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Firefly #7
What Makes Us Mighty
A breakneck adventure for the Serenity crew in the seventh original novel tying into the much-missed Firefly series from creator Joss Whedon.
A simple job
Serenity is bound for the planet Kerry with a hold full of sealed, unidentified cargo for the planet’s highest-ranking nobleman. The duke is a surprisingly genial man whose court brings all the fanciness and fun of Persephone’s high society but little of the pretension—and, most importantly, he’s got the promise of more work.
Some fine hospitality
Obliged to stick around while Inara is with a client—and hoping to score future employment—the crew settles in. The liquor flows freely at court, and there’s food, entertainment, and comfortable lodgings to enjoy. Everyone is thrilled but Zoë. Her gut says something is off.
A vicious massacre
When the duke’s estate is attacked in the middle of the night, Mal sends Serenity to safety while he and Zoë investigate. What they find turns the whole story of Kerry upside-down. Revolution is brewing, and each of them will have to decide where to make their stand, even if it lands them on opposite sides…
A simple job
Serenity is bound for the planet Kerry with a hold full of sealed, unidentified cargo for the planet’s highest-ranking nobleman. The duke is a surprisingly genial man whose court brings all the fanciness and fun of Persephone’s high society but little of the pretension—and, most importantly, he’s got the promise of more work.
Some fine hospitality
Obliged to stick around while Inara is with a client—and hoping to score future employment—the crew settles in. The liquor flows freely at court, and there’s food, entertainment, and comfortable lodgings to enjoy. Everyone is thrilled but Zoë. Her gut says something is off.
A vicious massacre
When the duke’s estate is attacked in the middle of the night, Mal sends Serenity to safety while he and Zoë investigate. What they find turns the whole story of Kerry upside-down. Revolution is brewing, and each of them will have to decide where to make their stand, even if it lands them on opposite sides…
285 pages, Hardcover
First published June 28, 2022
37 people are currently reading
1185 people want to read
About the author
M.K. England
15 books619 followersM. K. England grew up on the Space Coast of Florida watching shuttle launches from the backyard. These days, they live on a micro-farm in rural Virginia packed with video and board games, plants, D&D books, Star Wars memorabilia, and their preschooler's giant personality. They're probably covered in dirt right now. MK is the author of ten novels for kids, teens, and adults and a forthcoming interactive novel with Choice of Games. You can find them at mkengland.com.
For the latest news, you can subscribe to my irregular newsletter updates at mkengland.substack.com. I'm also on instagram (rarely, @mk_england) and on tumblr more informally (mkengland.tumblr.com)
(Just FYI, I don't accept friend requests because Amazon is weird about reviews but follow me on social media above and we can hang out there!)
For the latest news, you can subscribe to my irregular newsletter updates at mkengland.substack.com. I'm also on instagram (rarely, @mk_england) and on tumblr more informally (mkengland.tumblr.com)
(Just FYI, I don't accept friend requests because Amazon is weird about reviews but follow me on social media above and we can hang out there!)
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 135 reviews
August 11, 2022
This was a rather average Firefly novel in my opinion.
At it's core this is well written book and the characterisation is good, but the plot here is just too ruttin' similar to other books in this series, too similar to episodes of the show.
What Makes Us Mighty had what felt like an overly "safe" plot that didn't do much to expand, or put a twist on, what we all know and love of this series.
Firefly has such a strong combination of Space Opera and Western baked into it's DNA, and I feel as thought if you aren't going to lean heavily on either of those settings (and their associated themes), then you need to do something real weird with it. There have been books in this series that have done that, but this one really didn't.
What Makes Us Mighty felt as though elements of "typical Firefly plotting" were pulled from a hat and thrown together to form a very generic story - in brief; Inara has a client, the entire crew land hoping to have some R&R, Shepherd Book spends most of the book off-screen in an Abbey, the crew were tricked into smuggling something they didn't agree with, Jayne is a cold brute and worries about what he did back on Ariel, a localized civil war breaks out between two factions of the planet thus Zoe and Mal have flashbacks to the war, Kaylee and Wash stay with the ship, Simon does some doctoring and River is... well just River.
It really is rather uninspired. I would love to see more creative ways to use these amazing characters. Memorable adventures that take the members of the cast out of their comfort zone. Or for the story to take us to a world unlike all the others we've seen.
I love Firefly and I am so grateful we are still getting new material, it's just that this didn't feel new.
This all sounds like I hated the book - I didn't. It's ok. As I said before, the writing is good, the pacing was smooth and the character voice, as usual with this series, was really strong... I just really want to see more from these stories and this one felt completely forgettable to me plot-wise, which is a real shame.
2 stars.
Thank you for reading my review!
At it's core this is well written book and the characterisation is good, but the plot here is just too ruttin' similar to other books in this series, too similar to episodes of the show.
What Makes Us Mighty had what felt like an overly "safe" plot that didn't do much to expand, or put a twist on, what we all know and love of this series.
Firefly has such a strong combination of Space Opera and Western baked into it's DNA, and I feel as thought if you aren't going to lean heavily on either of those settings (and their associated themes), then you need to do something real weird with it. There have been books in this series that have done that, but this one really didn't.
