My Own Kind of Freedom: A Firefly Novel

by Steven Brust

Steven Brust jumps into the universe and characters of Joss Whedon's Firefly series.

My Own Kind of Freedom: A Firefly Novel is a novel written by established fantasy novelist Steven Brust "on spec". It was originally proposed as an official Firefly novel to be licensed by Universal Pictures, but it was rejected. In 2008 it was instead published by Brust on the internet under a Creative Commons license as fan fiction.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Westerns, Fantasy, Fan Fiction, Adventure, Media Tie In

168 pages, ebook

First published January 1, 2008

About the author

Steven Karl Zoltán Brust (born November 23, 1955) is an American fantasy and science fiction author of Hungarian descent. He was a member of the writers' group The Scribblies, which included Emma Bull, Pamela Dean, Will Shetterly, Nate Bucklin, Kara Dalkey, and Patricia Wrede, and also belongs to the Pre-Joycean Fellowship.

http://us.macmillan.com/author/steven...

(Photo by David Dyer-Bennet)

Reviews

[Becky]

This is my second book by Steven Brust, and, unfortunately, I had a lot of the same complaints that I had with the first one. Which was also, now that I think of it, a situation in which Brust wrote a story around someone else's work (in this case Joss Whedon's Firefly/Serenity world and characters, and in the other book, the Bible).

I just don't think that his style is for me. Which is a shame, because I think the stories are good. I just get annoyed while I'm reading them. His style is too choppy. Too many staccato sentences, too many interruptions and cut off sentences, too much dialogue and not enough exposition. Too many POVs, too many scene changes, too much left for the reader to fill in whenever there are gaps, and there are too many gaps. I want to know what a character is doing, and who, not just that something is being done by someone. For example:

"Sorry, ma'am. I'm in kind of a hurry. And you're not going to be able to reach your se­cu­rity peo­ple any­way. So, if you'll just let me . . . ugh. Which one of these . . . ? Okay, that's the di­rect link to the Cor­tex, so one of these must be, ah, I see. I don't know if I have the right con­nec­tion here. Okay, this ought to—there. Yes. A guy named Mis­ter Uni­verse showed me how to do this. Weird name, huh? Not half as weird as the guy is. We met in flight school. Worst pilot you ever . . . okay, that should do it. Just give me half a sec­ond to make sure the cross-load worked. Yep. Okay. You can have your desk again. Thanks."

It was like reading a story that's been cut up into sentence fragments on little pieces of paper, put into a box, and then drawn out one by one. And almost every single time there's a scene change, we're in for a good chunk of time not knowing whose POV we're reading until there's a hint or clue, or occasionally, someone else comes in the scene and gives it away. That's not enjoyable to me. I want to be drawn into the story and have it feel effortless to read. I want to just be with these characters again, and not be irritated by them. I know Zoe says "Sir" a lot, but this book is only 168 pages long, and there are 206 sirs in it. I know, because I counted.

Or worse than being irritated by them is not understanding them at all, and had I not watched Firefly and Serenity before reading this book, I really don't think I would have. There just wasn't enough there. And combine that with the interruptions and everything else, and I just don't see how a person without full Firefly/Serenity experience would get much out of this book.

But, all that being said, I DO think that Brust did a good job matching the world and the characters, and the story itself was good. I just wish that his writing didn't make it hard for me to enjoy it.

[Terence]

I saw the movie "Serenity" and enjoyed it very much but it was only after Netflix began streaming episodes of "Firefly" that I actually watched and fell in love with the series. I'm not a Joss Whedon fan. The few episodes of "Angel" I watched bored me. I never bothered with "Dollhouse." "Buffy" was more interesting, and I loved the series' finale (far better, IMO, than BSG's). But in "Firefly" a number of elements came together so that it spoke to me, including the cast, the background and the generally excellent scripts.

I am a fan of most of Steven Brust's work and I was eager to read his take on a favorite series. I think he did a pretty good job. Brust captures "Firefly's" tone (especially the relationship between Mal and Zoe), with minimal stumbles.

The story takes place between "Objects in Space"* and "Serenity," and involves the reappearance of a figure from Mal and Zoe's time in the war. I'm not going to get into spoilerish details but I will mention two caveats I had with the story. The first is the Alliance agent - Kit Merlyn. I wasn't entirely sold on his relationship with Serenity's crew. The other quibble I had was with Wash ("I'm a leaf on the wind") and Kaylee's actions during the raid on Sakarya's compound. Particularly in Kaylee's case; it seemed out of character. OK, one spoiler question: Kaylee would really consider crashing Serenity?

