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Firefly #6
Carnival: Firefly
A heist by the Serenity crew goes badly wrong in a captivating original Firefly tie-in novel from the award-winning series by Titan Books
City of sin
Neapolis: a desert city on planet Bethel where all manner of entertainment can be found: high-stakes gambling, luxurious hotels, exclusive clubs and any form of diversion imaginable may be had for a price. It's the eve of the annual carnival: three days of decadent revelry, and Serenity arrives to take a security job, guarding a costly shipment.
An unattainable ransom
Tragedy strikes: the shipment is stolen, and the wealthy owner kidnaps Zo� and Book, holding them to ransom for the lost shipment's value. If Mal can't find the enormous sum of five hundred platinum by the next evening, both of them will be killed.
A race against time
As the carnival begins the crew must attempt the impossible, calling on contacts, calling in favours, and revealing hidden talents to save their crewmates' lives. Meanwhile, the hostages have their own plans...
City of sin
Neapolis: a desert city on planet Bethel where all manner of entertainment can be found: high-stakes gambling, luxurious hotels, exclusive clubs and any form of diversion imaginable may be had for a price. It's the eve of the annual carnival: three days of decadent revelry, and Serenity arrives to take a security job, guarding a costly shipment.
An unattainable ransom
Tragedy strikes: the shipment is stolen, and the wealthy owner kidnaps Zo� and Book, holding them to ransom for the lost shipment's value. If Mal can't find the enormous sum of five hundred platinum by the next evening, both of them will be killed.
A race against time
As the carnival begins the crew must attempt the impossible, calling on contacts, calling in favours, and revealing hidden talents to save their crewmates' lives. Meanwhile, the hostages have their own plans...
281 pages, Paperback
First published December 14, 2021
47 people are currently reading
1306 people want to read
About the author
Una McCormack
103 books358 followersUna McCormack is a British writer and the author of several Star Trek novels and stories.
Ms. McCormack is a New York Times bestselling author. She has written four Doctor Who novels: The King's Dragon and The Way through the Woods (featuring the Eleventh Doctor, Amy, and Rory); Royal Blood (featuring the Twelfth Doctor and Clara), and Molten Heart (featuring the Thirteenth Doctor, Yaz, Ryan and Graham). She is also the author of numerous audio dramas for Big Finish Productions.
Ms. McCormack is a New York Times bestselling author. She has written four Doctor Who novels: The King's Dragon and The Way through the Woods (featuring the Eleventh Doctor, Amy, and Rory); Royal Blood (featuring the Twelfth Doctor and Clara), and Molten Heart (featuring the Thirteenth Doctor, Yaz, Ryan and Graham). She is also the author of numerous audio dramas for Big Finish Productions.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 183 reviews
September 14, 2025
4 stars. Out of all of the books in this series so far (and I really hope there will be more) this is definitely the one that feels the closest to an actual episode from the show. This is easily my favorite of all of them. The writing is really good. This was my first book by McCormack but I will definitely be picking up more. Especially since she has written some Doctor Who novels and I am interested to see what she does with that series.
This was such a good time. A heist goes wrong and because of it Zoe and Book are kidnapped. All of the chaos that ensued was so well done. I loved it. Also, this was a really good character study on Simon which I liked because while I do like him he can be extremely frustrating at times so it was nice to see things from his point of view.
Only thing I wasn’t crazy about was the formatting. There’s no chapters, it’s just one long story with scene breaks. Not my favorite. I prefer chapters but other than that this was a really great addition to the series.
This was such a good time. A heist goes wrong and because of it Zoe and Book are kidnapped. All of the chaos that ensued was so well done. I loved it. Also, this was a really good character study on Simon which I liked because while I do like him he can be extremely frustrating at times so it was nice to see things from his point of view.
Only thing I wasn’t crazy about was the formatting. There’s no chapters, it’s just one long story with scene breaks. Not my favorite. I prefer chapters but other than that this was a really great addition to the series.
January 4, 2022
Ebook full of flaws
I was really surprised and annoyed by the abundance of editing errors in the ebook. I hope those will be fixed in later updates. They were horribly distracting.
I was really surprised and annoyed by the abundance of editing errors in the ebook. I hope those will be fixed in later updates. They were horribly distracting.
August 25, 2024
I really hope that Una McCormack writes more novels in the Firefly universe, because this one is easily the best one I've read. I feel she really understands the characters with zero missteps-the biggest reason I feel this installment was so strong in comparison to the others. Additionally, the story itself felt true to the spirit of the show in every way. Shiny! 4.5/5
February 24, 2022
The best Firefly novel yet. The voices of the crew were perfectly caught, the plot was gripping and full of twists, and the whole episode felt very much in "the 'verse". My one nitpick is the number of irritating typographical errors that should have been cleaned up in the editing.
