Star Wars: A Forest Apart

Star Wars Legends: Novels

by Troy Denning

Like father, like son . . .  Growing up in the shadow of his heroic father, Lumpawarrump, son of Chewbacca, feels tremendous pressure to match his father’s daring exploits. Chewie’s life-debt to Han Solo keeps him from returning home, and without the steadying influence of his father, Lumpy is unfocused and out of control. So Chewie’s wife decides that a visit to Coruscant is in order. It’s the perfect opportunity for the family to bond—and for Chewbacca to teach his son some much-needed life-lessons. But when Lumpy’s eagerness to impress his father leads to direct disobedience, Chewie is forced into an extreme pursuit that will lead him into Coruscant’s dangerous underlevels–and to a secret as shocking as it is deadly. . . . This original novella includes an excerpt from Star Legacy of the Betrayal and an interview with the author.

Genres: Star Wars, Science Fiction, Fiction, Ebooks, Short Stories, Fantasy, Space

81 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2003

About the author

Also known as Richard Awlinson.
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troy_Den...

Reviews

[Lyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Troy Denning’s 2003 short story is noteworthy because it casts the mighty Chewbacca in a starring role.

Featured as a leader for his 2003 novel Tatooine Ghost, A Forest Apart describes an adventure with Chewy and his family - mate, Malla, and son Lumpy.

This is a decent expansion for the Star Wars Legends timeline and that provides some interesting backstory for the Lucas universe. It’s also fun to get to know Chewbacca’s family and we get some behind the scenes glimpses at Wookies in general.

Denning also references Coruscant’s underdweller, near savage communities, and that is an element of the Star Wars system I’d like to read more about – this seems like a ripe area for a lot of narrative exploration.

For fans.

[DiscoSpacePanther · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m not quite sure whether I was entirely prepared for a novella where Chewbacca’s utterances are rendered as anything other than “Rrrooowwrr”, but is quite a refreshing conceit for a shortish story. To be fair, aside from the barrage of made-up SF terms that Denning bombards the reader with in the opening paragraph, Chewie comes across as your typical honour-driven character, a bit like a Klingon or a Narn. This is the point, I suppose – rendering Chewbacca as an ordinary (albeit hirsute) guy with a minor family problem to resolve as opposed to just Bigfoot with a welding torch.

Still, it is amusing to hear Chewie say things like “When building security arrives, they’ll keep you safe until Han catches up with a military detail. Tell them everything you told me—and anything else you can remember.”- it seems so absurdly out of character yet in keeping with the plot, it is almost as if there was a short story where Artoo’s beeps and boops are translated into the shocking expletive-ridden tirades that they are no doubt meant to be.

The other principal characters in this story are Malla (short for Mallatobuck), Chewbacca’s spouse:


And Lumpy (short for Lumpawarrump, later Lumpawaroo):


It is good to have stories that reference the Star Wars Holiday Special in all sincerity, and not as part of a meta-gag. Lumpy is appropriately eager and naïve as a pre-teen wookiee living in the shadow of his renowned father, but Malla is a bit underdeveloped, and serves mostly to be a sounding board for Chewie to explain things to.

The villains were appropriate for a Star Wars short story, although I do get a little queasy when the poor or the homeless are casually demonized or at least dehumanised thoughtlessly in pop culture. At least Denning actually gives them a justifiable motivation.

Anyway – I found myself enjoying this story more than I had expected, given my more recent exposure to Denning’s Fate of the Jedi books, which had some problems, and his Dark Nest trilogy, which were plain distasteful (at least they were when I read them well over a decade and a half ago!)

[Maegen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lovely story, enjoyed seeing more and learning about Chewbacca and his family.

[Meggie · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars

For 2022, I decided to go back in time and reread all the Prequels Era novels published between 1999 and 2005, plus a smidgen of other novels (like Survivor's Quest and the Dark Nest trilogy) released during that time frame. This shakes out to 21 novels, four eBook novellas, and at least thirteen short stories.

This week’s focus: an eBook about Lumpy from 2003, "A Forest Apart" by Troy Denning

SOME HISTORY:

"A Forest Apart" by Troy Denning was released in 2003 as a 50-page eBook novella, to supplement his novel Tatooine Ghost. As with most of the eBook releases, it was later included in the paperback version of Tatooine Ghost published in 2004, along with another short story by Denning,“Corphelion Interlude.”

MY RECOLLECTION OF THE STORY:

The more of these ebooks that I read, the more I find that I missed almost all of them the first go-around. But I was interested in reading this one, because I like spending time with Chewie’s family.

