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Top reviews from the United States

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Pjb
1.0 out of 5 stars bad
Reviewed in the United States on December 2, 2018
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I am a big Firefly fan but this book is just poorly written. It's like it was penned by an eighth grader.
Examples:

The author constantly uses 'which' add-ons at the end of sentences. 'Mal went down the alley, which was the same one they had ducked down before' instead of 'Mal went down the same alley they had used before.' The author does this again and again.

The use of the same word in a sentence like, 'Jayne pulled out his gun and realized he had only one bullet left in his gun.' instead of replacing one 'gun' with 'weapon.'

The above examples may not be exact lines in the book but they are indicative of the writing style.

Also the dialogue is awful. Everyone explains their motives and thought processes out loud like they are a villain in the 1960's Batman show. Read a line, close your eyes and picture the characters saying this in the show, and you will laugh.

Again I am a huge Firefly fan but the crew of Serenity deserves a better author.
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Chase.
2.0 out of 5 stars Hardback Fanfiction
Reviewed in the United States on December 4, 2018
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As others who have given less than satisfactory reviews of this book, I am a big Firefly/Serenity fan. I was excited for this book and have been hoping for a long time that a novelization would happen.

I think I got my hopes up way too high.

It reads like a fan fiction. The story feels like an amalgamation of other stories we've already watched mixed in with unnecessary easter eggs obviously designed to massage our nostalgia glands. At times I got the sense that the author might not know the characters at all, especially in dialogue. The the thought, "There's no way Joss Whedon read this and approved it." has crossed my mind quite a few times.

At the time of this review I'm about 75% through and I'm not excited to finish it. I'm just going to finish it so I can say I did. Seeing that the same author is doing the second book, I've lost hope that he will fix this; and yet, I'll still read it.
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Stephen
5.0 out of 5 stars All the flavor of a Firefly episode, and a new exploration of Mal's background
Reviewed in the United States on November 20, 2018
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I am a patient miser who almost never buys books new, preferring to wait until used copies hit the market. But when I learned that there was a Firefly novel scheduled for release, I preordered and didn't blink. Set during the run of the show, Big Damn Hero delivers as close as we'll get to another episode of the shiniest show that ever ran. At its opening, Mal Reynolds and the good ship Serenity are looking for work, trying to recover their reputation after the Niska disaster, and necessity compels them to take a questionable payload of explosives from the even-more questionable person of Badger. Mal's been asked to see a local businessman about a smaller delivery he can handle on the way, but something goes awry: emerging from an epic bar fight, Zoe and Jayne quickly realized the captain's been kidnapped. With destabilizing explosives in the hold, and Mal in the hands of parties unknown, Zoe and the whole Serenity gang have to work double time to figure out what's gone awry before matters get worse.

Big Damn Hero offers a fast-moving plot (a two-day story) and all the flavor of the show that Browncoats should enjoy; Lovegrove has a good ear for the show's peculiar mix of frontier drawls peppered with Chinese expressions, and none of the characters from the ship are overlooked in contributing to the resolution: it's very much an all-hands on deck kind of story, bringing even Book and Inara into the thick of things. The show's humor runs throughout, from Mal's verbal harrying of his captors, to Zoe and Wash's playful banter and Jayne's mix of wiles and tactlessness. River is...well, River, playing a flute to calm the explosives down and providing just the right amount of insight to get the team out of tight corners. There are plenty, too; with so many members of the crew separated in the search for answers. Zoe, never a weak character -- never -- is in fine form hre, hobbling round town on a fractured leg, keeping the crew focused despite River's episodes and Jayne's fits and Kaylee's near panic at the idea of leaving the captain behind. The only fly in the ointment is the questionable backstory about the Alliance and the Independents, as the settling of this system is portrayed simplistically with rich people buying the core planets and leaving the poor people to the frontier planets, and then there being some confusion about the independents "seceding" from the Union...which they were not part of to begin with. That's relatively minor, though, perhaps on the scale of arguing about Klingon head makeup.

Big Damn Hero will find an audience, I think, not just because it's a new story in a beloved franchise, but because it also adds to that Firefly universe by fleshing out Mal's past and the people he loved and fought by. I enjoyed it thoroughly and hope this series keeps flying.
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Reichard Könige
4.0 out of 5 stars If it were not for 3 major cringe moments it would be 5 stars
Reviewed in the United States on November 25, 2018
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As another reviewer stated, the story is basically a two part TV episode. I would have given the story 5 stars if it were not for some obvious political and social justice warrior commentary included by the authors that didn't even fit with the Verse. And then there is an out of character slightly disgusting sexual fantasy moment with Wash and Zoe. Since the book has just been released, I will not go into much further detail to avoid spoiling the plot. I think the authors should have watched the episodes and read the comics that come after this is in the timeline a few times to get the Verse fresh in their minds. Perhaps in the future we'll be lucky and get something with Tim Minear's input.
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David Moser
2.0 out of 5 stars Meh.
Reviewed in the United States on December 8, 2018
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Meh.

If you're the author, skip this review, you don't need to hear this.

Rag tag bunch of misfits on a space ship is my jam. Firefly is the quintessential example of this so when I hear they're doing a series of Firefly novels I'm standing in line already.

Man am I disappointed. The first half moves too slow and feels like just a collection of fan service references to things from the show. I won't list them for sake of spoilers but when I started noticing those piling up was when I started to get worried.

The second half of the novel was an improvement. Quicker pace, more original plot, characters growing and stepping outside their normal rut.

Wasn't too satisfied with the motives of the primary antagonist.