What Makes Us Mighty felt as though elements of "typical Firefly plotting" were pulled from a hat and thrown together to form a very generic story - in brief; Inara has a client, the entire crew land hoping to have some R&R, Shepherd Book spends most of the book off-screen in an Abbey, the crew were tricked into smuggling something they didn't agree with, Jayne is a cold brute and worries about what he did back on Ariel, a localized civil war breaks out between two factions of the planet thus Zoe and Mal have flashbacks to the war, Kaylee and Wash stay with the ship, Simon does some doctoring and River is... well just River.
It really is rather uninspired. I would love to see more creative ways to use these amazing characters. Memorable adventures that take the members of the cast out of their comfort zone. Or for the story to take us to a world unlike all the others we've seen.
I love Firefly and I am so grateful we are still getting new material, it's just that this didn't feel new.
This all sounds like I hated the book - I didn't. It's ok. As I said before, the writing is good, the pacing was smooth and the character voice, as usual with this series, was really strong... I just really want to see more from these stories and this one felt completely forgettable to me plot-wise, which is a real shame.
2 stars.
Thank you for reading my review!
November 14, 2022
Least favorite so far of the series. Good aspects - the crew are tricked into a delivery in order for them to help a revolutionary group carry out a coup - so the action was there. But I felt there was a lot that was pointed commentary about societal dilemmas right now, when all I wanted was an escape from reality. I'm reading a action/adventure novel set in space, in the future, so the last thing I want is someone's agenda being imposed on my 'verse. Whedon's 'verse already accomodates and even instigates good discussions about society's values, but its in the context of this future world - a seamless part of that world.
Sorry, there's my rant. Strictly speaking the nefarious plans of the crew were up to snuff but the writing style wasn't my favorite.
Sorry, there's my rant. Strictly speaking the nefarious plans of the crew were up to snuff but the writing style wasn't my favorite.
August 1, 2022
Worst of the series so far. Disappointing
July 12, 2022
M.K. England is able to capture the voices of all these wonderful characters and tells a good, but pretty cliched story about an uprising against the priviledged ruler of a planet.
The story is very much told by the numbers with no real surprises along the way. Also, the new female characters all seem strong and inspiring, while the new male characters mostly seem vile and misogynist, which is a bit much.
The story is very much told by the numbers with no real surprises along the way. Also, the new female characters all seem strong and inspiring, while the new male characters mostly seem vile and misogynist, which is a bit much.
December 24, 2022
Ah, it’s that time again. I absolutely adore the Firefly books. It may be because I have such a fun love of the crew from the days when it was on public broadcast… but it’s a series that has been with me through various stages of my life. So here we go again. What I love is that you never really know what you’re going to get with these books. We’re at book 7 now, and the formulaic is much appreciated. This one feels a tad different in that the ‘hook’ isn’t so choreographed so simply at the beginning of the novel. You know somethings going on but it’s less of a straight forward story in that there could be two sides that are in the ‘right or wrong’. The characters are all absolutely, once again spot on to their on screen portrayals. This one has Kaylee on the cover…though to be honest it doesn’t seem to revolve around her as I was hoping it would. What I love is that the books have up to now taken turns sharing the spotlight on different characters. This book seems to be spreading the attention to most here. Mal, Book, Inara and Zoe are all getting some heavy time.. with Simon, River, Wash, taking a less pronounced role, but all are involved. The world they come to, with a strange orange sky (I again say that I love the world building… these books absolutely paint a better picture of the galaxy) I love how Mal off handedly says that maybe the Terraform process didn’t go well here… implying how the process isn’t an exact science, and that the technology in the galaxy is still very worn, and used.
Book splits off from the main group, and true to form, like the wandering priest he finds the sub section of the planets population, under very repressed and poor living conditions.
Meanwhile the other crew members are interacting with the ‘elite’ class and rubbing elbows, and we get two sides of a story here. The crew banter is as always spot on and it’s fun hearing Wash, debase himself and the loving relationship between he and Zoe. The unlikely pairing of super strong female and wishy washy, timid male is a dynamic I love.
We get a lot more showing the Companion ceremony, and how ritualistic it is.. Again the world building is so thick. So it comes out the there’s stage to a Companion visit..even a very sacred tea making and meditative phase…really cool.
The story does a nice job of picking a side and going with it. We see this deployment of this really horrible weapon that is so inhumane it’s banned from usage by the Alliance. It’s really interesting to see the morality of the Alliance show itself. Despite them being an oppressive group knowing that they have morals too is nice to see… The group here on this planet however used Mal and crew to smuggle the weapon to them and deploy it on their own citizens… Mal doesn’t take kindly to this so in a grim scene, they go out to the fields, and put a bunch of still dying victims out of their misery.
This then leads to some good ‘ol retribution and Firefly and crew team up with some resurgent and pretty much kick off a coup. By the end of the book the crew has pretty much evened out in terms of spotlight. Inara get some nice moments with her client and I like how meditative she’s portrayed in this book…
The book is short, I’ll say that much, and honestly I wish we had so much more. It’s a good complaint to have, but we usually get maybe 2 books at most a year so each one is pretty special. Each one never outstays it’s welcome. This is no different. A fun fun book, I enjoyed it just as much as the previous 6. I can’t say enough about these books as they fill and scratch a VERY heavy itch for me, the firefly sized hole in my heart…
Book splits off from the main group, and true to form, like the wandering priest he finds the sub section of the planets population, under very repressed and poor living conditions.
