serena2286's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
martialalex's review against another edition
adventurous
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
madeleineg619's review against another edition
3.5
As a tribute to the show, this book was awesome. As a book overall, it was ok ig
sambora's review against another edition
3.0
Big Damn Hero is a weird one for me. The Browncoat in me wants to love it because... well it's Firefly - but another, more objective, part can't help but notice it's shortcomings.
I shall start with the positive.
The dialogue is very strong, and the performance on the audiobook version really enhanced this for me, kudos to James Anderson Foster.
All of the characters used their specific dialect perfectly and their word choices were spot on, particularly in regards to characters like Wash and Kaylee. Lovegrove is clearly a huge fan or he studied the show very closely. Either way - he has made the characters and their speech work exceptionally well.
This ties into something that at first I appreciated and then grew somewhat exasperated with as the book went on; the direct and sometimes entirely pointless references to the show.
As I say, at first I thought it wise; to mention a few events, establish a timeline, remind the readers of a certain character's history, etc... Then it just kept happening, and with smaller and smaller things that mattered less and less.
There really wasn't much of the Firefly TV show, and I presume most of the people reading this book are fans who are already rather familiar with the canon. Thus the constant references to the measly 14 episodes we got on screen became overbearing and it felt a little patronising and "hand-holdy".
This honestly wouldn't be so bad if it was written with some subtlety - instead it was written like;
"Remember the time when..."
or
"He thought back to the time when..."
Yes, we remember, and if we didn't - the chances are that we didn't actually need to remember in this instance anyway.
Even the title could be mentioned here; an iconic line from the series that had literally nothing to do with anything that happened in the book. It isn't even appropriate for the story.
Maybe this is all just me. I understood the use of the references in the early stages of the book, but in the latter half it just felt so forced and on-the-nose.
Lastly, the story itself. I don't think I liked it.
I admit, maybe this is because I am currently reading/seeing a better version of a very similar story take place in the Greg Pak graphic novels - 'Firefly: The Unification War'.
At the beginning of this review I referred to myself as a Browncoat; the self adopted names that the fans of Firefly gave themselves as a collective. In the world of Firefly, Browncoats are soldiers and mercenaries and veterans that fought for independence against the Alliance.
A consistent thing with both Lovegrove's 'Big Damn Hero' and Pak's 'The Unification War' is that both make the in-world Browncoats out to be stupid, reckless, violent pieces of shit - which is not what they are seen to be at all in canon.
Even considering they 1) lost the war, 2) are down on their luck and 3) are looking for chances to get back at the alliance, I always saw their comradeship, their loyalty and their desperate, scrappy and oftentimes underhanded attempts to help innocents retain their freedoms as being key elements of what it is to be a Browncoat.
We didn't see that here.
They were not freedom fighters.
We saw them as a largely faceless crowd of bloodthirsty bandits. Bloodthirsty to the point of trying to kill other Browncoats! The same people that they served with!
To me, this just isn't what I want from a Firefly story. It doesn't feel like the plot of an episode and seemed like it was just an easy way to create conflict - using the conflict of the past.
Another similarity and critisism of both works, but primarily Big Damn Hero, is the trend of taking Mal away from his crew and having them rescue him.
This just isn't fun to me. Not only do we miss out on almost all of Mal's interactions with his team, and make out like Mal's role in the war is all he is, but it removes any tension - because he is Malcolm bloody Reynolds. He isn't going anywhere in the first book of a series and we all know it.
With Firefly being so open ended and having such a diverse cast of characters and settings, it frustrates me how little is done with it's potential.
I want to see genres collide.
I want to see unlikely cast combinations forced together.
I want to see twists.
I want to see heists.
I want to see smart teamwork.
I want the key conflict to involve more than just Mal.
So yes, I wasn't completely taken with the story. I appreciated the voice and the dialogue, and the performance of the audiobook was really good, but for Big Damn Hero overall...
2.5 stars, rounded up for the Audible performance.
