Star Wars: Path of Vengeance is the second young-adult novel in Phase II of Star Wars: The High Republic, written by Cavan Scott, serving as a sequel to Path of Deceit and Star Wars: The High Republic (2022) (also written by Cavan Scott).
The cousins Marda and Yana Ro find themselves drifting apart because of their beliefs. Marda seeks revenge on the Jedi, having been lead to believe their teachings led to the death of Kevmo Zink, a Jedi she fell in love with. Meanwhile, Yana seeks revenge against the Mother of the Path of the Open Hand after a suicide mission that resulted in the death of her lover, Kor Plouth, collaborating with Kor's father, the Herald.
After the Battle of Jedha, the Jedi Oliviah Zeveron and Matthea "Matty" Cathley are led to the Path's homeworld on Dalna when they are led to suspect that the Path was secretly instigating the conflict.
Meanwhile, Marda Ro joins an expedition to the Great Leveler's homeworld, Planet X, to gather more creatures like it and gain the Mother's approval.
It was released on May 2, 2023
Tropes in this novel include:
- Asshole Victim:
- Feric Oranalli, the insufferable aide of former Archivist Zumeg who was quick to blame Tey Sirrek for the Kyber Temple bombings, is revealed in this novel to have secretly been a collaborator with the Path. After the Herald is freed from the Guardians' custody and Oranalli hands the rod over to him and Yana, the Herald gives him his just desserts.
- The Mother holds the distinction of being one of the very few Force users who earned being a meal for the Great Leveler, seeing as she was an abusive and manipulative cult leader with borderline-genocidal plans against the Jedi and Force users, which she herself was, and used this creature just for that.
- Bait-and-Switch: When Marda enters the tent where Oliviah and Elecia Zeveron are, it seems that Marda is falling back into old habits and plotting to kill Oliviah given her prior disposition towards Jedi. However, it turns out she came to kill Elecia, whom Marda realized is even more blatantly an example of one who abuses the Force. Oliviah is still alive, but horribly traumatized after this.
- Bittersweet Ending: The Path of the Open Hand has been routed, Marda is now following her own path free from the Mother's manipulations, and the Ro cousins' relationship with each other has been mended. However, the cousins have decided to part ways and while Marda seems to be taking the path of an Anti-Hero at best, her motto is eventually going to be warped to suit the Nihil's ends. On the Jedi's end, all of the main Jedi characters survive, but many more have died during the Battle of Dalna, they have lost track of the Nameless control rods, still have little information on the Nameless themselves, and one of the Jedi, Azlin Rell, has been driven irreparably insane by the Nameless's presence during the battle.
- Call-Forward:
- This story finally sheds some light on the origins of the "Shrii ka rai" nursery rhyme. It's part of a Madness Mantra from a Jedi who was permanently driven insane by the Nameless.
- When Marda leaves the Path behind with the Leveler at her side aboard the Gaze Electric, she vows to never let anyone tell her what to do again, mirroring her descendant Marchion's private reasoning revealed in Eye of the Storm. However, the difference is that while it was a principle to never be manipulated or pushed around by those with ill intentions in Marda's case, it was reflective of a massive ego in Marchion's.
- Eldritch Location: Planet X is a very strange place to say the least. First, the planet and the Veil - the bizarre liquid-like nebula surrounding it - are implied to be sentient. Aside from some rather strange flora (trees that are like mushrooms for instance), trees that are wrecked from crashing ships grow back tall and severe injuries or lost tissue are regenerated in minutes, people who weren't aware of their Force-sensitivity are suddenly in touch with it, and those people are tempted to stay forever. However, one Path member with a consciously repressed Force-connection is driven insane the moment the expedition enters the Veil (enough that he's able to speak a Madness Mantra despite coming from a species without a mouth). And the Nameless aren't the only horrifying monsters on the planet's surface.
- I See Dead People: Both Marda and Yana interact with hallucinations of Kevmo and Kor, their respective dead lovers, who serve to judge their present actions. According to spacer folk tales, the Evereni are said to be haunted by the ghosts of the people they have killed, which implies a sense of guilt for their lovers' deaths.
- Late-Arrival Spoiler:
- As a sequel to Path of Deceit, this story basically spoils that Kevmo (the Jedi lead of that book) was killed at the end. The same goes for Yana's girlfriend and the Herald's daughter, Kor Plouth.
- The first act (which takes place during the Battle of Jedha) effectively spoils how The High Republic (2022) ends, which at the time this novel had released, had not yet released its last two issues (although both would release shortly after in a short span of time to catch up).
- Once More, with Clarity: A scene during the first act revisits a specific scene from The Battle of Jedha in which the Mother was saved by Silandra Sho and shows her gratitude. This novel makes it clearer that the Mother was feigning her gratefulness to save face for herself and the Path.
- Simultaneous Arcs: The first act overlaps with The Battle of Jedha and the last few issues of The High Republic (2022). Post-Jedha, Acts 2 and 3 overlap with The Nameless Terror (which takes place after the Path's Planet X expedition and follows the missing Path ship), Quest for Planet X, Cataclysm, and The Edge of Balance: Precedent, the latter three of which eventually lead into the Battle of Dalna from different perspectives.
- Trailers Always Spoil: Supplemental material released months before this novel (namely her respective character trailer) casually revealed the Mother's surname, which was supposed to be major reveal that she and Oliviah Zeveron are sisters.