Meanwhile the other crew members are interacting with the ‘elite’ class and rubbing elbows, and we get two sides of a story here. The crew banter is as always spot on and it’s fun hearing Wash, debase himself and the loving relationship between he and Zoe. The unlikely pairing of super strong female and wishy washy, timid male is a dynamic I love.
We get a lot more showing the Companion ceremony, and how ritualistic it is.. Again the world building is so thick. So it comes out the there’s stage to a Companion visit..even a very sacred tea making and meditative phase…really cool.
The story does a nice job of picking a side and going with it. We see this deployment of this really horrible weapon that is so inhumane it’s banned from usage by the Alliance. It’s really interesting to see the morality of the Alliance show itself. Despite them being an oppressive group knowing that they have morals too is nice to see… The group here on this planet however used Mal and crew to smuggle the weapon to them and deploy it on their own citizens… Mal doesn’t take kindly to this so in a grim scene, they go out to the fields, and put a bunch of still dying victims out of their misery.
This then leads to some good ‘ol retribution and Firefly and crew team up with some resurgent and pretty much kick off a coup. By the end of the book the crew has pretty much evened out in terms of spotlight. Inara get some nice moments with her client and I like how meditative she’s portrayed in this book…
The book is short, I’ll say that much, and honestly I wish we had so much more. It’s a good complaint to have, but we usually get maybe 2 books at most a year so each one is pretty special. Each one never outstays it’s welcome. This is no different. A fun fun book, I enjoyed it just as much as the previous 6. I can’t say enough about these books as they fill and scratch a VERY heavy itch for me, the firefly sized hole in my heart…
September 28, 2022
I LOVE Firefly but the other novels have been “meh” at most for me. This one was wonderful in comparison. Nothing super new plot wise but M.K. England more than compensates for this in their character and relationship building. Real, genuine female connections that aren’t hyper-sexualized, a look into the tea ceremony, delving into Zoe’s PTSD from the war, etc. all made this novel more than worthwhile.
July 18, 2022
I think this is my favourite so far of the novels. Don't get me wrong, the others aren't bad at all, but this just had something extra, I could see the novel play out as an episode in my head. Every character had been written just as you remember from the tv show.
August 20, 2023
2.5 Stars
As episodic books go, this was pretty standard and formulaic. Nothing much was added to the canon as far as worldbuilding or character backgrounds are concerned. There's a light touching on Zoe's PTSD from the Battle of Serenity, and a scene expanding on Inara's tea ceremony. Otherwise, there are just reinforcing callbacks to episodes that would have come earlier in the series. (i.e. referencing Jane's betrayal of the Tams, and Shepherd Book's willingness to shoot kneecaps--the latter of which was perhaps overdone a bit in the name of fan service.)
There are three major female side characters introduced. They're all presented as tough and competent leaders in their own right, on the side of righteousness against an inexplicably misogynistic rich guy and his pampered followers. (Handmaid's Tale in Space, anyone?) Though unfortunately, not enough time is spent on any of these women for one to grow particularly attached--and/or concerned for their survival.
This leads me to my primary criticism:
There simply wasn't much tension for a higher-action emphasis plotline. Obviously, there's already a bit of a challenge present--given fans know the ultimate fate of everyone on the crew (ala the movie Serenity), so there's no reason to worry for any of them on this job. There's a passing sense of injustice regarding the treatment of unknown civilians in the midst of a blossoming civil war, and some shock value added in terms of war crimes.
But to risk sounding as callous as Jayne here... the plight of the newly introduced characters never felt personal. (Indeed, Jayne's qualms over whether or not to kill his new drinking buddies when they turn up on the wrong side of things seemed more compelling than the overall plight of the common folk or their heroine leaders.)
Don't get me wrong; this was a more enjoyable ride than Lovegrove's Ghost Machine, and the characterization of Serenity's crew held up far more true than Lovegrove's Life Signs. (Here's hoping Tim Lebbon returns for another crack at this series.) I actually rounded up my rating because this installment portrayed Zoe and Wash's relationship with such respectful accuracy, I had to sit up and gratefully take notice. M. K. England is a competent writer--and I suspect from said writing, a fan of the show. This plot, and its execution, just came off more generic than I would have preferred.
As episodic books go, this was pretty standard and formulaic. Nothing much was added to the canon as far as worldbuilding or character backgrounds are concerned. There's a light touching on Zoe's PTSD from the Battle of Serenity, and a scene expanding on Inara's tea ceremony. Otherwise, there are just reinforcing callbacks to episodes that would have come earlier in the series. (i.e. referencing Jane's betrayal of the Tams, and Shepherd Book's willingness to shoot kneecaps--the latter of which was perhaps overdone a bit in the name of fan service.)
There are three major female side characters introduced. They're all presented as tough and competent leaders in their own right, on the side of righteousness against an inexplicably misogynistic rich guy and his pampered followers. (Handmaid's Tale in Space, anyone?) Though unfortunately, not enough time is spent on any of these women for one to grow particularly attached--and/or concerned for their survival.
This leads me to my primary criticism:
There simply wasn't much tension for a higher-action emphasis plotline. Obviously, there's already a bit of a challenge present--given fans know the ultimate fate of everyone on the crew (ala the movie Serenity), so there's no reason to worry for any of them on this job. There's a passing sense of injustice regarding the treatment of unknown civilians in the midst of a blossoming civil war, and some shock value added in terms of war crimes.
