There’s so much of the EU in the High Republic

A gripping exciting read that’s drenched in Star Wars history!
I’ve been a Star Wars novels fan since the early 90’s and the current High Republic books are clearly written with all that lore still in place. There’s references to the Old Republic Sith, the races of Knights Of The Old Republic and obscure ships that Lucasfilm artists created for old EU projects. And that’s the big thing, people like to talk about “Disney Canon” but Lucasfilm still make Star Wars, the High Republic Era was born at Skywalker Ranch using George Lucas’s own library and a lot of EU creators still work there too.
We may have lost some of the New Republic Era lore because of the Disney-rushed sequel movies, but novels like this are keeping the pre-Original Trilogy EU lore alive and well!

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Enjoyable

This book is very good. The narration by Emily O'Brien was brilliant and it ended with a happy ending. Brilliant to listen to while going on long walks and travelling by train.

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A Triumphant Conclusion

The High Republic phase 2 is a journey, and Path of Vengeance is a fitting end. Throughout Cataclysm and the Battle of Jedha I often found myself asking - So what is Marda doing? Well, this book is the answer.

The Path of the Open Hand remain intriguing, and the novel provides many answers to questions that readers no doubt will have. However, there is plenty left unsaid. Some of this I feel will be revealed in time in Phase 3, the rest left to readers’ imagination. I wish there had been more time given to one revelation however, while the resolution did satisfy me logically, I felt a little more time spent building up to it would have been welcome.

The Jedi perspectives in the novel are good and fresh, and I enjoyed the characters as presented. The most consistently compelling viewpoints were Marda and Yana.
Their paths are fraught, their positions as fragile as their psyches, and their journey through the hellish cult they find themselves entwined in is compelling reading.

Onto production, Emily O’Brien’s narration is on point. While not perhaps as bombastic as regular narrator Marc Thompson, Emily’s delivery is measured, clear, and she effortlessly captures the cast. Particularly I enjoy her performance of the ardent and naive Marda, the sinister Mother, and the chatty and idealistic Jedi Padawan Matthea Cathley.

As always, stellar production values from the team, featuring quality sound effects and I believe original music composed for the High Republic, all of which is mixed perfectly to complement and highlight while not distracting from the narration.

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1 person found this helpful

the best book of Phase 2 High Republic

a solid story and good performance. The Mother's voice reminds me of Margaret Thatcher's voice - probably intentional! There's a lot here about the mysterious force stuff and the nameless, the power dynamics of the path, the Mother and the Ros. Only a small part is about the actual battle details of the battle of Dalna, which is good as there was too much of that in Cataclysm. But I feel there's a book missing in Phase 2, a book about the mother and the events from her perspective. the Mother is by far the most interesting character of phase 2 and we didn't really get to really see her. There is a bit in this book but it's only from Marda's and Yana's POV. Disney have released many character centered books (Tarkin, Ahsoka, Padne trilogy and a whole bunch of Thrawn books, so please write one on Elicia!

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1 person found this helpful

Shame about the performance

Story is ok and bobs along but the perform is frustrating and makes it hard to follow at times

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1 person found this helpful

Uninspired, monotonous narrative

Unfortunately one of the worst Star Wars novels released, for me. Excellent narration and delivery, but the novel itself is dreadful.

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Absolute rubbish

This essential repeats what happened in other books and adds nothing to the story line that cannot be picked up on a Wikipedia summary.

Complete bore. No issue with the reader. But just bored out of my head. All female characters who I liked in the previous ones but have no story in this. I’m 7/8 way through and I’m cancelling it. Need more evil or male evil characters in it - or at least written in a way that’s compelling. Sorry to leave a negative review but this is one of the worst THR books I’ve read and I’ve got them all including the comics. Refund for me. Awful.

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