I really don't know what to rate or write for this book because I feel like it's so incomparable to everything else I've ever read. It's definitely quite good though. There's a lot more "picturable" story here than I was expecting for something written in the '50s, though I did find myself zoning out at times and re-reading some paragraphs over and over. It's like the same experience I had watching "Rear Window" and being shocked at how invested I got in it.

Anyway, as someone reading the book before watching any of the movies, I never really knew where this was going and it was a fun thinking game trying to figure out who had or hadn't been replaced by the time Miles spoke to them. I was expecting a darker ending, but I actually really like the meaning in how it was wrapped up. The whole event being chalked up to a hallucination (or maybe not), what it is to be human, the showcase of humanity's relentless fight for survival, especially against the whole issue brought up of, "humans spread out and deplete resources and destroy everything in their way, how is this any different/worse? Every species wants to survive, but they all must die out eventually". I did feel many moments of real fear for each of the characters as they continued to encounter pods and duplicates, I was always on the edge of my seat wondering when things would go irreparably wrong. I think I'm glad I was able to read the book first and I'm looking forward to seeing each movie's take on it.

I thought this was pretty good overall. It's better than the first 3 volumes, but not as strong as vol 4. There was plenty of mystery and intrigue about the new characters and plotlines to keep me engaged, and this idea of a new war starting and the crew grappling with that is a great place for Firefly to land. What sucks is that a bunch of the plots that were introduced in this volume were hardly addressed or wrapped up, such as the companion who showed up and was knocked out real quick without any explanation, and the whole thing ended full of angst and cliffhangers. It would be fine if there were more volumes of Serenity to come, but as far as I'm aware there's not, so it's just kind of depressing and leaves too much unresolved. As disappointed as I am with that, I still enjoyed the story for the most part. It's well-written and in character for Firefly. I really liked the extra story at the end too with the crew as medieval fantasy people!

Read this book if you want to get existential about being alive and human. I loved this. I'll admit it was a little slow in the middle; the initial shock of the people at the moon turning to cheese and then how they deal with what comes near the end was eternally gripping, I just felt like it dragged a bit and wasn't as interesting during the bits in between when the moon was just kind of accepted. The story is silly, it's serious, it's sciencey, it's heartfelt, and it directly tackles certain aspects of our current society that may not be as they should be. I've come to question my own life, my own goals and morals throughout this journey, and the morals of our world in a more calm and critical way than usual. I've cried a few times. I've contemplated human mortality and the future of our species. I can't say there's many books that have made me do that. And on top of all that, it's just a fun read. There's a ton of different people to see through the eyes of, some more endearing than others, but many of them relatable. I did personally enjoy getting to wonder what life was like for each person after we left their perspective. We even got to see a few of them return later on for a little more time together. And wow, what an ending. What do I do with that? Plus there's plentiful queer characters just existing! The only other Scalzi book I've read, Red Shirts, was silly and fine, so this read was quite shocking to me with how real it got. Count me as a fan.