January 21, 2022
I continue to enjoy these firefly novels. They feel like episodes which I speculate they might be from plots we would have seen in season 2. I know it says they are worked into season one placement but that’s because of certain deaths. This may not be the strongest of them so far, but once again what makes the series so different is here is one where the crew actually wins. Maybe not Jaye, but everything goes mostly right and that almost never happens. I would say as a writer you can only do this once to the stories will become boring but its nice once and a while that the characters can just run the mission without incident that doesn’t completely reset their lives. In this case they get a nice win and are a little better off in the end.
December 31, 2021
*As per all of my reviews, I like to preface by saying that I listened to this book in audiobook format. This does indeed slightly skew my rating. I have found that audiobooks, give me a better "relationship" with the characters if done well, but also kills the book for me if narrated poorly. Also due to the nature of listening to the text, names and places may be spelled incorrectly here as I often do not have the physical volume in front of me.
Also, I have written this review in a "rolling updates" style. In that I basically chronicle my reading as I progress. This may make for a jarring and spoilery review so be warned.**
Here we go, back in the Firefly-verse. I’ve come to expect these books to just be plain fun. The first book was a bit of a miss for me but the rest have all been truly some of the most fun, franchise sci fi I’ve read. It’s legitimately comfort food at this point. And this book seems to be no different.
We’re introduced to a couple of set of characters that we know will tie together by the end. It’s delicious old hat by now. One is a girl, Ava (or Eva? audiobook gang here) Who’s wandering the streets of Bethyl looking for help. She’s given a number to call and a place to rendevous for this ‘help’ it’s all nebulous. There’s a big years festival happening soon. It seems to be on par with Marti Gras or some such. As Jayne would later say “drinking and whoring”.
Another new character is a brother and sister. The sister works in a hospital and is being convinced to have a night on the town with her boss. Who...is a companion interestingly enough. The brother doens’t like her or her new set of friends, thinking their all party animals and complete void of intellect.
We get our introduction to the crew and they’re taking a job guarding and transporting a supply of minerals to a space dock on the same planet Bethyl. Jayne of course is looking to get paid and party later on. There’s some wonderful character beats here with Simon and Cailee. First from his point of view where all he says just comes out wrong and Cailee, being sensitive, takes it to heart. He chastizes himself for being so incompetent around her. Meanwhile later from her point of view, she bemoans to Inara about not being able to jump his bones.
The job they’re on is ambushed by people who steal the cargo and Book and Zoe go after them, getting split up from Mal and Jayne.
So I like the pairings in this one. We get a lot of characters that usually don’t get time together. Mal and Calliee, and Inara and Simon, and even some Wash and Inara. This is set fairly earlier than the previous books, so the relationships aren’t as solid yet, which comes through, and it’s a wonderful bit of writing. Another tip of the cap to Ms. McCormmack is that she 100% adopts the writing style of all those before her in this series. If you would have no told me the authors ever changed...I’d have absolutely no idea. The writing style, which in truth is the writing style of the show’s character dialogue comes through in every author who’s penned these books.
So Caliee and Mal predictably (not in a bad way) run into the girl who was running away and offer to help her. She’s mistrustful at first but quickly falls in with them, after Caliee gets on Mal’ case for trying to just stick to business.
Inara and Simon figure they can scrounge up the money to cover the lost goods and pay the ransom to get Book and Zoey back by Simon pitching in at the local hospital... Funny that he runs into an old school mate of his...who is also lying about her identity. They both call each other out on it, but it turns out that the woman feels that the Companions guild is in cahoots with the local law, and by extension allowing a trafficking ring or prostitution ring of young girls to exist. Run by one of the Companion mothers. She forcefully takes Inara to the ‘den’ to see it with her own eyes.
Interestingly the main problem in the book wraps up relatively early, and the back portion is around them trying to clean up some of the damage caused by them. There’s a wonderful scene with Jayne, Wash and River who score big at a casino. Using River’s intuition she’s able to win tons of money. (Which sort of now breaks the model of them being poor all the time...if she can do this, why not do it to get money? They run dangerous and oft illegal goods, so why not pick a casino later on and have her be a permanent source of income??)
The whole scene seems predictable in that they’d assumedly get on the bad side of the casino owners and a fight or something would break out, but no, they’re taken to the back, given the cash and asked kindly to leave. It was good to see the tension build up but nothing of ill came from it.
Great moment with the whole crew catching up with each other and taking some time to relax after their winnings. This book is a much more toned down, less action orient outing which is appreciated.
The last story bit we have is the Guild. Inara who has her suspicions raised about this Companions guild that’s established itself here, calls it in and sure enough there’s no record of it being established. It’s almost a bit odd how easy this was. In fact...the entire book , except for the initial hostage taking of Zoey and Book, everything pretty much went smooth and with minimal effort. No huge losses, no painful struggling... everything just pretty much worked itself out which again, is refreshing. Not every adventure needs to be dialed up to 11. No trauma or massive decisions needed. It’s just a fun simple adventure that admittedly has a dark undertone of child trafficking. Really enjoyed this one, I’m not surprised at all of course.