These concerns aside, I enjoyed the story and would definitely recommend it to "Firefly" fans. It's a piece of fanfic so those unfamiliar with the TV show would be lost, but I would recommend you get a hold of "Firefly's" one, too brief, season and then read this novella.

* I hate watching "Objects in Space" if only because of what the bounty hunter does to Kaylee. Of all the people in the 'verse who don't deserve to be hurt, Kaylee is in the top three.

** Many thanks to John S.'s review, which clued me in to the existence of this work.

[Kat Hagedorn]

http://tinyurl.com/chmb29

I've never read fan fiction before. I consider it hyperventilation from nerds who can't write and should be getting back to their coding RSN. (This coming from a nerd herself.) But Brust is an actual sci-fi author, albeit a bit strange (his Wikipedia picture needs no words) and prone to creating novels set in other authors' universes.

Perhaps because he was writing fan fiction, he released this novel under a Creative Commons license allowing users to download, share and read the novel without purchasing it. Normally, I would have assumed it was crap, but because it was Brust and because I'm a monstrous fan of the doomed Firefly series, I had to give it a go.

Not bad. Brust did his homework-- the characters all speak and act as they would have in the television show, which is no mean feat. Each character had subtleties that I would have been hard pressed to describe in text, and Brust pulls that off. As well, he creates a tale that fits in the Firefly timeline and is akin to the stories we saw on TV. With some nice little bon mots thrown in (especially River's).

Problem is, it's really bloody obvious what's going to happen in the end. Why is Mal staying on the planet? Well, duh, any brain-dead reader can tell that from what Brust laid out early in the novel. Sigh. I know it's really hard to create mysteries, and that sci-fi mysteries are the hardest of them all. Which is why we should honor those who can and Whedon above them all.

[Jim]

Thanks, Chris. It was great to read a new Firefly adventure. This was a lot of fun. Brust nailed the characters & dialog. This takes place after the series (Book & Inara are gone.) but before the movie (I won't say why, although if it's a spoiler, your movie priorities are all wrong.)

Get it for free through a Google search or here in epub, mobi, or PDF.
http://dreamcafe.com/downloads/

[John]

One of my favorite fantasy writers, Steven Brust, apparently pitched this cross-over into the universe of Joss Whedon's Firefly to the appropriate people and they said "no thanks."

So he wrote it as fan fiction and is distributing it for free. The result is that a fantastic author has written a fantastic book simply because he wanted to... and we can all read it for free.

The novel is set between the last episode of the series and the movie Serenity. Inara and Book have left the ship; otherwise, everyone is here. Every character, at one point or another, is a point-of-view character, and Brust does an excellent job getting into each character's head. The most remarkable accomplishment is River. As a character who, by her very nature, cannot adequately express herself verbally, having a few scenes from her point of view really offered a lot of insight. Of course, Joss Whedon might tell us Brust got it pretty well wrong, but he sure makes it feel right. At times, she almost seems too coherent, but I think it works.

There were a handful of times where I didn't feel entirely convinced that a character would do what a character did, but those were few and far between. The dialog and action were excellent.

If you're a fan of Firefly and Serenity or of Steven Brust, you should definitely check this out. It's a good match for each of them. If you're a fan of both, I trust you started downloading the book just as soon as you saw that it existed.

It can be found at http://dreamcafe.com/firefly.html

[D. Jason]

Steven Brust's very professional piece of Firefly fanfiction (not actually, he began it as a tie-in novel; when that deal fell through, he released it as fan fic under a Creative Commons license) is a welcome chance to spend a little more time with Mal, Zoe, Wash, Simon, River, Kaylee and Jayne, and fills in the time between the TV series and the film rather nicely.

Brust gets each character's voice perfectly -- and you know it, because each scene is narrated from a different character's point of view, you aren't told up front who it is, but you never wonder for more than a few sentences.

I was happy to spend more time with everyone (especially Wash), but the story felt a bit thin, rather like an over-long episode of the show than a full novel. (And, at 55,000 words, it's a bit short for a novel, even by old SF paperback standards, where 75-80k would have been on the shorter end.) Still, I was thankful to have even this much more time with Serenity's crew.

http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2217/my...