I really hope the next book in this series is an improvement, because despite not really enjoying this one I shall definitely be giving it a go, albeit with my fingers crossed.
________________
Thank you for reading my review!
I know it's a long one so if you've read this far it means a lot.
I hope you are reading good books and feel free to talk Firefly with me whenever!
I shall start with the positive.
The dialogue is very strong, and the performance on the audiobook version really enhanced this for me, kudos to James Anderson Foster.
All of the characters used their specific dialect perfectly and their word choices were spot on, particularly in regards to characters like Wash and Kaylee. Lovegrove is clearly a huge fan or he studied the show very closely. Either way - he has made the characters and their speech work exceptionally well.
This ties into something that at first I appreciated and then grew somewhat exasperated with as the book went on; the direct and sometimes entirely pointless references to the show.
As I say, at first I thought it wise; to mention a few events, establish a timeline, remind the readers of a certain character's history, etc... Then it just kept happening, and with smaller and smaller things that mattered less and less.
There really wasn't much of the Firefly TV show, and I presume most of the people reading this book are fans who are already rather familiar with the canon. Thus the constant references to the measly 14 episodes we got on screen became overbearing and it felt a little patronising and "hand-holdy".
This honestly wouldn't be so bad if it was written with some subtlety - instead it was written like;
"Remember the time when..."
or
"He thought back to the time when..."
Yes, we remember, and if we didn't - the chances are that we didn't actually need to remember in this instance anyway.
Even the title could be mentioned here; an iconic line from the series that had literally nothing to do with anything that happened in the book. It isn't even appropriate for the story.
Maybe this is all just me. I understood the use of the references in the early stages of the book, but in the latter half it just felt so forced and on-the-nose.
Lastly, the story itself. I don't think I liked it.
I admit, maybe this is because I am currently reading/seeing a better version of a very similar story take place in the Greg Pak graphic novels - 'Firefly: The Unification War'.
At the beginning of this review I referred to myself as a Browncoat; the self adopted names that the fans of Firefly gave themselves as a collective. In the world of Firefly, Browncoats are soldiers and mercenaries and veterans that fought for independence against the Alliance.
A consistent thing with both Lovegrove's 'Big Damn Hero' and Pak's 'The Unification War' is that both make the in-world Browncoats out to be stupid, reckless, violent pieces of shit - which is not what they are seen to be at all in canon.
Even considering they 1) lost the war, 2) are down on their luck and 3) are looking for chances to get back at the alliance, I always saw their comradeship, their loyalty and their desperate, scrappy and oftentimes underhanded attempts to help innocents retain their freedoms as being key elements of what it is to be a Browncoat.
We didn't see that here.
They were not freedom fighters.
We saw them as a largely faceless crowd of bloodthirsty bandits. Bloodthirsty to the point of trying to kill other Browncoats! The same people that they served with!
To me, this just isn't what I want from a Firefly story. It doesn't feel like the plot of an episode and seemed like it was just an easy way to create conflict - using the conflict of the past.
Another similarity and critisism of both works, but primarily Big Damn Hero, is the trend of taking Mal away from his crew and having them rescue him.
This just isn't fun to me. Not only do we miss out on almost all of Mal's interactions with his team, and make out like Mal's role in the war is all he is, but it removes any tension - because he is Malcolm bloody Reynolds. He isn't going anywhere in the first book of a series and we all know it.
With Firefly being so open ended and having such a diverse cast of characters and settings, it frustrates me how little is done with it's potential.
I want to see genres collide.
I want to see unlikely cast combinations forced together.
I want to see twists.
I want to see heists.
I want to see smart teamwork.
I want the key conflict to involve more than just Mal.
So yes, I wasn't completely taken with the story. I appreciated the voice and the dialogue, and the performance of the audiobook was really good, but for Big Damn Hero overall...
2.5 stars, rounded up for the Audible performance.
I really hope the next book in this series is an improvement, because despite not really enjoying this one I shall definitely be giving it a go, albeit with my fingers crossed.
________________
Thank you for reading my review!