Also, I have written this review in a "rolling updates" style. In that I basically chronicle my reading as I progress. This may make for a jarring and spoilery review so be warned.**
Here we go, back in the Firefly-verse. I’ve come to expect these books to just be plain fun. The first book was a bit of a miss for me but the rest have all been truly some of the most fun, franchise sci fi I’ve read. It’s legitimately comfort food at this point. And this book seems to be no different.
We’re introduced to a couple of set of characters that we know will tie together by the end. It’s delicious old hat by now. One is a girl, Ava (or Eva? audiobook gang here) Who’s wandering the streets of Bethyl looking for help. She’s given a number to call and a place to rendevous for this ‘help’ it’s all nebulous. There’s a big years festival happening soon. It seems to be on par with Marti Gras or some such. As Jayne would later say “drinking and whoring”.
Another new character is a brother and sister. The sister works in a hospital and is being convinced to have a night on the town with her boss. Who...is a companion interestingly enough. The brother doens’t like her or her new set of friends, thinking their all party animals and complete void of intellect.
We get our introduction to the crew and they’re taking a job guarding and transporting a supply of minerals to a space dock on the same planet Bethyl. Jayne of course is looking to get paid and party later on. There’s some wonderful character beats here with Simon and Cailee. First from his point of view where all he says just comes out wrong and Cailee, being sensitive, takes it to heart. He chastizes himself for being so incompetent around her. Meanwhile later from her point of view, she bemoans to Inara about not being able to jump his bones.
The job they’re on is ambushed by people who steal the cargo and Book and Zoe go after them, getting split up from Mal and Jayne.
So I like the pairings in this one. We get a lot of characters that usually don’t get time together. Mal and Calliee, and Inara and Simon, and even some Wash and Inara. This is set fairly earlier than the previous books, so the relationships aren’t as solid yet, which comes through, and it’s a wonderful bit of writing. Another tip of the cap to Ms. McCormmack is that she 100% adopts the writing style of all those before her in this series. If you would have no told me the authors ever changed...I’d have absolutely no idea. The writing style, which in truth is the writing style of the show’s character dialogue comes through in every author who’s penned these books.
So Caliee and Mal predictably (not in a bad way) run into the girl who was running away and offer to help her. She’s mistrustful at first but quickly falls in with them, after Caliee gets on Mal’ case for trying to just stick to business.
Inara and Simon figure they can scrounge up the money to cover the lost goods and pay the ransom to get Book and Zoey back by Simon pitching in at the local hospital... Funny that he runs into an old school mate of his...who is also lying about her identity. They both call each other out on it, but it turns out that the woman feels that the Companions guild is in cahoots with the local law, and by extension allowing a trafficking ring or prostitution ring of young girls to exist. Run by one of the Companion mothers. She forcefully takes Inara to the ‘den’ to see it with her own eyes.
Interestingly the main problem in the book wraps up relatively early, and the back portion is around them trying to clean up some of the damage caused by them. There’s a wonderful scene with Jayne, Wash and River who score big at a casino. Using River’s intuition she’s able to win tons of money. (Which sort of now breaks the model of them being poor all the time...if she can do this, why not do it to get money? They run dangerous and oft illegal goods, so why not pick a casino later on and have her be a permanent source of income??)
The whole scene seems predictable in that they’d assumedly get on the bad side of the casino owners and a fight or something would break out, but no, they’re taken to the back, given the cash and asked kindly to leave. It was good to see the tension build up but nothing of ill came from it.
Great moment with the whole crew catching up with each other and taking some time to relax after their winnings. This book is a much more toned down, less action orient outing which is appreciated.
The last story bit we have is the Guild. Inara who has her suspicions raised about this Companions guild that’s established itself here, calls it in and sure enough there’s no record of it being established. It’s almost a bit odd how easy this was. In fact...the entire book , except for the initial hostage taking of Zoey and Book, everything pretty much went smooth and with minimal effort. No huge losses, no painful struggling... everything just pretty much worked itself out which again, is refreshing. Not every adventure needs to be dialed up to 11. No trauma or massive decisions needed. It’s just a fun simple adventure that admittedly has a dark undertone of child trafficking. Really enjoyed this one, I’m not surprised at all of course.
May 18, 2023
Carnival continues to wonderful novelizations of the Firefly verse with spot-on characterization and a thrilling tale of action, adventure, and even a little gambling for Jayne and River! This story also has some great messages about the difference between doing what is right, what is needed, and confronting your past in order to accept your present. Overall a solid entry into the collection, but not my favorite.
