clear vision of what she must do to spread the word of the Path of the Open Hand and no one will stand in her way. Not the Jedi, not her cousin Yana, not The Herald, and certainly not The Mother.

Listening to the Audiobook

The experience of listening to the audio version is good but not as pleasant as The Battle of Jedha or Cataclysm. It is certainly better than reading just the text but I had issues trying to keep track of some secondary characters and their actions. This is mainly because some of them are voiced very similarly.

Music and sound effects are always fun to hear but due to the slow pace of the story, the music is nowhere near the intensity of the previous two stories. But not everything is negative, I really enjoyed how Emily O’Brien brought Marda Ro, Yana Ro, The Mother, Oliviah, and Jedi Padawan Matty Cathley to life.

The volume of their voices, pronunciation, pitch, and speech intonation perfectly matched their personality. Adding these aspects to the mental image that I already have of them made it so easy to picture the scenes where they were involved.

Hearing the Leveler was also super important to get immersed in the moment. It may have appeared in fewer scenes than most other characters but whenever it did, things were very intense. Its roar really helped me to understand how scary and dangerous this abomination truly is.

The following segment of the review contains spoilers.

An unexpected twist

After manipulating everyone around her, The Mother is confronted by the one girl who once believed in her words more than anyone. Marda Ro has learned not only that The Mother doesn’t believe what she preaches, but that she’s also a Force user. The kind of people that she has learned to despise more than anything.

After Jedi intervention, Elecia is captured and Marda goes to the caves to amend the mistake of bringing many of the Nameless eggs to Dalna. With the help of Yana Ro, she saves Padawan Matthey Cathley from the Force devouring creatures and causes the cave to collapse, drowning every monster but the Leveler.

I assumed that Marda would finally realize that every word that came out of Elecia regarding the Force is pure lies, but she’s too far gone. Even if Elecia blatantly lied about pretty much everything and also used everyone as a puppet, Marda Ro still wants to purify the galaxy from the people that bend the Force.

During the aftermath of the battle of Dalna, Marda sneaks into the tent where the former Mother of the Path of the Open Hand was being treated and uses the Leveler to end her existence. After an ironic twist of events, the fake prophet gets replaced by a true zealot.

After leaving Dalna on the Gaze Electric, Marda paints three hagged lines on her head. This leads to the creation of the group known as The Nihil, the anarchistic pirates, and marauders that almost decimate the Republic on Phase I of the High Republic!

This entire review as well as the summary in the review card below are all based on our own opinions as fans of the franchise. We would love it if you shared your thoughts.

Full Title:

Path of vengeance