| Title | : | The Shepherd's Tale (Serenity, #3) |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 1595825614 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9781595825612 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Hardcover |
| Number of Pages | : | 56 |
| Publication | : | First published November 3, 2010 |
Who was Book before meeting Mal and the rest of the Serenity crew? How did he become one of their most trusted allies? And how did he find God in a bowl of soup? Answers to these and more questions about Book's past are uncovered in this original graphic novel by rising stars Zack Whedon (Dr. Horrible, Terminator, Fringe) and Chris Samnee (Blackest Night: Tales of the Corps, Daredevil). A pivotal chapter in the ongoing Serenity saga, The Shepherd's Tale is also a rollicking, action-packed epic in its own right!
The Shepherd's Tale (Serenity, #3) Reviews
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My reaction to this graphic novel is quite mixed.
For the record, I am a long-time fan of Firefly and Serenity. I'm always on the lookout for more stories from the 'verse, and two of the unresolved issues that continue to fascinate me most are the mysteries behind Shepherd Book's identity and Inara Serra's choice to leave the core planets. I was thrilled, therefore, to read that this book would offer an in-depth study of Book Shepherd's history and character.
I'm very pleased that The Shepherd's Tale comes straight out and explains who Book was and is. Some of the background I had suspected; other twists took me by surprise. I give it high marks for answering my questions (and with beautiful artwork, to boot). I didn't feel teased or manipulated, just enlightened.
What disappoints me is that the answer is not "in-depth." If anything, the novel offers only a very brief sketch of forty-four years, told in a succession of flashback scenes, any of which could easily provide enough material for its own graphic novel. Because these scenes are so very brief, I felt I never connected with Book or his journey. The depth of characterization I've come to expect in Whedon works simply isn't there. And while the novel explains how he came physically to the church, it does not make a persuasive case for his spiritual conversion - in short, how he comes to be the character, inside and out, we see in Firefly and Serenity (and the start of The Shepherd's Tale).
The rushed pacing and brevity of the scenes left me feeling as though I had watched a Power Point presentation outlining the proposal for a novel instead of reading the novel itself. Book's voice is so distinctive and compelling, I wanted to hear it again, and I never really did.
So, while I am grateful to know the facts behind Shepherd Book's life, I am disappointed that I did not experience his journey in the meaningful way I had hoped. -
The Shepherd's tale, finally.
For me, Firefly's biggest mystery was not about the mad skills of River. It was the enigmatic Shepherd Books and his promise of a dark past. The viewers of the show were teased now and again about this evasive past and was not resolved during the movie.
Finally, we have an answer.
I truly enjoyed the structure of the story. Starting from the movie serenity, Jumping to firefly and then further back to the very beginning. (They could've called this 'The curious case of Shepherd Books').
A deserving 'origin' story that meets every expectation. I recommend this to every Firefly fans out there in the 'verse. -
4.5 Stars
Wow. I never really saw that revelation coming.
A different tangent for sure especially as this presents Book’s life from death to birth. Thing is, he has some major skeletons in his closet, and there's always the other side of the coin that contributes to one’s truth.
Smart and deftly told in a short 59 paged comic, making it no less impactful. -
We finally get to know the story behind the Shepherd, this man has some past.
He seems all kind and loving, he is a man of God after all:
He doesn't judge.....
Then we see the signs:
The hair is the first to show....what a horrible thing....I still have nightmares about it.....
Then we have him cursing people to hell... he had a reason...but still....
Then he is okay with hurting people....they are bad people...very bad...but still.....
But I love him nonetheless, he was sch a brilliant character, the moral compass (aside Wash) of the group, at least the one with religion to back up his morality.
Not really though........ -
I had to re-read this today, in honor of the sad passing of the amazing Ron Glass. (aka 'Shepard Book', for those of you who do not wear Brown Coats.) This remains a great read, made greater by my being able to hear the words in Glass's unmistakable tones in my head whilst reading. Thank you for what you gave to the Big Damn (uni)Verse, Mr.Glass, through your amazing work on 'Firefly' and 'Serenity'. I am so happy that I own this book, especially today.
You can't stop the signal. --Jen from Quebec :0)
RIP Ron Glass, Nov. 26th, 2016 -
After seeing a couple of conflicting summaries of what this book reveals about Book's background, I decided to just read it myself.