May 4, 2022
Great Carnival
Reading these book with the crew of Firefly keeps me happy, and I would hope keeps others happy as well.
Sometimes it is hard to keep the correct time line in my head as I read the book. But then I think that I don't have to. I am at home in this Verse.
Reading these book with the crew of Firefly keeps me happy, and I would hope keeps others happy as well.
Sometimes it is hard to keep the correct time line in my head as I read the book. But then I think that I don't have to. I am at home in this Verse.
February 5, 2024
My rating : 4.5 of 5 stars
Speaking as a big fan of the Firefly TV series, reading this book has been like coming home after a long absence. It genuinely reads like a missing episode of the show, and for that I have nothing but thanks to both the author, Una McCormack, and whoever managed to secure the licencing at Titan Books to give this series of novels a home of their own.
Set somewhere between the episodes The Message and Heart of Gold, the story is typical of the show, with the crew hired to do a job (legally, it would seem), and then that job goes a little bit wrong and the usual shenanigans and high jinks ensue. Because they always do.
Mal does his best to hold everyone together and keep them safe while putting on a grumpy facade, Zoe acts all professional and soldierly, Jayne cusses and misses out on the bulk of the action, Book preaches and brings down a little heavenly justice, Simon fixes people, Wash panics, Inara plays the diplomatic game, and River ... well River is just River.
There are callbacks to events within the show, especially references to Jayne's attempted betrayal in Ariel and the various ways Mal, Simon, and River confronted him about it. There's also a couple of nods to War Stories, especially when Zoe gets taken hostage and Wash all but goes into meltdown as he imagines the things that might be happening to her. All of these little details work to place the narrative firmly in the story that has already been told on TV, and give the book a sense of belonging. But beyond the nods and callbacks, this is still its own story, with its own interactions and twists and developments.
As I already said at the start of this review, I'm massively thankful that Firefly still has a home, even if the format has switched from televisual to prose, and will most definitely be devouring the rest of the series in the coming months. If you are also a fan of the show, I seriously recommend you give these books a try.
Speaking as a big fan of the Firefly TV series, reading this book has been like coming home after a long absence. It genuinely reads like a missing episode of the show, and for that I have nothing but thanks to both the author, Una McCormack, and whoever managed to secure the licencing at Titan Books to give this series of novels a home of their own.
Set somewhere between the episodes The Message and Heart of Gold, the story is typical of the show, with the crew hired to do a job (legally, it would seem), and then that job goes a little bit wrong and the usual shenanigans and high jinks ensue. Because they always do.
Mal does his best to hold everyone together and keep them safe while putting on a grumpy facade, Zoe acts all professional and soldierly, Jayne cusses and misses out on the bulk of the action, Book preaches and brings down a little heavenly justice, Simon fixes people, Wash panics, Inara plays the diplomatic game, and River ... well River is just River.
There are callbacks to events within the show, especially references to Jayne's attempted betrayal in Ariel and the various ways Mal, Simon, and River confronted him about it. There's also a couple of nods to War Stories, especially when Zoe gets taken hostage and Wash all but goes into meltdown as he imagines the things that might be happening to her. All of these little details work to place the narrative firmly in the story that has already been told on TV, and give the book a sense of belonging. But beyond the nods and callbacks, this is still its own story, with its own interactions and twists and developments.
As I already said at the start of this review, I'm massively thankful that Firefly still has a home, even if the format has switched from televisual to prose, and will most definitely be devouring the rest of the series in the coming months. If you are also a fan of the show, I seriously recommend you give these books a try.
June 4, 2022
I have read most of the latest firefly books from 2020/2021/2022 (Titan) and i have to say that I have enjoyed them all, the reason I only give this one three stars is that I did not find the storyline as exciting as the magnificent nine or generations. This book is written well, it is very accurately linked to the TV show, I read the hardback version, the style of the book is high quality and very good looking for a book, it is worth buying and reading if you have read all the other books, but it is just my opinion that in the latest series of books it is the one that interested me the most, there is nothing wrong with it, it is easy to follow and understand, but just lacks excitement for me. No editorial errors, and worth reading if you are a fan of the firefly series, I will continue to read future books in the series. The book is readable!
January 6, 2022
⭐️⭐️⭐️ 1/2
Overall Story 5 stars
Narration 4 stars
Layout and editing 2 stars
This would have made an amazing episode! I could see it all happening like I was watching the show. There was character and world building very much like the series and movie. Shepherd Book was in fine form, and who knew Jayne could clean up so nicely?
The format was bothersome. There were no chapter breaks, but each “scene” was marked with page breaks.
There were also several grammatical errors throughout the book; not so many that it was distracting from the plot, but enough to be noticeable.
Overall Story 5 stars
Narration 4 stars
Layout and editing 2 stars
This would have made an amazing episode! I could see it all happening like I was watching the show. There was character and world building very much like the series and movie. Shepherd Book was in fine form, and who knew Jayne could clean up so nicely?