A BRIEF SUMMARY:

While Chewie’s wife and son are visiting him on Coruscant, the whole Wookiee family becomes caught up in the theft of a datapad containing important information to the New Republic.

TIMELINE DISCLAIMER:

“A Forest Apart” is set after The Courtship of Princess Leia but before Tatooine Ghost. The last chapter gives us an exact date for the story: a year and half after the death of Ysanne Isard at the end of The Bacta War.

THE GOOD:

Perhaps because of the notoriety of the Star Wars Holiday Special, not a lot of books have covered Chewie's family. We saw them in the Black Fleet Crisis trilogy by Michael P. Kube-McDowell, and his nephew Lowbacca shows up in the Young Jedi Knights series and subsequent books going forward, but aside from those, we don't spend a lot of time with Chewie's family after Return of the Jedi. (Even when Leia and Chewie hide out on Kashyyyk in Heir to the Empire, we never see Malla or Lumpy!) Part of that is just the constraints of the life debt, since he spends most of his time with Han and doesn't get many opportunities to head back to his homeworld.

So I enjoyed getting to see them here, that Chewie doesn’t always have to go to Kashyyyk because sometimes Malla and Lumpy come to him. Malla finds all the traffic fascinating, and while they wouldn’t want to live on Coruscant they’re perfectly happy visiting.

After the initial confusion (which I'll get into later in the Meh section) of this being a mystery/adventure story told from Chewie's point of view, I was interested to see how they would tackle this situation. Lumpy takes the initiative to chase after the thief, his parents follow, then Lumpy is abducted by these nefarious underworlders, his parents chase after, and then they're reunited and they have to figure out how to stop the villain at the end. I liked how ingenious Lumpy was despite his lack of physical fighting skills, and I really loved the scene where Malla threatened the driver of the speeder they hijacked with datapad translations. It was such a mama bear scene: she threatened to rip his antenna off, and it made me laugh.

THE MEH:

The eBook of “A Forest Apart” had some weird formatting issues. There was nothing to distinguish the Wookiees’ speech from other dialogue, even though they’re speaking Shyriiwook and others are speaking Basic, and I found it a little jarring at times. Chewie would say something, and then people just look at him because they don't understand the Wookiee language. So I wondered if there was a way to format his speech better, so that it was apparent he's speaking in Shyriiwook? And the answer is yes! If you look at the version of “A Forest Apart” included in Tatooine Ghost, Wookiee speech is represented with [brackets]. It’s much more obvious that they are speaking a different language than the people around them—so did the original eBook have brackets too, and somehow the Legends-branded version I read was missing them? Or were people confused by the dialogue, so they tweaked the formatting a little when they included it in Tatooine Ghost?



While I enjoyed seeing Malla play the mama bear, I wish that we could have had a little bit more of her. Since the story is from Chewie's viewpoint, we get a lot of Chewie and a little of Lumpy, but I felt like Malla suffered as a result. Malla felt like the “slightly disapproving/doubtful mother type,” but she’s a very resourceful individual who’s essentially raised her son on her own. I wish we could have seen more of Malla as Chewie's equal—while I'm sure that Wookiee society has different roles for different individuals, and perhaps these are gender roles as well, I think that Malla should have been more capable than the story depicted her.

Finally, A Forest Apart” has only four chapters. It's 50 pages long. It's short! The ending especially felt abrupt to me. I would have liked a little bit more resolution—the Wookiees coming back up, and letting New Republic Intelligence know what happened—or at least I would have liked to see how they got home after this grand adventure through the depths of Coruscant.

(And as a bit of false advertising, Han is pictured on the cover of the eBook. But he’s only mentioned in passing! I would have loved to see Lumpy and Malla on the cover with Chewie—the whole Wookiee family—instead of a character who never actually appears.)

IN CONCLUSION:

“A Forest Apart” is a fun adventure with Chewie, Malla, and Lumpy. Is it worth seeking out the eBook on its own? No. A 50-page eBook is not worth $1.99, especially when it has some formatting quirks. But if you’re able to get your hands on the paperback edition or the eBook of Tatooine Ghost, it’s included with Denning’s novel. It’s nice to see Chewie interact with his family, and since it’s only four chapters, it’s a quick read.


Next up: a Han/Leia story set prior to the Thrawn trilogy: Tatooine Ghost by Troy Denning

My YouTube review: https://youtu.be/Ka6_mO5dVG0

[Cudahy Family Library · Rating 4 out of 5]

‘A Forest Apart’ is a short story that takes place prior to ‘Tatooine Ghost’, and can be found in the paperback edition of said book. A pretty good read that stars Chewbacca and his family in their own adventure.