But to risk sounding as callous as Jayne here... the plight of the newly introduced characters never felt personal. (Indeed, Jayne's qualms over whether or not to kill his new drinking buddies when they turn up on the wrong side of things seemed more compelling than the overall plight of the common folk or their heroine leaders.)
Don't get me wrong; this was a more enjoyable ride than Lovegrove's Ghost Machine, and the characterization of Serenity's crew held up far more true than Lovegrove's Life Signs. (Here's hoping Tim Lebbon returns for another crack at this series.) I actually rounded up my rating because this installment portrayed Zoe and Wash's relationship with such respectful accuracy, I had to sit up and gratefully take notice. M. K. England is a competent writer--and I suspect from said writing, a fan of the show. This plot, and its execution, just came off more generic than I would have preferred.
August 21, 2022
Another excellent addition to this series. I can't wait for more. I'm happy they are episodic so I don't have to refresh my memory as new books are released.
The author did harp on about one particular thing a bit much. Not that I disagreed with the thing, but it began to feel a little forced.
Excellent narration.
The author did harp on about one particular thing a bit much. Not that I disagreed with the thing, but it began to feel a little forced.
Excellent narration.
November 17, 2024
Another fun book with the crew of the Serenity. While the bones of the plot and themes hold obvious parallels to the episode Heart of Gold, this also made this installment feel like an apt choice for a story. The characterization was solid, including POV chapters from every member of the crew, and the story was tightly plotted and fast paced. A quick enjoyable read.
September 13, 2023
Meh. The voices in this story didn’t feel cohesive with the others in this series as it was set over a somewhat forced and trite pseudo-feminist narrative which is why it gets one star.
December 25, 2022
Always love the characters. Felt too similar to other episodes of the series for me from a plot perspective. The villain was just a basic misogynist rich guy which seems to be the trendy thing to write about these days. Not just in the firefly series. Still, an enjoyable quick read.
March 3, 2023
Captures the characters and zeitgeist of Firefly quite nicely!
August 7, 2023
A perfect Firefly story.
January 26, 2025
M. K. England, bitte schreib noch mehr Firefly-Romane!
Es ist herrlich, was jemand, der wirklich divers denkt, mit diesem Cast an Figuren anfangen kann. GRANDIOS! Das erste Mal, dass ich River wirklich erlebt habe, dass ich nicht nur das Gefühl habe, die Autor*innen schreiben halt das, was in der Serie da war, 1:1 so nieder, sondern England gibt ihr so unglaublich viel Tiefe. Und das tut they nicht nur mit River, sondern auch den anderen Crew-Mitgliedern. Selten ist mir einer der Romane so tief im Gedächtnis gelandet wie dieser.
Das einzige, was man bemängeln könnte, ist der Klappentext, der hier etwas reißerisch ist, denn ernsthaft, verschiedene Seiten? Jayne ist eigentlich der Einzige, der hier wirklich zögert, und na ja, Jayne ist halt Jayne. Ansonsten hat Inara hier eine weibliche Kundin, es gibt auch eine weitere wlw Romance im Background und es war einfach gleichzeitig so sehr Firefly und so gut ausgearbeitet, dass ich wirklich, wirklich hoffe, das war nicht Englands einziger Ausflug zu dieser Crew.
Es ist herrlich, was jemand, der wirklich divers denkt, mit diesem Cast an Figuren anfangen kann. GRANDIOS! Das erste Mal, dass ich River wirklich erlebt habe, dass ich nicht nur das Gefühl habe, die Autor*innen schreiben halt das, was in der Serie da war, 1:1 so nieder, sondern England gibt ihr so unglaublich viel Tiefe. Und das tut they nicht nur mit River, sondern auch den anderen Crew-Mitgliedern. Selten ist mir einer der Romane so tief im Gedächtnis gelandet wie dieser.
Das einzige, was man bemängeln könnte, ist der Klappentext, der hier etwas reißerisch ist, denn ernsthaft, verschiedene Seiten? Jayne ist eigentlich der Einzige, der hier wirklich zögert, und na ja, Jayne ist halt Jayne. Ansonsten hat Inara hier eine weibliche Kundin, es gibt auch eine weitere wlw Romance im Background und es war einfach gleichzeitig so sehr Firefly und so gut ausgearbeitet, dass ich wirklich, wirklich hoffe, das war nicht Englands einziger Ausflug zu dieser Crew.
November 5, 2023
I read this specifically for a reading challenge and I really enjoyed it! I have never read a spinoff book from a movie/TV series that I really loved and I was a little wary at first, but this was great fun. It really was just like a Firefly episode, which was a nice surprise. I chose this book because I've read this author before and they really made an amazing re-creation of the show and the characters and it worked for me so well. They are clearly a fan. This was a new and different reading experience and I enjoyed it. I may even read another Firefly book someday.
August 11, 2022
Browncoats forever! This was by far the best book in the series so far, which is saying a lot as I really did enjoy the Magnificent Nine. The crew of Serenity get what they think is an easy job delivering cargo to a planet called Kerry. The Noble is a genial man & invites the crew to stay for a few days & promises more jobs at the same rate of pay. Zoe is the only one that thinks something is off as the crew settles in for free food & liquor. This novel truly felt like watching an episode of the old tv series.