If you've seen Firefly/Serenity, then you know Book is more than he seems, but we never got his backstory. This comic provides that backstory in Memento-style story telling, glimpses and jumping backward through the highlights of his life. Knowing where he comes from and how he eventually made his way to the Serenity crew adds a poignancy to his story that we didn't have before. He had to claw his way out of tough situations his whole life, , until he thought he found purpose , but he was making sacrifices that scarred his soul every step of the way. It explains why he would eventually turn to faith to find ... uh, serenity, if you will, and eventually brought him to Serenity and her crew.
The artwork is pretty good. Unlike with Spike: After the Fall, it was easy to distinguish characters from one panel to the next, even if they're characters you only see briefly. There were even some really great panel transitions reminiscent of what you'd see as scene transitions in movies or shows. -
I got this because I'm a huge Firefly fan. I loved the series and movie and like I would suppose most fans own the DVDs. This reportedly was a story that would tie up the mysteries about Shepherd Book's background.
If you watched the series this was one of the building plot points that didn't get tied up. The series was canceled (mainly in my opinion because the executives didn't get it. The series had and has a large and loyal following.) during the first series. Book was an interesting character and there were constant "hints" that he'd not always been a "preacher".
The graphic novel did tie up a great deal about Shepherd Book's mystery, but not all ("a" main one "could be" considered to be at least partly answered, but I don't think so. I'll mention it later under a spoiler warning). So for partly tying up this plot point it gets an "okay". As a return visit to the Firefly universe it gets a pat on the back.
Sadly it's got the flaws that cost it (for me any way) a couple of stars. First the point I mentioned...a still not satisfactorily answered question. Then it's got poor art. The art is poor enough that you'll need context to tell who's who in some frames. Too bad. For a graphic novel, art is pretty important.
So, I wish I could go higher as its a subject I'd like to see more of...I'd also like to see it done better.
3 stars.
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According to the author's afterword, this was written based on an outline by Joss Whedon. I found this statement particularly interesting, as the graphic novel itself struck me far more as a writers'-bible character outline than an actual story in its own right. Does it answer our questions about Book and his past? Mostly, yes. Does it make sense within the context of the character and the series? Sure. Does it bring any new insight to the character, or even stand on its own as an interesting story apart from the series? Disappointingly, no.
The structure is a little reminiscent of Memento - presented as a near-death recollection of various formative experiences in the life of the man who became known as Derrial Book, it starts close to the most recent time we saw the character and moves backwards through time, tracing his fall from grace, his meteoric career, and his origins in reverse order. This sounds like a fairly thorough exploration, and indeed it could be - if more than four or five pages were devoted to any given stage in Book's life. We get the bare bones of what happened, but very little in the way of ramifications - either externally, or (more importantly, for a story of this type) internally. There's a lot here that could be explored but just...isn't. It's not that we need every single moment of Book's turmoil spelled out for us, but as it is we're given almost nothing about his thought processes, simply left to draw our own conclusions based on his later actions. Which, while a perfectly valid method of storytelling, seems odd for a character-based tale as it does nothing to help us see things from the character's point of view.
The author also states his desire to do justice to the character created by Ron Glass, but the almost complete lack of depth to the novelized character bespeaks "timid respect" rather than "equal interpretation". Frustrating as the loss of potential here is, however, now that the character's origins are known (and so much more about him left open), I'm certain the more talented members of the Firefly fan fiction community will be willing to fill in the blanks. Maybe I'll give it a go myself if I feel inspired enough. -
On the one hand, it was nice to finally get a story about Shepherd Book's pre-Serenity years. On the other hand, after thinking about it, I was disappointed.
I didn't like that Book was still heroic, still so much of a "good guy". And I admit, that's on me - personal preferences and all. I just don't think that Book would've been so reticent to talk about his past with Mal if he actually had been a Browncoat spy.
Objectively, however, what I very much did not agree with was how Book left the Alliance. Had he been stripped of command and jettisoned off the ship, there's no way that his ident chip record (when cross-matched with Alliance personnel files) would have still given him a high enough ranking that the Alliance soldiers would've jumped to help him when he needed medical attention in the episode "Safe" from the TV series. If he really had presided over a battle where 4000 people died, there's no way the Alliance could've (or would have wanted to if they were civilians massacred by Independents) hushed it up, and the IAV Dortmunder(sp?) would've seen Book packing, gunshot wound and all.
