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coruscant's review
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
From the offset I found a lot of choices the luminous team and Córdova have made with this book to be intriguing. A major criticism for Phase I was that the casts in the adult books were too big and this book reads as if written as a direct response to this. The cast is rather contained and the POVs even moreso in comparison. I wasn't a massive critic of Phase I for this reason but I do think the book benefitted from it.
Perhaps the biggest winner in the cutback cast was the world building. E'ronoh and Eiram both felt lush and vast and identifiable in my mind. The two worlds exist in such stark opposition yet had a great number of similarities. The two heirs, Xiri and Phan-Tu, made for a brilliant pair and were both fully fleshed and well written. Córdova certainly knows how to write a romance that is both subtle and punchy as needed.
Axel Greylark was perhaps the most compelling of the cast with his complex motivations and beliefs in question from the offset.In fact, the dynamic between the four as a group as well as his conflicted feels for Gella made his betrayal all the more hurtful. I love Gella and I love an unsure and compassionate Jedi in any Star Wars but I was disappointed by the lack of characterisation she was given outside of her journey within the Order and as a foil for Axel. I'm hopeful with the choices made at the close of the novel that she will be afforded this in the future.
This book relied pretty heavily on the reader having picked up Path of Deceit which is not unusual for anything High Republic. Much of Star Wars generally is about the unlearned mistakes of the past and as the cards are dealt for Phase II, I am questioning the decision to make the second phase a prequel to the first less and less. The Path of the Open hand operates quietly in this book and it begs the question will the Jedi respond to this threat before it is too late?
There many things we know from Phase I that suggest Phase II cannot end with specific scenarios. I thought this would be limiting in a storytelling sense however after the first book ends I find myself no more certain of the direction the next books will take. Many may see this as a negative outcome but I am intrigued by the ability to keep the wider narrative a mystery when so many known factors are in play.
In a High Republic sense I am enjoying the genre-travelling of this era. Part political-thriller, part romance was not a combination I expected to work so well. My biggest takeaway from this book is that I simply cannot wait to make it to Jedha (but knowing the High Republic's penchant for grief and misery... maybe I can?)
Perhaps the biggest winner in the cutback cast was the world building. E'ronoh and Eiram both felt lush and vast and identifiable in my mind. The two worlds exist in such stark opposition yet had a great number of similarities. The two heirs, Xiri and Phan-Tu, made for a brilliant pair and were both fully fleshed and well written. Córdova certainly knows how to write a romance that is both subtle and punchy as needed.
Axel Greylark was perhaps the most compelling of the cast with his complex motivations and beliefs in question from the offset.
This book relied pretty heavily on the reader having picked up Path of Deceit which is not unusual for anything High Republic. Much of Star Wars generally is about the unlearned mistakes of the past and as the cards are dealt for Phase II, I am questioning the decision to make the second phase a prequel to the first less and less. The Path of the Open hand operates quietly in this book and it begs the question will the Jedi respond to this threat before it is too late?
There many things we know from Phase I that suggest Phase II cannot end with specific scenarios. I thought this would be limiting in a storytelling sense however after the first book ends I find myself no more certain of the direction the next books will take. Many may see this as a negative outcome but I am intrigued by the ability to keep the wider narrative a mystery when so many known factors are in play.
In a High Republic sense I am enjoying the genre-travelling of this era. Part political-thriller, part romance was not a combination I expected to work so well. My biggest takeaway from this book is that I simply cannot wait to make it to Jedha (but knowing the High Republic's penchant for grief and misery... maybe I can?)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, War, and Grief
Minor: Panic attacks/disorders and Drug use
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