Softcover, 317 pages
Published Jan. 14, 2013 by Tor Books.
THEY WERE EXPENDABLE . . . UNTIL THEY STARTED COMPARING NOTES
Ensign Andrew Dahl has just been assigned to the Universal Union Capital Ship Intrepid, flagship of the 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 some kind of lethal confrontation with alien forces; (2) the ship's captain, its chief science officer, and the handsome Lieutenant Kerensky always survive these confrontations; and (3) sadly, at least one low-ranking crew member is invariably killed.
Unsurprisingly, the crew belowdecks avoid Away Missions at all costs. Then Andrew stumbles on information that completely transforms his and his colleagues' understanding of what the starship Intrepid really is . . . and offers them a crazy, high-risk chance to save their …
THEY WERE EXPENDABLE . . . UNTIL THEY STARTED COMPARING NOTES
Ensign Andrew Dahl has just been assigned to the Universal Union Capital Ship Intrepid, flagship of the 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 some kind of lethal confrontation with alien forces; (2) the ship's captain, its chief science officer, and the handsome Lieutenant Kerensky always survive these confrontations; and (3) sadly, at least one low-ranking crew member is invariably killed.
Unsurprisingly, the crew belowdecks avoid Away Missions at all costs. Then Andrew stumbles on information that completely 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.
Pirandello meets Star Trek. Scalzi takes an interesting premise and has a great deal of fun with it as the "below decks" crew of a starship in the future start to wonder why so many of them suffer horrible deaths while the bridge crew remain unscathed. The crewmen and -women decide to investigate, and the ensuing romp gives Scalzi plenty of opportunity for humor. A fun read with some poignant moments as the plot develops.
I felt the need for a little Scalzi snark and this is the snarkiest of his novels. It delivered on that in spades along with the entertainment. I inhaled this in one sitting, and there were definite snorts and giggles as I went through it. Yes, its only 4 stars on the top line but that's because a reader needs to be in on the joke. You have to be into Star Trek etc for any of this to make sense. Quality Scalzi, can recommend.
Might seem like a harsh review, but I just want to be concise. The plot seems obvious rather quickly, and the story stays hilarious right through the end.
I was weirded out by the second part/ending. I think I got a bit bored by the pseudo-blog gimmick.
Excellent either way, and I'm not a star trek fan, like at all !
John Scalzi's dialog crackles with quick banter that makes his books worth reading:
Corey looked down and furrowed his brow. "Where are my pants?" he said. "We took them from you," Dahl said. "Why?" Corey said. "Because we need to talk to you," Dahl said. "You could do that without taking my pants," Corey said. "In a perfect world, yes," Dahl said.
-- John Scalzi, "Redshirts"
The only other Scalzi book I've read, Kiaju Preservation Society, let me down on plot—even when you remove the expected suspension of disbelief required of all sci-fi.
Fortunately, this book's plot holds up throughout the narrative.
The plot falls right out from the title. Think back to season one of "Star Trek: The Next Generation"—when the show was terrible. Think about all the nameless crew members who died on away missions. All those people had lives and families and worries. And their sad fate …
John Scalzi's dialog crackles with quick banter that makes his books worth reading:
Corey looked down and furrowed his brow. "Where are my pants?" he said. "We took them from you," Dahl said. "Why?" Corey said. "Because we need to talk to you," Dahl said. "You could do that without taking my pants," Corey said. "In a perfect world, yes," Dahl said.
-- John Scalzi, "Redshirts"
The only other Scalzi book I've read, Kiaju Preservation Society, let me down on plot—even when you remove the expected suspension of disbelief required of all sci-fi.
Fortunately, this book's plot holds up throughout the narrative.
The plot falls right out from the title. Think back to season one of "Star Trek: The Next Generation"—when the show was terrible. Think about all the nameless crew members who died on away missions. All those people had lives and families and worries. And their sad fate was to be devoured by Borgovian land worms. Now imagine those people get wise to the narrative, and you can piece together most of the plot from there.
