Path of Deceit

What a good book.

It had everything I need in a story.

AND sunshine Dobbs.

This one took a bit for me to get into. The first half spends a fair bit of time developing the two primary characters. I found them both interesting, but the adolescent romantic wrestlings were not for me. 

In the end, I enjoyed where the story goes and how it sets up this phase of The High Republic. I'm curious to see how The Path of the Open Path evolve into the Nihil and what appears to be an ancestor to Marchian Ro. 

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).