I know it's a long one so if you've read this far it means a lot.
I hope you are reading good books and feel free to talk Firefly with me whenever!
echoes01's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
informative
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
bashsbooks's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
This books reads like an unreleased Firefly episode. For the fans of the show, this is great - another slice of the characters we all love, out in the Black. It is a little unusual for a novel, but it is at least self-contained. I can tell the authors have much love for the series, too, and I think they write the character interactions well. That said, they lean into the Western aspect of the show in a way that feels MUCH more awkward, gimmicky, and cringeworthy than I remember.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, War, Police brutality, Blood, Grief, and Violence
Moderate: Toxic relationship, Fatphobia, Toxic friendship, Torture, Classism, and Slavery
Minor: Alcohol, Sexual content, Cancer, and Gore
joshgauthier's review against another edition
5.0
I was so, so excited to learn that we would be getting brand new Firefly stories, and even more so when I learned that Nancy Holder would be kicking off the new trilogy of books. She and Lovegrove, overseen by Joss Whedon, have delivered an exciting new chapter in the story of the Serenity and her crew.
Right from the start Big Damn Hero delivers the characters, aesthetic, and storytelling that made the original series great. The book does a notable amount of work filling in backstory and reminders of what has come before--sometimes smoothly and sometimes in slightly more direct ways. But once we're up to speed, the story plunges headlong into a new job that rapidly spins out of control--as such things do.
With the return of many familiar characters--plus the introduction of some new ones-- Holder and Lovegrove follow our heroes' efforts to keep the ship flying, all while Mal's past comes back to haunt him and the browncoats' losses in the war continue sending ripples throughout alliance territory.
Humor and drama, struggle and grit--through action, dialogue, and adventure, the world and characters of Firefly return to life full of everything we know and love. I enjoyed reading this book so much, and I'm looking forward to the next titles with great expectation. For fans of the series--and for fans just now discovering this world--Big Damn Hero does not disappoint.
Right from the start Big Damn Hero delivers the characters, aesthetic, and storytelling that made the original series great. The book does a notable amount of work filling in backstory and reminders of what has come before--sometimes smoothly and sometimes in slightly more direct ways. But once we're up to speed, the story plunges headlong into a new job that rapidly spins out of control--as such things do.
With the return of many familiar characters--plus the introduction of some new ones-- Holder and Lovegrove follow our heroes' efforts to keep the ship flying, all while Mal's past comes back to haunt him and the browncoats' losses in the war continue sending ripples throughout alliance territory.
Humor and drama, struggle and grit--through action, dialogue, and adventure, the world and characters of Firefly return to life full of everything we know and love. I enjoyed reading this book so much, and I'm looking forward to the next titles with great expectation. For fans of the series--and for fans just now discovering this world--Big Damn Hero does not disappoint.
crickets's review against another edition
4.0
I had no idea Firefly books were a thing. I should have known people would have taken it upon themselves to fill the gap that that show left in our lives. I am still not over it, and this fits perfectly. Reading this book after recently having re-watched the show was a real treat.
They pick up the stories where they left off when the show first got cancelled and go from there. The writing itself flows like a script, and you can hear the character's voices in your head. It's really more of what you've come to expect of the show, and then some. They switch points of view between crew members, giving you some great insights into their background, something we were really looking forward to before. Yes, even Book's background, can you believe it? I recommend it to any fans, or anyone looking to become one. Buckle up and start with the show! Finally figure out what all the hype (and ever-growing resentment about the cancellation) was all about. Stay shiny!
They pick up the stories where they left off when the show first got cancelled and go from there. The writing itself flows like a script, and you can hear the character's voices in your head. It's really more of what you've come to expect of the show, and then some. They switch points of view between crew members, giving you some great insights into their background, something we were really looking forward to before. Yes, even Book's background, can you believe it? I recommend it to any fans, or anyone looking to become one. Buckle up and start with the show! Finally figure out what all the hype (and ever-growing resentment about the cancellation) was all about. Stay shiny!