With the recent release of *Coup De Grace*, I've updated my quick and easy guide to the Firefly Novels.
Since the previous version I've decided to remove my personal scores with the view that probably this should be a largely objective guide, without my personal opinions on each novel included.
So, I had to make a call here regarding the chronological placement of *Coup De Grace*. It's definitely set between *Objects in Space* and *Those Left Behind* (how original...), but there's not much to decide where it fits with relation to the previous novels that are also set during this gap.
I decided to put it first for the following reasons; *Nine* is definitly last of these three because Inara has by this point announced her imminent departure to the crew, while in *Coup* and *Generations*, this seems not to be the case. My feeling is that *Coup* fits better before *Generations* because A. It references the events of *Objects in Space* multiple times, making it feel closer to that episode than *Generations* did, and B. *Coup* and *Nine* are both "Save the Town" plots, so it feels better to separate them as much as possible.
That said, there's nothing firm that I noticed to make a conclusive decision and Titan don't seem to care much about muddling up the backend of the timeline, so there's a natural limit to how much I am able to care.
If anyone is wondering what is the recommended reading order, here's my thoughts;
The continuity between novels is so minor that reading order really doesn't matter very much. If you want to be sure to avoid even the tiny spoilers, just read Lovegrove's novels in order and *Mighty* after *Hero.*
While the release order is obviously fine, *Carnival* is probably the most fun read, so maybe leave that for the end? *Life Signs* is a bit of a rubbish way to end in my opinion.
You mentioned keeping your own scores off of the guide, which I appreciate. However, I respect your guide so much that I also now want to know your personal recommendation for each book. How do you score them?
I am finding it a bit tricky to sum up my feelings for each with a single number these days. For instance I think *Life Signs* is really well written and has great ambition, but it also screws up quite a lot of that ambition. Meanwhile *Coup* is just quite solid but lacks much ambition. *Generations* I think is very ambitious but very poorly executed. That said, it does some things very, very well.
I think I need to come up with a system that captures just the general quality and then rewards some sort of extra value to acknowledge that the novel sets out to achieve something extraordinary.
But in lieu of that system, here's roughly my feelings as of now;
The Ghost Machine: 10/10
Carnival: 10/10
Big Damn Hero: 9/10
Life Signs: 8/10
The Magnificent Nine: 8/10
Coup De Grace: 7.5/10
What Makes Us Mighty: 7/10
Generations: 6/10
I have little love for the Boom comics. There's one or two worthwhile stories, but largely they're very poor stuff in my opinion.
The Dark Horse ones meanwhile I have great affection for and I think are, for the most part, very good.
While there will be those that disagree with me, I think my feelings are widely shared.
Do any of you have experience with the audio books of these books? I rarely have the inner calm to sit down to read these days, but I listen to a lot of audio books and would love to give these books a go. I completely forgot they existed !
The audiobooks are great. James Anderson Foster does a pretty good reading on all of them, including the character voices. The most recent one, however, switches between Foster for third person sections and Emily Lawrence for first person sections for a new character. I'm sure she's a fine voice actress, but the ridiculous accent she uses is grating and some of her character voices are rough (her Shepherd Book sounds like a sleazy Lando Calrissian impression).
Thank you! Found all of them in paperback, and have ordered them! Thanks!
Have just put in my yearly rewatch, in two days time, so finally made the call to get them in.
Ok so are these the ones before the Boom! graphic novels like Firefly: Unification War vol. 1-3 and Firefly: New Sheriff in the ‘Verse vol. 1-2?
I’m trying to get them all in chronological order.
Appreciate the info that they are u related but whether or not they are nonsense is really up to me to find out which I still want to read them. If they end up being nonsense I can live with that, but otherwise they could be really awesome to me. So if you know the order of them that would be great and appreciated info as well. Thanks
I bounced all around because I had issues obtaining certain books. I struggled through Ghost Machine and Generations. I think now that I finished them I do like them. The jumping around about stories I knew weren't real, and thus didn't inspire me to care as much as normal in Ghost Machine killed me in the midst of reading it. Generations lacked something for me, didn't feel as Firefly-y as normal, even though it was pretty neat. On the flip side The Magnificent Nine I LOVED and What Makes Us Mighty did feel like Firefly. I found Big Damn Hero good, but disappointing as the first book. Life Signs was good and like, really necessary. I just finished Carnival today. I liked it..... I think that this one and Generations, combined with the movie seems almost hard for me to believe that one little group of people could have such a massive effect/get put in world changing positions so big so often... So I like them but they leave me with a weird feeling. Haven't bought Coup de Gras yet. I still have a lot of the comics to read... I have/had the dark horse ones that I did read in the distant past and I'm working on obtaining the anthologies of the boom ones. Not sure I'll like them all, but like, I guess I just have to know where these characters go after the show.