[Chris Haught]

This was a lot of fun, and a relaxing read. It was great to get back in touch with the crew of Serenity. I've read several books by Brust now, and I'll say that this was consistent with his style while capturing the heart of Firefly. Win/win.

[Chy]

Before I get into this review, I want to mention the hard facts. The best and most pertinent hard fact being that if you click on the Goodreads entry for this book you will find a lovely thing; a link to the page where you can download this novel for free. That's because it's a "media tie-in novel," meaning the universe and characters were "lovingly used without permission."

The 'verse here is that of the TV series Firefly and the film Serenity. The novel takes place sometime between the events of the series and the events of the film. Meaning Inara and Book are not there, but they are definitely not forgotten.

Now, here's my review:

If someone said, "Hey, Chy, we're thinking there should be a novel set in the Firefly world," I would say, "You damn right." And after a bit of thought, I would have added, "And you know who should write it? Steven Freakin' Brust."

According to documentation, that's not his real middle name. Just thought I should mention that.

Brust's characterizations were so good that if he had revealed some universe-changing characterization element, I would have believed it. Hell, he may have done, but I couldn't tell you, because if he did, it fit.

It was like seeing a long-lost episode. The plot felt like the series plots and everything fit in so well it was nothing short of miraculous. What got most giddy about was River's point-of-view. That, with even the smallest glitch, would have come across as forced, or faked, or played, or some combination of all three. Her POVs were none of those; they were River. And they were awesome. I was forced (forced!) to write down more than one memorable Brust-induced Riverism in my journal. Because you gotta feel words like that in your hands.

My second-favorite POV was Kaylee's. Those two are the ones whose heads I've most wanted inside, and Brust took us there. And did it truly.

All the rest were just as outstanding, and balanced well with everything I've ever thought about the characters. And it's actually a huge compliment that I didn't mention Mal's with my favorite point-of-views. Because it means Mal was written perfectly. (Yes, it does.)

When you have solid characterizations, character interactions take care of themselves, yet the character interactions that are so true to the universe are what I first noticed. I had to; I couldn't help it. The character interactions, you see, are what the series was all about, to me.

True to how I viewed the series, Brust could have written the entire novel with the crew of Serenity playing darts and I would have been completely entertained---because it was that much about characterization, and because the characterizations were that good.

And what makes it so amazing is how little narration is devoted to any kind of characterization. It's all in the doing. The man is a wizard. And I'm very glad I got to be the product of this spell. (You damn right.)

[Yo, voices, did we make it through that review without saying "Shiny"?]

Almost!

[Daniel]

Strictly for fans of the late, great Fox television show "Firefly," "My Own Kind of Freedom" would hold no interest -- and, in fact, probably be close to nonsensical -- to anyone else. The book, available for free on the Web, is essentially fan fiction -- a novel, that is, that has an original storyline but uses characters from a pre-existing TV show, movie or book. The difference between this and most other fan fiction, however, is that the writer is a professional author. I can't speak to Brust's talents as a writer of completely original material -- I've read nothing else by him -- but with "My Own Kind of Freedom" he perfectly recreates the type of dialogue and plot twists found in any random episode of "Firefly." He's obviously studied his source material closely, and his book could easily be adapted into a "Firefly" movie or two-part episode.

That speaks both to "My Own Kind of Freedom"'s strengths and its weaknesses. Much of the book reads like a movie or TV show treatment -- especially the reliance on italicized settings, such as "Yuva: Canteen" or "Serenity: Bridge," to switch the action from one location to the next -- rather than a fully realized novel. The book also relies heavily on dialogue, with little space given to the characters' thoughts and feelings. I can understand why Brust does this, though: He obviously doesn't want to stray too far from the source material by giving the characters internal lives that wouldn't ring true to fans of "Firefly" and the "Serenity" movie. The dialogue, however, is excellent and true to the show.

"My Own Kind of Freedom" is worth a read for any "Firefly" fan. And it certainly doesn't hurt that it's both a quick read at just 168 pages and doesn't cost a nickel.

[Angela]

It's not often that I can actually include a fanfic novel in my reading, especially one released for free on the Internet by a professional author. That is however exactly what My Own Kind of Freedom is: Steven Brust's Firefly fanfic novel. If I understand the history of this book correctly, Brust tried to pitch it professionally but couldn't sell it, and ergo decided to release it to the net.