The format was bothersome. There were no chapter breaks, but each “scene” was marked with page breaks.
There were also several grammatical errors throughout the book; not so many that it was distracting from the plot, but enough to be noticeable.
October 26, 2024
Andere Firefly-Bände waren auch schön, aber irgendwie mehr "nervös an den Fingernägeln knabbern", während Carnival sich in die Tradition der Serie einreiht, Spannung mitbringt UND ein unglaublich wohliges Gefühl. Das ist die Crew, die wir lieben und in diesem Buch zeigen sie wieder einmal, warum wir sie so lieben.
Fokus hier auf Zoe und Book ohne dass andere völlig untergehen, einfach klasse gemacht und echt nochmal besser als die Bände von Lovegrove.
Fokus hier auf Zoe und Book ohne dass andere völlig untergehen, einfach klasse gemacht und echt nochmal besser als die Bände von Lovegrove.
March 22, 2022
I miss the characters in this 'verse and this was a good way to revisit them. Nitpicking that some of the characters were a little "off", but not in a bad way. It was a good story that 3 seemingly separate storylines all meshed together by the end in a very satisfactory way.
December 12, 2021
Very good. Quick read
December 17, 2021
Great to see the crew of Serenity back to doing what they do best!
December 31, 2021
It’s short and sweet, but reads so much like a missing episode from the series.
February 8, 2022
Shorter than the others in the series, this novella is a rip roaring ride. Essentially a tv episode on paper. Great fun, no real character development. Mal, Book and River the highlights.
February 11, 2022
This is another highlight in the Firefly books. The plot was enveloping and I couldn't put it down.
February 14, 2022
Best one yet. Feels like an actual episode.
Read
March 19, 2023This was another nice Firefly story but who copy edited this?? The whole thing was peppered with mistakes!! And not things like misplaced commas, but missing and mixed up words!! Weird.
May 3, 2023
3.5 Stars
Just as with previous books in this series, the story has the feel of a lost episode.
The crew is just trying to work an honest security job, and of course, it all goes sideways. And for some reason, the powerful man who hired them is less interested in getting back his merchandise than he is in getting ransome for Zoe and Book instead. Although, he's apparently not so bright, because he doesn't seem to bother looking into what either of his hostages are capable of...
McCormack writes the characters true enough that one would suspect her of being a fan--which I certainly hope is the case. The ease with which the crew of Serenity is initially thwarted felt a bit contrived. But on the plus side, we get to see River using that killer brain of hers in a place I'm sure many (other than me) have wondered about. That's right--a casino.
I rounded up because Zoe and Book were portrayed accurately enough to make me smile. And because it was good to see human trafficking addressed as a plotline. (No amount of futuristic idealism could convince me that humans will ever be rid of the tendency toward exploitation.)
Just as with previous books in this series, the story has the feel of a lost episode.
The crew is just trying to work an honest security job, and of course, it all goes sideways. And for some reason, the powerful man who hired them is less interested in getting back his merchandise than he is in getting ransome for Zoe and Book instead. Although, he's apparently not so bright, because he doesn't seem to bother looking into what either of his hostages are capable of...
McCormack writes the characters true enough that one would suspect her of being a fan--which I certainly hope is the case. The ease with which the crew of Serenity is initially thwarted felt a bit contrived. But on the plus side, we get to see River using that killer brain of hers in a place I'm sure many (other than me) have wondered about. That's right--a casino.
I rounded up because Zoe and Book were portrayed accurately enough to make me smile. And because it was good to see human trafficking addressed as a plotline. (No amount of futuristic idealism could convince me that humans will ever be rid of the tendency toward exploitation.)
June 13, 2025
Aside from including more content than they could have fit into a single, 45-minute episode, this story would have fit perfectly into Firefly's one and only season. However, the topic of part of the narrative is sensitive, and I would recommend a quick content warning for anyone. That said, there is no explicit content, and I think it still might have made the cut onto network TV.
September 28, 2022
Loads of fun, and I'm pleased to say the audio narrator is getting better! :)
September 13, 2025
Exactly what you'd expect from a Firefly novel. Very fun.
February 7, 2022
All talk, no action.
August 17, 2022
This was pretty good. I was worried at the beginning because we were spending way too much time with non Firefly characters, but it really came together before the end.
#JennyGuyColvin
#JennyGuyColvin
February 26, 2024
3.5 - The story is not bad, the characters have more or less the right voice, but the editing is substandard enough to be noticeable. Lots of published books have an error slip through, but this one has a missing word every several pages. The first one was whatever. The second one stood out a bit more. When it seemed to become semi-regular, it really annoyed me.
