Paperback
Published May 9, 2013 by Gollancz, imusti.
Ensign Andrew Dahl has just been assigned to the Universal Union Capital Ship Intrepid, flagship of the Universal Union since the year 2456. It's a prestige posting, with the chance to serve on "Away Missions" alongside the starship's famous senior officers.
Life couldn't be better...until Andrew begins to realize that 1) every Away Mission involves a lethal confrontation with alien forces, 2) the ship's senior officers always survive these confrontations, and 3) sadly, at least one low-ranking crew member is invariably killed. Unsurprisingly, the savvier crew members below decks avoid Away Missions at all costs.
Then Andrew stumbles on information that transforms his and his colleagues' understanding of what the starship Intrepid really is...and offers them a crazy, high-risk chance to save their own lives. Redshirts by John Scalzi is the winner of the 2013 Hugo Award for Best Novel.
Nor what I expected, but a great read none the less. Would recommend if you're into sci fi and enjoy Star Trek.
Great fun! All those Codas stuff, it is just ok, but the main plot, awesome. Great fun, nice homage to Star Trek, amazing plot twists. Yeah!
It is hard to explain the story and then detailing how much I have enjoyed it... but this story is funny and touching. It sometimes feels a little meta and philosophical, which I actually enjoyed a lot, but also mocks a little with Sci-Fi as being a parody to Star Trek and some of the bad Sci-Fi stories. Although the part I liked the most of this book is actually the last three addendum, titled CODA, which are side stories, and could have easily served as the stories Prologue. every last page made me feel involved and care about the characters even more.
This felt like polished fan-fiction.
Obviously it's not fan-fiction. Partly due to the technicality that it's professionally published, and partly because while Star Trek is referenced (obviously) this is not a story set in the Star Trek universe. But the whole time I was reading the main story (there are three related codas that focus on other characters) I just felt like this was something that a fan would right.
Perhaps because there are so many references and in-jokes? The ship's medical officer is named Hartnell for example. Perhaps because the universe this story does take place in never rose off the page to become real? Or perhaps it's a combination of things. While the story never falls below the level of competent, it's just not nearly as good or as clever as it seems to think it is.
For a start it doesn't quite seem to know what it …
This felt like polished fan-fiction.
Obviously it's not fan-fiction. Partly due to the technicality that it's professionally published, and partly because while Star Trek is referenced (obviously) this is not a story set in the Star Trek universe. But the whole time I was reading the main story (there are three related codas that focus on other characters) I just felt like this was something that a fan would right.
Perhaps because there are so many references and in-jokes? The ship's medical officer is named Hartnell for example. Perhaps because the universe this story does take place in never rose off the page to become real? Or perhaps it's a combination of things. While the story never falls below the level of competent, it's just not nearly as good or as clever as it seems to think it is.
For a start it doesn't quite seem to know what it wants to be. Is it a self-aware spoof at Star Trek and the genre it spawned? Is it a meta-textual investigation of that genre? Is it actually a dramatic story in it's own right? The answer as it turns out is all and none of those things. So while we start out with some pretty broad and clunky comedy bits (the sort of jokes fans make on the internet) then move slowly to a more dramatic mode while randomly slipping in and out of meta-textual debates. It's all a bit uneven and unsatisfying.
To make matters worse the characters all sound alike. This may have been Scalzi trying to be clever, because the characters are "redshirts" and thus largely interchangeable. But it creates a problem. Because they all sound alike. And they all sound like the sort of people you read posting comments about sci-fi shows on the internet.
There really isn't that much plot to this story and the characters don't develop in any noticeable way so the story while short, actually feels quite padded. Far too much time with people refusing to believe (earlier in the story) or discussing the meta aspects in excruciating detail.
Oddly enough though towards the end of the story when it becomes essential to have people convinced of what's going on...everyone just accepts the notion with little more than a head shake. This is exactly the sort of plotting on tv shows that Scalzi has been taking digs at earlier in the story. Which makes it either really blatant or meta to the level it's actually entering it's own posterior.
And then after wrapping the story up to some basic level of satisfaction, Scalzi throws a whole new layer of meta onto the scenario for... well no good reason I can discern honestly. And then to top that decides that the narrator needs to intrude on the story even though that hasn't happened until this last chapter. Why? To make a joke. Ham handed to say the least.
And then there are the codas. Which, unfortunately, feel like the author lecturing me about "being all I can be" or some other such bull. Maybe that's not the intention but it was the vibe I got from all three codas.
The first one where the fictional writer of the fictional sci-fi show that somehow intruded on the fictional universe suffers from writers block. He explores this through blogging and sarcasm. And it turns out his problem is not that when he writes people die, it's that when he writes badly people die a poor death. He just needs to write well.
Really?