[Joe · Rating 1 out of 5]

What a very interesting literary experiment! (That fails completely!)

Troy Dunning is the author of some of my least favorite Star Wars books so I didn't have high hopes going into this one and I was not disappointed!

Plot: Chewbacca and his wife and son have an adventure over one crazy night in Corusant. The experiment is that all of the Wookie's sounds are translated for the reader! It was very strange reading Chewy speaking! As for the novella, the best I can say is that it was brief.

[Ronald Kelland · Rating 3 out of 5]

“A Forest Apart” is a unique addition to the Star Wars extended universe in that the novella is told entirely from Chewbacca’s perspective. This is interesting as although Chewbacca is a major Star Wars character, he is usually seen in a supporting role, never the star himself; this may be due to the inherent difficulties of using a non-Basic/English speaking character as a narrator. With his son and mate on Coruscant, Chewbacca almost accidentally stumbles into a threat to his friends and the government of the New Republic. Attempting to recover a stolen datapad, therefore preventing a terrorist attack on an upcoming diplomatic event, Chewbacca and his family descend to the depths of Coruscant and uncover a larger Imperial plot. The action is brisk and written as well as most Star Wars books, and markedly better than some. There are a few criticisms. First, it seemed jarring the read Chewbacca’s thoughts and communication with his wookie family as regular English. Other reviewers mentioned these communications and thoughts as being enclosed in brackets. My e-book version did not have these brackets. Second, the novella ends rather abruptly and, in my opinion, lacks a sufficient resolution – Chewbacca and family are successful, but are just left in the depths of a former Imperial prison. At the same time there are continual hints at parallel events to this story-line; these events are not explained or explored. Perhaps a companion novella was intended that would tie all of these loose ends up. Lastly, “A Forest Apart” often accompanies the novel “Tatooine Ghost,” but the story-lines of the two are not at all connected. I cannot help but think that a bridging novel or novella is needed. These criticisms are not sufficient to drag the rating down too far. “A Forest Apart” remains an entertaining, and short, foray into the Star Wars extended universe.

[JediKnight26 · Rating 4 out of 5]

So often, Chewbacca is only seen in relation to Han Solo, so it refreshing, in this story, to see him without Han. In this story, we get see so much more of who Chewbacca is as character. He is a father, husband and warrior. Furthermore, in the face of adversity, he is self-assured, cool, calm, collected and extremely smart. I so loved this story that I think that Chewy could be featured in his own books, possibly set on Kasshykk before the Imperial Enslavement.
I loved seeing Chewy interact with Malla, his wife. Their interactions are similar to Han and Leia's. Their interactions are fun, loving and witty. Malla is a very strong character. She is lots of fun. Lumpy, Chewy's son, is quite a handful. Seeing all three of them on an adventure together was awesome. We need more stories about this family of Wookies!

[Max · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fun little bonus to Tatooine Ghost, starring the one and only Chewbacca. And honestly while I was skeptical at first, I think I overall liked this more than the novel it was attached to. The story is told entirely from Chewie's point of view, and since it focuses mainly on his wife and son, we actually get to find out what they're all saying for once. And, well, it turns out that Chewbacca is struggling with fatherhood. His son Lumpy wants to be just like his heroic dad, but this seems to just lead to Lumpy getting beat up on the playground and hiding out playing space video games. Chewbacca isn't sure what to do with the kid, so when he gets kidnapped by a random Imperial plot, Chewie and his wife race off to save Lumpy while giving him some chances to prove himself and find himself.

It's a neat little story and I feel like it does a great job of making Chewbacca more of an actual character. He gets to reflect on how his life debt to Han influences his life, and we actually get to see his family outside of that one godawful Christmas special, which is a nice plus. Of course, it does highlight the weirdness of Chewie in many other stories - he often feels like an accessory rather than a character in his own right. I did like how the themes of the story pair well with Tatooine Ghost, where Han and Leia are both struggling with the idea of legacy and parenthood. Plus this is just a fun little adventure yarn making use of the under levels of Coruscant and showing that there really isn't such a thing as a normal day for any of the main Star Wars characters.

[Joseph · Rating 2 out of 5]

So here is what I think of how this 81 page story happened...

