Firefly: Big Damn Hero
Series: Firefly, Book 1
By: James Lovegrove / Narrated By: James Anderson Foster
Length: 9 hrs and 32 mins
Jolly good(ish) fun, -IF- you’re new to the “Verse”
I’ve never watched “Firefly”.
I KNOW!
Soooo, when I finished Firefly: Big Damn Hero, and scooched over to see the reviews (They’re usually great prompts to remember what-all did and did not work that would bear addressing), imagine my surprise to see that this is either LOVE IT… or… HAAAAATE IT. Apparently author James Lovegrove committed the egregiously unforGIVable sin of hashing over what’s already well-known from “Firefly”, the 14-episode Then Canceled series. Explanations of characters’s quirks and affectations? Lovegrove goes thoroughly into them, altho’ I didn’t feel like it was excessive but was just enough to flesh out and distinguish the characters.
But whadda I know; like I said: I never watched the dadgum show.
So here’s what you’ll find BESIDES Lovegrove going into old hat.
In this Space Western, the crew of the Serenity are on Persephone trying to climb out of dire financial straits. Their ship has needed repairs that’ve required more than duct tape and ingenuity. And they’ve kinda sorta been forced into the position of accepting to transport and deliver HIGHLY combustible mining explosives from one dodgy hombre. Further, ‘tain’t enough. They’ve gotta make even more cash than that. And so whilst on rough and tumble Persephone, they’re going to do business with not a dodgy character, but a truly nefarious one.
Whilst in a bar on Alliance Day, the crew’s feathers are ruffled because, you see, certain members were on the losing side of that Civil War. As they wait for their Captain Malcolm Reynolds to meet up with Nefarious One, they have to listen to songs and slurs and threats made against all Browncoats. Which is terrrribly difficult as both Mal and Zoe, his second in command, are proud Browncoats. Or at least they were until the war was lost.
While Mal gets kidnapped, Zoe and crew member Jayne, who are s’posed to have Mal’s back, are knocking back beverages, Zoe seething over insults. Until? Well, as in any good Western, there’s a brawl to end all brawls.
There are further complications such as brother and sister duo Simon and River on the run from the Alliance, and keeping track of the flighty, flaky, oddly prescient River is a job and a half. Shepherd Book goes out on his own to do some sleuthing on Persephone as the Serenity has had to fly the coop and keep to schedule, but Book has a contact from his enigmatic past, and p’raps he’ll figure out what happened to Mal, where he is, rescue him. All sorts of heroic stuff.
To avid fans, I hear-tell this’ll provide interesting background into Mal’s past and his background as a diehard Browncoat. Seriously, there’s a lot o’ backstory happening in this book, such that I have to fess up to dozing off a time or two. Unfortunately, there’s enough creative and imaginative action that I kept waking up from my pitiful little snoozes to find myself comPLETEly lost and in the midst of some intricately plotted misdirection, miscues, and even some successful hijinks. I mean, it felt like I was constantly hitting the 30-sec. Back Button to find my place, some of the excitement and surprise spoiled by getting so far into the story.
I don’t recommend you snooze through this. At any time. You’ll regret it.
Onto James Foster Anderson. I’ve listened to two of his performances before, and I’ve hated him. And I’ve loved him. Here? Oh my, I thought he did just great. Mal has a bit of swagger to him, and Jayne? Anderson gives him Swagger with a whole lot of Blockhead. Zoe? Anderson doesn’t do weird high-pitched voices for her, or for any of the women for all of that, but he does make her absolutely Kick A**. River, resident flake (Which is unkind as she’s Off because of stuff the Alliance did to her…), splays herself on crates of high explosives to “keep them calm”, and she plays the flute to further soothe the Temper of the Wayward Beasts that Lovegrove ratchets up to: About To Explode ANY Minute Now. So me? I LIKED his performance.
Others? Well, they were waiting for voices akin to the actors from the TV series, and so they were vaaastly disappointed. Nay, they were downright peeved.
If you’re a hardcore “Firefly” aficionado, you might keep your tra lala lovely memories you’ve had of the show and just suck it up that it’s ended. -BUT- if you just loved the universe it was in, the characters, wanna see them in further scrapes, do give this a try so that you might have your fix.
And if you’ve NEVER seen it, but you heard a whole lotta hoopla about it (And were wondering why)? Think of this as a 9 1/2-hour movie that drags but here and there.
And do NOT! doze off! You’ll greatly rue the moment you did…!
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