And then I got to the part about roulette. I'm not a gambler, but it struck me as odd that hitting the correct number only doubled the money. Less than 2 mins of "research" revealed that hitting on a specific number in roulette multiplies your win by 35, not by 2. And, sure, if you want to claim that space roulette has different rules, that's fine, but who is going to play a game where you have to correctly guess one number out of 35 in order to not lose your bet? Those are horrendous odds. At a 1:1 payout (bet $1, get your $1 plus $1 back), it takes correctly guessing the right number out of 35 sixteen times in a row to go from having $1 to having $65,536. At actual roulette odds, it only takes 4 turns to go from $1 to $1,500,625 if you correctly guess the exact number each time. So the author was willing to do the math on doubling (correctly saying that one needs to win 16 times to get from $1 to $65,000), but not to actually use payouts that make sense. As it's a pretty important part of the plot, seems like just a bit more care could have been used. And I get that they might want to highlight how impossible it would be to win that many times in a row, and that at actual odds, it's within the realm of believability that one could correctly guess the right number 4 times in a row. But then make the game not be roulette.
And then I got to the part about roulette. I'm not a gambler, but it struck me as odd that hitting the correct number only doubled the money. Less than 2 mins of "research" revealed that hitting on a specific number in roulette multiplies your win by 35, not by 2. And, sure, if you want to claim that space roulette has different rules, that's fine, but who is going to play a game where you have to correctly guess one number out of 35 in order to not lose your bet? Those are horrendous odds. At a 1:1 payout (bet $1, get your $1 plus $1 back), it takes correctly guessing the right number out of 35 sixteen times in a row to go from having $1 to having $65,536. At actual roulette odds, it only takes 4 turns to go from $1 to $1,500,625 if you correctly guess the exact number each time. So the author was willing to do the math on doubling (correctly saying that one needs to win 16 times to get from $1 to $65,000), but not to actually use payouts that make sense. As it's a pretty important part of the plot, seems like just a bit more care could have been used. And I get that they might want to highlight how impossible it would be to win that many times in a row, and that at actual odds, it's within the realm of believability that one could correctly guess the right number 4 times in a row. But then make the game not be roulette.
June 9, 2023
I enjoyed how all of the elements of this story came together, and the plot itself held my interest. My problem was the characterizations. Wash was the worst offender- whiney, unhelpful, weak, and looking at the bare thighs of river who is described as “16 or 17” and compared to the other girls “not much younger than her”. That was a really rough moment. Mal was mean for no reason in a way I found out of character. Mean to KAYLEE. Simon was highly unlikeable and also felt whiney. The “miscommunications” with Kaylee were insufferable. Book was reciting way too many bible verses. Jayne was a loud and obnoxious baby- way more than usual. There were grammatical errors in the book that took me out of the story, and overall the dialogue just didn’t have that firefly zing. The book was fine I’m just picky about how these characters are written. I much preferred Big Damn Hero which I read earlier this year.
July 19, 2025
Carnival is a superb addition to the Firefly ‘verse. Having read eight Firefly novels to date, I can say without a doubt that Una McCormack is my favourite Firefly novelist so far.
As a side note, I feel that McCormack should be hailed as a Firefly-novelist hero for showing us Jayne Cobb in the way we’ve never expected to see him. I hope there exists an alternate universe where Fox never cancelled Firefly, and Carnival was made into an actual TV episode, allowing the audiences a chance to see this book’s version of Jayne with their own eyeballs. Meanwhile, in the actual universe, I am forever grateful to Una McCormack for offering this delightful depiction to my imagination, where it will happily live rent-free in all its pretty-cunning glory.
Carnival is a page-turner brimming with that distinctive Firefly charm, witty dialogue and sparkling chemistry between characters. The events of the book take place before the second-last episode of TV series ‘Heart of Gold’, so this book can be read as the first of the series. I was also happy to finally read a Firefly novel that has zero continuity errors and/or retconning attempts - that's mighty appreciated!
In my opinion, the story is intelligent, with excellent pace throughout. The plot is meticulously planned, with unexpected twists - I couldn’t predict which way it would go. I found the story's developments unexpected, and they kept me engaged right to the last pages. Just when I thought that the crew’s mission on Bethel was completed and the story fully wrapped, the author delivered one final plot twist - I absolutely loved it. It was a satisfying feeling to see all those plot threads, no matter how small, coming together beautifully in the end. I loved the idea, the story and was very satisfied with the ending.
When it comes to the nine main players, they all have strong presence throughout the story, and each of them makes a contribution to the final outcome. McCormack has the characters’ personalities, voices and mannerisms down to a T! While reading, I could picture and hear each of them in my head as effortlessly as if I were watching a TV episode.
I feel that this novel also accomplishes a lot when it comes to character development. The author uses the events of the story to give us new insight into some characters’ past, and to help lay further foundation for some events and decisions that we know will inevitably happen in the near future. Also, I really like how the author uses past events from the TV episodes to inform current behaviours and decisions - and she does it in a way that allows a reader to recognize it and track to the right event on their own.