SW person 1 (boss) - You know we have never a Chewie book before.
SW person 2 - Yeah, you are right, not with him as the lead.
SW person 3 - You are right boss, he is also just fixing the ship or in the background.
SW person 2 - We should have someone write a book on him.
SW person 3 - I was going to say the same thing.
SW person 1 (boss) - OK, let's do it. I will leave it up to you guys to figure it out..

Back at their desks
SW person 2 - Sooo... what should we do?
SW person 3 - I have no idea.

After having no one interested in doing this as a whole book, SW person 2 and 3 propose it to the SW person 1.
SW person 2 - So we have a great idea, as opposed to a book we can do a short story.
SW person 3 - Yeah.
SW person 1 (boss) - I am listening.
SW person 2 and 3 - thinking to themselves, oh no, I was afraid of that.
SW person 2 - it will be about him and his family
SW person 3 - Yeah and they save the republic because no one else can
SW person 2 - Chewie has a son also.
SW person 3 - And his name is Lumpy (thinking to himself, that is my dogs name...)
SW person 1 (boss) - Sure let's do it and force Denning to do it. (thinking to himself, these guys are idiots...)

That is pretty much how these work was. No reason for it. I am glad it was an add on to one of the other SW books. If this was Chewie big chance for action it came up really short.

I gave it 2 stars, because well... well I don't know why...

[Hazel · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found this story to be too thin and simple. the way the story is written is lackling in excitement and action, and I didn't feel like the wookies had much character. Of the 3 lumpy was the most realistic, but Chewie and Mallatobuck don't have much personality.

While I admit to the difficulty of writing, these characters who we often don't see much understandable dialogue from, I feel like it could have been done much better. Chewie has a great sense of humor, he's a big goof, who probably tells a lot of bad dad jokes and laughs a lot. He's also very intelligent, and fiercely loyal and protective of his family.

He doesn't seem like the kind of person, to be falling into sexist american whiteman roles.

Wookie women are just as fierce and smart as the men. Not that they can't be nurturing. Family is generally really important to wookies, but here she just can't do anything. The idea of a story focused on wookies and their family structure is good, but I just don't feel it is well executed here.

[Arlene Kellas · Rating 4 out of 5]

My copy of this story is in the back of Tatooine Ghost.

This is just a fun look at how Malla and Lumpy would be on Coruscant. A different type of forest than they are used to.

They are getting ready to leave when They find Lumpy helping to rob the Solo’s against his will. They scare off the thrift after he gets Leia’s datapad. There is a plot against the Republic and next thing they know, Lumpy is in hot pursuit.

Chewie and Malla follow to rescue the cub and stop the thief. Chewie learns he has to spend more time with his cub to help him be a better Wookie as far as fighting and honor.

They stop the plot and maybe Chewie will be spending more time on Kashyyk

[J.B. Mathias · Rating 1 out of 5]

Didn't like this story, it was all over the place not really clear descriptively. It also focussed on an aspect of Chewies character I don't care for. Chewie as the father and family man, it gives the impression that Han and his friends are keeping him from his family and her helps Han out of obligation. I don't think anybody has ever liked the Lumpy character, it just reminds me of the Christmas special which was terrible. It was also weird reading completely formed english sentences of wookies talking, I get that it's translated but it's still weird.

[Sarai Henderson · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Forest Apart was a quick read, but unfortunately not a particularly engaging one for me. The story felt too short to fully develop its ideas, and as a result it never really found its momentum. While there were moments of interest, much of the book felt flat and a bit boring, making it hard to stay invested. It wasn’t a bad read, just one that left me wanting more depth and excitement. A solid three stars.

Sara | Book Confessions of an ExBallerina | Instagram

[Cameron Thomas · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Forest Apart is a perfectly serviceable novella that follows Chewbacca and his family as they attempt to stop a plot to attack a New Republic banquet taking place on Coruscant.

This was released to as a media rollout for Tatooine Ghost, another novel written by Troy Denning.

It’s honestly a lot better than it probably should be, but not something you need to rush out to read. It does make me more excited to read Tatooine Ghost, as there were times where Denning’s prose impressed.

[Philly Kash · Rating 1 out of 5]

What a dumb idea.

I actually liked it initially because the concept was so dumb (stars Chewbacca speaking eloquently in his native language with his wife and their weird kid from the Holiday Special), but it's so poorly written and doesn't provide any payoff by the end.

Also, Han's not even in it... So, why is he on the cover? Was he too expensive for the writer to conceptualize?