The art was also pretty spotty. The section with the bowl of soup was lovely. The renditions of characters from Serenity were less so, but the the action moved well, so that ain't nothing. -
This is fanfic for the TV series Firefly/movie Serenity; previously published on Amazon.
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It's good to know what Joss intended for Book's backstory and the plot of this comic sort-of fits the character, but the major moments of Book's life are far too briefly dealt with, too disconnected & present a coarsely violent Derrial Book who never gets anywhere near evolving into the educated, thoughtful Shepherd seen in Firefly & Serenity.
Shepherd's Tale reads like a synopsis and it doesn't work. At the very least it requires more panels for every period of Book's life along with better artwork. The cover is magnificent, the rest of the art is blasé: I recognized major characters only by their costumes & comments; facial detailing is poor and backgrounds are generically blurry. Overall I'm disappointed & going to pretend I didn't encounter this version of Book's past since it seems to belong to someone other than Firefly's Derrial Book. -
There were so many loose ends that Firefly's premature end left dangling. Shepherd Book's backstory was one of them, a major one. This rather short graphic novel attempts to answer many of the questions, while still leaving holes and questions to maybe play with later. Book's story is told backwards, in short scenes that were important to his life told in reverse order, starting at the end of his life and going back to the beginning. It's an interesting way to do it, and probably more effective than it might otherwise have been. The best scene, and the most effective for me, is when Book finds his faith. But overall, while it's more satisfactory than not, it isn't a grand slam, and the art leaves something to be desired.
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Shepard was most intriguing charter in firefly and now we finally get his tale.Story starts from time of his death in Serenity than jumps couple of years in the past several times showing events that shaped his life.
I expected lot from Shepard's story and I was not disappointed it's just too bad we couldn't see it in the show. -
How cool to find out about Shepherd Book's backstory!
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One of the big storyline mysteries that never got answered due to the show Firefly being canceled was “Who is Sheppard Book?” We are given hints that he is more than he seems. He is a man of great faith, with a shadowed and secret past. In the graphic novel The Shepherd’s Tale, we are shown who this mystery preacher really is, and how he ended up on the firefly captained by Mal, Serenity.
One thing I enjoyed about the book was the fact that it starts at the end of Shepherd Book’s life and goes back down to him being a young man living life on the streets. It peels back the layers composing Book’s past. However, this was short . Zack Whedon stated in the foreword that this was based off of notes/timeline written by Joss Whedon. It feels like that at times when reading. The story is presented in a very bare bones way that while answering the question of who is shepherd Book leaves the reader wondering more about Book himself. While answering the question of his past, the vignettes of his history don’t always feel like they are fleshing out the character. My favorite portion of the story is when Book finds faith in a bowl of soup…
I’ve seen many comments in negative regards as to the artist chosen for this graphic novel. I will say now that I absolutely enjoyed artist Chris Samnee’s interpretation of the Firefly universe. Dark and gritty at times, the images capture the story fantastically. The complaints that I read, where mainly centered around the fact that the few images of the crew of Serenity don’t look exactly like the show. But, I thought the artist captured Book with great depth. The thing I love about graphic novels is that you get to see what the story looks like through the imagination of the artist. While this book does not match the earlier graphic novels it stands on its own for it’s own style of drawing involved in it.
As a fan of the series, I was excitedly waiting for the release of this graphic novel. Despite the reservations I had regarding the story I found myself drawn in to it. I miss this fictional universe, quite a lot, so being able to visit it again was fantastic. This is definitely a book for the fans, and I am looking forward to more comic/graphic novel forays into it in the future from Joss & Zack Whedon. -
While I still don't love the way the Serenity crew is animated, I enjoyed the self-contained story elucidating Reverend Book's mysterious background as opposed to the scattershot approach of Serenity: Those Left Behind, the last Serenity graphic novel I read. I also appreciated the risky reverse-linear, Memento-style presentation of the comic, which, if it had been done poorly, could have come off as contrived or gimmicky, but really helped add dramatic tension to Book's tale.
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Overall, I am really disappointed in this book.