The plot's decent enough and reads like a good idea for an episode of the show, one set after the last aired episode but before the events of Serenity, so we're down Inara and Book. Our heroes take a job that takes them to Hera--the very planet where the Browncoats lost the war to the Alliance. Jayne's blowing up at Mal and subsequent expulsion from the crew leads to a much bigger problem: Mal's old commander is at large on Hera, and moreover, he's up to no good. Common sense would tell the crew of Serenity to leave the world as fast as they can. But when has common sense ever gotten in the way of our Big Damn Heroes?

Mostly, the characterizations are on the true, and Brust does some lovely things writing from River's point of view; his language and word choices are at their (aheh) shiniest when he's writing for her. But I take some issues with Jayne's part of the plot arc, since it's precipitated by actions I don't believe he'd have taken at the point at which the story is set. So overall, while this was pleasant to read, I found it a bit flawed. Three stars.

[colleen the convivial curmudgeon]

I don't usually read much in the way of fan-fiction or tie-ins, but this was picked as a group read, and I do love me some Firefly, and it was short and free so, hey, why not?

I think, overall, Brust did a good job and capturing the voices of the characters - though I was getting a bit annoyed with Zoë saying "sir" in almost every line of dialogue she delivers to Mal (yes, I know she called him sir, it was more the constant repetition of it, like when people constantly say someone's name in dialogue, which doesn't really happen in real life or, if it does, is highly annoying), and I thought River's parts were generally good, but at times she seemed a little too psychic. Or lucid. Or mathematical. Or something. (Again, the essence of it is there in the show but this didn't seem to quite click. Close but not quite cigar worthy, as it were.)

Also, as another reviewer said, I didn't quite buy Jayne's actions at that point of the history. Were it a bit earlier then I'd say yeah, but where the book falls in the timeline (after the show but before the movie), well, not entirely.

And the plot was a bit thin. Again, another reviewer put it well when they said it sort of felt like an ok, though overlong episode, as opposed to a fleshed out novel.

But, despite my complaints, it was a quick read and it was fun to bide some time with the crew again, even an imperfectly portrayed one. :>

[Tim]

I am reviewing this in the context of what it is, Firefly fanfic or media tie-in, so while it may not be a masterpiece, I can honestly say that for fans of the series you'd be hard pressed to find a better firefly fix outside of the actual series DVD's,

Brust nails every character in this book, absolutely nails them. Makes me want to read how he would write Inara and Book (they are absent, given the timeframe of the novel). It feels like Firelfy when you read it, it feels authentic, which is an accomplishment in its own right, quite frankly, because even the first comic by Joss Whedon (Those Left Behind) fell a little short on that front.

Honestly, I'm shocked the man wasn't contracted to write a series of novels. It's like Fox just doesn't want money or something.

This book does what it sets out to do and it does it in a most excellent way. Recommended highly for any fans of Firefly/Serenity. If you're not a fan, it's likely because you haven't seen the show, so go rent/buy the DVD's.

[Jon]

This was a good book. Now, I love Firefly, and I enjoy Brust's work as well, so I figured I'd like this, as long as the author got Firefly and the characters. I have to admin, even though I like Brust's work, I was worried. The cast of Firefly all have their distinctiveness, and I've read some truly awful fanfic, which is what this really is.

I needn't have worried. Brust brings his excellent and entertaining writing to the table, and shows off that he's actually watched the series, and probably even enjoyed it. I felt like I was watching an unreleased episode, and it wasn't any effort to hear the characters voices in my head. I was never jarred out of my immersion in the Firefly universe by a character doing something out of character.

At times it was hard to know who was narrating a chapter for a few paragraphs, but that's my only complaint.

Oh, and it was *free*. An unbeatable combination.

[Raja99]

Why I Read This Book: One of our members at the last B&N meeting recommended it. Since it's a CC-licensed ebook by an author I've heard nice things about set in a universe I enjoy, why not?

This is the first book I've read by Brust, and it's a media tie-in (if you're being polite) or fanfic (if you aren't) set in the Firefly universe. It was (almost certainly) written after the theatrical film but takes place between the end of the TV series and the start of the film.

I enjoyed this thoroughly. It's very professionally written (apart from some horrific formatting issues; lucky I'm handy with emacs ;-). On the other hand, I didn't feel that it brought anything new to the setting. Perhaps Brust was too careful about painting within the lines; I'm not in a hurry to read his other works.