And then having again pointed out the bad writing in this fictional sci-fi show (that's clearly based on real shows) and the shallowness of the redshirts characters and behavior... in the final coda our viewpoint character essentially interacts with nothing but redshirts. Fine it's a priest, a widower, a pushy sister etc. But they are all cliches with no depth whatsoever.
Given that I know how well John Scalzi can write. How interesting his characters can be. How sophisticated his world building is. I can't decide if the entire thing is just some meta-textual writing exercise or not. It's either too clever or not clever enough.
But either way it doesn't make for a good story.
чудове розважальне чтиво. правда. щось на кшалт "террі пратчет в гостях у дугласа адамса". читайте.
This was a very fun read with a nice, twisty meta thingy. And it's timey-wimey, too! I am just glad I watched Star Trek TOS before reading this, otherwise I might never have understood why the narrative worked that way. No more can be said without spoilering everything. I wonder though why Jenkins was named Jenkins, it does remind me of a totally different area of pop-culture.
PS: it's a quick read, I finished it in two evenings.
Fun, light; the twist did not do as much for me as I expected - seemed like Scalzi was going through the motions when he wrote that part, once he came up with the idea.
A great book with less than gentle nods to common tropes in older science fiction television series', mainly Star Trek. This book was a wonderful journey into the lives of background characters from shows we all know well. I won't spoil anything except to say I wish I had that box......
Perfect amount of silliness for a summer read.
Re-reading this, I found myself enjoying it more the second time around.
Much of what I have to say about Redshirts has been already said, and better, by other reviewers: the core of the novel is a fun, scifi-ish, meta-ish romp that is of decent quality, whereas the novel really comes into its own in the three codas, which are each beautiful and existential meditations.
I have only two complaints: Scalzi tags his conversations way too much ("she said") and it particularly bugs when listening to the audiobook. Wheaton, who is an exceptional narrator -- full of verve and hitting exactly the right cynical tone -- uses exactly the same cadence for every tag and it almost sounds rhythmic in this way that is very distracting. The second complaint is that the conceit of the books was well known a priori, and yet the majority of the book is spent leading the reader to it and describing it -- I would have …
Much of what I have to say about Redshirts has been already said, and better, by other reviewers: the core of the novel is a fun, scifi-ish, meta-ish romp that is of decent quality, whereas the novel really comes into its own in the three codas, which are each beautiful and existential meditations.
I have only two complaints: Scalzi tags his conversations way too much ("she said") and it particularly bugs when listening to the audiobook. Wheaton, who is an exceptional narrator -- full of verve and hitting exactly the right cynical tone -- uses exactly the same cadence for every tag and it almost sounds rhythmic in this way that is very distracting. The second complaint is that the conceit of the books was well known a priori, and yet the majority of the book is spent leading the reader to it and describing it -- I would have rather spent more time with the characters -- and more fun, satirical romps through SciFiVerse.
I was very curious to read something by John Scalzi. I’ve heard that his books were awesome and had that piece of ironic humor we usually find in the work of Douglas Adams or Terry Pratchett (and that we all LOVE).
So, I’m a John Scalzi newbie. I started reading “Redshirts” without any real high expectations; I just knew what I read in the book description on my Kindle. And by that I mean: I knew it was a science fiction novel probably inspired by Star Trek. And that it involved the so called Star Trek’s “redshirts”. I didn’t want to spoil my expectation reading other reviews about the book.
It was a very delightful and fast read. Scalzi really knows how to write interesting characters and get us hooked in their story. At first, I was not sure the book was supposed to be a parody of science fiction …
I was very curious to read something by John Scalzi. I’ve heard that his books were awesome and had that piece of ironic humor we usually find in the work of Douglas Adams or Terry Pratchett (and that we all LOVE).
So, I’m a John Scalzi newbie. I started reading “Redshirts” without any real high expectations; I just knew what I read in the book description on my Kindle. And by that I mean: I knew it was a science fiction novel probably inspired by Star Trek. And that it involved the so called Star Trek’s “redshirts”. I didn’t want to spoil my expectation reading other reviews about the book.
It was a very delightful and fast read. Scalzi really knows how to write interesting characters and get us hooked in their story. At first, I was not sure the book was supposed to be a parody of science fiction series. And then I realized it had some clichés and narrative patterns like: overly dramatic dialogues in action scenes, absurd situations and some inconsistent physical laws.
It is very difficult to talk about the plot of the book without giving away spoilers. However, I will do my best. In short, the protagonist, Dahl, is recruited to work in the Xenobiology lab inside the ship called Intrepid. Dahl notice that weird and curious things happen with the crew of the ship, and that everyone is afraid of the so-called “away missions”. The death rates of people involved in the away missions are abnormally high, and that triggers Dahl to search for information and statistics. And in some point we start to understand the reference to the "Redshirts"
I will not say more about the story itself because I’ll probably spoil the narrative. But, I can say that the plot is VERY creative and that I was totally surprised when the major “mystery” of the story was revealed. Then, when you think the book is over, there are there Codas telling more of the story in different points of view, from different characters and using different voices (first person, second person, third person). Very interesting (and fun)!!
