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.
Perfect amount of silliness for a summer read.
Re-reading this, I found myself enjoying it more the second time around.
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.
If there is any topic writers like to write about more than any other, it's writers. Hemingway wrote about writers; John Irving writes about writers; now, John Scalzi has written about a writer.
("But wait!" you protest, "I thought this story was about a bunch of redshirts?" It is, until...well, dammit, read the book!)
It's worth reading, but as I read it, I kept picturing Scalzi sniggering gleefully while he typed the story up on Google Docs. The last chapter overtly confirms this image. I've never been a huge Star Trek fan, and I have a feeling there's a lot of little things I missed — nods to particular episodes, characters, situations, etc. That said, the influence of the redshirt extra has permeated science fiction television, and television in general, enough that I appreciated the scenario. I get the joke, even if it's a bit protracted.
The codas are the …
If there is any topic writers like to write about more than any other, it's writers. Hemingway wrote about writers; John Irving writes about writers; now, John Scalzi has written about a writer.
("But wait!" you protest, "I thought this story was about a bunch of redshirts?" It is, until...well, dammit, read the book!)
It's worth reading, but as I read it, I kept picturing Scalzi sniggering gleefully while he typed the story up on Google Docs. The last chapter overtly confirms this image. I've never been a huge Star Trek fan, and I have a feeling there's a lot of little things I missed — nods to particular episodes, characters, situations, etc. That said, the influence of the redshirt extra has permeated science fiction television, and television in general, enough that I appreciated the scenario. I get the joke, even if it's a bit protracted.
The codas are the best part of the book, and my only complaint is that you have to read the previous pages to get to them. I don't mean this in the "we have to drive 400 miles to grandma's house" sense, but rather in the "the codas would be completely unintelligible without the preceding, smidge-above-mediocre story" sense. I'm not sure if that makes the overall book good or merely passable. Damn you, Scalzi!
I thoroughly enjoyed this. John Scalzi takes the accepted knowledge about 'redshirts' and builds it into a funny and sometimes poignant look at the life of a redshirt from the inside, while still being a science fiction novel in its own right. The characters aren't all that deep for a good part of the novel, but there are good reasons for that. The story is engaging, and the humour, especially for those of us who remember the original Star Trek series, is spot on. Recommended to geeks everywhere, especially those who have fond memories of Star Trek, but are still able to acknowledge and appreciate its flaws!
I'll be honest. I didn't finish the book. It started out funny, but around the halfway point, I just lost interest. Eventually, I put the book down and never picked it up again. Anyone who hasn't seen Star Trek should pass on this one, because without the show as a reference point you just have cardboard characters running around in a nondescript spacecraft. It's worth a glance if you enjoyed Star Trek or simply enjoy poking fun at the show.
This starts off looking like a really trope-y sci-fi piece. It starts off looking like really bad sci-fi. Like a Star Trek rip off to be a little more precise. But then it starts to get more and more meta, and the author starts taking apart all the things that make campy sci-fi so appealing, and you get twists and turns that make this one of the best books I've read in recent times. I cannot stress enough how much this book dragged me in and pulled me along to its end. I freaking loved every moment.
Started off thinking this was a bit weak, but it got a lot better. 4 stars because he took the metafiction further than I thought he could without everything collapsing.
Fun, amusing and enjoyable. Little to predictable
When people talk about a book being “meta”, I have to admit that I often wonder what they are talking about because it really doesn’t say anything about the book itself but it is a good way to sound pretentious. John Scalzi’s Redshirts is so meta; I think the author must have had a lot of fun writing this novel and playing with the red shirt concept. For those people that don’t know what a Red shirt is; it’s a concept made famous by Star Trek in which the character wearing the red shirt on a mission was always the one that died for dramatic effect.
The book Redshirts follows a copy of characters who decided why there was a high mortality rate for the people on missions with high ranking officers. Through their research they found that the only other ship with the same mortality rate was the USS …
When people talk about a book being “meta”, I have to admit that I often wonder what they are talking about because it really doesn’t say anything about the book itself but it is a good way to sound pretentious. John Scalzi’s Redshirts is so meta; I think the author must have had a lot of fun writing this novel and playing with the red shirt concept. For those people that don’t know what a Red shirt is; it’s a concept made famous by Star Trek in which the character wearing the red shirt on a mission was always the one that died for dramatic effect.
The book Redshirts follows a copy of characters who decided why there was a high mortality rate for the people on missions with high ranking officers. Through their research they found that the only other ship with the same mortality rate was the USS Enterprise. This drives the story in a comedic dig at science fiction television shows.
This book starts off so strong, it has an interesting premises but it turns out all downhill from there. I really think this book would have worked a lot better as a short story and I think Scalzi was just adding filler in to make the book longer. I did enjoy the meta elements of this book and I found it was an entertaining look at the Star Trek storylines but once you hit the halfway point you might as well stop reading. Think of it as Star Trek parody meets Stranger the Fiction jammed together in a very sloppy way.
I listened to the audiobook version of this book and I think that was one of the best parts of my experience of this book. The audio version was read by Wil Weaton adding a whole new element of meta to this book. As a geek, I’m a fan of Wil Weaton and this was the main reason why I read this book. Redshirts could have been an entertaining book, but I don’t think it really came together as well as I was hoping for. Luckily it was a very short book; which could have been shorter. The comedy and meta elements of the novel were worth checking out but the rest of the book didn’t work.
If the title didn’t tip you off, Redshirts is Scalzi’s loving parody of Star Trek. All the familiar characters and tropes are there, even if the names have been changed to protect the (not so) innocent. I found it to be a fast and hilarious read – if anything I kept having to stop to read portions to my longsuffering wife. The 3 codas add a nice balance to the book with their poignancy. Highly recommended.
Must read for anyone who's watched much sci-fi
Moved a little slow for a Scalzi book, but after I got into it I enjoyed it.
Love Scalzi. Love his irreverent sense of humor. Love how he makes things matter to us.
This is a light, philosophical romp through the lives of redshirts with generous tweaks of the nose of the tropes. Until we get to the endings. Scalzi brings it home in the codas.
This book was hilarious and fun to read. Scalzi is a genius storyteller.
I'm beginning to dislike the star-rating system, though. I would give this 3.5. Why no higher?
Halfway through the book I felt betrayed. I was expecting one thing and Scalzi turns the book around and gives me something else.
Is it still good? Absolutely, but I thought it would be better given the great start and thus felt completely underwhelmed.
It's like when you are reading a mystery and the author reveals the first possible solution. You expect him to reveal a few more and then completely surprise you with a new solution that is nonetheless perfectly consistent with the story and ultimately more satisfying. This is not that type of book: you get the first solution, and that's it. That's the answer. Just have to wrap up the story now.
Fortunately, the humor and characters manage …
This book was hilarious and fun to read. Scalzi is a genius storyteller.
I'm beginning to dislike the star-rating system, though. I would give this 3.5. Why no higher?
Halfway through the book I felt betrayed. I was expecting one thing and Scalzi turns the book around and gives me something else.
Is it still good? Absolutely, but I thought it would be better given the great start and thus felt completely underwhelmed.
It's like when you are reading a mystery and the author reveals the first possible solution. You expect him to reveal a few more and then completely surprise you with a new solution that is nonetheless perfectly consistent with the story and ultimately more satisfying. This is not that type of book: you get the first solution, and that's it. That's the answer. Just have to wrap up the story now.
Fortunately, the humor and characters manage to make it enjoyable throughout.
A more detailed review is up on my blog: strakul.blogspot.com/2012/06/book-review-redshirts-by-john-scalzi.html
