Firefly: Big Damn Hero

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

Big Damn Hero (Firefly, Book 1) by Nancy Holder

🥺 It’s all here, the crew, the ship, the verse. 😍

Given how many times authors have tried and failed to copy the Firefly formula, I’m impressed at how well the book was able to maintain the essence of the show. It never felt like I was reading a spin-off or some elaborate fan-fiction, it felt like Firefly ❤️, as if the show never ended (I can dream).

It also has some of the better callbacks that I’ve seen in a media tie-in book. Usually callbacks are just used as easter eggs for longtime fans to say, “I remember that!” But here the callbacks are actually relevant to what’s going on, while still giving you that sense of nostalgia.

My only complaint is the story itself. It’s not a bad story, it’s actually a very good one, but it’s a story I feel shouldn’t have been told. I don’t like it for the same reason I didn’t like the idea of the Joker movie. Like the Joker, one of the most compelling things about Mal is that we don’t really know a whole lot about him. Mal always avoided talking about his personal life, only dropping little tidbits on rare occasions, and I think it should’ve stayed that way.

That, and it makes me miss the show even more. 😢