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Path of Deceit is one of the first titles of Phase II of Star Wars High Republic. I decided to give the new phase a chance, knowing that I did not have the best experience with Phase I (I lost the desire to follow this series at the time thanks to the book [b:Light of the Jedi|51637946|Light of the Jedi (Star Wars The High Republic)|Charles Soule|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1582619576l/51637946.SY75.jpg|76212411], by [a:Charles Soule|1641284|Charles Soule|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1679508257p2/1641284.jpg], a book that was sold as being for adults, but was practically written as a YA book). This time I saw that Path of Deceit was written as YA, which helped me adjust my expectations. Compared to the themes of Phase I, Phase II seems much more interesting. The idea of explorers and Pathfinders is really cool and the threat to the established order makes more sense than the space bikers who are the Nihil. I intend to continue following Phase II.

It's not easy to judge or analyze a YA book as an adult. We assume that some tropes are expected and others should be avoided. There isn't much room (nor the intention) for the development of more three-dimensional characters, which means these books don't provoke some kind of connection with mature readers.

With Path of Deceit it's no different. The characters are flat and do not show great development. For example, the character Marda Ro, who is a naive and fanatical teenager from the Path of the Open Hand sect, ends the book as a naive and fanatical teenager (perhaps even more fervently fanatical than before). Kevmo Zink, the Jedi padawan of the story, is the same: he appears and disappears in the same way he appeared, without significant developments.

I have this impression that, unfortunately, the current Star Wars YA books follows the same formula, which focus on two teenagers of opposite sexes living a forbidden or impossible romance. This appears in [a:Claudia Gray|1192311|Claudia Gray|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1234643683p2/1192311.jpg]'s book [b:Lost Stars|25067046|Lost Stars (Star Wars)|Claudia Gray|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1539015804l/25067046.SY75.jpg|44751860], but perhaps because of its novelty, [b:Lost Stars|25067046|Lost Stars (Star Wars)|Claudia Gray|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1539015804l/25067046.SY75.jpg|44751860] was better in this respect.

In Path of Deceit we have the same formulaic solution of the love-struck couple who cannot get involved, but ends up being the focal point of several major events happening in the background, such as the theft of Jedi artifacts on one side and a plan to destroy the Jedi Order on the other. As the goal of the story is to tell about this romance and not about everything else surrounding it, other characters and/or factions appear more or less unbalanced. If you expect to read a book with a Jedi adventure or something similar, perhaps this title will be a disappointment.

Despite my criticism, the writing is fluid and very well articulated. [a:Tessa Gratton (Author)|30190959|Tessa Gratton (Author)|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png] and [a:Justina Ireland|5833089|Justina Ireland|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1601064644p2/5833089.jpg] know what they're doing. I would have loved this book if I had read it at 15 years old. The book deepens some knowledge of the Star Wars universe and expands a bit more on canon. I confess that I am not excited to continue with [b:Path of Vengeance|61176500|Path of Vengeance (Star Wars The High Republic)|Cavan Scott|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1665326764l/61176500.SY75.jpg|96437193] by [a:Cavan Scott|87934|Cavan Scott|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1654767185p2/87934.jpg] (mainly because of the author's writing style, which I am not very fond of).

Path of Deceit is one of the first titles of Phase II of Star Wars High Republic. I decided to give this new phase a chance, knowing that I did not have the best experience with Phase I (I lost the desire to follow this book series at the time thanks to the book [b:Light of the Jedi|51637946|Light of the Jedi (Star Wars The High Republic)|Charles Soule|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1582619576l/51637946.SY75.jpg|76212411], by [a:Charles Soule|1641284|Charles Soule|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1679508257p2/1641284.jpg], a book that was sold as being for adults, but was practically written as a YA book, sorry). This time I saw that Path of Deceit was written as YA, which helped me adjust my expectations. Compared to the themes of Phase I, Phase II seems much more interesting. The idea of explorers and Pathfinders is really cool and the threat to the established order makes more sense than the space bikers who are the Nihil. I intend to continue following Phase II.

It's not easy to judge or analyze a YA book being an adult. We assume that some tropes are expected and others should be avoided. There isn't much room (nor the intention) for the development of more three-dimensional characters, which means these books don't provoke some kind of connection with mature readers (but, once again and to be fair, it is worth remembering that this is not the aim of these books).

