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A review by galacticvampire
Path of Deceit by Tessa Gratton, Justina Ireland
adventurous
reflective
fast-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
“I like to think of the Force that way—free, clear, and harmonious like a song. And there are many, many ways to make a harmony”
Rewinding 150 years from where we left of Phase I, there weren't many expectations or predictions on my part regarding what we were getting with these new books; but Path of Deceit held nothing back and is easily my favorite book so far!
The story is incredibly well paced and constructed, managing a solid plot progression while fleshing out all the three (!) individual storylines and their respective main characters. I have to also take note on the huge diversity in gender and sexuality, all very seamless part the story, as it should be. (And also 90% of the cast is made of aliens. Finally! It doesn't cost extra to *write* them so why are most the books about humans?)
Path of Deceit has a very careful take on religion and faith, exploring how different relationships with the Force could coexist, as well as the consequences of alienation and religious manipulation.
At the same time, it doesn't deal with these topics in a dark or dense way, allowing the complex message to sink in without weighting the read. That is, until a 180° tonal-shift about 80% into the book that is phenomenally executed: I was blind sighted, but never thrown out of the story.
There is a clear intention to set the scene to what we see in Phase I: Two of the main characters are grey-skinned aliens with the surname Ro, who paint blue streaks on their faces in honor of being part of The Path — we know what this points to, but there's no apparent answer to how it gets there. It's very easy to make a clear-cut obvious origin story, but that isn't what we get here.
Tessa Gratton and Justina Ireland manage to bring a perfectly balanced prequel story, hooking the reader with some hints and familiarity without losing the sense of mistery or anticipation that is the soul of Path of Deceit.
The story is incredibly well paced and constructed, managing a solid plot progression while fleshing out all the three (!) individual storylines and their respective main characters. I have to also take note on the huge diversity in gender and sexuality, all very seamless part the story, as it should be. (And also 90% of the cast is made of aliens. Finally! It doesn't cost extra to *write* them so why are most the books about humans?)
Path of Deceit has a very careful take on religion and faith, exploring how different relationships with the Force could coexist, as well as the consequences of alienation and religious manipulation.
At the same time, it doesn't deal with these topics in a dark or dense way, allowing the complex message to sink in without weighting the read. That is, until a 180° tonal-shift about 80% into the book that is phenomenally executed: I was blind sighted, but never thrown out of the story.
There is a clear intention to set the scene to what we see in Phase I: Two of the main characters are grey-skinned aliens with the surname Ro, who paint blue streaks on their faces in honor of being part of The Path — we know what this points to, but there's no apparent answer to how it gets there. It's very easy to make a clear-cut obvious origin story, but that isn't what we get here.
Tessa Gratton and Justina Ireland manage to bring a perfectly balanced prequel story, hooking the reader with some hints and familiarity without losing the sense of mistery or anticipation that is the soul of Path of Deceit.