Big Damn Hero (Firefly, #1)

by Nancy Holder and James Lovegrove

[kalventure]

It's been almost sixteen years since Firefly was cancelled by FOX, and honestly I'm still not over it. As a person that lives in a reality where Serenity does not exist, I was more than eager to dive back into the black with the crew that started my love for space opera and ragtag crews. But I was also apprehensive: would the series hold up? For me this book was everything that I was looking for and I am so excited for the next books in the series!

Firefly: Big Damn Hero contextually happens in the middle of the short lived tv series, which means that some jobs and events from the eleven episodes are referenced, but the great thing is that a reader new to the Firefly franchise will not feel lost among references. Holder and Lovelace did an excellent job of including references for fans of the tv series without alienating an entirely new audience.

The plot (re)introduces the reader to the cast and the world, and in my opinion does a good job of recalling the necessary worldbuilding framework to slowly bring you into the world. It didn't read like too much information that I already knew as a fan of the 'verse, which I have to commend the authors on. The witty banter between the characters and the sprinkling of Chinese phrases brought me so much enjoyment and nostalgia!

The Serenity crew is on the planet Persephone preparing to take a shipment off-world for Badger, but Mal goes missing during a meeting with a new client. Due to the sensitive nature of Badger's shipment, the crew has to split up between tracking Mal down and delivering the shipment. But don't forget that the Tams are fugitives and the Alliance will stop at nothing to track down River.


Mal goes missing on Alliance Day, and it turns out that his kidnappers are Browncoats who feel betrayed by losing the war. I thought this was such an ingenious way to frame the exposition of more history, especially since so much of Mal and Zoe's identity is in the Battle of Serenity and the cause they fought for. Where Serenity provided "closure" following an abrupt cancellation, this book series is going to provide more transport jobs, more answers about our characters, and more worldbuilding. I love the politics of the Alliance and how the world got to a point where the only two superpowers remaining in the world were the US and China... what led them to abandon the Earth-that-was and take to the sky. (This may be fleshed out more in the movie, but I am not joking when I said that I live in a reality where the movie doesn't exist - I watched it once in 2005.) This television series honestly has some of the most loyal fanbases I have ever seen, and I think this book did us browncoats proud. It wasn't perfect, but I am so happy that it exists.

As much as I loved the worldbuilding and plotline of the book, I would be remiss to not mention the characters. Mal, Zoe, Jayne, and Shepard Book felt 100% true to the characters that we know and love; however, I do think that Simon, River and Kaylee felt a little off. I am not sure what exactly it was but they didn't sound right to me, but that could be related to them getting less "page time" in this book. I look forward to their characters shining in the next book because it is obvious that the authors can nail the character's voices.

As weird as it might sound, I was really happy that Badger is in the book. Mark Sheppard literally was the early 00's actor for so many science fiction shows (Romo Lampkin in Battlestar Galactica, and most notably his long run as Crowley on Supernatural).


I think my favorite character of the book has to be Preacher. I loved getting inside of his head and watching him approach the problems at hand, and I am even more intrigued about his past. Of everything that getting back into this world brings, the answers about Book's life before he became a Shepard kind of top my list.

I honestly loved the plot of this book, it was such a great way to slowly introduce some backstory on the Battle of Serenity, the politics still at play in relation to the Browncoats vs. the Alliance, and the characters backstories. This was an excellent first-in-series start that feels true to the television show without needing to retcon the movie completely. (Because let's be real, I am not interested in anything post-Serenity, and I will never get over the sudden and inevitable betrayal.) I finished reading this book sixteen minutes before 2018 ended, and it was a great way to finish 2018! Overall, this was a wild ride back into the world of Firefly that I sorely missed; I loved learning some of the backstory that Fox robbed us from fifteen years ago and look forward to the next installment! (Which, speaking of the next installment... The Magnificent Nine comes out in March and Jayne and his hat are on the cover and I am ALL ABOUT THE HERO OF CANTON & HIS STATEMENT MAKING HAT.)

~~

10/30/2018: tfw you want a book so badly that you accidentally pre-order it twice

Blog | Twitter | Pinterest!