The world-building in Carnival is masterful. Through the eyes of different characters, we learn about planet Bethel and one of its main cities Neapolis along with the surrounding area. The crew’s job is scheduled to be completed in the final hours before the start of Carnival - a multi-day event that is a highlight of the year for Bethel’s elites and lower classes alike. With this background, we uncover the challenges and interweaving threads of Neapolis’ socio-political scene, and familiarize ourselves with its main players. As luck has it, we soon discover that not everything in Neapolis is as it seems; that it’s difficult to tell an ally from an adversary; and that, regardless how bad Mal and his gang's situation is, he can rest assured that it can - and inevitably will - get worse ;)
It might be worth mentioning that prior to reading this book, I’d seen some earlier reviews, commenting on its poor editing job - typos, repeated words, etc. As a result I was a bit apprehensive about this novel, but decided to give it a chance regardless. My edition is paperback January 2023 - and I haven’t spotted any of those issues. The errors must have been corrected after the original publication. In the entire book, I spotted three minor grammar errors (an auxiliary verb missing), which I feel is a pretty standard error count for any book of this length.
As a side note, I feel that McCormack should be hailed as a Firefly-novelist hero for showing us Jayne Cobb in the way we’ve never expected to see him. I hope there exists an alternate universe where Fox never cancelled Firefly, and Carnival was made into an actual TV episode, allowing the audiences a chance to see this book’s version of Jayne with their own eyeballs. Meanwhile, in the actual universe, I am forever grateful to Una McCormack for offering this delightful depiction to my imagination, where it will happily live rent-free in all its pretty-cunning glory.
Carnival is a page-turner brimming with that distinctive Firefly charm, witty dialogue and sparkling chemistry between characters. The events of the book take place before the second-last episode of TV series ‘Heart of Gold’, so this book can be read as the first of the series. I was also happy to finally read a Firefly novel that has zero continuity errors and/or retconning attempts - that's mighty appreciated!
In my opinion, the story is intelligent, with excellent pace throughout. The plot is meticulously planned, with unexpected twists - I couldn’t predict which way it would go. I found the story's developments unexpected, and they kept me engaged right to the last pages. Just when I thought that the crew’s mission on Bethel was completed and the story fully wrapped, the author delivered one final plot twist - I absolutely loved it. It was a satisfying feeling to see all those plot threads, no matter how small, coming together beautifully in the end. I loved the idea, the story and was very satisfied with the ending.
When it comes to the nine main players, they all have strong presence throughout the story, and each of them makes a contribution to the final outcome. McCormack has the characters’ personalities, voices and mannerisms down to a T! While reading, I could picture and hear each of them in my head as effortlessly as if I were watching a TV episode.
I feel that this novel also accomplishes a lot when it comes to character development. The author uses the events of the story to give us new insight into some characters’ past, and to help lay further foundation for some events and decisions that we know will inevitably happen in the near future. Also, I really like how the author uses past events from the TV episodes to inform current behaviours and decisions - and she does it in a way that allows a reader to recognize it and track to the right event on their own.
The world-building in Carnival is masterful. Through the eyes of different characters, we learn about planet Bethel and one of its main cities Neapolis along with the surrounding area. The crew’s job is scheduled to be completed in the final hours before the start of Carnival - a multi-day event that is a highlight of the year for Bethel’s elites and lower classes alike. With this background, we uncover the challenges and interweaving threads of Neapolis’ socio-political scene, and familiarize ourselves with its main players. As luck has it, we soon discover that not everything in Neapolis is as it seems; that it’s difficult to tell an ally from an adversary; and that, regardless how bad Mal and his gang's situation is, he can rest assured that it can - and inevitably will - get worse ;)
It might be worth mentioning that prior to reading this book, I’d seen some earlier reviews, commenting on its poor editing job - typos, repeated words, etc. As a result I was a bit apprehensive about this novel, but decided to give it a chance regardless. My edition is paperback January 2023 - and I haven’t spotted any of those issues. The errors must have been corrected after the original publication. In the entire book, I spotted three minor grammar errors (an auxiliary verb missing), which I feel is a pretty standard error count for any book of this length.
April 13, 2025
Set sometime before the episode Heart of Gold, Carnival tells the story of the Firefly crew as they arrive at the planet Bethel for a simple security job. But of course, nothing ever quite goes exactly as planned and before long it is a race against time to recover the shipment’s value, or Zoe and Book will be killed.
Taking place in the familiar scifi world known as The Verse, we once again enter the world of Firefly during the run of the series towards the tail end of the produced episodes. Dealing with the aftermath of Trash, Ariel, and the events theirein, the crew must take on another job during one of the busiest events on the planet, Carnival. A three day festival during which any form of entertainment one desires can be had, it is here that the crew must carry out their latest job.