September 3, 2022
Another enjoyable book about one of my favorite series, Firefly. The narration is excellent; the narrator can change voices for his characters. He perfectly portrays the personality of each person. The story was intriguing and, as always, with this book series it kept me reading.
October 29, 2022
Another great Firefly book from M.K. England! Spot-on characterizations make it feel like watching new episodes of the actual show. Always high praise! This one was a pretty formulaic story that reminds me a bit of their adventure on Persophone. We don't get much of Simon or River in this tale, but the focus on Mal and Zoe is fine with me. I think this one takes on some important social issues without being overly preachy, though I will admit the villain of the story is a bit too generic mustache twirly for me. All in all, I enjoyed myself, and that's the point!
June 20, 2024
Nice to have the gang back together. Like another episode of the show, each character's personality is captured perfectly and took me comfortably back into the Verse. I look forward to more stories from our beloved Browncoats in the future!
March 9, 2024
Formulaic but entertaining fluff, as expected :)
November 17, 2023
Just another forgettable Firefly novel to be honest
August 19, 2022
This was one of my favorites.
July 26, 2025
What Makes Us Mighty is the seventh original Firefly novel, and the first by M.K. England. I am a bit torn when it comes to this book. On one hand, it has quite a few scenes and dialogue pieces that are peak Firefly - they felt just right and elevated my overall enjoyment of the book. Especially, the opening and closing scenes were superb.
On the other hand, there are also some aspects of the plot that felt like the author was using the novel to try to push their own agenda onto a reader, and not in a subtle kind of way. This felt forced and kept taking me out of the story. The more the story progressed, the more challenging it was to get over this aspect - hence the three stars.
In What Makes Us Mighty, we visit a border planet Kerry. The recipient of the cargo is a duke, who happens to be a sole ruler of one of Kerry’s continents, with all of its 132 towns and villages. Despite being bestowed with such immense wealth and power, the duke appears to be refreshingly sensible, approachable and considerate. M.K. England does a stellar job when it comes to world-building, as they reveal the complexities of the planet, the duke’s estate and its neighbouring town.
I also enjoyed the way the new characters and the initial developments of the plot are introduced - the pace is good and it’s not immediately clear who the main villain is, and what role will be played by different characters that we meet. Initially, the author had me really intrigued and looking forward to see which direction the plot will go.
When it comes to our nine main characters, I feel that M.K. England nailed their personalities and speaking patterns in the first part of the story. However, as the story progressed, some of the characters started to lose their voices or act out of character.
One of the examples would be Mal - in longer pieces of dialogue and monologue, he kept on losing his cadence in favour of more generic speaking patterns. This might be because long speeches generally feel unnatural in case of Mal - even his ‘Aim to misbehave’ speech in the film is short and to the point. In this book, however, Mal takes a real liking to the sound of his own voice - I felt this was out of character.
Another case is River, who suddenly starts sounding completely coherent in the second part of the book - especially when it comes to her internal monologue. At certain point of the story, the author tries to show that even though on the outside River is incoherent and erratic, on the inside she really has the complete presence of mind, clarity of thoughts, and astounding introspection. In my opinion, this feels out of place for the book that is set during the TV series.
The final example is Jayne, who got quite mistreated in this story. His repeated insistence on re-selling Devil’s Thorns, felt out of character. Jayne might not be the sharpest thinker, but he is certainly not an indifferent drunken moron that he was made to be at some moments in this story. The author themselves couldn’t decide whether Jayne has or hasn’t got conscience. First we see him dead-set on re-selling Devil’s Thorns, and rejecting any reasoning, but then we see him suddenly struggling with his conscience when it came to duke’s soldiers.
Regarding the overarching continuity, this book has me quite confused. On one hand, the author did a solid job with quite a few references, including even other Firefly novels (I noticed references from Ghost Machine & Big Damn Hero) - this showed author’s interest in the newer additions to the ‘verse.
On the other hand, the author sets the story before the episode Heart of Gold, and yet we see River perusing a gun with deadly precision, and with more than half of Serenity crew witnessing it with their own eyes. Not only is this out of character and unnecessary for this story, but also it stands in direct opposition to episode Objects in Space, where Kaylee’s confession about River handling a gun is met by shock and concern from the crew. For this reason, to my mind, this book can only exist shortly after Objects in Space - if we imagine that Inara’s already communicated her decision to Mal, and is now trying to decide when to carry this decision through.
The biggest issue I had with this book, however, is that how strongly the main story is focused on the villain’s misogyny. Now, I‘m a woman and I’m all for gender equality. However, in my opinion, this particular villain had so much more going against him that the misogyny should be almost irrelevant. To me, the main issue were the crimes against ALL people - the ruthless execution of authoritarian power on the society, perpetuation of poverty bordering on starvation, and obviously the use of illegal weapons. I appreciate that the villain’s raging misogyny is also an issue, however in the light of the other horrific shortcomings, that particular feature of his character would not be the main reason for my hate towards this person. Therefore, I found it frustrating how often the author had female characters harping on about how oppressed they are, as if the villain’s behaviours towards women was the main problem here. As the story progressed, this topic got so much exposure, that the author could as well load it onto a shovel and just start hitting me over the head with it.
