Serenity

I am a Firefly/Serenity addict, but I could not finish this adapted book. Some of my favorite quotes are buried in poorly written descriptive text. It made me groan out loud. Some of the backstory was kind of interesting, but not enough to hold my interest without ruining my image of the charcters. I thought Mal in particular was very poorly portrayed -- but maybe that was my image of him conflicting with the authors vision.

I am a Firefly/Serenity addict, but I could not finish this adapted book. Some of my favorite quotes are buried in poorly written descriptive text. It made me groan out loud. Some of the backstory was kind of interesting, but not enough to hold my interest without ruining my image of the charcters. I thought Mal in particular was very poorly portrayed -- but maybe that was my image of him conflicting with the authors vision.

I've not really read any movie novelizations before, sensing that they should generally be avoided. However, being a huge fan of Firefly and Serenity, I made an exception in this case. While not completely worthless, I did find the book to be rather disappointing.

DeCandido stays true to the film while adding in some scenes that had been cut from the final version of the film. Also included were scenes from and references to the series, which I found to be be good but not always handled very well. Most of his interpretations were very straight forward and didn't add much to the 'verse although there are a few additions that I've not seen in any other Firefly/Serenity source. Unfortunately, some aspects of his writing style in this show more novelization are absolutely atrocious and quite frankly irritating.

For a Browncoat completist (which I am) this book is worth investing the seven dollars or so to purchase. Most fans might also appreciate it to some extent, although I know of some who were absolutely horrified by it. Other readers should probably just skip it and stick to the movie.

Experiments in Reading show less

I am a Firefly/Serenity addict, but I could not finish this adapted book. Some of my favorite quotes are buried in poorly written descriptive text. It made me groan out loud. Some of the backstory was kind of interesting, but not enough to hold my interest without ruining my image of the charcters. I thought Mal in particular was very poorly portrayed -- but maybe that was my image of him conflicting with the authors vision.

A fun novelisation of the movie that makes some attempts to be more than just a direct conversion of the script. Sometimes the author appears to be trying a bit too hard though and the reflections on Firefly episodes come across rather more like the author trying to complete a checklist of references. However it's a fun and fast read that stays consistant with the film and the series.

Generally, I'm not one for reading books after seeing the movie upon which it was based. I'm even less inclined to read the "novelization" of a film, figuring its sole purpose is to put additional cash in the pockets of the studio or those that own the movie. Because of my adoration of the all-too-soon-canceled TV series Firefly, though, I did pick up Serenity, Keith DeCandido's novelization of the movie of the same name. While undoubtedly a good marketing tie-in with the film, the book also helps demonstrate the qualities inherent in each form of media.

As expected, the book is very true to the film. DeCandido also does a good job incorporating additional back story from episodes of the television series. He also uses language in both show more the narrative and dialogue that you would have heard on the series or in the movie. Yet what Firefly and Serenity fans will find to be a treat are the scenes DeCandido writes to help move the story that don't appear in the film. Perhaps even more notable is something that reflects an ability the written word has that the visual can lack -- explaining character motivation.

Balance of review at http://prairieprogressive.com/?p=594 show less

There is little craft or spirit to this novelization of the movie Serenity. Weak control over POV and little to no added depth for the story make this a shallow and unnecessary companion to the film version.