(Finished 2009-08-01 0:59 EDT)

[chvang]

I love it. The characters, especially. I miss this show.

[Jesse Whitehead]

I have never had any desire to read or write fan fiction. (Unless you count the Star Trek roll playing game my friends and I made up in High School.) However, when said fiction is written in the “Firefly” universe by a respected fantasy author it becomes much more tempting.

Steven Brust has been writing fantasy for decades. When the television show Firefly was cancelled he, like other fans, wanted to do something to help it live on. Being a writer of novels he sat down and wrote a Firefly novel. Since Firefly was not his franchise he couldn’t sell the novel so he posted it on his website for free. For somebody who makes his living by the words he writes this is a tremendous sacrifice of time and energy.

The book is brilliant but it takes a while to see it.

It reads much like a television script with sparse prose pasted in to tie the dialogue together. Each new section starts with a character’s thoughts or reactions without specifying who the character is – using ‘she’ or ‘he’. At first I thought this was an annoying quirk. Then I began to catch on. Not only does it fit the style of the frontier setting but also Brust did such an amazing job of getting inside these characters heads that you know who they are in the first two sentences without him telling you. Each of them thinks and reacts in such different ways that you know them immediately.

This only works if you are already familiar with the characters. If you have not seen Firefly or Serenity much of this book will make no sense to you.

The other complaint-that-wasn’t that I had was the lack of description of any kind. Mal and Zoe visit a bar and other than the word ‘bar’ there is no description of what it looks like inside. Then I realized that I had a clear picture in my head of each location, despite its having never been described. I started paying closer attention and found that the descriptions are all hidden within the dialogue. For example the bartender remarks to Mal that he’s hoping to replace the plastic bar with a real wooden top. It’s just casual conversation while Mal tries to surreptitiously extract information from him but it tells the reader what the bar is made of and what it looks and feels like.

Perhaps the best part of the book, however, is the dialogue – as any story featuring the characters from Firefly must be. All of the characters sound just like they did in the show, which is a monumentally difficult task – these characters each have a unique way of speaking that is very distinct.

If you love Firefly and can’t wait for more I would recommend reading this novel. It won’t cost you anything and you’ll certainly enjoy it. It is possibly the only way a story could be told in this universe and feel as sharp and clear as the show is. I’m not convinced anybody else could have pulled this off.

[Steven R. McEvoy]

What do you get when you cross a great TV series and movie (Firefly) and an amazing author (Steven K.Z. Brust)? You get a fabulous story that leaves you salivating for more. I have been a longtime Steven Brust fan and was introduced to Firefly just over a year ago. Both are among my all-time favorite works of science fiction or fantasy. What makes it even better is that Steven Brust is giving away the book on his website. You can download it and read it for free, and what student could not use some free entertainment.

Brust always writes in a fun, easy-flowing fashion. His books are usually a delight to read. This one took me by absolute surprise; he captured the spirit and the essence of the TV series and its characters, and brings them back to life in a new adventure. His style of telling the story from a number of first-person perspectives and from different points in time draws you in, and once you are captured you do not want to get out. My only regret is that the book is not much longer than it is and I can only hope it will be the first of many.

This book takes a reader into a Universe they are familiar with through both the TV series Firefly and the movie Serenity. So as a reader you have expectations of how things will progress, how characters will respond. Brust does not let you down. In your mind's eye you see the events taking place and because Brust is such a skilled writer, nothing appears to be out of place; it is exactly how you would image it. While reading this book it was like having a magnificent film going on in my imagination.

All that is missing from it is some great cover art to whet your appetite. There is an old saying that you get what you pay for, but that is not always the case. That is definitely not the case with this free book. So go to his website and download what should be a number of hours of free entertainment.

Read the review and with links to other reviews of books by the author on my blog Book Reviews and More.

[Marc Huete]

This is a piece of Firefly fanfiction. I have no idea how it got on my desktop, but there it was. It was, indeed, excellent. Mr. Brust had a strong understanding of the characters, and was able to write their internal monologs so well that it gave me a greater appreciation for the series (I'm looking at you, River).