Another issue that kept preventing me from fully immersing myself in the story, was the character of General. I was supposed to admire her, however I could not. The author kept hammering on how amazing this character was - how she was this excellent military leader who exuded power and strength as soon as she walked into a room, how intelligent she was, how polite, how thoughtful about her emotions. There was a lot of tell and very little show. In fact, what the author showed us, was an ineffective and incompetent leader, who - despite being a General for the entire continent - needed to resort to the support of a registered companion. Even after the General decided to seek Inara’s help, she took additional two days to ponder whether or not to actually approach Mal. This indecisiveness and delay to take action had truly horrific consequences.
As a result of the disconnect between what was said and what was actually shown, I had trouble buying the General that the author was trying to sell me. Unless I should view the General’s gender and her interest in brewing tea as her main redeeming qualities, I did not see her worthy of the power that was installed in her, not to mention that the object of her romantic feelings results in clear conflict of interests with her professional position. I did sympathize with the victims of the story, and was rooting for them, however at the same time I felt sorry that they happened to be strapped with such a weak leader.
To summarize, I initially saw a lot of potential in this novel and really enjoyed the first part. However, as the story progressed my interest and enjoyment started diminishing mainly due to the handling of River and the misstep as to which aspect of the villain was made to be its main focus. Eventually, the story became predictable. The saving grace of the finale, was the very last scene on Serenity. It was very well written and felt just like what we would see in the original show.
On the other hand, there are also some aspects of the plot that felt like the author was using the novel to try to push their own agenda onto a reader, and not in a subtle kind of way. This felt forced and kept taking me out of the story. The more the story progressed, the more challenging it was to get over this aspect - hence the three stars.
In What Makes Us Mighty, we visit a border planet Kerry. The recipient of the cargo is a duke, who happens to be a sole ruler of one of Kerry’s continents, with all of its 132 towns and villages. Despite being bestowed with such immense wealth and power, the duke appears to be refreshingly sensible, approachable and considerate. M.K. England does a stellar job when it comes to world-building, as they reveal the complexities of the planet, the duke’s estate and its neighbouring town.
I also enjoyed the way the new characters and the initial developments of the plot are introduced - the pace is good and it’s not immediately clear who the main villain is, and what role will be played by different characters that we meet. Initially, the author had me really intrigued and looking forward to see which direction the plot will go.
When it comes to our nine main characters, I feel that M.K. England nailed their personalities and speaking patterns in the first part of the story. However, as the story progressed, some of the characters started to lose their voices or act out of character.
One of the examples would be Mal - in longer pieces of dialogue and monologue, he kept on losing his cadence in favour of more generic speaking patterns. This might be because long speeches generally feel unnatural in case of Mal - even his ‘Aim to misbehave’ speech in the film is short and to the point. In this book, however, Mal takes a real liking to the sound of his own voice - I felt this was out of character.
Another case is River, who suddenly starts sounding completely coherent in the second part of the book - especially when it comes to her internal monologue. At certain point of the story, the author tries to show that even though on the outside River is incoherent and erratic, on the inside she really has the complete presence of mind, clarity of thoughts, and astounding introspection. In my opinion, this feels out of place for the book that is set during the TV series.
The final example is Jayne, who got quite mistreated in this story. His repeated insistence on re-selling Devil’s Thorns, felt out of character. Jayne might not be the sharpest thinker, but he is certainly not an indifferent drunken moron that he was made to be at some moments in this story. The author themselves couldn’t decide whether Jayne has or hasn’t got conscience. First we see him dead-set on re-selling Devil’s Thorns, and rejecting any reasoning, but then we see him suddenly struggling with his conscience when it came to duke’s soldiers.
Regarding the overarching continuity, this book has me quite confused. On one hand, the author did a solid job with quite a few references, including even other Firefly novels (I noticed references from Ghost Machine & Big Damn Hero) - this showed author’s interest in the newer additions to the ‘verse.
On the other hand, the author sets the story before the episode Heart of Gold, and yet we see River perusing a gun with deadly precision, and with more than half of Serenity crew witnessing it with their own eyes. Not only is this out of character and unnecessary for this story, but also it stands in direct opposition to episode Objects in Space, where Kaylee’s confession about River handling a gun is met by shock and concern from the crew. For this reason, to my mind, this book can only exist shortly after Objects in Space - if we imagine that Inara’s already communicated her decision to Mal, and is now trying to decide when to carry this decision through.
The biggest issue I had with this book, however, is that how strongly the main story is focused on the villain’s misogyny. Now, I‘m a woman and I’m all for gender equality. However, in my opinion, this particular villain had so much more going against him that the misogyny should be almost irrelevant. To me, the main issue were the crimes against ALL people - the ruthless execution of authoritarian power on the society, perpetuation of poverty bordering on starvation, and obviously the use of illegal weapons. I appreciate that the villain’s raging misogyny is also an issue, however in the light of the other horrific shortcomings, that particular feature of his character would not be the main reason for my hate towards this person. Therefore, I found it frustrating how often the author had female characters harping on about how oppressed they are, as if the villain’s behaviours towards women was the main problem here. As the story progressed, this topic got so much exposure, that the author could as well load it onto a shovel and just start hitting me over the head with it.