Book is one of my favorite characters in one of my favorite short-lived sci-fi series, so you might think I would be a naysayer going into this one, but I honestly wasn't You'll have to take my word for that, of course, but I promise I wasn't one of "those people." I was looking forward to this one. I couldn't wait to hear more on the life of this fantastic character who ended up on the "wrong ship" somehow.
That, unfortunately, is not what I found on the pages within. Though the blurbs on the back promised an "in-depth examination...," we are given little more than an outline of Book's life prior to joining up with the crew. Each section of his life is presented in such a tiny slice that any kind of real resolution or character-building is lost in the spaces in between. I didn't have any feeling that the writer loved the character in the way that I did and I honestly felt very little psychological depth in the character presented here. If I had not watched the show and fallen in love with Book previously, I would probably feel nothing for this character who had such shallow motivations and so little life to him.
Even still, there appear to be plotholes - particularly when viewed against the episode "Safe." I'm not going to dive deeply into spoiler territory, but much of Book's life just doesn't "fit" with what hints we were given. I realize that with a few small stretches, you can make it fit within the framework of the show, but those stretches really shouldn't be necessary in a book designed to fill in the blanks of an existing story. Also, a character who seemed to have a very dark past before "seeing the light" is given a darkness that is understandable and truly not as deep as one might think.
As a last complaint, the turn to religion was less than believable as it was presented. I understand that people receive the calling in different ways, but the transformation over a bowl of chicken soup just didn't work for me with the characterization that we had been given so far. I'm not sure that anyone would make such a large life decision without any previous thought about it. While transformations can be sudden, there are always hints prior to the decision. -
I found out this hardcover comic existed last fall thanks to another reviewer on 50bookchallenge, and then purchased it for my husband's Christmas... and I just so happened to read it as well.[return][return]This slender book provides a much-wanted back story for Shepherd Book, one of many memorable characters from the show Firefly and movie Serenity. I won't go into incredible detail on the content, but the reverse order of the tale ends at his childhood. It shows the hardship of his life in stark detail, but barely touches the surface. It's more of a teaser than a tell-all, and leaves a lot to be desired.[return][return]The artwork is good for the most part, though the small section showing the characters from the show was kind of odd. Kaylee and Jayne look great, but the others don't look right, especially Mal. It's also a very short book (about 50 pages) for the price, and is easy to read in one sitting (or as I did, during the commercial breaks of Castle). I would recommend reading it in a store rather than purchasing it.
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This was my favorite. Glad we finally got to know Shepherd Book's story, and glad to know it was worth knowing. It adds a lot of depth to his character, knowing his history. I loved the order of the events how we kept going back in time, i found that very interesting, as opposed to the story just being told in a chronological order.
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I love that this book took all the theories about Book and the answer to them was "yes." Book's story is sad but not surprising. My only complaints are that the art doesn't always work for me, and I wish this volume was longer.
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Shepherd as an operative would have been nice. I'm not sure what this mess is supposed to be.
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FINALLY!
In a backwards timeline, we Browncoats finally learn why a shepherd knows so damn much about crime. Made me love Book even more. -
omg, Shepherd's backstory! Finally!
I'm really disappointed this is only 56 pages. I want it to be AT LEAST 200 pages. It almost couldn't be shorter.
I'm also not a fan of the way the story goes backward from present day back to his childhood because it's really confusing. I had to read it twice to make sense of it. I only realized on the second read through that the "two years earlier" "six years earlier" "two years earlier" notes meant that many years further back from the last time jump and not from present day.
I think the brevity and the confusing format rob this story of so much of what makes Firefly/Serenity good. Like yay, we finally know something, but where's the story telling? I feel like I'm going to immediately forget all of this because it had no emotional impact on me at all. Even the art adds to the confusion and lackluster story telling because it's hard to tell who's who because there's a lot of mush-face going on. Shepherd doesn't look like Shepherd and his face changes dramatically with each time jump, and even background characters look different from frame to frame so that it's like, "Is that the same guy who was just talking?" -
Book's story was not completed here. But, in a sense, it would never be. Like all the memories of Firefly that twinkle, vanish, and yet refuses to go away, Book persists with his words, action, humour, pathos, enigmatic presence.
Poignant, sharp, non-linear, jarring...
Unforgettable!