There were a few lost points, all rather minor. Characters are oftentimes not attributed, which left me lost a few times (usually the first few paragraphs into a chapter). I didn't feel enough was 'at stake', perhaps because Mr. Brust assumed saying 'child labor' was enough to get me emotionally involved without his having to actually describe it (sorry, Mr. Brust, your reader is feeble and emotional and requires more of the heart-shaped bat). And the concluding chapter was a bit more saccharine than I was fully comfortable with.

However, the bulk of the book was excellent, and I raced through it. Good conflicts, clear action, catchy dialog, fun hijinx. It relies a bit too much on our being previously acquianted with the characters to stand alone for readers not familiar with Firefly, but with a little familiarization from the wikipedia page, it would be a fine choice for anyone interested in some light reading.

[Kevin]

My Own Kind of Freedom: A Firefly Novel is a novel written by established fantasy novelist Steven Brust "on spec". It was originally proposed as an official Firefly novel to be licensed by Universal Pictures, but it was rejected. In 2008 it was instead published by Brust on the internet under a Creative Commons license as fan fiction. from http://firefly.wikia.com/wiki/My_Own_...

Download the novel here. link: Link

I thought the TV show was great as well as the movie and the comics so when I found this "fan fic" by a professional author I dove right in. Burst gets the pacing of the story just right with spot on dialogue from the characters. Only thing that might make this better is if it was longer and continued with more books, but I blame Universal Pictures for that for not picking up this book as an official work, but many thanks to Steven Burst for releasing this under creative commons. I'd never read any of his other work, but I will now for sure.

[Jamie Collins]

I don't usually read fan fiction, but I've enjoyed several of Steven Brust's other novels, so I thought I'd give this a try. It turned out to be a pretty fun read, especially for a free ebook.

This is a short novel, and it takes place after the last Firefly TV episode but before the movie. Shepherd Book and Inara have already left Serenity.

Brust knows these characters, and their banter is spot-on. The narrative jumps around too much at first, with multiple POVs and flashbacks, but it eventually settles down and the story begins to feel like another Firefly episode where the crew takes on a job, disagrees with the morals of their employer, wonders why they're getting involved in someone else's problems, plans a caper, and has a close brush with the Alliance.

My only complaint is that the flashbacks felt like padding - they didn't add much to the story.

[Dawn]

This was pretty entertaining! I'd probably give it 3.5 stars, but it's closer to 3 than 4 so that's what I went with.

I thought Brust did a really good job of capturing the personalities of the characters and portraying them in text format. There were a few exceptions, over-used words and terms that I don't remember being over-used in the show, but that was easily forgiven. The story was entertaining, and read like an episode of the show, which was a nice trip down memory lane.

Overall, I liked it. I can't say I really liked it, but that's just because I really liked the show. No matter what, I don't think this could be at the same level as the show, so it sort of pales in the comparison. But still.. Good times. I'm glad I read it.

[Andrew Roach]

Self released Firefly Fan-Fiction from an award winning sci-fi author?

Count me in!

I stumbled across this book on Brust's website. It's available for free download. The writing is excellent, and really captures the characters. There are a couple of issues of polish with the ebook that would have likely been cleaned up if this book had seen official publication, but it doesn't matter.

It's wonderful. It's the gang, together again. It's another tale in the 'verse.

Do yourself a favor, and read it.

[Luis]

Es un buen complemento para fans de la serie, quizá un pelín WTF para aquellos que no la hayan visto.

Narra situaciones más o menos factibles (un the 'verse) desde el punto de vista de los propios personajes.

Me ha gustado bastante, ¡y se lee muy rápido!

[Simon Kao]

Hm, welp, my own kind of ride, just wish it was done better though. The moments where the crew are having conversations on Serenity was definitely my favourite parts of the entire book, not enough of those... Too many instances where Mal didn't do what Mal would have done.

[Xa]

Enjoyable, quick read. I like the way the author wrote River's and Wash's bits particularly, and there was a bit with Jayne that made me laugh out loud because it was so Jayne.

[Shane]

A lovely addition to my personal headcanon.

I really enjoyed this book. Being a fan of the Firefly TV series and Mr Brust's Taltos series, I picked this up as a curiosity and found a far more developed story than initially anticipated.

I felt the portrayal of each characters was excellent, their speech, humour, mannerisms, even physicality was perfect to bring it all to life in my mind's eye. Perhaps deliberately, it was structured with frequent scene cuts that had it play out like an episode before me.