Another issue that kept preventing me from fully immersing myself in the story, was the character of General. I was supposed to admire her, however I could not. The author kept hammering on how amazing this character was - how she was this excellent military leader who exuded power and strength as soon as she walked into a room, how intelligent she was, how polite, how thoughtful about her emotions. There was a lot of tell and very little show. In fact, what the author showed us, was an ineffective and incompetent leader, who - despite being a General for the entire continent - needed to resort to the support of a registered companion. Even after the General decided to seek Inara’s help, she took additional two days to ponder whether or not to actually approach Mal. This indecisiveness and delay to take action had truly horrific consequences.
As a result of the disconnect between what was said and what was actually shown, I had trouble buying the General that the author was trying to sell me. Unless I should view the General’s gender and her interest in brewing tea as her main redeeming qualities, I did not see her worthy of the power that was installed in her, not to mention that the object of her romantic feelings results in clear conflict of interests with her professional position. I did sympathize with the victims of the story, and was rooting for them, however at the same time I felt sorry that they happened to be strapped with such a weak leader.
To summarize, I initially saw a lot of potential in this novel and really enjoyed the first part. However, as the story progressed my interest and enjoyment started diminishing mainly due to the handling of River and the misstep as to which aspect of the villain was made to be its main focus. Eventually, the story became predictable. The saving grace of the finale, was the very last scene on Serenity. It was very well written and felt just like what we would see in the original show.
October 4, 2024
Worst of the Firefly books so far for me, read more like a modern propaganda pamphlet on a lot of modern issues. I engage in entertainment to escape all the crud of reality it's too bad that it's seeped into every form of entertainment that there is. To be clear I am staunchly against the duke in this story for every reason that he is a character, a very well-written character to hate to be sure. That being said I found it more compelling that he be taken down for all the atrocities that he committed against ALL the people instead of specifically the women. It seemed as if his treatment/dismissal of women was made worse than what he'd done to his subjects.
The Serenity crew itself was portrayed very well though I feel that may have been more to do with Joss Whedon's consulting? Each book I've always heard the voices of the cast from the show.
The Serenity crew itself was portrayed very well though I feel that may have been more to do with Joss Whedon's consulting? Each book I've always heard the voices of the cast from the show.
October 27, 2024
Well I felt a like Zoe, from the beginning of the book something seemed a bit off but, unlike the book, it wasn't non-sensical it was that I was picking up on the coding of the book. Whether it's the author's blatant hatred of men on display or her desire to take the characters of Firefly and write revenge porn against "The Patriarchy" but I didn't care for it. Every man in the book is either an idiot or villain and every main male character has to be belittled whether its Wash's secret reading of romance novels, Jayne's buried homosexuality, Simon's crippling self-doubt, Mal acting stupider than usual and being reminded of Book's sordid past every time he is referenced by a different main character in the book. I believe I mentioned this before in a prior Firefly novel review but I think people are just a little too excited to make River from the show into River from the movie and it's totally fine putting a gun into her hands and having her killing people. Sure there were elements of that there but no one handed her a gun on the show and told her to fight and it wasn't because "The Patriarchy" were bringing her down, it was because she had serious mental issues. Anyway, I love Firefly and the characters from that series but they were not the characters that were in this book.
Final gripe, Mal's reference to Inara as an ambassador was an inside joke for the crew, not her actual title to be introduced to a Duke.
Final gripe, Mal's reference to Inara as an ambassador was an inside joke for the crew, not her actual title to be introduced to a Duke.
March 15, 2024
1.5 STARS - Annnnd were back to OOC moments and at a lower level in the crafting.
What Makes Us Mighty in relation to the rest of the Timeline…
Serenity
The Train Job
Bushwhacked
Shindig
Safe
Our Mrs Reynolds
Jaynestown
Out of Gas
Ariel
War Stories
Trash
The Message
Downtime [comic]
Big Damn Hero
*What Makes Us Mighty
Better Days [comic]
Heart of Gold
Objects in Space
Generations
The Magnificent Nine
Those Left Behind [comic]
The Ghost Machine
Life Signs
Carnival
The Other Half [comic]
Serenity [movie]
The Shepherd's Tale [graphic novel]
It's Never Easy [comic]
Float Out [comic]
Leaves on the Wind [comic]
The Warrior & the Wind [comic]
No Power in the Verse [comic]
What Makes Us Mighty in relation to the rest of the Timeline…
Serenity
The Train Job
Bushwhacked
Shindig
Safe
Our Mrs Reynolds
Jaynestown
Out of Gas
Ariel
War Stories
Trash
The Message
Downtime [comic]
Big Damn Hero
*What Makes Us Mighty
Better Days [comic]
Heart of Gold
Objects in Space
Generations
The Magnificent Nine
Those Left Behind [comic]
The Ghost Machine
Life Signs
Carnival
The Other Half [comic]
Serenity [movie]
The Shepherd's Tale [graphic novel]
It's Never Easy [comic]
Float Out [comic]
Leaves on the Wind [comic]
The Warrior & the Wind [comic]
No Power in the Verse [comic]
August 4, 2023
Yeah, so this is definately the worst of the series. Which is so disappointing because I love Firefly. Books like this are for entertainment. They are an escape from reality or a way to wind down. They are not a platform for beating people over the head and cramming your agenda down someone's throat. If I want that I will watch any news channel.
