The Magnificent Nine
(Firefly #2)
by James Lovegrove
This is another audio version I picked up and with the narrator sounding like the Captain it made it really great! In this book, Jayne gets a message asking him to come help a past love. Yes, that grisly Jayne! So the crew flies to see what the problem is. A dry planet and bullies trying to take over all the water, women, and leave people to starve.
Jayne sees Temperance, a past love from 14 years before and she has a 13 year old girl. Things get very interesting for Jayne. Action packed for everyone! ( )

I enjoyed this book from the very beginning. The characters are familiar from the TV series; you don't have to have seen either the series or the movie to enjoy the book. This story centers around a man named Jayne. Jayne is a tough guy with an unpleasant past that comes back to touch him. There's a woman from his past who needs him. His past gets the crew of the Serenity into an impossible fight to save a town. There is a mysterious girl who may be Jayne's long lost daughter. All told the story is a classic western set on a hot alien world in our distant future. ( )

This series of books are most definitely meant for fans of the show and movie. I loved these books and forgave them all their flaws because the characters and world are much beloved by me. ( )

“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. ( )

Book two of the Firefly novels. Not as enjoyable as the first, but primarily featuring Jayne Cobb it’s still fitting, like watching an episode. Not as rewarding, but the next best thing and the closest fans are likely to get to their beloved Serenity and its crew these days. I wasn’t sure I believed one of the plot points, but am inclined to be forgiving to the books of my favourite series. I also love how they present these paperbacks and hope the quality in both writing and presentation continues. ( )