I particularly enjoyed the internal monologues for each character, especially River's, which could have become endless nonsense like Auri's in The Slow Regard of Silent Things, which wasn't to my taste. Instead, she had enough consistency in her chain of thoughts to give me some understanding and insight, while still preserving the baffling things spoken aloud to the crew.

Set between the end of the series and the events of the movie, I was pleased to find it consistent with both. My suspension of disbelief was sufficient to deal with the sole near-exception.

I'm probably wouldn't recommend it to anyone new to the universe, as I feel it relies heavily on existing knowledge, but I'd definitely recommend this to any fans of the original show to enjoy more time with these characters, and all the references, subtle and otherwise, that it offers.

I'd definitely like to read another.

[Russell Forden]

It was SO GREAT to be back with these characters after all this time! Brust does such a good job of capturing their voices and thoughts (especially, and most impressively, River) that it really does feel like I'm back in the world of Firefly. My only complaint would be that there could have been a tad more description (so much of the story is rendered as dialogue or thoughts), which I assume had something to do with the novel's origins. But it definitely gives it a consistent style, and I didn't mind the lack of attribution in each segment, because it's quite easy to work out whose point of view is being rendered simply from context and what we know about these characters (not really a book I'd recommend to a Firefly newbie because of this though). And the story's a little bit predictable and standard (ie, another bullying overlord has to be put down), which might have been what hurt its chances at getting a publishing deal. Otherwise, the thing is damn good. I only wish there had been a glossary or something at the back of the book which translated all them Chinese cuss words! Well done, and I'm looking forward to the 'official' books in the series that are apparently coming our way soon.

[Scott]

Yes, I read fanfiction. No, I'm not proud of it. I even enjoyed parts of it. I'm even less proud of that.

Since I'm not the biggest Firefly fan around (I think it's okay, but not great), I haven't read any other Firefly works to compare it to. However, I have read quite a lot of Steven Brust, so I can recognize his fingerprints all over this *cough*seventeenchapters*cough*, though it does remain in the distinct tone that the show established. Brust's own ability to write clever, witty, and funny dialogue works well in this piece. For the most part, he captures the voices of the characters, too. Occasionally, he pours it on a bit thick with Mal, but he's still worlds better than any other fanfic author I suffered through (I'm definitely including Harry Potter and the Cursed Child in that).

It's an interesting choice for Brust to exclude two of the usual characters for his story, but if I'm being honest, Firefly had too many damn characters in the first place. Good call, Steve.

This work does have some of the show's weaknesses, though. If China is so important in the future that everyone swears in it, why are there no Chinese characters? Naming the Tam siblings Tam and casting white actors is still bullshit. The gratuitous Chinese and TV friendly swearing is still rutting corny. And the villains' motives are still inexplicable.

So, if you liked the show, you'll like this book. If you like Brust's writing, this isn't his best work, but it still is fast-paced with fun writing and a plot full of complicated plans that you don't get filled in on until they're taking place. If either applies to you, it's a free book, worth the cost.

[Fenko]

I've searched for something that continues the Firefly storyline in a satisfying manner for a long time, until I stumbled onto this gem by my favourite author Steven Brust, downloadable for free from his website (thank you!).

Now, this short novel won't make sense unless you've watched all Firefly episodes, but if you have it's a homecoming. The start is a bit rocky, with a full chapter of flashbacks about each character to still allow some introduction for newcomers, but trust that this is the only disjointed bit in there. The voice of each of the characters is on par, including Whedonesque(of old) expressions and amusing turns of events, amid a tense situation with enough setbacks. I really enjoyed how each chapter part describes events from specific viewpoints, allowing conflicting versions of the same event at times. All in all this feels like an extra long episode that grants each of the characters their moment in the spotlight.

Recommended (really) for Firefly fans

[Susan]

Loads of fun to revisit this show in the form of a novel by a favorite author. All the characters felt “right” to me, and the plot felt like it could have been an episode plot. I really enjoyed the introduction of the new character Kit as well. There is one entire chapter of jumping around in time and between characters and I had to go back and forth in that one a bit just to keep clear on who and when. There were a lot of POV shifts, even separate from that one chapter, and while they were well done and I could usually figure out whose view I was in pretty easily from the first couple of sentences in each section, I think overall that’s probably something that works better in television than in a book (at least when done that frequently). Of course, on the other hand, I really appreciated Brust’s giving time to all the characters any fan of the show came to love, so while I’m complaining on the one hand, on the other hand, I’m really not.