Following the complete Firefly crew, their latest adventure sees them on a planet caught between the Core and the Rim of the Verse, neither one nor the other. While Mal, Jayne, Zoe, and Book carry out a job, Simon attempts to earn money through his medical skills, and Kaylee encounters a young girl on the run.
Arriving on the planet Bethel in time for the biggest celebration of the year, Mal takes a job that offers a large amount of money for what appears to be a fairly simple job. Take the cargo from one place to another and see it safely off world. But of course, things don’t go so smoothly, and before you know it, things have gotten fairly significantly out of hand. With two of his crew held as collateral, Mal must work quickly to get them back in one piece.
This book is definitely different than most of the books I’ve read before, in that unlike most novels it’s pretty much written as one giant chapter. There are scene breaks, of course, and places where it switches from one narrator to the next, but there are no formal chapters per se. The story starts out with a fairly innocuous scene, before long transitioning into the crew we know and love.
Now I have to say that this book did a very good job of keeping my attention right where the author wanted it to be, and it wasn’t until the halfway point that the story finally presented enough evidence for me to see most of the pieces for what they were. Broken into four interconnected plot threads, they all come together in a sudden realization which presented most of the earlier events in a completely different light. All of the sudden the story just clicks, and it is a testament to the skill of the author that she was able to pull this off.
What results is a well crafted adventure that feels like a missing episode of the show. Adding an interesting new setting to the Firefly universe, it definitely expands the depth of the world with a planet that is neither part of the core nor the rim, with problems underneath it’s glittery exterior that provide an entertaining backdrop for our crew’s latest adventure.
The personalities I think are well captured, with each characters narrative voice carrying through from what their actors established as well as the dialogue feeling like it matches each person providing that unique mixture of personalities that is the crew of Serenity.
While I might say that the ending seemed to come up a bit suddenly and perhaps slightly anticlimactic, overall I’d say it was a very satisfying read. The only thing I might have wanted is a bit more detail in the wrap up to add some additional flavor to the books denouement. I felt that while satisfying and overall sufficient, I would have preferred a bit more explanation on the fates of the antagonists. Nevertheless, it was a good read and I’d highly recommend it to fans of the author or the series.
Taking place in the familiar scifi world known as The Verse, we once again enter the world of Firefly during the run of the series towards the tail end of the produced episodes. Dealing with the aftermath of Trash, Ariel, and the events theirein, the crew must take on another job during one of the busiest events on the planet, Carnival. A three day festival during which any form of entertainment one desires can be had, it is here that the crew must carry out their latest job.
Following the complete Firefly crew, their latest adventure sees them on a planet caught between the Core and the Rim of the Verse, neither one nor the other. While Mal, Jayne, Zoe, and Book carry out a job, Simon attempts to earn money through his medical skills, and Kaylee encounters a young girl on the run.
Arriving on the planet Bethel in time for the biggest celebration of the year, Mal takes a job that offers a large amount of money for what appears to be a fairly simple job. Take the cargo from one place to another and see it safely off world. But of course, things don’t go so smoothly, and before you know it, things have gotten fairly significantly out of hand. With two of his crew held as collateral, Mal must work quickly to get them back in one piece.
This book is definitely different than most of the books I’ve read before, in that unlike most novels it’s pretty much written as one giant chapter. There are scene breaks, of course, and places where it switches from one narrator to the next, but there are no formal chapters per se. The story starts out with a fairly innocuous scene, before long transitioning into the crew we know and love.
Now I have to say that this book did a very good job of keeping my attention right where the author wanted it to be, and it wasn’t until the halfway point that the story finally presented enough evidence for me to see most of the pieces for what they were. Broken into four interconnected plot threads, they all come together in a sudden realization which presented most of the earlier events in a completely different light. All of the sudden the story just clicks, and it is a testament to the skill of the author that she was able to pull this off.
What results is a well crafted adventure that feels like a missing episode of the show. Adding an interesting new setting to the Firefly universe, it definitely expands the depth of the world with a planet that is neither part of the core nor the rim, with problems underneath it’s glittery exterior that provide an entertaining backdrop for our crew’s latest adventure.
The personalities I think are well captured, with each characters narrative voice carrying through from what their actors established as well as the dialogue feeling like it matches each person providing that unique mixture of personalities that is the crew of Serenity.
While I might say that the ending seemed to come up a bit suddenly and perhaps slightly anticlimactic, overall I’d say it was a very satisfying read. The only thing I might have wanted is a bit more detail in the wrap up to add some additional flavor to the books denouement. I felt that while satisfying and overall sufficient, I would have preferred a bit more explanation on the fates of the antagonists. Nevertheless, it was a good read and I’d highly recommend it to fans of the author or the series.
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