Overall I think the novel suffers the worst fate of all; it's ultimately forgettable.
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S. A. Wenger
2.0 out of 5 stars So-so
Reviewed in the United States on November 27, 2018
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Nice to be back in the 'verse, but I rarely heard Mal's distinctive voice in his dialog and there was a bit too much rehash of events from the series. It was obviously for the newbies, but slowed the action and did nothing to move the story. Most favorite characters were pretty thin without the spice the series had. Kaylee whines, inara's a blank, Jayne's got a nice contribution, except for the cliche Dirty Harry line, and Book is a bit more interesting. However, ya take the 'verse where ya can find it.... it's better than nothing.
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Top reviews from other countries

Randal
4.0 out of 5 stars Big Damn Story
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 7, 2019
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I don't usually read tie-in fiction because I usually find that on some level it disappoints, however right from the get-go Nancy Holder and James Lovegrove capture the spirit of what is possibly my all-time favourite TV show by my all-tine favourite TV writer, Joss Whedon. The trick to Joss Whedon's writing (if you can call it a trick) is to delve deep into character while turning up the comedy one-liner-quotient to eleven, and all this while not losing sight of the drama and plot line. His writing is a tour-de-force whether you're looking at Firefly and Buffy the Vampire Slayer to the fabulous one-liners in Toy Story 1 (Whedon was the script doctor.) I didn't expect Whedon to write his own tie-ins. He's somewhat busy with - y'know - directing major movies, but I do feel that the authors mostly capture Whedon's spirit, especially at the beginning of the book.

This Firefly adventure is pretty much like watching an episode and covers approximately the same ground. It's set part way through the first and only season, more towards the latter end. The major characters are all assembled. River is still wambly in the brain-pan; Simon still hasn't made a pass at Kaylee; Zoe and Wash are happily married and Jayne has the knitted hat and a gun called Vera. Mal is his usual cynical self, but he can't afford to turn down a job, which is why they all find themselves on Persephone's Eavesdown Docks getting ready to transport crates covered in warning stickers (as in warnings of imminent explosion should the crate be rattles, wet, warmed up etc. Maybe they shouldn't have taken another job from Badger, but they need the cash to keep flying (presuming he pays them this time).

Oh, yeah, this is gonna be great!

Badger's job (transporting unstable mining explosives is one thing, but when Mal is kidnapped he ends up being tried in a kangaroo court as a traitor to the Browncoats while his crew follows every clue available to trace him. There's some interesting backstory from Mal's youth on Shadow, before the war, which I assume can be taken as canon since this is an official tie in.
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Chris Wildi
5.0 out of 5 stars Such an enjoyable return to Serenity
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 27, 2019
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If, like me, you are appalled at the nonsense that Greg Pak has been writing for Boom! Studio's Firefly comic, buy this novel!

I had a great time reading Big Damn Hero, I don't think the smile left my face while this book was in my hands and these characters walked back into my life like old friends.

I think the author's biggest triumph is how well he's captured the voices of these characters. It's always a difficult task, particularly when characters have as distinctive a manner of speech as Whedon's, but James Lovegrove absolutely nails it (Badger's in particular, Bravo!). There wasn't a line of dialogue that missed the beat. (For how not to do it, look at literally any page of Boom!'s rubbish).

The story is a bit derivative hitting similar beats as 'Safe' and 'War Stories' but I truly I don't mind; I want these novels to feel like stepping back into the show. Having said that the novel takes the brave decision to hugely expand on Mal's backstory in a series of flashbacks. In my opinion the author was very successful; I could believe in the teenage Mal and it was interesting to see into the mind of the man before he decides to enlist with the Browncoats.

The continuity is good, the story is set between 'The Message' and 'Heart of Gold' which is an excellent choice as Inara hasn't decided to leave the ship but the characters are very familiar to one another. I really liked that every episode prior to 'Heart of Gold' got a nod and even events from 'The Shepherd's Tale' graphic novel are referenced. These nods convinced me that James Lovegrove is a real fan of the show and a safe pair of hands to write these novels.
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Becky C
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Firefly novel
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 12, 2018
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In some respects I found this quite a bittersweet read because it is so well-written, with characters that feel so true to the show, that you can so easily imagine it being an episode or mini-arc and then I get upset about the cancellation again!

I felt genuinely soul-hurt for Mal in this and really liked the way Zoe stepped up. The only downside was that there wasn’t enough Inara and the Tams, but I can only hope that there will be future novels.
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Graham
2.0 out of 5 stars Not well written
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 6, 2020
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Spelling mistakes, grammatical errors, and worst of all very clunky prose. The occasional fan service of mentioning something that happened in the TV shows feels forced. The story isn't compelling. Importantly, the way the characters speak doesn't feel true to the TV show. All in all it feels like badly written fan fiction.
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rob w
5.0 out of 5 stars Serenity flys again
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 26, 2020
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This is the first novel based on Joss Whedon's unfairly cancelled TV series Firefly which led to a film based on the series called Serenity which if you haven't seen it is well worth checking out. This novel fills in some of the details to the background of the lead character the captain of Serenity Mal Reynolds, however you may need to be familiar with the TV series/film to immediately get the other characters.
The book takes a little while to get going but once the story is under way it rattles along at a good pace and the characters stay true to their personalities from the series in particular River Tam and Jayne Cobb. So this is a good story that for fans fills out some of the background on the characters but shouldn't deter newcomers and will hopefully send them in search of the neglected TV series and film. There are 3 other books to come one I think has already been published in hard back with 2 more to be released and lets hope that unlike the series there will be more to come.
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