I could go on for a long time about all sorts of details about this book while still avoiding spoilers, but I’m going to force myself to be brief. However long this ends up being, just know, it’s probably about 1/4-1/3 the length I wanted it to go.
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Firefly: The Magnificent Nineby James Lovegrove Hardcover, 384 pg. Read: July 27-28, 2021 |
“If” he said, and he repeated the word for emphasis, “if I go along with this entirely hare-brained idea, which’ll most likely end up gettin’ us all killed, Jayne’ll be in my debt.”
“That he surely will.”
“And I’ll have this to rub his nose in for months to come.”
“Again, yes.”
Mal crooked one corner of his mouth. “Then what the heck? I’m in. Just tell me this: when did a shipload of criminals, desperadoes, and fugitives become such a bunch of do-gooders?”
Inara had the answer. “When their captain showed them how.”
What’s The Magnificent Nine About?
Fourteen years ago, Temperance Jones walked out of Jayne Cobb’s life without warning. They’d been partners in crime for some time—and in a few other ways, too. Now, while Serenity and her crew are between jobs, Temperance (now using McCloud as a last name) sends Jayne a message—her town’s water supply is being held hostage by a local gang called the Scourers. If they aren’t stopped, her small town, like many others on the planet already—will fall to this group and what little water they have will come at too steep a price.
Mal’s not interested in helping, but the rest of the crew remembers how not long ago, they did something similar for Inara’s friend Nandi—and that went okay, right? (well, eventually). So they convince the Captain that this is the right thing to do.
It was probably when Wash almost didn’t out-maneuver a heat-seeking missile—which still resulted in Serenity being disabled for days—that everyone realized that this was going to be harder than defending Nandi’s ranch. But now, they had to find some way to stop the Scourers to save Temperance’s town and their own lives.
Oh, and somewhere along the way, someone needs to do some thinking about why the not-quite-fourteen-year-old daughter of Temperance is named Jane.
Random Observations
I’m not going to let myself fully geek out about this book, but some of the highlights and/or things I’d like to spend a lot of time discussing include:
River got to talk to more cows!
Shepherd Book’s Christianity was a little more pronounced than I’m used to (and they actually explicitly called it “Christianity”–it was always clear that’s what it was, but no one ever used the C-word in the show/movie)
While trying to fly the ship away from the missile, Wash remembered the words of “his Zen Buddhist flight instructor”: You are a leaf on the wind. I almost threw the book away at that point, why do that to me?
River defended Serenity using blades and guns—and was (again) the hero of the moment.
Wash and Zoë have some great moments together. Zoë has some pretty good moments that have nothing to do with Wash, too.
The Chapter titles (one of those things I never pay enough attention to) are even pretty fun: “The Inevitable Bar Brawl” and “Landmines of an Improvised and Somewhat Homespun Nature,” for example.
Jayne described talking to River as “a radio and the signal keeps hopping, changing channels at random.” Hard to beat that.
So, what did I think about The Magnificent Nine?
This is just so much fun. Lovegrove captures the feel of the show and the voices of the characters so, so, so well that it’s impossible not to enjoy the book if you liked Firefly.
Is there anything else to say, really? This was a satisfying, entertaining, and nostalgic ride with Serenity, with the bonus of getting some good focus on Jayne Cobb—and maybe seeing him in a better light than you’d be tempted to otherwise.
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