If you are a browncoat, I suggest you get hold of this book. This is essential read. -
The story of Book. We know that he settles on a planet that is attacked. This is the story of his life up till he meets our infamous crew. I’m not going to reveal his stories and ruin the surprises but they are heart rending.
Wonderful stories and wonderful art! -
"We each get to be in the world a time. And I've had mine. It can be tough. It can be ugly. But I'm grateful for the journey and what I've stumbled across along the way. I found faith. I found family."
Oh, wow. Someone is out to break my heart.
And it worked.
I, and everyone else in the Firefly-fandom I reckon, love Shepherd Book. He is, aside from being a wonderful character, also the type of religious person I wish we saw more of. The type who found peace and strength with God, someone who doesn't try to convert you, but try to help you find peace as well.
And how did he become this person? This character we love so much? What happened to make him so patient, so understanding, so mysteriously good at kicking people's kneecaps in?
You will soon know.
This book does an amazing job with his story. Anyone who watched Firefly wondered what it was about Shepherd Book. WHO he really was. And this answers all those questions in a more than satisfactory manner. You needn't have worried, Zack - this is perfect (seriously, you manage to do all of that convincingly in 56 pages = skills).
It made me cry, too. Not a lot, but a little.
Of all the characters, he is probably the one with the greatest burden. And it makes everything that comes later - his time with the Serenity-crew - much more moving; to think that this man, who has been so lost, so utterly alone, finally found a place he could belong.
I might be fortunate, though, because I never made up any definitive background story for Shepherd Book on my own (mostly because that never ends well when something like this comes out). So where others might get disappointed, I only relished in finally knowing. Good for me!
Shepherd was dear to me before, but he's even more dear to me now.
I loved this. -
A good read, with amazing art by Chris Samnee and Dave Stewart. I have only three real complaints, two of which are arguably nit-picking and the other one of which is insurmountable, but not really a fair complaint. They are:
1 - The reverse time narrative seemed like a fancy, unnecessary trick that didn't quite work. That said, I have to admit that I did reread it again, knowing everything I knew from reading it the first time, and that was an interesting experiment. So maybe it works better than I'm giving it credit for.
If you're super-picky, you may consider the following spoilers: -
This is the book where we finally find out the great secret of who Shepherd Book really is. Finally an end to the wondering, why did the men on the alliance cruiser shut up and treat him when they saw his ident card? Who is he to the alliance? Where did he come from? How did he become a shepherd? Finally! Answers!
The story is told in a brilliant way, backwards through time. The opening scene is just before his death in the Serenity movie. And then the next scene is a skip back in time several years. Each scene then stepping back in time to reveal another mystery about who he was before. I found it fascinating to see each revelation about him, but I cannot say anything more for fear of HUGE spoilers! Just to say that some things I might have guessed from the series, but some things I was completely suprised by.
And the ending, or should I say beginning.. hmmm.. was great.
Loved the whole thing.
Highly recommended for any serenity or firefly fan. -
After all the waiting to find out about Derrial Book's past, this is kind of an anti-climax. It's hard to judge it for itself, and not based on the years of coming up with my own interpretations and reading about other people's ideas. It's a character-driven piece, only really interesting to those who already know and love Firefly, and to be honest I'm sort of not terribly moved by it. It didn't surprise me, and it gave me a couple of moments of, "Um, but..." I didn't feel like it explained some of the main mysteries adequately -- for example, the moment in Safe when Book pulls out his Alliance ID and immediately gets treatment. It doesn't make sense. If he's given such preferential treatment, how can things have happened as they did in this comic?
The art is okay: I'm very hard to please when it comes to art of characters I already know and love, and I can't say this especially pleases me, but it doesn't throw me out of the story, so that's alright. -
This is just a short graphic novel. I've wanted to read it for awhile, but the first edition went out of print when I tried to buy it and then I ended up forgetting about it.
A friend of mine got it from the library and let me borrow it from him before he read it.
I always wanted to know the deal with Book, and one of the most frustrating parts of the movie was they didn't explore that at all.
This book is a bit of a mixed bag. The story and art is good. I liked the way they transitioned back to different times of Book's life.
However it was very short, and while it confirmed some things I suspected, it mostly added to my questions rather than answering them. I would have liked some kind of short video format, or a novella to the graphic novel simply to get a more detailed back story.
Worth checking out if you're a firefly fan though.
