The Mighty Chewbacca in the Forest of Fear! by Tom Angleberger
The Mighty Chewbacca in the Forest of Fear! by Tom Angleberger
This is the story of Chewie, Mayv, K-2SO, and Goldie the Tooka Cat making there way across the planet Ushruu while surrounded by a fear-inducing mist and hunted by a variety of frightening creatures. There mission is to retrieve an ancient dark-side tome for the Emperor himself. Why would these characters complete such a mission? Well, Han and an ancient tome from Mayv's homeworld of Oktaro are both being held captive while K-2SO is actually on a secret mission commissioned by Cassian. So they all have skin in the game regardless of not wanting the Emperor anywhere near any ancient artifacts they might find.
The canon timeline of when this junior reader takes place goes like so: "Star Wars: Rogue One--Cassian & K-2SO Special" comic >> Mighty Chewbacca in the Forest of Fear! >> Choose Your Destiny: A Han & Chewie Adventure >> Gaurdians of the Whills...with a few more lesser known publications thrown in. But you get the general idea...pretty much a year or so before Rogue One.
There were some great references in this book to other canon which of course had me all giddy. For instance--"It was the kind of fear you would feel if General Grievous was stomping toward you with four lightsabers blazing. Or if Asajj Ventress had snuck up behind you in a dark alley. Or if you heard the steady wheezing of Darth Vader's respirator." "If Mayv's partner on the mission had been, say, a Trandoshan like Bossk the bounty hunter, he would still be standing back there calculating how the loss of a team member affected him personally." "As the saying goes, when a rancor is chasing you, don't count its warts." "When Mayv stirred and woke up, he fussed over her like a mother porg would." "like Ewoks avoid Gorax." Great little tidbits thrown in to connect canon! I love it!
Surprisingly enough, Chewie had a TON of dialogue in this book and the narrator (who was a character in and of himself with a lot of personality) did a great job of translating most of Chewie's grunts, rumbles, and roars without it being overbearing. Chewie was brave and daring as always with a big heart, ever ready to put others before himself...so strange he's attached himself so closely to Han lol.
Mayv is actually Mayvlin Trillick, the daughter of librarians on Oktaro who has made it her mission to find all the important books of her homeworld and bring them back to her people to give them hope and purpose again after the Empire took all that away. She especially wants to get her hands back on the Mola Oktaro. When the Empire took over Oktaro, they shut down all the museums and libraries and sent all their contents away for processing, taking away any bit of culture the Oktarians cherished. One bit of tradition that Mayv kept up was the painting of gold triangles on her forehead in various arrangements for an array of meanings. She wipes off and reapplies the triangles several times throughout the book as different situations require different attitudes. She is a daring and likeable character whom I grew to truly care about.
The people coordinating the mission are Alinka Aloo and her father Sim Aloo, both of whom work for the Emperor himself. They are rich beyond belief and in the upper echelons of Coruscant society. Sim Aloo is a big wig in the Imperial government.
K-2SO is playing undercover as K-2SB an Imperial cargo droid. But he's just as K-2SOy and awkward as ever!! He keeps forgetting he's supposed to be a dumb cargo droid and keeps reverting to his usual self. Goodness I love his character!!! One of my favorite lines from him was "Requesting permission to use deadly force."...against a herd of Tooka Cats! lol. At one point toward the beginning, Mayv asks him to cart around an anti-grav crate for them to carry supplies in and K-2SO can't let the fact go that he gets the crate safely from one point to the next. It is too funny.
Ushruu is a planet covered in fungus-like blue trees that tower over everything. These trees exude the light side of the Force with peace, hope, and serenity oozing from them when touched. A green mist seeps out of a large chasm in the ground that alternatively exudes fear and anxiety, getting worse the more one is surrounded by it. It's like the dark side of the Force made manifest.
We get three big new critters, Snarlers, Sniffers, and Glorbs. Snarlers look a lot like Corellian hounds (see Solo: A Star Wars Story) and when Han sees them at one point he references "those blasted hounds like Rebolt had on Corellia." I'm a little confused by this because they seem to be native to Ushruu... Weird, but oh well. The Sniffers are actually tongues (that appear to be huge worms with hook hands) attached to the biggest beast any of our heroes have ever seen before, a mountainous creature--the Vathyr! So dominating, the people who once lived on Ushruu worshipped the beast and dedicated a dark side temple to its presence. Our jaunt through the temple and the description of the beast-worshipping sect is absolutely fascinating! For a junior reader, this book got pretty deep and creepy... And then finally, there are the Glorbs--large insect-like creatures that take all different sorts of forms (chubby pale blob with eight legs and four lidless eyes; "tiny, small, big, monstrous, furry, beaked, long-legged, short-legged, no-legged, winged, […] and so on") but all say the word "glorb" constantly.
A few more critter mentions were Tanarian vulks (big and nasty, slow and plodding), Mantellian Savrips (fast and vicious; one of the pieces on a dejarik board), and buzz-bugs (have a nasty bite).
Trivia tidbits:
- Centax 3 is a moon of Coruscant.
- Urrett's Marque is one of the rougher bars on level 1329 of Coruscant...one of the rougher levels.
- One of Han's old friends who he sees briefly on Coruscant is Sarlee Jax.
- Elgamor 5 is a planet where Han got a little too personal with his business and things went south.
- Han and Chewie had at one time been paid a small fortune to smuggle a Junarian vase off Chandrila for Gorga the Hutt.