They do a job for an apparently slightly less shady guy who knows how to have a good time and is very hospitable and then all is not as it seems. The beloved characters also don't sound the same either. I felt Jayne, Inara, and Zoe were done a disservice in this book and all because someone wants to shove something down your throat that you don't want. I hope to God if anymore books comes out in this series this author won't be a part of it.
They do a job for an apparently slightly less shady guy who knows how to have a good time and is very hospitable and then all is not as it seems. The beloved characters also don't sound the same either. I felt Jayne, Inara, and Zoe were done a disservice in this book and all because someone wants to shove something down your throat that you don't want. I hope to God if anymore books comes out in this series this author won't be a part of it.
May 24, 2023
This wasn't my favorite of the Firefly novels. The characters were spot on, and the plot was ok. I think there was just something about the storytelling that really came across as meh to me.
July 30, 2022
Ah, it’s that time again. I absolutely adore the Firefly books. It may be because I have such a fun love of the crew from the days when it was on public broadcast… but it’s a series that has been with me through various stages of my life. So here we go again. What I love is that you never really know what you’re going to get with these books. We’re at book 7 now, and the formulaic is much appreciated. This one feels a tad different in that the ‘hook’ isn’t so choreographed so simply at the beginning of the novel. You know somethings going on but it’s less of a straight forward story in that there could be two sides that are in the ‘right or wrong’. The characters are all absolutely, once again spot on to their on screen portrayals. This one has Kaylee on the cover…though to be honest it doesn’t seem to revolve around her as I was hoping it would. What I love is that the books have up to now taken turns sharing the spotlight on different characters. This book seems to be spreading the attention to most here. Mal, Book, Inara and Zoe are all getting some heavy time.. with Simon, River, Wash, taking a less pronounced role, but all are involved. The world they come to, with a strange orange sky (I again say that I love the world building… these books absolutely paint a better picture of the galaxy) I love how Mal off handedly says that maybe the Terraform process didn’t go well here… implying how the process isn’t an exact science, and that the technology in the galaxy is still very worn, and used.
Book splits off from the main group, and true to form, like the wandering priest he finds the sub section of the planets population, under very repressed and poor living conditions.
Meanwhile the other crew members are interacting with the ‘elite’ class and rubbing elbows, and we get two sides of a story here. The crew banter is as always spot on and it’s fun hearing Wash, debase himself and the loving relationship between he and Zoe. The unlikely pairing of super strong female and wishy washy, timid male is a dynamic I love.
We get a lot more showing the Companion ceremony, and how ritualistic it is.. Again the world building is so thick. So it comes out the there’s stage to a Companion visit..even a very sacred tea making and meditative phase…really cool.
The story does a nice job of picking a side and going with it. We see this deployment of this really horrible weapon that is so inhumane it’s banned from usage by the Alliance. It’s really interesting to see the morality of the Alliance show itself. Despite them being an oppressive group knowing that they have morals too is nice to see… The group here on this planet however used Mal and crew to smuggle the weapon to them and deploy it on their own citizens… Mal doesn’t take kindly to this so in a grim scene, they go out to the fields, and put a bunch of still dying victims out of their misery.
This then leads to some good ‘ol retribution and Firefly and crew team up with some resurgent and pretty much kick off a coup. By the end of the book the crew has pretty much evened out in terms of spotlight. Inara get some nice moments with her client and I like how meditative she’s portrayed in this book…
The book is short, I’ll say that much, and honestly I wish we had so much more. It’s a good complaint to have, but we usually get maybe 2 books at most a year so each one is pretty special. Each one never outstays it’s welcome. This is no different. A fun fun book, I enjoyed it just as much as the previous 6. I can’t say enough about these books as they fill and scratch a VERY heavy itch for me, the firefly sized hole in my heart…
Book splits off from the main group, and true to form, like the wandering priest he finds the sub section of the planets population, under very repressed and poor living conditions.
Meanwhile the other crew members are interacting with the ‘elite’ class and rubbing elbows, and we get two sides of a story here. The crew banter is as always spot on and it’s fun hearing Wash, debase himself and the loving relationship between he and Zoe. The unlikely pairing of super strong female and wishy washy, timid male is a dynamic I love.
We get a lot more showing the Companion ceremony, and how ritualistic it is.. Again the world building is so thick. So it comes out the there’s stage to a Companion visit..even a very sacred tea making and meditative phase…really cool.
The story does a nice job of picking a side and going with it. We see this deployment of this really horrible weapon that is so inhumane it’s banned from usage by the Alliance. It’s really interesting to see the morality of the Alliance show itself. Despite them being an oppressive group knowing that they have morals too is nice to see… The group here on this planet however used Mal and crew to smuggle the weapon to them and deploy it on their own citizens… Mal doesn’t take kindly to this so in a grim scene, they go out to the fields, and put a bunch of still dying victims out of their misery.
This then leads to some good ‘ol retribution and Firefly and crew team up with some resurgent and pretty much kick off a coup. By the end of the book the crew has pretty much evened out in terms of spotlight. Inara get some nice moments with her client and I like how meditative she’s portrayed in this book…
The book is short, I’ll say that much, and honestly I wish we had so much more. It’s a good complaint to have, but we usually get maybe 2 books at most a year so each one is pretty special. Each one never outstays it’s welcome. This is no different. A fun fun book, I enjoyed it just as much as the previous 6. I can’t say enough about these books as they fill and scratch a VERY heavy itch for me, the firefly sized hole in my heart…
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