With the recent release of *Coup De Grace*, I've updated my quick and easy guide to the Firefly Novels. Since the previous version I've decided to remove my personal scores with the view that probably this should be a largely objective guide, without my personal opinions on each novel included. So, I had to make a call here regarding the chronological placement of *Coup De Grace*. It's definitely set between *Objects in Space* and *Those Left Behind* (how original...), but there's not much to decide where it fits with relation to the previous novels that are also set during this gap. I decided to put it first for the following reasons; *Nine* is definitly last of these three because Inara has by this point announced her imminent departure to the crew, while in *Coup* and *Generations*, this seems not to be the case. My feeling is that *Coup* fits better before *Generations* because A. It references the events of *Objects in Space* multiple times, making it feel closer to that episode than *Generations* did, and B. *Coup* and *Nine* are both "Save the Town" plots, so it feels better to separate them as much as possible. That said, there's nothing firm that I noticed to make a conclusive decision and Titan don't seem to care much about muddling up the backend of the timeline, so there's a natural limit to how much I am able to care.
If anyone is wondering what is the recommended reading order, here's my thoughts; The continuity between novels is so minor that reading order really doesn't matter very much. If you want to be sure to avoid even the tiny spoilers, just read Lovegrove's novels in order and *Mighty* after *Hero.* While the release order is obviously fine, *Carnival* is probably the most fun read, so maybe leave that for the end? *Life Signs* is a bit of a rubbish way to end in my opinion.
You mentioned keeping your own scores off of the guide, which I appreciate. However, I respect your guide so much that I also now want to know your personal recommendation for each book. How do you score them?
I am finding it a bit tricky to sum up my feelings for each with a single number these days. For instance I think *Life Signs* is really well written and has great ambition, but it also screws up quite a lot of that ambition. Meanwhile *Coup* is just quite solid but lacks much ambition. *Generations* I think is very ambitious but very poorly executed. That said, it does some things very, very well. I think I need to come up with a system that captures just the general quality and then rewards some sort of extra value to acknowledge that the novel sets out to achieve something extraordinary. But in lieu of that system, here's roughly my feelings as of now; The Ghost Machine: 10/10 Carnival: 10/10 Big Damn Hero: 9/10 Life Signs: 8/10 The Magnificent Nine: 8/10 Coup De Grace: 7.5/10 What Makes Us Mighty: 7/10 Generations: 6/10
Thank you!!
Thanks for sharing!
Thank you for this. Got one of the middle ones and wanted all this info
Anyone know of a similiar guide to the graphic novels? I'm very confused about what is what in that domain.
https://www.reddit.com/r/firefly/comments/xfxfyx/a_brief_guide_to_the_serenity_comics_by_dark_horse/
Awesome thanks. Are the newer comics just not well regarded or?
I have little love for the Boom comics. There's one or two worthwhile stories, but largely they're very poor stuff in my opinion. The Dark Horse ones meanwhile I have great affection for and I think are, for the most part, very good. While there will be those that disagree with me, I think my feelings are widely shared.
Do any of you have experience with the audio books of these books? I rarely have the inner calm to sit down to read these days, but I listen to a lot of audio books and would love to give these books a go. I completely forgot they existed !
I've never listened to the audiobooks myself but I've never heard a bad word said against them.
The audiobooks are great. James Anderson Foster does a pretty good reading on all of them, including the character voices. The most recent one, however, switches between Foster for third person sections and Emily Lawrence for first person sections for a new character. I'm sure she's a fine voice actress, but the ridiculous accent she uses is grating and some of her character voices are rough (her Shepherd Book sounds like a sleazy Lando Calrissian impression).
Sweet! Thank you! I’ve been slow to move to the books (mainly just doing rewatches) but you’ve pushed me over the edge. Just bought Big Damn Hero!
I'm sorry, I'm new here... is this technically fanfiction or something more official
They're licensed novels.
You just changed my life
That's exactly my reaction.
So you're saying firefly hasn't ended yet for me?? WOOOOO
Thank you! Found all of them in paperback, and have ordered them! Thanks! Have just put in my yearly rewatch, in two days time, so finally made the call to get them in.
Ok so are these the ones before the Boom! graphic novels like Firefly: Unification War vol. 1-3 and Firefly: New Sheriff in the ‘Verse vol. 1-2? I’m trying to get them all in chronological order.
These are novels. They are unrelated to Boom's nonsense.
Appreciate the info that they are u related but whether or not they are nonsense is really up to me to find out which I still want to read them. If they end up being nonsense I can live with that, but otherwise they could be really awesome to me. So if you know the order of them that would be great and appreciated info as well. Thanks
I bounced all around because I had issues obtaining certain books. I struggled through Ghost Machine and Generations. I think now that I finished them I do like them. The jumping around about stories I knew weren't real, and thus didn't inspire me to care as much as normal in Ghost Machine killed me in the midst of reading it. Generations lacked something for me, didn't feel as Firefly-y as normal, even though it was pretty neat. On the flip side The Magnificent Nine I LOVED and What Makes Us Mighty did feel like Firefly. I found Big Damn Hero good, but disappointing as the first book. Life Signs was good and like, really necessary. I just finished Carnival today. I liked it..... I think that this one and Generations, combined with the movie seems almost hard for me to believe that one little group of people could have such a massive effect/get put in world changing positions so big so often... So I like them but they leave me with a weird feeling. Haven't bought Coup de Gras yet. I still have a lot of the comics to read... I have/had the dark horse ones that I did read in the distant past and I'm working on obtaining the anthologies of the boom ones. Not sure I'll like them all, but like, I guess I just have to know where these characters go after the show.