Overall, the book is very amusing! There were various moments I caught myself laughing aloud with some dialogues! And the very first explanation of the mysteries and the plot twist are fantastic!
But at the end of the book I wanted to know more about the story. The explanation given for the “mysterious” occurrences with the crew of the Intrepid was not complete, for me. I felt there were many things hanging in the air. I thought the final Codas were going to tie up all the loose ends and I was a little frustrated in not getting a full explanation.
So, I guess that’s why I gave the book 3 out of 5 stars. I was excited with the roll of the story, and in the end, I got a little disappointed. But that must be me, who wants explanations for everything!! I guess I was not in a very generous mood when I rated the book...
Halfway through I thought this was going to be a four star book. It took the redshirt trope and treated it in an imaginative and fascinating way in a story that I wanted to keep reading. But to me the second half of the book moves the whole experience from "loved it" to "liked it".
A quick, entertaining read which is almost better described as a novella and three short stories rather than one solid novel. The first 2/3 of the book is an exaggerated parody of Star Trek (original series) poking fun at the short life expectancy of the "expendable crewmembers" and the ludicrous survival rate of the star characters, told from the perspective of one of the expendable crewmembers who is trying to make some kind of sense of the nonsensical logic of the narrative. The three short stories following are (trying to avoid spoilers) best described as alternate perspectives and additional details related to the story told from different characters' points of view. It's hard to talk more about the story without giving away details but suffice it to say that any original Star Trek fan will be particularly amused, but a deep knowledge of Star Trek is not required, and this …
A quick, entertaining read which is almost better described as a novella and three short stories rather than one solid novel. The first 2/3 of the book is an exaggerated parody of Star Trek (original series) poking fun at the short life expectancy of the "expendable crewmembers" and the ludicrous survival rate of the star characters, told from the perspective of one of the expendable crewmembers who is trying to make some kind of sense of the nonsensical logic of the narrative. The three short stories following are (trying to avoid spoilers) best described as alternate perspectives and additional details related to the story told from different characters' points of view. It's hard to talk more about the story without giving away details but suffice it to say that any original Star Trek fan will be particularly amused, but a deep knowledge of Star Trek is not required, and this is a light and entertaining SF/F read for just about anyone who enjoys the genre. There are even some serious, touching moments among the parody. I wasn't quite sure what I was expecting but this wasn't it; however I enjoyed it nonetheless.
Decent book. It reminded me a bit of tongue-in-cheek Harry Harrison. Not amazingly special, but not bad.
I was in the mood for a light, funny read. I had told myself that I would wait a bit before reading Redshirts - because it had just gone out and was a bit expensive, especially for an electronic version. And obviously, telling myself that I would wait a bit is possibly the best incentive to want to read it NOW.
So I sighed and bought it and started reading it. And finished it by actually pushing through the sleepiness to continue reading, which I tend to not do these days as much as when I was younger ;)
I had heard of Redshirts a while ago, was praying for the very nice premises to not be wasted, got some reassurance when I read [b:Old Man's War|51964|Old Man's War (Old Man's War, #1)|John Scalzi|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1391208186s/51964.jpg|50700], and was expecting something good.
I wasn't disappointed. The idea of the book will be familiar …
I was in the mood for a light, funny read. I had told myself that I would wait a bit before reading Redshirts - because it had just gone out and was a bit expensive, especially for an electronic version. And obviously, telling myself that I would wait a bit is possibly the best incentive to want to read it NOW.
So I sighed and bought it and started reading it. And finished it by actually pushing through the sleepiness to continue reading, which I tend to not do these days as much as when I was younger ;)
I had heard of Redshirts a while ago, was praying for the very nice premises to not be wasted, got some reassurance when I read [b:Old Man's War|51964|Old Man's War (Old Man's War, #1)|John Scalzi|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1391208186s/51964.jpg|50700], and was expecting something good.
I wasn't disappointed. The idea of the book will be familiar to anyone remotely familiar with Star Trek: on the ship Intrepid, every away mission tends to end up with one of the low ranked crew member killed in some spectacular fashion. Andy Dahl, newly assigned on the ship, intends to escape that horrible fate and tries to understand what happens.
Redshirts contains at least a good part of the things that makes you cringe when watching Star Trek (any series. Note: I still LOVE Star Trek.), except possibly the amount of technobabble - and it is very funny. The amount of meta is growing exponentially, and the whole thing made me giggle at more than one place (as my husband can probably attest).
Liked it a lot.