With Path of Deceit it's no different. The characters are flat and do not show great development. For example, the character Marda Ro, who is a naive and fanatical teenager from the Path of the Open Hand sect, ends the book as a naive and fanatical teenager (perhaps even more fervently fanatical than before). Kevmo Zink, the Jedi padawan of the story, is the same: he appears and disappears in the same way he appeared, without significant developments.

I have the impression that, very unfortunately, the current YA Star Wars books seem to be centered on the same formula, which focus on two teenagers of opposite sexes living a forbidden or impossible romance. This appears in [a:Claudia Gray|1192311|Claudia Gray|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1234643683p2/1192311.jpg]'s book [b:Lost Stars|25067046|Lost Stars (Star Wars)|Claudia Gray|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1539015804l/25067046.SY75.jpg|44751860], but perhaps because of its novelty, [b:Lost Stars|25067046|Lost Stars (Star Wars)|Claudia Gray|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1539015804l/25067046.SY75.jpg|44751860] was better in this respect.

In Path of Deceit we have the same formulaic solution of the love-struck couple who cannot get involved, but ends up being the focal point of several major events happening in the background, such as the theft of Jedi artifacts on one side and a plan to destroy the Jedi Order on the other. As the goal of the story is to tell about this romance and not about everything else surrounding it, other characters and/or factions appear more or less unbalanced. If you expect to read a book with a Jedi adventure or something similar, perhaps this title will be a disappointment.

Despite my criticism, the writing is fluid and very well articulated. [a:Tessa Gratton|26955517|Tessa Gratton|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png] and [a:Justina Ireland|5833089|Justina Ireland|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1601064644p2/5833089.jpg] know what they're doing. I would have loved this book if I had read it at 15 years old. The book deepens some knowledge of the Star Wars universe and expands a bit more on canon. I confess that I am not excited to continue with [b:Path of Vengeance|61176500|Path of Vengeance (Star Wars The High Republic)|Cavan Scott|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1665326764l/61176500.SY75.jpg|96437193] by [a:Cavan Scott|87934|Cavan Scott|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1654767185p2/87934.jpg] (mainly because of the author's writing style, which I am not very fond of).

The third book in the New Jedi Order series was a very frustrating reading experience. As I had promised myself that I would read all the books in this arc, I ended up reading it after several attempts. I felt bogged down at several moments. It took a while for the reading to flow satisfactorily. Later I listened to the audiobook to remember some events to write this review.

Honestly, I have mixed feelings regarding James Luceno's writing. The verbose and encyclopedic writing style ends up becoming obstacles to a more fluid or organic narrative. At some times it seems that the author's concern is to talk about the origins of the "Corellian Bloodstripes" in Han Solo's pants instead of focusing on really important topics.

As I said previously, it is not and has never been the objective of Star Wars to debate serious topics, despite them appearing in the text and moving the narrative. The book presents the struggle of the New Republic (or rather, just a few people from the New Republic, like Ambassador Leia Organa Solo) to help the various waves of refugees from the war against the Vong. This is an urgent topic that is present in our real world.

This book also provides closure to Chewbacca's death. Finally Han Solo abandons his depressive stance and decides to embody something more nihilistic. He is our hero without purpose, however, he forgets his role as a father and husband and abandons his family at such a critical moment, which is the scenario of war.

This Solo narrative about the "need to find balance" is portrayed in the book in a controversial way. Leia is presented as the always compliant and understanding woman/mother, ignoring her own more pressing needs. This is a sexist reading and unfortunately quite common in the franchise's books during the 1990s (after all, the vast majority of these books were written by men).

Another problem with this book (but perhaps it was my expectation redirected to the wrong place) is that I imagined we would have a more in-depth presentation of the religious dimension of the Vong. I say this because the main villains in this book are Vong priests and acolytes. However, this is all presented shallowly and without depth (it was a missed opportunity).

To conclude, I read this book for the first time very recently, but I didn't remember almost anything that was written. I went to listen to the audiobook as if I were encountering this title for the first time. This feeling left me quite disappointed and says a lot about this installment.