[Sean McBride · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a fun little side story completely about Chewbacca. The story gives him a family (a wife and a child) and they basically go on a very low stakes (though the author tries to make it feel high stakes) jaunt. It's nice to get an idea of the character, and fun to get a bit into Star Wars mythos after just finishing The Bad Batch.

[Freya · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute story, especially when you step back and realize what their dialog actually would sound like to human ears!

[Oliver · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed seeing Chewie and his family again, but otherwise this is as filler as it gets, imo. Not bad, not great, just a decent read.

[Pete Aldin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute. Nice Wookiee only adventure. Very short.

[Matthew · Rating 3 out of 5]

Better than the Holiday special, but only slightly.

[Gingertea Books · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was fun. It was okay. Chewbacca needs to learn some parenting skills

[Jordan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Weird but interesting novelette set on Coruscant. Fun to have Chewbacca be the main character and an interesting villain gave this probably a star more than it really deserves.

[Jaime K · Rating 4 out of 5]

Chewbacca's wife, Malla, and son, Lumpy, visit him on Coruscant. Malla is a wonderful wife. Lumpy leads a lonely life as the son of a war hero.

I was extremely thrown off by Lumpy's full name being Lumpawarrump instead of Lumpawaroo. Thankfully, Wookieepedia was able to clear up my confusion.

The couple discusses how to best raise their son while they're apart, and still maintain Wookiee tradition. They also have to learn how to help him not become egotistical because of who his father is.

Thieves break into the Solos' apartment and a chase ensues through the underbelly of the building and in the depths of Coruscant. This eventually leads to Lumpy being kidnapped. The kid acts like a child, but it frustrates me that he won't listen to his parents! Yet he shows them that, while he's not quite ready for his rrakktorr, he has grown.

Lumpy does what he thinks his father would do, but learns how to be an individual.

It's not among Denning's best writing, but it's a good side story that features our favorite Wookiee.

[Bradley · Rating 3 out of 5]

With another attempt at producing a Star Wars eBook, Del Rey has met with mild success in getting A Forest Apart out on time. It was available at most of the online eBook sellers within a day of its release.

That said, Chewbacca fans should rejoice. Not only does this story include the triumphant reemergence of the Wookiee, but readers are treated to a first-hand glimpse of the workings of his mind.

Revolving completely around Chewbacca, his life-mate Mallatobuck and their son Lumpawarrump, it is set after Return of the Jedi, and long before Chewbacca's death in the New Jedi Order.

The story involves a plot against the New Republic, which the Wookiee family learns about, following Lumpy's dangerous disobedience of his parents.

Filled with plenty of action and dialogue directly from the Wookiees' mouth, this is a story as unique as it is fun to read. Though short, it is a great tie-in to its companion novel, Tatooine Ghost , due out in hardcover on March 3rd. Any fan of Chewbacca should consider this a must-read and take the time to download it.

[Jim · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an enjoyable novella. It is told purely from Chewbacca's POV which I believe is a first. You actually get to hear/understand Chewie's dialogue along with his wife Malla and son Lumpy. It was nice to read a fun tale about Chewie given his demise so many years ago in Vector Prime and his absense from LOTF and FOTJ. He has shown up recently in the various Timothy Zahn books (Scoundrels, Allegiance, Choices of One) but you really never get an idea of what is going on in Chewie's head. This was a good addition to what he thinks about, how he sees his family/relationship with Han, and general outlook.

[John · Rating 2 out of 5]

Fine, okay, I guess. Maybe I expected too much from a short story, but in 80 pages, Chewbacca manages to lose his child, grapple with his faulty parenting, and foil an IT droid's plot to end the New Republic. I laughed every time I read Chewie's son's name (Lumpy)... so maybe I didn't come into this with the right perspective. And the main "bad guy" being a spider-like droid named "It" was... whatever. The novella accomplished what it aimed to, I just wouldn't read it again or recommend it for any reason. Okay. Two stars.

[Cyris Reads · Rating 2 out of 5]

A wholesome short story starring Chewbacca and his family. His son, Lumpy, gets into some trouble after trying to follow his father's heroic behavior. It was a cute and heart warming story, but also felt unnecessary. It was weird reading it from Chewbacca's perspective since I'm always used to hearing him communicate in grunts & growls. Also, who nicknames their son "Lumpy"?

[Taylor · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little hard to follow the story and the dialogue when it switches from basic to wookie on the same page. Even though it's both english, it is needlessly in brackets. It needed A clever way to solve it, so it didn't stand out so much.

[Steve · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good short story with a little bit of a look inside of Chewbacca life apart from Han Solo.