- A new bit of obsolete tech are vidscrolls--kind of like holo devices.
- There was a group of Old Republic code breakers called the Squill Sifters.
I was a little disappointed with the last couple of pages as I felt the ending was rushed. Maybe I just didn't want this book to end... But all in all, a wonderful quick read that opens up dark side lore and shows Chewie in full glory. Definitely recommended for Star Wars fans both big and small!
The canon timeline of when this junior reader takes place goes like so: "Star Wars: Rogue One--Cassian & K-2SO Special" comic >> Mighty Chewbacca in the Forest of Fear! >> Choose Your Destiny: A Han & Chewie Adventure >> Gaurdians of the Whills...with a few more lesser known publications thrown in. But you get the general idea...pretty much a year or so before Rogue One.
There were some great references in this book to other canon which of course had me all giddy. For instance--"It was the kind of fear you would feel if General Grievous was stomping toward you with four lightsabers blazing. Or if Asajj Ventress had snuck up behind you in a dark alley. Or if you heard the steady wheezing of Darth Vader's respirator." "If Mayv's partner on the mission had been, say, a Trandoshan like Bossk the bounty hunter, he would still be standing back there calculating how the loss of a team member affected him personally." "As the saying goes, when a rancor is chasing you, don't count its warts." "When Mayv stirred and woke up, he fussed over her like a mother porg would." "like Ewoks avoid Gorax." Great little tidbits thrown in to connect canon! I love it!
Surprisingly enough, Chewie had a TON of dialogue in this book and the narrator (who was a character in and of himself with a lot of personality) did a great job of translating most of Chewie's grunts, rumbles, and roars without it being overbearing. Chewie was brave and daring as always with a big heart, ever ready to put others before himself...so strange he's attached himself so closely to Han lol.
Mayv is actually Mayvlin Trillick, the daughter of librarians on Oktaro who has made it her mission to find all the important books of her homeworld and bring them back to her people to give them hope and purpose again after the Empire took all that away. She especially wants to get her hands back on the Mola Oktaro. When the Empire took over Oktaro, they shut down all the museums and libraries and sent all their contents away for processing, taking away any bit of culture the Oktarians cherished. One bit of tradition that Mayv kept up was the painting of gold triangles on her forehead in various arrangements for an array of meanings. She wipes off and reapplies the triangles several times throughout the book as different situations require different attitudes. She is a daring and likeable character whom I grew to truly care about.
The people coordinating the mission are Alinka Aloo and her father Sim Aloo, both of whom work for the Emperor himself. They are rich beyond belief and in the upper echelons of Coruscant society. Sim Aloo is a big wig in the Imperial government.
K-2SO is playing undercover as K-2SB an Imperial cargo droid. But he's just as K-2SOy and awkward as ever!! He keeps forgetting he's supposed to be a dumb cargo droid and keeps reverting to his usual self. Goodness I love his character!!! One of my favorite lines from him was "Requesting permission to use deadly force."...against a herd of Tooka Cats! lol. At one point toward the beginning, Mayv asks him to cart around an anti-grav crate for them to carry supplies in and K-2SO can't let the fact go that he gets the crate safely from one point to the next. It is too funny.
Ushruu is a planet covered in fungus-like blue trees that tower over everything. These trees exude the light side of the Force with peace, hope, and serenity oozing from them when touched. A green mist seeps out of a large chasm in the ground that alternatively exudes fear and anxiety, getting worse the more one is surrounded by it. It's like the dark side of the Force made manifest.
We get three big new critters, Snarlers, Sniffers, and Glorbs. Snarlers look a lot like Corellian hounds (see Solo: A Star Wars Story) and when Han sees them at one point he references "those blasted hounds like Rebolt had on Corellia." I'm a little confused by this because they seem to be native to Ushruu... Weird, but oh well. The Sniffers are actually tongues (that appear to be huge worms with hook hands) attached to the biggest beast any of our heroes have ever seen before, a mountainous creature--the Vathyr! So dominating, the people who once lived on Ushruu worshipped the beast and dedicated a dark side temple to its presence. Our jaunt through the temple and the description of the beast-worshipping sect is absolutely fascinating! For a junior reader, this book got pretty deep and creepy... And then finally, there are the Glorbs--large insect-like creatures that take all different sorts of forms (chubby pale blob with eight legs and four lidless eyes; "tiny, small, big, monstrous, furry, beaked, long-legged, short-legged, no-legged, winged, […] and so on") but all say the word "glorb" constantly.
A few more critter mentions were Tanarian vulks (big and nasty, slow and plodding), Mantellian Savrips (fast and vicious; one of the pieces on a dejarik board), and buzz-bugs (have a nasty bite).
Trivia tidbits:
- Centax 3 is a moon of Coruscant.
- Urrett's Marque is one of the rougher bars on level 1329 of Coruscant...one of the rougher levels.
- One of Han's old friends who he sees briefly on Coruscant is Sarlee Jax.
- Elgamor 5 is a planet where Han got a little too personal with his business and things went south.
- Han and Chewie had at one time been paid a small fortune to smuggle a Junarian vase off Chandrila for Gorga the Hutt.
- A new bit of obsolete tech are vidscrolls--kind of like holo devices.
- There was a group of Old Republic code breakers called the Squill Sifters.
I was a little disappointed with the last couple of pages as I felt the ending was rushed. Maybe I just didn't want this book to end... But all in all, a wonderful quick read that opens up dark side lore and shows Chewie in full glory. Definitely recommended for Star Wars fans both big and small!
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