I enjoyed the irony that the twist of this novel could ALSO be a throw-away episode of Star Trek. And that Wil Wheaton narrates the audiobook—Ensign Crusher in the flesh.
But this novel is funny, heartening, and lovable in the same way as my previous encounter with Scalzi. Plus it won the Hugo award for best novel back in 2013.
The codas were wonderful thought experiments. Imagine reckoning with all the characters you wrote into sloppy deaths. Or owing your life to a fictional version of yourself. Or living a more meaningful life as a fictional character who wouldn't exist except for you.
The idea of inadvertently spawning a fictional version of myself left me thinking of the lines from Whitman:
What I assume, you shall assume, for every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you.
-- Walt Whitman, "Song of Myself"
I enjoyed this novel. The dialog sparkles, the characters are sympathetic, and the plot is fun and serviceable.
And it gave me a writing gem to take home: you're the general for the army of characters you create.
Sooner or later the Narrative will come for each of us. It'll use us however it wants to use us. And then we'll die from it.
-- John Scalzi, "Redshirts"
Everyone dies. Your characters, if they're mortal, will die. And they may even die in your narrative. But you should never send them into a stupid situation to let them die from a blunder or for a cheap thrill.
If your characters must die, you owe them a good death, at least.
Layers and layers of (mostly) fun and thought provoking reading.
Most importantly: DRM-Free
The main portion of the book was just average; however..that led up to CODA II and CODA III, which were both excellent.
I think this book is revered among nerds because it's an introduction to self-referential literature. Sort of a Never Ending Story for Star Trek fanboys. It was fine.
I'd rate this a 4.5 if I could. It was fun, made me laugh, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It got a bit too meta for my taste at a couple points, but hit one of my points I was thinking about throughout the back half.
It's fun, melds hard sci-fi with more pulpy stuff, and like Galaxy Quest, I recommend it for anyone who is familiar with and loves Star Trek.
pretty fun read and the first one I read exclusively on an e-reader since we're in quarantine and all!
I enjoyed reading this book more than anything I've read in the last year, possibly in the last five, possibly (probably) ten.
Really liked the story but originally left a 3 star review due to the 3 final codas. Plot holes filled? I suppose. Needed? Nope. I had to force myself through them, although the final one was the best. After thinking about the entire product overnight, came back to rate 4 stars for the tale, and not the closing of the book.
Fun read, especially for a 90's Star Trek fan. Skimmed through the internet blog section - found it funny/witty for a couple pages, but then got bored. Read the rest without skimming though, and still enjoyed it.
Worth the read probably only if you're a Star Trek lover.
Quick fun read
Quick fun read
This audio book takes place in an alternate universe very similar to Star Trek: TOS. The plot line is along the idea that the ships captain, doctor, first officer and other "main characters" never seem to get hurt seriously, but the low lifers, the red shirts all die whenever dramatically appropriate. Its the story of these low profile folks trying to find out why. As weird as that seems, its gets even odder when the crazy conspiracy theory that they are actually a part of a really bad science fiction show turns out to be correct. As much as that sounds like a spoiler, its not. It's really out there, its really bad, but its really good at being bad. You know that going into a story with such a preface, and for what it is, its certainly an expansion on philosophy of fandom and science fiction, its the birds …
This audio book takes place in an alternate universe very similar to Star Trek: TOS. The plot line is along the idea that the ships captain, doctor, first officer and other "main characters" never seem to get hurt seriously, but the low lifers, the red shirts all die whenever dramatically appropriate. Its the story of these low profile folks trying to find out why. As weird as that seems, its gets even odder when the crazy conspiracy theory that they are actually a part of a really bad science fiction show turns out to be correct. As much as that sounds like a spoiler, its not. It's really out there, its really bad, but its really good at being bad. You know that going into a story with such a preface, and for what it is, its certainly an expansion on philosophy of fandom and science fiction, its the birds of feather conversations of Penguicon brought to life.
