Review: A Good Quick Read
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 04 7, 2013
I really do enjoy Troy Denning's work, I want everyone who reads this review to know this.  I loved Star by Star and I very much enjoyed Tattooine Ghost.  This book "A Forest Apart" wasn't on par with his other works.  It wasn't without it's charm, but it had things in it that I didn't like.The story itself is pretty simple.  It's a coming of age story for Chewbacca's son, and instead of coming of age on Kashyyyk, he is growing up on Coruscant.  It's not horrible, and we find out that Lumpy is an avid gamer and enjoys playing video games and that he idolizes his father.***SPOILERS***  ***SPOILERS***  ***SPOILERS***First of all, why is Han Solo on the cover?  He's not even IN this story other than a few mentions of his name.  Why not have Chewbacca and Lumpy instead of Han and Chewie?  Also, I HATE books where Chewbacca's grunts and growls are translated.  Like in the Black Fleet Trilogy, he had his speech translated and it was just stupid.  I feel that he works much better as a strong silent type who speaks through his actions rather than his words.  I mean imagine in characters like Jason Vorhees, Michael Meyers, Silent Bob, or Sphynx (from Gone in 60 Seconds), all just started having lengthy conversations throughout their movies?  They lose some of what makes those characters awesome.  Sometimes an author can say very much by having a character say very little.My only other problem with the book is when Chewie and Malla have the droid "IT" in their blaster sights, his back is to them and he doesn't see them.  Why don't they just shoot him?  Instead they send Lumpy out as a "distraction."  Yet he doesn't really do anything worth mentioning to distract IT and his minions.  He walks out on the observation deck where they are hiding, opens the window and drops down to the level where IT and his minions are loading nerve gas onto transport ships.  I mean that's not much of a distraction, besides the point of a distraction is to get someone's attention away from one spot so you can do something while they are not looking.  Well, IT wasn't looking in your direction to begin with, so why bother?  They could have just taken up positions on the observation deck and shot him.***END SPOILERS***  ***END SPOILERS***  ***END SPOILERS***Okay so this story wasn't really bad other than a few minor details I didn't like.  I did like seeing that even in a galaxy far far away that we have sons who want to be like their fathers and get into trouble when they do rebellious things.  This story reminded me of what a good writer Troy Denning is and it reminded me to add his other works to my wishlist.Check this one out!